TigerFeet

BURDA WOF 11/07 Cocktails in the Snow

2012-01-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

This dress has reminded me of a valuable lesson; if something looks like hell, put it in the closet and forget about it for a few days. I really hated this dress when it was done. The construction was a little half-assed, and though it fits well from the front it seemed to have a ton of drag lines and fitting issues from the back that I couldn't figure out how to fix (radiating from the upper outer corners at the neck down to the center back at the waist / and from the center back at the waist out to the thigh at the side seam).

After I stuck it in the closet for a few days I pulled it out, put it on, and took some pictures. Now I think it is kind of cute. It's a great pattern. The darts give a neat little L-shape that I'd never tried before. I love the high neckline and thing straps which seem very 90s to me (have a peak at the 1996 Vogue shot of a model in a similar number). This dress will work well on my upcoming Caribbean vacation, though I doubt it will translate to my next two destinations; Ithaca NY and Oslo, Norway.

The sweater is my very own Beatnik.

The one thing that makes everything else feel better

2012-01-09T11:01:00.001-08:00

2012-01-09T08:54:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend and I have an "aggressive" fish tank. The fish are all (obviously) aggressive, and when we add newbies it can take on a distinct air of Spartacus; Lords of the Tank. It's massive, about 400 gallons, and fits well, given that the whole house is done in a style that suggests mid - 80s DrugDealer Moderne style. My cat adores it, enough that he'll tolerate being held up to look at it. He mews in agony at the fish that are forever beyond his reach.

I know fish hate flashes...

I have been creative, but nothing that the world really needs to know about. Does your life feel better now that you've seen me in my cobalt blue Flight Attendant mod-mini dress? I really like it, but it's one of those dresses that people look at, but don't comment on. Which I always assume means they aren't feeling it.

Also, it's hard to whip up a whimsical blog post about skirts and gloves and minis when there is so much to feel anxious and stressed about. I am entering my third year as a 'free-lancer' and waiting to start my second meaningful project shortly. The days feel full of sloth and inactivity, and this leads to a lot of very negative thinking, since I have a natural tendency to beat the crap out of myself even in the best of times. Add in some family drama, relationship stress, the slow decline of the 40 something body, and it's hard to get too stoked about the day to day details of life.

...and why I always pick a window seat. An amazing full moon over the red rocks of Utah said keep calm little buddy. It will be OK.

Blocked Beatnik

2011-12-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

Blocked Beatnik... I have visions of a thwarted poet, tugging at his beret while the ideas stay firmly locked up inside his skull.

For whatever reason (probably because I live in a perpetually frozen landscape) knitting is more interesting than sewing right now. I blocked the hell out of the beatnik, and i love it. The cables have opened up, the fabric has relaxed (and the sweater grew a much needed 2 inches in length) and it is super soft, warm and comfortable. I love the waist shaping, and the neckband, which is folded over to give it some definition and heft. I did block the sleeves unevenly, but that will be fixed next time it is washed. This is why we DIY. My Mum will love this, and it looks like a seriously pricy piece of clothing.

Fun!

Beatnik

2011-12-08T14:48:00.001-08:00

My version of Norah Gaughn's Beatnik. It still needs a neckband, but the excitement of almost finishing something... well. I love the 60s shape. From the back I look like the bastard daughter of Kim Kardashian and Christine Hendricks. Who can be sad about that?

The sweater is actually for my Mum, and the yarn has been knit into three different sweaters (by me). This one seems like it will keep though.

The strange white glow is sunlight reflecting off of the snow in the elk refuge outside my house.

And this is the one attempt of sewing I've made in the last month and a half of constant travel (WY, UK, LA, LV). The famed Michael Kors dress that is beautifully drafted but looked hideousa in person.

Santa Fe and back, all for Burda, really.

2011-10-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

I thought I was joking when I told people I was driving 1,400 miles roundtrip to get my Burda collection out of storage, but it ended up being more or less true. I'm not sure WHAT I thought I had in storage, but it turns out that it was mostly tired old furniture, clothes that should have been retired years ago, and a ton of sewing related things.

I retrieved 10 Burdas (my current living situation is very transient, and there isn't room for whole collection), some skiing clothes, and various other bits and pieces that were slightly depressing and existential-crisis-causing. Is this all my life adds up to?

The Burda in the top right-hand corner is 11/04, and is one of my favorite issues ever. It is falling apart, and dog-eared and wrinkled and coffee-stained. It has the perfect peacoat, a great military inspired jacket, as well as a beautifully designed full-length coat. This was the issue that blew my mind when I saw it on a Hollywood Blvd newsstand.

November 2004. I've loved this peacoat (101) forever, might have the ability to tackle it, finally. I started the double breasted jacket (104) years ago and alas lost the half-finished garment. But it is gorgeous and worth trying again.

November 2004, perfect coat. So simple, so elegant!

March 2005. This issue is packed with fantastic, vintagey, styles. I've made more pieces from this issue over the years than any other.

103 is the coat that Miss Cidell made to beautifully. I believe 9 / 2006.

On the way back through Colorado I stopped at a little junk store and picked up this 1996 Vogue. Lately I've been nostalgic about and fascinated by, 1990s fashion. Part of this is simply that it looks good again, but part of it is also the natural urge to be nostalgic about your youth. I seem to remember that being young felt pretty hard, but it also felt alive with potential. In fact it was nothing but potential.

I didn't remember how crazy the shoes were in the 90s. The Mary-Janes with the strange flared-out heels... did you wear these? I'm sure I lusted after them, though I couldn't have afforded them.

Gorgeous dress that I would wear today in a heartbeat. Check out that laptop.

And when I say that "I" drove, I lied. Mr. X. worried that a 1,400 mile drive was too much for me to handle solo, and came out to help. He was much appreciated...

And before he left he gave me a quick demo on how to use my Colt Automatic. It was made in 1925, is nickel plated and has a mother-of-pearl grip. I'm a great shot it turns out.

November Burda

2011-10-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

I've been on the fence about Burda recently (like many of you...) I rarely like their summer issues; they are too heavy with simple, repetitive shapes. The last few years of fall / winter have lacked the sense of "cutting edge" that 2005 - 2008 seemed to have. In fact I am currently considering a COMPLETELY INSANE 1600 mile round trip drive that basically boils down to pattern-magazine-seperation-anxiety. I have nightmares that my impossible to replace Burda WOF collection might be getting mildew, or burning down, or just plain missing me.

Having said that, the November issue looks great; this dress could have been right out of the "glory years," love it's modern take on Mad Men style:

There's also a somewhat confusing party dress section. The shapes are great, but the model is certainly "plus" by Burda standards...

Yet their party section is generally standard size.
There is also a cute little peacoat and some great jackets...

My other reason for not keeping my subscription going year-round is simple fiscal prudence. My agent is having a hell-of-a time selling my current book proposal; something that would have sold in one phone call a few years ago. Suddenly I'm realizing that I may not be getting another check for a long, long while. So BurdaStyle is falling down and down the list of priorities.
Any thoughts?

2011-10-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

Since the vintage 1960's mod mini has become my go-to, TNT dress pattern I decided to take a chance on another:

Do you remember that episode of Seinfeld where Jerry is the dating the girl who only wears one dress? Jerry doesn't even really like her that much, but he is determined to date her long enough to be invited into her bedroom, in order to open her closet and see if it consists solely of multiple copies of this same distinctive piece.
My TNT has very distinctive seam lines, and I dread becoming the more mature version of her. So, I'll shake it up with an equally distinctive dress with completely different seam lines.

These are the thoughts that are currently occupying my head, for what it's worth.

Death

2011-10-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

In the last three weeks two ex boyfriends of mine have died, neither really unexpectedly. Both men were very much loved by me at an early part of my life; when you're technically an adult but still very much a juvenile when it comes to love. I was able to reconnect, and spend some time with, one much loved boyfriend-turned-friend before he died of cancer earlier this month. The other, who disappeared from my life years ago, died of a drug overdose. He was a semi-well-known musician in the 90s, and it was a shock to see him on the front page of perezhilton.

I guess that's what happens as you get older.

My dying friend asked me what I thought happens after we die, and I did what most agnostics probably do, waffle and hedge that "there must be more." But truthfully life seems such a blessing that it seems insanely greedy to demand or expect more after we die. I suspect our sheer good fortune to have been born, and experienced living at all, is the only reward we can expect.

Bombshell Dress in action

2011-10-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

A few construction shots... you can see the cotton batting bra cups, the twill tape before it was sewn down, the inner corset, and the final corset attached to a black lining (added primarily to make this dress work as a fall piece with tights). It worked fantastically well, and oddly enough did not feel that labor intensive.

The dress in action, in Las Vegas.

And after a week of glamour and high living it's back to Jackson, WY.

Bombshell, part II

2011-09-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

The bombshell has been one of the most unexpected and pleasing successes of my sewing career. I used all of Gertie's Sew Retro Bombshell tricks for the bodice, and they really, really worked.

The bodice has amazing structure and stability, it looks like a million bucks, and hopefully will wow the crowds in Las Vegas tonight. Alas you will have to take my word for it, unless I can figure how to email pictures to blogger I won't be able to upload off of my iPad till next week. Stay tuned, but if you were on the fence about buying Gertie's course I say buy buy buy. Even if you don't particularly like the style of the dress you'll love her techniques.

Bombshell Dress

2011-09-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to do about the coat for now - raglan sleeves are a "no." So instead I am proceeding with a very useful garment for a WY winter; a strapless bombshell cocktail dress. The pattern is from Burda WOF from March of 2010. Interesting fact: I originally traced this pattern to sew up for my rehearsal dinner. Those of you who know me know how that one turned out!

The front of the muslin looks good I think! Interesting Fact #2; at least two people have said they love this dress sewn up in this fabric, which was a thrift store find / gift from a very dear friend. What do you think?

The back is the usual hot mess. I've taken a wedge out of the skirt center back and bodice center back waist seam. I've also lengthened the darts, which seems to help with my figure. We'll see if that worked as an improvement.

I'm using Gertie's Bombshell Techniques. Here's the muslin interlining threadtraced to the bodice.

And the Bodice! Interesting fact #3: this fabric was purchased by the afore-mentioned ex-fiancee. What do you think? Crazy busy, or 'got some potential?'

Stay Tuned.

Simplicity 2508 Muslin

2011-09-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

I cut out and sewed a muslin for my supposedly Mod Coat, but I am a tad underwhelmed. The best view seems to be the back view, so I shall open with that. Pluses: I like the tab (half-belt) placement, though high, it feels authentic to the style. The overall size and fit feels OK, though not perfect. what is that wrinkle on the right hand sleeve, near the armpit? How would I fix it? I like the stand-up collar (which I starched to give the muslin the same effect as several layers of heavy wool and interfacing).

On the Meh; do raglan shoulders even suit me at all? After I finished cutting and sewing the coat I realized I had essentially replicated my United Airlines coat, which had monster raglan sleeves. Despite being horribly ugly, it was incredibly warm. If I was less vain I'd still be wearing it now.

Side View is OK, I would prefer the coat to follow my sway back a little more closely though. The front is the proverbial Hot Mess. The strange wrinkles on the side front / front seam are due to the ease being incorrectly marked on the pattern. Instead of having you ease over the bust, they have you ease over the waist, which makes no sense at all. If I sew this I'll follow common sense and shimmy the ease to a more appropriate area. The odd hem is (I think) due to the muslin. I originally made curtains out of this muslin, and it was either horribly off-grain, or cursed, because despite careful measurement no two curtains came out the same length.

Back close-up. honestly, I'm on the fence. Is this worth spending a huge amount of time and expensive materials on, or should I look for a second choice in patterns - perhaps one with a set-in sleeve?

Winter Coat; Day One

2011-09-14T16:54:00.000-07:00

The top two pictures are view from the Jackson Lake Lodge. The Lodge is a classic old American Touring Hotel, and straddles the line between The Shining chic, and badly-dressed-retirees depressing. I kind of love it, though I wish the guests would refrain from putting there flip-flopped feet up on the coffee tables and picking their toes.

The colors are sublime, more so than from any other location in the Grand Tetons, slightly muted and gentler, I'm not sure why, but perhaps it has something to do with the mist coming off of the lake. The day I was there, the Lodge was hosting a huge astronomy convention, and the place was teeming with high-brain-wattage folks from around the world. I am utterly deeply jealous of people with that level of brainpower. It seems like the kind of club I'd like to join. But I'm pretty sure they wouldn't take me...

After I was finished ogling the mountains, headed back to Jackson's trusty Stitch 'n' Time and found that they stock hair canvas... and some great sew in interfacing for my coat... no lambswool interlining, but I would have been stunned if they had that. I bought some cotton flannel instead, in colors that mimic the Teton view, and decided to go with that.

Let the coat begin!

And the actual coating fabric, from Mood LA...

Consumerism in Crafting...?

2011-09-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

The arrival of the big 4 is one of my favorite times of year. By big 4 I mean the September Fashion Mags; Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Elle and (if I'm lucky) UK Vogue too.

My strategy is to sit down with them one at a time, and methodically leaf through every page from front to back. I make notes of the articles worth reading and (now that I've outgrown the magazine hoarding tendencies of my youth) the inspiration images that will get torn out and referenced over the coming Fall / Winter Sewing Season.

One thing I've noticed is how these mags now feel like a study in contrasts to me. While the fashion pages inspire me to think of what, and how, I want to sew; the front-end, which the luxury accessory ads, feels vaguely stomach-turning.

I don't know who these ads, with there $X,000.00 purses are aimed at. Not anyone I know for sure. At one point in my life I did day-dream about Prada handbags and Marc Jacobs shoes. Now they seem to broadcast something vaguely unpleasant, perhaps, "I have a taste for the obvious," or, "I have no core sense of myself beyond the 'me' that other people see."

My question is, does sewing your own clothes absolve you from having to consider yourself a "consumerist?" I certainly consume as I sew. I have stacks of fabric, some quite high-end and "luxe." Hundreds of patterns too. I absolutely have more clothes than I could ever need, and certainly more than 90% of the world's population could even hope to own. I don't really "need" the things I make, and the manufacturing of fabric I sew them from is hugely damaging to the environment.

Is my seemingly innocent hobby as much of character flaw and a distraction from the important things in life as obsessing over handbags?

Anyway... I'm sure I'll keep sewing...

This is the dress shape I'm fixated on for fall, a boatneck, 3/4 length sleeve, either slightly A-line mini or hitting above the knee:

And a lighter weight coat from BWOF 2/05 that would be fantastic for "Winter" in LA, a city I shall no doubt be visiting on a regular basis for the foreseeable future:

Winter Coat Ambitions, plus, a ramble about the Relative Values of CA and WY DMV offices.

2011-08-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

I've long wanted to make a Winter Coat, and seeing as I just committed to spending the winter in a log cabin on the edge of the Grand Tetons (my room overlooks about a million empty acres of mountains, elk refuge and National Park) now seems like the time.

The winter white coating from Mood is going to be a version of Simplicity 2508, which is a Project Runway pattern. I really fell in love with the more Mod double-breasted coat in the top left, but now I'm leaning towards the more timeless coat in the middle of the line-drawing. I was totally inspired by Cidell's Awe-inspiring Coat and actually wanted to saw the same pattern - but, like EVERYTHING else in my life... my BWOFs are "in storage in Sante Fe." The "in storage in Sante Fe" line is quite the family joke now. Both my sister and I have our entire worldly possessions safely locked up in a city at least 800 miles from anywhere either of us are ever planning on living again. But I digress.

I've spent several fruitless hours looking for lambswool interlining on the web, but I'll probably go with the much easier to find option of cotton flannel, Jo-Ann's flannel backed satin or Thinsulate. Thoughts anyone?

Oh, and the Jackson Hole DMV? Yesterday I walked in and they nice ladies behind the counter were DRINKING COFFEE. And were PLEASED TO SEE ME. After ten years in LA it still literally makes me want to cry tears of joy when my city / town actually tries to make life easier for you...

Why I Haven't Posted Recently

2011-08-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

When Summer is short, you begrudge ever day spent inside.

2011-07-22T13:11:00.000-07:00

Now that I live in The Sticks (seriously the sticks. You have to drive out of state to catch a flight) I really appreciate the chance to wander around Beverly Hills and grope the high end fashion you find there. I love love love Prada. And while the bulk of the new collection is in serious Man Repeller territory, there are some gorgeous pieces.

The sweet sales agent who followed me around (probably in the vain hope that I was someone, somewheres' mistress out on a jaunt with his Centurian card) couldn't answer any questions about these two dresses, but I assume they are resort collection. The first is a heavy lace effect cotton, lined with batiste. The simplest shape possible, and easily replicable at home. And about 1500 bucks.

The second dress on the rack was even simpler, a basic sheath shape with a low back neckline, and covered in the most fabulous hand worked embroidery. No lining, and no other details, but if you view it as a work of art then maybe it's worth the 1600 or so it was priced at.

I was too shy to drag any of these dresses to a fitting room, which I regret, because there was a fantastic and highly wearable '60s Dolly Bird / Mod fashion story that was featured in the store, but absent from the runway. Not surprising I suppose, since the runway is more about telling a story, and the actual store is about selling clothes. The dresses were red or white or black, fine wool, shift style, with various details. The coats dead simple, just long enough to cover a mini and gorgeous.

I found these two pics on style.com, which give a general idea. After viewing Gertie's bombshell class I was excited to see that Prada also uses ribbon to protect their zippers, only they add a tiny, clear-plastic snap at the top of the ribbon to hold it in place.

On to Tom Ford. I don't really share the TF aesthetic, but boy is his store beautiful. They have the most astonishing staircase that is fully lined in highly reflective metal, but works almost as a fun house mirror. You never actually see yourself at the angle you would anticipate.

More Marc Jacobs, winter' 11 at Mood

The Prada winter-white Mod coats inspired me, and I bought yardage in this fabric at Mood. It's gorgeous, has a fantastic texture, with a ribbon woven through it. The fabric is denser than some of the boucles I liked, and will work better as a winter-coat. Originally I was planning a Lady Grey, but to be honest I'm now completely on board with doing something more Mod. Maybe Simplicity 2508. The white coat they show is almost exactly what I want.

I also bought a few yards each of this fantastic light-weight wool boucle in cobalt blue and pure red. Wonderful, springy texture and incredibly rich color. Gorgeous.

And it hasn't all been shopping on my LA Sojurn. A friend of mine lives in a loft downtown. The space is good, but the set up was pretty bleak and cold. He bought some fabric, pulled out his mom's old New Home, and I sewed him some curtains. Now he has a clear differentiation between the living space and the sleeping space, which is a massive improvement.

In two days I say good bye to LA, and head north. Lots to think about after my trip here.

Mood Fabrics, LA

2011-07-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

The Fabric tour of Southern California continues with Mood on Pico.

I. Love. Mood.

I know people grouch that they are expensive, but I think this is incredibly unfair. They have the best fabric in Los Angeles. The selection is huge, and the fabrics are super luxe, high-end, and I think the $$ is fair.

Where else can you regularly find bolts of Marc Jacobs coatings? Whether this is to your taste or not is another question, but I've seen bolts of fabric that are distinctly recognizable from his collections over the years. I'm guessing that the quality is top of the line, and $30 a yard feels fair. There is also a ton of Oscar de la Renta on offer right now.

Tie fabrics for Cidell, suddenly they have tons of them!

Rolls and rolls of boucle coating fabric. I would love a Lady Grey in any of these!

I'm heading back to Wyoming this weekend, and besides my Bombshell Dress aspirations I also hope to make a Colette "Lady Grey." These fabrics are all possible contenders. They are all more or less in the $30 a yard category, which, when you factor in buying 4.25 yards, adds up. But I still think that spending more on great fabric that you love justifies itself. Today I wore a '50s cocktail dress I made in 2004, out of quite pricey vintage blouse fabric. It's in great shape, fits fantastically, and will continue to do so for years. Whereas dresses I've made in cheaper fabrications were thrown away years ago. I think the maths may be a little painful in the moment, but it all works out in the end.

Fantastic springy very loosely woven boucle. What do you do with this? An unstructured jacket, or dress?

Any votes on which fabric to pick? I love the red boucle the most, but I think it's too loose and unstructured for my needs.

Bombshell dress fabrics

2011-07-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

LIKE AN OASIS FOR A THIRSTY WOMAN...

I'm in LA, and as profoundly ambivalent (oxymoron I suppose) as I am about this city it's fantastic to have access to serious fabric and sewing stores. Today headed downtown to Michael Levine, and then to Silverlake for the new-to-me SewLA.

The main goal was to find fabrics and notions for Gertie's Bombshell dress class. Gertie recommends Japanese cotton for this, which I've always assumed is essentially high-end quilting cotton. The fabrics I bought were made in Korea, and lack that weight and barkcloth-like texture she mentions. I suspect these are technically too light, but with all the under-pinnings I think they may work.

The orange is a Kaffe Fassett and the washed-out pink is "Kamari Garden" by Free Spirit. The lining fabrics are shirtings and seemed a fantastic value - super soft, and only $6.00 a (60" wide) yard.

Originally I picked the striped shirting to line the orange fabric, but maybe that's just a little too crazy...

I've always avoided quilting cottons for the usual reasons, but these fabrics are gorgeous. Rich, lush colors, intricate and perfectly balanced patterns with a lustrous sheen that is fantastic to the touch. I'm hoping that with a muslin interlining, lining, boning and cotton batting cups the fabric will end up being up to the job.

LOOK AT THESE COLORS AND PATTERNS!

KAFFE FASSET

WONDERFULLY SOFT SHIRTING IN THE SLIGHTEST, BLUSHIEST PINK

After Michael Levine I hit up Sew LA in Silverlake, and decided that I had to buy a "real" Japanese cotton in the heavier weight that Gertie recommends. This one was the most subdued, and I picked it to balance out the loudness of the other prints. If you are in LA I highly recommend SewLA, they have tons of indie patterns, and a full selection of Japanese cottons.

Gorgeous!

Nineties Styling redux

2011-07-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

If you'd asked me in the '90s what '90s style was, I would have been emphatic that there was none. I clearly remember - around '96 or so - thinking how unfair it was to be 20-something in a decade with no signature look or style. Now of course I can see it. I'm not really talking about that Jennifer Aniston-in-Friends look, the big floral print dresses with Keds. High waisted Jeans. I'm sure I wore that at the time, but it is certainly only suitable for coastal teenagers at this point. I'm more thinking of that mid-90s minimalist look that screamed 'young woman on the big-city go.' At this time I was working in a small ad agency. I had no real ambitions, and wasn't sure what I was doing with myself, but these clothes were inspiring. I wanted to be the kind of woman who wore them.

I wish I'd kept more of my sewing from these era, because I'd love to revisit it, and see what I was coming up with at the time. I do remember one hipster pencil skirt with a fly front that I made dozens of times (oddly enough in heavy, fully-lined winter weight wool. This was odd because I lived in Florida at the time). My oldest living UFO dates to about '96, and is a fuschia bias cut shell. Wool, lined of course. Fuschia - worn with grey houndstooth check - was a major micro trend at some point around then. I should really finish that thing.

Anyway, '90s minimalism looks fab now. I know I'm not the first person to say it, but it bears repeating.

Broo-Haa-Haa-Ing

2011-07-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

It must be the heat of summer, but there seems to be Broo-Haa-Haa-Ing all over the sewing interweb lately. I've been lucky to meet many of my favorite sewing bloggers, and they are universally charming, so I'm going to make a bold statement and say it's all The Other People's Fault. Unless of course, you are one of the Other People, in which case I reverse my opinion. I remember when knitting took off - there was a real sense of us vs them, and people fell into camps quickly with not much room or flexibility for acknowledging the "other sides'" perspective then. It was silly, but to be honest, massively entertaining to view from the sidelines. Now that I know people in the middle of the dust-up it just feels silly and pointless and occasionally quite mean.

Sew your frocks from Pork Chops if it makes you happy, just don't be mean to the people who choose Chicken Wire instead!

S**t Sewing

2011-07-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

The recent broo-haa-haa on the blogs about "What level of sewist do you consider yourself?" got me thinking about a really under-discussed category, that of S**t sewing. S**t sewing is that thing you start at about 9pm the night before you leave for a vacation, or extended work trip. It's anytime you sew something that you could actually buy at American Apparel or HM for less than $30. It's when you can't see your chalk markings and you just "wing" inserting that sleeve, or guessing where the hem line might roughly be.

I do a lot of S**t Sewing. Actually, the older I get, the more I do it, which is pretty much the opposite of what you'd expect. Unless it's a super fancy dress, I tend to put the sewing pedal to the floor and simply, "sew through it." Sometimes that's a bad strategy, as in the Cynthia Rowley dress, which would have benefitted from some more thoughtful work. Other times it works surprisingly well.

I really wanted a Breton top for my trip to LA. This is from a TNT Burda WOF pattern, it took about an hour to make, and despite the fact that it's made with all the classic S**t Sewing techniques; poor markings, shoddy pattern matching, eye-balling of all hems and facings, I think it works.

Do you do s**t sewing? Should it be a new "level" category on PatternReview?

Existential Angst Time

2011-07-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

I'm a few minutes away from hitting the final "send" on the freelance project that has taken up most of the last twelve months, which means one thing; it's existential despair time. I like to think of myself as pretty sane and stable, but my experience of this world is that it is pretty rough being out here alone. I know all the appropriate psycho-babble and "The Secret"-ish interpretations about life. I have dark thoughts, therefore my life sometimes feels dark. I don't do enough creative visualization; if only I sat and visualized that next big project it would appear. I don't leap-and-know-that-the-net-will-catch me enough. I get chastised a lot for saying things like, "life is scary," but that's my experience. Being single and middle-aged and living alone, with no one to split the cares of sustaining and building a life; scary. Being all those things and also being someone whose been pretty rootless for years; doubly scary. Living far away from family, but somehow resistant to going home. Scary.

One of my favorite expressions is, "it will all come out in the wash." I'm sure that five months from now I'll be working away on a new project. Life will feel settled again, maybe I'll even have a lease on a place. Either way it's likely I won't always be lost in a void of self-doubt. Till then I'm faking it.

Finished the Cynthia Rowley non-maxi dress

2011-07-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

If I still lived in Southern California this would have been my default Coachella dress. It's super light and airy, and I love the faux Japanese-Indigo fabric. Alas. There are issues. This dress really doesn't work so well, which is why I've copped out and done the cute little dress-on-a-twig photo shoot. PatternReview is full of complaints about the mysterious midriff bands. Here you can see how I did them - they are tacked on the outside of the midriff and one points down, one up. They serve no purpose and don't really add to the overall look of the dress. I'd do it differently if I made it again.

Another PR complaint is the ridiculously low neckline. I sewed it up an inch further than directed, and it still didn't work. I'll have to either make a keyhole neckline, or where a camisole under it. Frankly, I thought it was some fuddy-duddy-ness on PR, but no. Those ladies were right.

The skirt is massive IMO. I took out a lot of fabric from the gathers, but by that point was "over it," and didn't do a good job of balancing the skirt on the back. It hangs poorly and has some bubbles at the waistline.

On the plus, I do love the fabric. I found enough cotton voile to line it, and it's super pretty. The bodice fits well, even with my insane alterations, and I think it will be a good Sunday morning, "hey look, I'm not wearing jeans," dress.

Cynthia Rowley 2587

2011-07-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

I've had this Cynthia Rowley pattern sitting around for ever. Originally I thought the long sleeve version would make a great winter wool dress for New Mexico, but the pattern sat and gathered dust and I did nothing with it. A few days ago I finally decided to take it out for a spin, and see if it would work with the faux-Japanese-indigo cotton print I bought at Joanns. I figured that it could be a super cute summer dress for my upcoming 3 weeks in LA.

This is it tacked together. I'm not sure, I think I look a little beamy in it from the backside. I'm going to narrow the skirt considerably, and take it up at the back waist seam for a bit of sway-back love. I'm hemming and hawing about sleeves. Really, I should have cut the spaghetti strap version . Not sure why that didn't occur to me.

The biggest hurdle is that his dress clearly needs to be lined with a super fine white cotton lawn, which you can't find for love or money in WY. I don't do unlined dresses, and I do have some regular lining fabric in a cream / ivory color, which is totally wrong for this dress, but probably doesn't matter. yet I'm a little paralyzed at the thought of how great it would look if I had the right stuff. Oh well.

Most of the Pattern Reviews for this mention the mysterious bands. They are an enigma, wrapped up in a frustration, inside of a "WTF" to paraphrase Churchill. They are mentioned, once, very briefly, and then never discussed again. I don't really have any answers, my bands are seamed to the waistband, and the band 'folds' point down from the top of the waistband, or up from the bottom of it. That makes no sense, does it? My solution seems like somewhat pointless adornment. If I love this pattern and make it again I'll do something different w/ the bands.

The drag lines are a bummer. I think I over altered the pattern, doing my usual extreme shoulder slope, and lowering the armhole drastically. Maybe there is too little fabric and these are pull lines.

Finally, My Little Magpie. I used to be driven to tears and insanity by leafblowers in LA. the WY version are these little birds that make an infernal and unending racket, guarding the teen-age birds who've left the nest, but not quite figured out flying yet.

Thank you kind people of the Interwebs

2011-06-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

One thing I've noticed about North-West Wyoming - no place to buy quality dress-making notions, fashion fabric, patterns or anything sewing related. There is one cute and friendly quilt store that I discovered AFTER I hit up my good friend in Baltimore (Thanks Cidell, your vegan cookbook will be on it's way when it is published ) for some zips and bits. But they don't have much beyond quilting fabric, and some very dodgy zips that make a creaky-plasticy sound that suggests they won't last long.

I haven't had much time for sewing, but I did make another procrastination dress - it's the same pattern as the Star Trek Night Nurse dress, but sewn up in Black eyelet. The crappy zip will probably be replaced by one of Renee's superior zips at some point. I'm going to go car camping next week, and will do a fun photo shoot then (Grizzlies a plus), but till then here's a preview. I love it, tho it serves almost no purpose in my new Wild West life. I was going for that Jackie O in India look, and aside from the color (did she ever wear black?) think I nailed it.

The Neapolitan Hooker dress, pt 2

2011-06-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

I hope no one I know in the "real" world reads this, because there are rather too many photos of me in my underwear. (scroll down). More Safe For Work: The Beatnik Sweater progresses, the twisted rib takes forever. I still have no idea if it's going to work or not, I knit one sleeve and the gauge seems more or less correct. Let's see what happens.

Interstitial shot: Why the idea of me choosing to sew this dress now is so funny: view of a slushy snow-storm out of my window this morning. That's the local ski-mountain behind the precipitation. It's June 7th people.

Ahh. The naughty bits. I'm torn between calling this the Neapolitan Hooker, or the Italian Widow. It is a Franken-pattern. The bodice from Feb / 11 Burda, plus the high-waisted skirt in the same issue. If I go ahead with the real thing some darts and seam lines will have to be moved to line up. What do you think? I quite like it. It seems to more or less fit (though the pattern does call for stretch fabric, which I don't have. Do I wing it? Sew deeper into the seam allowances to give a smidge more breathing room?)
I was thinking about eliminating the waist seams to make it more of a dress, but then how do you handle the boning?
Then there is the age-appropriate question. I'm about to turn 40. Is this the dress a 40 year old woman should be wearing??
I love the 1950s hooker-with-a-heart shoes. Frye, on super sale.

The back is a little messy. I think that sewing in the zipper properly will fix this, and obviously the straps need work.

Bye for now,
x

The Claudia Sweater

2011-06-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

It's our weird obsessions that define us, right? At this moment I live in a little cabin at the base of a closed-for-the-summer-season ski mountain in the top left hand corner of Wyoming, but I'm obsessed with replicating the style of Ms Schiffer. There is some logic to this. I am going to Big West Coast city next month. Among many things I'm going to scrounge around for more work, and get started with a hip-hop artist on his book. Though he's only five years younger than me, "that's twenty in hip-hop years" as my agent pointed out. I'm curious to see how we connect, my client-to-be is international, and a bit of a cultural nomad-as am I. I have many passports for instance, as does he I imagine. Anyway, I can't show up in five year old corduroy pants and ratty t-shirts from The Gap (which is basically what I've worn everyday since I headed to NM and WY). So some nice clothes need to be pulled together. I've loved the Beatnik Sweater ever since it hit Ravelry. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Merino Aran that has been knit into TWO sweaters already and ripped each time. As you can imagine it's getting a bit fried. If the sweater works I will die it another color, as buttercup yellow does me no favors.

Badly fitting fashion, pt 2

2011-06-02T06:56:00.000-07:00

This picture is in the current (June'11) issue of American Vogue:

Maybe I'm turning into an old fuddy-duddy, pushing my glasses up my nose and harumphing, "what does she think she looks like... but seriously, what does she (or the stylist, or Anna Wintour) think she looks like here? I know Arizona Muse is one serious skinny-minny, but the bodice doesn't fit - at all. I'm guessing the waist has been pinned in to fit her middle, but the bust fits her as about as well as the Turin Shroud would. Is this a stylistic choice? Perhaps Muccia Prada is making a bold statement about tailoring, or fit, or feminism. Maybe ill-fitting clothes signal a woman's independence by disappointing the male gaze or something? I'm actually interested to know if there's some thought behind this. There must be really, because Vogue is too influential to do anything by accident. This actual dress didn't make the runway, but perhaps it is this dress in another colorway:

It seems to fit well enough in the Prada show, so maybe this is a choice on the part of US Vogue. It's interesting from a sewist's point of view because I would never deem this dress "acceptable to wear" if I'd made it, but here it is in Vogue.

A lot of pointless wondering really. Tomorrow I have a to turn in the project I've been working on for the last year. I really should have bigger fish to fry at this moment in time.

Tools for Self Reliance

2011-05-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

90s Vogue

2011-05-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

Mid-90s fashion looks so good right now, if I wasn't wearing old cords and mud boots (because it just snowed another 5" here in Wyoming!) I'd be totally wearing this:

I love that grown-up before out time dress and the kitten heels. It takes me back to actually being that age in that era, and thinking if I could simply pull off that look then everything else; the life, the career, the relationship would somehow fall into place. Of course it took another fifteen years before everything (or anything really) started to make sense. I kept my 1990 - 1995 US Vogues for years, until my Dad make the executive decision to throw them away. Bah.

Street style

2011-05-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

Living some what off the big-city grid means you have to rely on street style photos for inspiration about how "real women" dress these days. Especially when it's a lady of my age, and she gives me a sense of how you can look age-appropriate, but not "old." Claudia Schiffer was so tacky in the late 80s / 90s, in her little Karl Lagerfeld pastel Chanel mini-suits, but she seems to have really come into her own as she gets older. I love this look:

I'm sure she's wearing some expensive pieces here, but it's all very replicable with self-made, or mass-market pieces. Poor old CS, though. What a cad for a husband. January Jones? Really?

The other big source of style inspiration is the Youthquakers blog. Whoever is behind this blog posts fantastic images from early '70s issues of both US and UK Vogue. That look; a little sexy, a little bourgeois, looks so fresh right now. Womanly, and a little wanton, but in a very innocent, somewhat decorous way compared to today. I love a good early-70s heeled sandal. The square heel and straps looks so modern and chic right now.

Burda Bustier Top

2011-05-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen anyone in blog-land jump on the Burda 2/11 bustier top, which seems odd to me. It looks well-drafted, and is very au courant with the current interest in the Dolce and Gabbana S/S collection. I love the saucy little dash of Linda Evangelista in the early 90s plus a bit of Madonna in the 80s. It's got that great sexy Italian widow thing going on. Nice. I don't have much use for a bustier top, but I do have a lot of uses for a summer dress that is a little sexy, but also functional.

I'm hodge-podging the top together with the high-waisted skirt from the same issue. The darts in the skirt will have to be moved to align with the seams in the front of the top. Ideally I want to cut them as one piece, i.e., a dress rather than a skirt and top. I wonder if I really needed boning for this? I ask primarily because I just moved to a small town in North West Wyoming, and there's no boning to be had for at least three states in either direction (that sounds a bit odd, but never mind).

I'm a little peeved at Burda for recycling this top in the next issue - it makes it onto the cover as a strapless dress. Anyone else catch that?

Nan Goldin, Chelsea Hotel

2011-05-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

This dress was a bit of an experiment. It's a Burda WOF boatneck t-shirt top with an added skirt, the material is super soft jersey from Joanns, though I think it was a little stretched and off-grain. I was feeling that my wardrobe was skewing old, and I needed something with a little more joie de vivre. Stripes, jersey and mini seemed like a combination, but there's no getting around that I look a little nuts in this one.

Ideally I was going for a '70s downtown kind of vibe, but if I'm honest I look like a certain homocidial maniac from beyond the grave. The material is lovely, really soft and cozy, and I greatly enjoy wearing this dress, but the taste level really isn't there. I think I may remove the skirt (the double red band was a design choice, but it's too far down my body and looks accidental) and return this to a top.

I love the long sleeves and the boatneck. The dress concept will be returned to, but probably as a more basic little number.

The setting is my hotel room in San Jose, CA. Here for work, and missing my farm.

Final Star Trek Night Nurse dress

2011-04-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

I like it. The sleeves jumped between bracelet length (too tight) and no sleeves at all (too lazy to figure out)

Star Trek Night Nurse

2011-04-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

I love Star Trek. The Mod Minis, kinky boots and slightly awkward and unconvincing sexual liberation adds up to a fantastic mish-mash. I love Captain Kirk's belly and the idea that you can slap some body paint on a pretty girl and pass her off as an alien from a distant galaxy. This dress is my '60s shift pattern (scroooooollll down a bit). It has fantastic seam lines on the bodice front that are a bit lost in the bright sunshine. I topstitched them white on white, which is very forgiving when you are a terrible top-stitcher.

Now, as you can see, this dress isn't finished. Why? The fabric is linen / rayon (Joanns!) and obviously has zero stretch. I neatly forgot that my muslin had about 10% stretch. Thus the fantastic, darted, shaped sleeves look good but are almost impossible to raise my arms at all.

So, do I just accept reduced mobility and go with my original Star Trek Night Nurse vibe... or do I lose the sleeves and probably gain a slightly more wearable dress?

You'll also notice that the hem is buggered up. I traced this pattern off of the original, did extensive modifications (lowered bust dart, lowered arm hold, added back darts, changed slope of shoulder). Somehow I messed up the hem lengths. So the front piece was 2 inches longer than the back. I cut a hem facing and did a tiny seam, but haven't sewn it up yet.

Prada Ta Da

2011-04-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

I adore the Prada spring collection, look at this dress, love the colors and the stripes. If I ever time to actually sew again, something like this will be in the works. Funny - I've been a total Burda hater, very scornful of recent issues, but they actually have this EXACT PATTERN in the April issue. Clearly they are doing the best they can with current trends.

Butterwick 5032, part II, or, What no Sexy?

2011-04-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

This suddenly seems to be a very popular pattern, judging by the number of people I've seen refer to it on PR and SR, this is my second go round, and all I can say is WTF.

Now, it's not the fit. The fit is actually awesome thanks to all the (many, many, many) changes I made first time round. No, it's the 'what exactly was I thinking?' that has me going WTF. This is possibly the least sexy dress ever. Now, granted it's not hemmed, and since I don't have any interfacing (and am 100 miles away from the nearest source, I haven't faced or lined it either. But really? Why do I look at some bold and goofy curtains in a thrift store and think that a prim '50s sheath dress in this clownish fabric is what I, a 40 yo single woman, should be wearing?

Now, this might sound like a daft conundrum, but when I look back at my sewing history there is a notable lack of sexy. I have elegant clothes, retro clothes, quirky clothes... but only one certifiably sexy dress that I've made. What's up with that? I've never really thought about this before, but the truth is I rarely feel sexy in the clothes I make, and I wonder what message I'm sending to myself and the world with this attitude.

I have a cousin in NYC, who is a bit of a socialite queen. She'd a fashion editor, and shot all the time for the gossip columns, etc. And she - though the mother of 3, and several years older than me - is always sexy, in that Bianca-Jagger-just-out-of-the-shower kind of way. And she's completely magnetic to men, and other women. Is there something going on that I never try to be that person? Why wouldn't I? Who doesn't want to be sexy...

Anyhoo, dramatically shortening this dress might help. Wearing it with less clunky shoes might too. Or else it could simply be a lesson in 'things to think about.'

Thrift Store Curtains + Joanns = Stop Freaking Procrastinating already

2011-04-04T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here's what 80 bucks of fabric at Joanns looks like:

I'm somewhat blown away by how excited I know am to drive two hours to go to the once-hated Jo-anns. Since this is essentially my entire summer wardrobe budget spoken for I better get going and actually make something out of this. The natural-ish rayon / linen is for the button front dress I first muslined a few months ago. The pale denim for a '70s skirt pattern - again button front - and the print for a summer day dress. Let's see what I actually manage to get done.

The view from my living room last evening: The chapel is a local landmark, as iconic as a local landmark can get. Everyone knows where you are when you say you live under the Chapel.

The absurd amount of alterations I made to Butterwick 5032. Every one of the pattern pieces looks like this, and is falling apart, even though I've only made one muslin and one dress from it. I spent a chunk of this morning transferring it to craft paper.

Hi Taos Mountain!

And finally, after spending the big bucks at JAs, I found a huge pile of curtains with this print at a local thrift. The flowers are roughly handspan size, and quite bold and dramatic. Love it!

Once upon a time

2011-04-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

I took living an eight minute walk from the Mood Fabrics in LA for granted, now I'm grateful that I have a Jo-Anns only a hundred mile roundtrip from the farm!

Went today, and bought a stack of surprisingly good fabric for my Vintage button front dress, vintage button-front denim skirt (theme??) and a few other bits and pieces.

Deets to follow...

Meanwhile, another beautiful day in the rural idyll. I'm playing hookie and driving up to Taos w/ a new Facebook friend this afternoon.

Is Forty the new F***-Off?

2011-04-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

I'm still locked up in book / goat production, so not much sewing, but I've been thinking about something a whole lot lately.

I'm about to turn 40, and most of my friends are somewhere in that age range. After a few years of really wanting to get married and have kids, I seem to have passed a tipping point. Instead of melting down into single girl panic (as all my man lady mags would recommend) I seem to be OK, in fact, more than OK. After many years of semi-miserable urban living, I'm finally having a bit of an adventure with my life. Every morning I fire up a pick-up that's only a few years younger than me, drive down a dirt track, and ... well, things happen. It's fun. I really like it. There are a whole lots of 'don'ts' in my life. Don't have much money. Don't have a man. Don't have a real home. Don't have health insurance. Don't have much of a clue what's happening next, but none of the don'ts seem to matter as much as I thought they would. I'm not scared in the way I'm supposed to be scared.

The point is this. I feel like I know a whole bunch of women who aren't scared, even though according to all the articles and TV shows they really should be. In fact, I think that once you find peace with the 'don't's there's an amazing moment where the crap you've accepted as part of your life starts to slip away. I may not have a lot of things - and maybe I'll regret not having them in the future - but right now 'not having' is starting to feel liberating. Not having possessions frees you up to go wherever you want, whenever you want. Not having kids - ditto. Not having bills, a mortgage... and so on. I'm a naturally optimistic person. If I was married, with children, I'd probably be happy too - or at least making the best of it. But right now, for the first time, I'm really quite glad it's just me.

Stop Kidding Around

2011-03-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

Besides the fact that I have a book due in two months (two months!!!) I have another excuse for the total lack of creative activity here of late:

Moving, again

2011-03-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

I never really know how to mix personal stuff with sewing and craft stuff on this blog, but here goes. Right now I'm sitting in the midst of my entire bubble-wrapped, boxed-up life. Again. Actually for the 6th time in the last 14 months. No need to rehash the whole hellish experience, but it started with a seemingly wonderful relationship going really, really bad. And ever since then I've been on the run. Mostly to avoid the temptation to go back to a bad situation. Now I'm two states away, and my sub-let is up and I'm packing again. I try to be positive. It's good to invite change, take chances, avoid old-bad situations. And so on. But the truth is if there was anyway for me to make it work with my ex in a non-toxic, healthy way I would high-tail it back there. This is an exhausting way for a soon-to-be 40 woman to live her life. But right now I don't know what else to do.

Cocktail Frocks on the Rio Grande

2011-03-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

My best friend's husband took us along with him as he fished the Rio Grande (well, actually the Red River, but it turns into the Rio Grande about half a mile down stream). Obviously it seemed like a good chance to put on my new dress, some high-heels, red lippie, and do an impromtu sewing shoot.

Fishing Widows!

Thanks New Mexico, for everything.

Non-Buttonfront dress

2011-03-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

Turns out that when you are sewing a dress out of a tablecloth you bought at Sally Ann - don't make cutting mistakes. Odds are poor that you will find the same tablecloth again. So no button front. But I am pleased with one aspect of this dress.

I think I am shedding my need for "Pointless Perfection." This dress has plenty of errors and flaws, but I'm not letting myself fixate on them, or go back and fix them unless they really, really matter. Maybe a whole new life philosophy is blooming? Life ain't perfect, so just enjoy the best you can do?

I'm quite pleased with the way I jury-rigged a faced lining. There were some errors here, namely in tracing the facing and lining pattern pieces off of the main pattern pieces. But so what, it looks ok, gives the dress a nice shapely form (even on the hanger). i love the way the bust darts use the lines of the fabric to give a little detail. I love the little sparkle mixed in with the slubby linen-like quality of the fabric. It's super ravelry but it has fantastic texture.
Think positive! In all things!

Hemming tomorrow, then formal fashion show to follow!

Thrift Store Score

2011-02-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

A few days ago I was in our local Sally Ann when I noticed that the usually kind-of-crap sewing section was stuffed with vintage patterns, and a rolling cabinet of notions and accessories. A beautifully maintained Nelco (mid-50s) or so was sitting on the floor. I quickly realized that a local seamstress must have bitten the dust. Her patterns dated from 1958 (the same birth year as my ex, which gives me an odd pang still) and were carefully itemized. Each had a sticky note (for the newer patterns) or a note attached with a pin (the older ones) noting missing pieces. Given by the very random assortment of sizes and styles I'm guessing she was the seamstress for her family, whipping up dolly-girl frocks for a young teenager, or more sedate knit suits for herself.

I bowed my head for a moment in memory of a fallen soldier.

I bought the notions, and am kicking myself for not buying the machine... oh well.

Can I get away with this one? I love the black mini-version of this dress. It looks like something that Courtney Love would wear in a wildly inappropriate fashion, now. I can see her getting drunk and stumbling over Michael Musto in this. And she's 45... though I suppose comparing myself to CL isn't actually a good thing. I love the ruffles and the pork-pie neck. She looks like the cunning daughter of a naive Mom... 'don't worry, all the other kids dress like this, promise.' It's very Virgin Suicides. Except black of course. I wonder who a sweet lady in Santa Fe sewed this for.

Way too small for me, but love the pocket detail, and the wrap 'n' sash on top right.

Umm-hmm. Prissy Secretary up to no good is a favorite look. I've checked and all the necessary pieces for the look on the far-right are included. Yes!

Mod secretary on the make. This looks like something my Mum would have sewn in the 60s, on her way to her desk job in Philly (I'm not sure why a nice English girl made a detour to Philly. Her final destination was the Bahamas).

Button front Studebaker Dress

2011-02-27T07:52:00.000-08:00

I"ve been thinking a lot about how "perfect is the enemy of the good." The button front dress isn't perfect, but the changes I made to the pattern have made it good. Is that good enough? I... lowered the armholes, took out some length in the back bodice and skirt at the waist. I lengthened the back waist darts (my sway back fix from my self-taught sewing days... back before blogs and seamstressing were fashionable!). I turned the front skirt tucks into darts because the tucks were not going to work with a thicker fabric like this. What else... Oh, dramatically sloped and lowered the shoulder seams to compensate for my insane sloping shoulders (I told a friend they slope like the sides of a volcano. They are hard to fit, and for years I didn't realize that most women can actually wear a shoulder strap on a handbag - I can't. The shoulder strap instantly slides off and the bag hits the deck)

I took a leaf out of Peter @ Malepatternboldness book and used a table cloth from the Sally Ann. It has a nice linen feel, with brown and green slubby bits... but has a slight melt-y tendency under a hot iron. It needs the button front to give it some pizazz. I'm doing this all backwards of course - making the dress as is to test fit before slicing down the front to bring the pizazz.

And finally... this is my non-muslin fabric. It's from Guatemala, and is basically the fabric that is used to make the tote bags that stoner kids in highschool favor. Nice, eh? It's super thick, but I think I can make it work... Button thoughts? I'm thinking the middle. Red is too obvious and glaring.

I love how the semi-rural bit of the world I live in is full of strange textures, unusual colors and random bits of history floating around. This picture is an old concrete post, the dark stuff might be soot, but that doesn't jibe with the insanely clean air we have around here. Anyway, I liked the slightly melancholy decay of it...

And I saw this at the post office. Can't believe how freaking old I - and all the cohorts of my youth - are getting. Sheez.

Fitting or just Fit

2011-02-21T08:24:00.000-08:00

Fitting is a huge deal for me, as it is for most seamstresses. I can't stand a dress that has wrinkles, gapes or other issues. If I'm going to the trouble of making something, it can't look 'homemade.' But I wonder how crazy we should all really drive ourselves. The opening fashion story of March Vogue has this image as it's first spread:

I adore Amber Valleta, and her Tippi Hedren on the run styling. But surely this is a very poorly fitting blouse? It seems a hair too tight, (hence the pulls across the chest and the button placket - as a consequence - seems to be pulling away from the body of the shirt). If I made this blouse I wouldn't be happy with it, but clearly Amber, Steven Klein, Camilla Nickerson and Carolina Herrera were all good with it, so surely I should be too?

Spring, or "Is God just Messing?"

2011-02-21T07:05:00.000-08:00

Suddenly it's warm and balmy outside, the birds are going nuts, and what few snow flurries fall can't actually stick. It's most confusing, but officially it seems like a good time to give up on winter sewing. Clearly I don't have the disposition or inclination for it. My fantastic Flight Attendant winter Mod Mini dress is sitting in pieces with a few fitting issues frustratingly un-solved. I haven't cracked open my Wearing History 1930s blanket jacket pattern. Even though it's pretty much a no-brainer for the transition months...

I love the styling of this Giles dress, even though the fit seems bizarrely lazy. (Isn't it funny how insane we drive ourselves getting every wrinkle out... and then you see runway or fashion shoots fitting that can only be described as 'sloppy'). When I saw this dress I stashed it away on my harddrive, and thought I'd give it a go for spring '11. I used the yellow version of Butterwick 5032, sliced it down the middle front and added button bands. It seems to work. the box pleats aren't doing me any favors, and I may stitch them down. The back is here to showcase my bizarrely sloping shoulders, I"m not an insane swimmer, was simply born that way. It makes fitting clothes incredibly hard. The muslin is made out a gross old puce bedsheet, it smells nasty, and I'm blaming the horrific color for the fact this dress does 'nothing for me.' I"m holding out hope that in a decent fabric this one will kick it. I'll also try taking in the length of the skirt from the hips down...

The other wee issue getting in the way of planned sewing is that as of May 1st I'll officially be homeless again. Not homeless in the scary, "out of work, can't pay the bills way," but homeless in the, "no particular place I need to be way." I might go to Wyoming, maybe Florida, maybe Ohio, maybe back to the UK. Just not back to the emotional quagmire of LA. Please God not to LA. (unless a really, really good job is offered, in which case I will suck it up).

Good God Google

2011-01-22T19:09:00.001-08:00

I was dying when I realized this.

My last 5 google searches, as they appear, top to bottom, are:

Comcast bill pay    (ok)
Why is dating to hard these days (well... It is!)
Pilates routine email     (Important to look good...)
Full abdomen pants    (um....)
Single after 40   (maybe because I need full abdomen pants???)

(fyi... The pants was an attempt to find a good pattern alternation technique. Not that I’m trying to just ify it.)

New Mex style

2011-01-17T20:59:00.001-08:00

Figuring out what the hell to wear in New Mex is tricky. It's muddy and goes from bloody cold to wet to hot and back in the time it's taken you to muck the chickens. Having a wardrobe of twenty hand-sewn cocktail dresses, and Prada shoes your ex bought you doesn't go so far here. But fraying cords and oversized flannel... not so sexy either. The second pic from the bottom is totally stolen from The Snail and the Cyclops.. but is 100% my inspiration for how I'd like to look. The colors are fantastic, and I love her joyful laugh and clove cigarette...

Pretty New Mexico

2011-01-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

Sea of Shoes

2011-01-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

I never used to understand the vitriol that Sea of Shoes inspires in certain parts of the blog world, but now I'm starting to get it. I really, really hope this young girl is getting a sound education, and being exposed to bigger ideas than over-consumption of unnecessary objects, and the pursuit of image and external beauty.

Sigh.

Dressing up, creating a look, exploring the ways in which you can present a visual and aesthetic story to the world - is FUN! And we all do it, but there has to be a balance between that and the more-meaningful realities of life. There is something insanely depressing about the thousands and thousands of dollars of shoes that are purchased or gifted so casually. I hope she has a rich and deep inner life that is not documented in the blog.

Not Alexander McQueen

2010-12-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

My second muslin for the Pan Am mini-dress is almost done, and looks much better... I'm going to lower the neckline some more, and also angle the center bodice piece in a bit more, to take out some width at the top, if that makes sense. Hard to nab a good picture in the snowy twilight, I'll try again when it's completely done. Does anyone actually wear clothing made from Polyester Gaberdine? What's the point? Unless your groping for the TSA, or issuing parking tickets? It's a pretty joyless fabric. What on earth was I thinking??

I've sewn this up in the most vile polyester gaberdine knit, that is EXACTLY the same color as my old stewardess uniform... it did occur to me I could have just thrown on my United dress and got more or less the same effect, but oh well! 100% poly, 100% flammable, and 100% unlikely to make it out the door! But the dress actually looks pretty good, and I'm kind of impressed with how I was able to solve the major fit problems.

After a bit of sewing I hit the thrifts and scored a goldmine of Pendleton and tartan. The two mid-calf A-line skirts are Pendleton, the kilt is (I think) the real "Made in Scotland" deal. Really worn... the wool has a few moth holes, and the leather taps are worn and totally punk. I'm going to shorten it to the knee and let the ends fringe.

The Pendletons? One has already been taken apart, and if I can squeeze the yardage out of it, will be made into a very Alexander McQueen strapless mini (from Burda). The other, not sure? I got it to shorten and wear, but it seems tres frump. I thought about combining the two plaids, but theres a reason A MQueen was who he was, and we aren't. That shit is hard!

Socked In, so Sewing

2010-12-17T06:55:00.000-08:00

New Mexico is finally socked in with snow, at least a foot, which is great, except that I live at the end of a long, unplowed drive... but great anyway. It's an adventure, I probably won't starve, and if I do I can slink of in my new Sorels to an overpriced downtown cafe. Assuming they are open...

In the meantime I've modified my muslin for the Pan Am dress. Lots of changes, God knows is they will work. I've dropped the shoulder down a centimeter, moved the front armhole in a bit to compensate for the slanted wrinkles I had running from front shoulder down to the side of the armhole. Moved down the bust dart. Added back darts to take in some of the excess fabric and hopefully help with my swayback. Given a more open, almost boatneck rather than the tight little jewel neckline.... Taken in the sides a little to accommodate my high hips (there's a pretty dramatic jut at my hips, so i need quite and odd, sudden slope out right below the waist...

Now of course I'm socked in, so no Jo-Anns for me (the only game in town, fabric wise). The only fabric I have is some very tacky knit poly gaberdine. It has a bit of stretch, which probably wrecks my muslining, but I've got nothing else to do today, and nowhere to go... so! Let's see what happens.

A few days ago I used my 'new' trust Fleetwood for the first time... it ran great for about three seconds, and stopped cold. The flywheel was turning, but the shank wasn't moving... Which was hugely distressing, since I'd pretty much blown my sewing machine budget buying and rehabbing it. I put it back in it's table, and tried not to think about it, till my friend round the corner came over. He's a shy, big guy, and a mechanic. He took one look, opened up the back, tinkered for 2 seconds, and it runs great. Easy way to a woman's heart boys!

Hard to see here, but this is the front upper bodice that is cut on a fold, and is an insert in the main front piece (also on the fold). Very curious to see if these mods will help...

What I do when not sewing or writing:

2010-12-12T19:17:00.000-08:00

Make out with Goats.

Nothing gets you out of a depressive funk faster than week-old kids gamboling with abandon around the gorgeous New Mexican countryside...

Amazonian Night Nurses of The Third Reich

2010-12-11T21:16:00.000-08:00

I'm a pretty tall woman - almost 5'9", and this is a mid-60s pattern, but it's practically down to my knees! I can only imagine how disappointed the swinging teens of '65 would have been if they made this up without muslining it first. Cut as directed it has a distinctly stern Matron vibe about it. I feel like I need to chastize a candystriper and steal a nip from the flask hidden in the potted ponsietta. However. I think there is hope. Shortened (pictured), it's getting closer to cute. The back is too broad, but I think I can take care of that by taking in the center back seam allowance. The bust darts will be lowered a tad, and the side seams taken in to.

What I really love about this pattern is the unusual bodice piecing, that will make the top stitching really fun. There's a cute little back belt too...

Any fitting tips welcome... especially around the shoulders and the armholes...

I've always wanted to dress a la Andrea Zittell, in a daily uniform of dresses that only marginally differ from each other... maybe this will be it!

I also managed to FINALLY finish my Bubble sweater from Norah Gaughn's Nature Knits... I'm not in love with it, the work is pretty careless, but it's been at least 4 years from start to finish. I misplaced it about 6 moves ago, and it finally resurfaced when I was unpacking in Santa Fe. It has a majorly Molly Ringwald vibe to it, but at least it's (almost) done. Just needs some finishing and some ignoring of weird seaming and lumpy bits.

And my Bubble sweater success inspired me to fish out my Wendy Bernard' Essential Stripe, which languished due to a f****-*p that required a lot of ripping / cursing / tears to rectify. Its' cute though...

It's cold and dark outside my little adobe house. Thank god for electricity and hot water!

I'm off to sign up for Hulu Plus, so I can spend this Saturday night in bed, watching Law and Order!
Night,
C

United Airlines, 1965, Flight 1 Hong Kong

2010-12-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

I used to be a stew at United, and I loved going to World HQ in Chicago, and looking at the displays of old uniforms. I actually picked UA to work for because I thought they had superior branding and style over AA and Delta (the other choices at the time). It's been a while since I last flew as a Trolley Dolly, but I picked up this pattern on ebay because it really sums up the style of the era, and how UA stews were uniformed in the mid-60s.

I'm muslining it now, here's hoping it fits....

The other dress chugs along, but nothing exciting to share just yet....

Have a great flight!

Thrifting

2010-12-09T08:46:00.000-08:00

I've renounced shopping since I found myself out of work, and minus one fiancee, and life generally in upheaval. Luckily I've moved to the thrifting epicenter of the world. Though the heyday of Santa Fe thrifting is behind it - you can no longer find killer cowboy boots for five bucks at the Sally Ann - it's still pretty good, especially if you are looking for Tchotches to brighten up the place....

I scored with a great little adobe hideout right in the middle of town, but it came fully furnished with some pretty gnarly stuff - now the little grey armchair is the last hold-out of gnarlitude. My sister's beat-to-hell IKEA couch is covered with a $4.00 crocheted throw from Sally Ann. The colors are very New Mexico and I say a silent thank-you to the Grandma who whipped it up. The little teeny chairs are great for the fireside parties I like to throw. The little New Mexico coffee cup is pure chintz, but kind of cute. And I love the RoadRunner. Kind of reminds me of myself this last year.... And the Time Life series from the 60s are essential reading if a) you like to cook. b) you like to sew.

Working on a couple of seasonally-inappropriate dresses... and I'll post soon.

Naive Snow Princess seeks Prince

2010-12-08T07:02:00.000-08:00

In the last few months I've:
1) Dealt with some significant emotional turmoil... which led me to
2) Move out of state, a good 800 miles away from my former home.
3)Gotten started on making a new life for myself here in The City Different.
4)Signed a book deal that is due very very soon.

All this adds up to a testing time, and not much room / energy for sewing, but conversely the insane stress of the year 2009 means that I really need to sew. I need that sense that "I did this." Something good came out of bad and life moves on.

My new locale is at 7000+ feet, and we should be deluged by snow any minute. But for some reason all I really want to sew are dresses. I've cute out the pattern for Simplicity 0495, which is a fantastic Cynthia Rowley dress, I'm doing the long sleeved dress version. BUT...

I'll be changing the neck line to add the very charming cut out detail a la Twinkle, and this anonymous fashion photo. With plenty of long underwear, scarves and moonboots, this should be just perfect for bitter cold and snow drifts!

Fleetwood Mac

2010-12-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

My new old machine is getting it's first test drive repairing my Groovy Mod Mini. The Groovy Mod Mini is made out of vintage fabric sourced from ebay... I'm not sure what it is, it's clearly a man-made fiber, but it's quite soft and pleasant to the touch. I made it for a meeting with Trina Turk, when I was trying to persuade her to let me write her book... but I'm not sure if she was impressed or not. I saw her eyeing it up and down, but no actual comment. You be the judge of what that means! Maybe it felt like I was trying to hard. The pattern is from Burda WOF, but I'll have to dig around to remember what month / style.

I subsequently wore this to a Hollywood Hills party, where a designer for Max Azaria told me, "big flowers are in," and I got kind of drunk. When I got home I ripped the zipper tab off, and end up having to pull the dress apart to get it off... alcohol!

Marc Jacobs meets Pan Am mini

2008-06-16T08:56:00.001-07:00

As part of my on-going obsession with a) My Mom's early 70s, living the good life in the Bahamas wardrobe, AND airplane culture of the same groovy era...

The PAN-AM mini: I feel very mod in it, and just need the matching sugarscoop hat. Whatcha think?

I may be back...

2008-06-12T11:30:00.001-07:00

The blogging inspiration pretty much withered and died for the last year or so... lots of vaguely bad stuff going on in life, love and work. It's been a slog to get back to a place where I want people IN my life, rather than safely locked outside of it. But maybe I'm there.

Anyway:

I was looking through one of my notebooks the other day. I've cut out and collages inspirational fashion for years... and it's kind of funny how little it all changes. These are pages from 2004 I believe, and they look exactly like my most current ones!

I think you can see that I love vintage dress shapes, and great fabric colors and patterns!

Another new dress....

2007-10-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

I made this dress for a Halloween party on Saturday, and it is the first dress I have ever started and finished on the same day. I cut the first piece at 9am, and sewed the last hem stitch at 6pm. For 30 bucks of fabric (my favorite Duponi silk, with a silk lining) I think I got a pretty fantastic dress. I added fake blood, some costume jewellery, and black evening gloves for a Park Ave Vampire look. (The pattern is Vogue 9668 I think... out of print though).

The only downside is that I missed my friend (hopefully still...!) Lisa's gallery opening. Lisa I'm a schmuck and a louse. I'm sorry...

It still needs some work, and the only zipper I had was electric blue (Ill have to paint it black with a Sharpie marker and black nail polish), but I think it came out well...

C

Executive Decision

2007-10-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

The Marni dress is orange, brown and orange, with the same fabric at both top and bottom. Since my goal is to only use stash fabrics as much as I can, this seemed a good choice. I got some great advice on shade valuation though (see comments), and I'm going to keep that in mind as much as possible. I really like the way the colors look --- this will be just perfect for a Los Angeles Thanksgiving! I still need to buy some lining fabric, and get it finished, but this is more or less how it will look.

I never wear skirts this short, but I kind of like the length after all...

The other thing I'm doing is finishing old projects... next up is this double breasted, military style jacket from Burda 10/04. I got discouraged by my inneptitude at setting sleeves, but I really love the style, so I want to get it done for this winter. Balenciaga showed similar jackets in his Fall / Winter 07-08 show, so I dont think it's too, too out of style just yet.

Marni Dress...

2007-10-16T09:53:00.001-07:00

I am finally making the Marni dress ("Tennis Style!") from the June issue of Patrones. I decided that I am only sewing fabric that I already own, and not buying anymore for at least a few more garments, but am sort of stumped on this one. The dress has three bands of fabric, and I am using a little of the left over blood orange silk for the top band. The middle band is recycled from one of the brown curtains that I made for the apartment in the Fontenoy. But what should the bottom band be? I have two potential fabrics. A pale green silk with embroidered flowers, or a brighter green silk. But they both seem too whimsical somehow. I think the final band should be midnight blue, and I've tried it out here with some jersey in that color. Thoughts?

When all else fails...

2007-10-14T19:14:00.001-07:00

I was kind of hoping this weekend might be more exciting than the last, with my Nerve date who was totally charming, but at least 10 years older than advertised. But no dates this weekend alas, not even coffee at CrapBucks round the corner. Come on guys, at this point all you have to be is attractive enough to make out with, I'm not looking for a great career, stimulating hobbies, or fancy digs. I can supply all those myself.

Anyway, no romance, but I did make a new shirt. This is from the newest Burda (10/07) and I made it out of some mysterious jersey that was in my stash. Sewing knits is always a bit of an adventure for me, and makes me wish I had a sewing mentor to turn to, rather than being 100% self taught. I used fuse web instead of hemming, which has always seemed like a bit of a cheat in the past, but it sure makes the sewing process faster. I adjusted for a sloping shoulder, but forgot to reduce the sleeve cap as well, which is why it looks a little poofy. Not totally sure about thsi, so I'll wear it tomorrow to see how it holds up over a day at the office.

Paired it here with my tapered Levi's that I got free at a clothing swap, and took in myself. Free outfit, sweet!

And this is why it takes twice as long to sew one tee-shirt as it should...

Forever 21, part two

2007-10-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

I totally loved the Marc by Marc Jacobs collection, even though it seemed to get panned by everyone else... yet another example of clothes that will be ripped off left, right and center, by both evil, human-rights-abusing, planet-despoiling chains and home sewers alike....

Totally dug the flight attendant hats that he had tipping off the front of the model's bouffants, and that perfect little stew shoes they accessorized with. One girl even had a set of cherry red rollaboard luggage. Mine was scruffy black nylon, but whatever... one can dream.

nudnik...

2007-10-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

Aren't cute cat photos obligatory on a crafting blog?

Finished...

2007-09-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

The orange dress was a hit at the wedding... I literally finished it about half-an-hour before dinner, and the lining still isn't tacked down properly. In fact, in the bathroom at the restaurant I noticed I still had a couple of pins holding it all together! I ended up lining the bodice as well on this, and think it helped give it more body and stability. Pretty proud all round. Nice to wear a homemade dress that gets tons of compliments, and my favorite Prada shoes (on sale, come on...) set it off nicely. I can see making this dress again. It has a very LAMB feel in the tartan that Burda made it up in, and I like that a lot.

Forever 21, about two weeks from now...

2007-09-26T14:50:00.000-07:00

I love the new Prada spring / summer 08 dresses. They are a hybrid of the Galaxy, and something a little more esoteric and exotic. The fabrics are fantasticly bold and rich, with a strong vintage feel. The contrasting piping is fun and youthful, and the large cut-out over the chest adds a shot of sex-appeal... the shoes are hideous, and badly fitting. If you look at the close-ups on style.com you can see the leather over the toes painfully cutting into the model's flesh. The handbags look like super-deluxe versions of those patched-leather 1980's handbags you find in the Goodwill.

The funniest / saddest thing is that I can almost guarantee that these dresses will soon be in production in China, for sale to the cheapo stores like F21. (Just look at what happened to Christopher Kane... 'his' dresses are easy to find on ebay, and his entire collection was stolen a few days before his spring / summer show, presumably to 'inspire' the factory designers who re-create his work).

The rip-off frocks will be available for purchase months before the Pradas hit the market, and I wonder how they will affect the 'prestige' of buying actual Prada. The quality will probably be good enough to satisfy the masses, but the ubiquity of the neck design will probably cheaper the overall effect for more affluent consumers. I wonder if we will ever see a day where fashion designers start holding back some of their designs from the runway shows, to try and maintain some element of surprise and exclusivity for their high-end product?

After all, if anyone can have the 'Prada' look for 30 bucks, granted with lower quality, then what exactly is Prada selling?

Space Age "In the Mood for Love"

2007-09-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

This is a really kick ass, spage-age, Choensang (I know I spelt that wrong). It has great tucked pleat details, an empire line, and a folded collar. My step-brother is getting married next weekend, and the rehearsal dinner is in a Chinese restaurant, so I thought it would be fun to wear something to get into the spirit of things... The pattern goes together super easily, and despite the apparant complexity of the design its one of the quicker dresses I've made from Burda. The only bad things is that the pleats on the back look a bit funny and poofy. I might have to finsh them properly for a sleeker look.

These pics are still from the fitting stage, so the collar isnt attached, and I had to hold it closed at the back, hence the funny post.... The pic on the floor is a better representation of how it will look when finished.

Update...

2007-08-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while. Just haven't had a bunch to share, even though a lot has happened. In the last month I've:
*moved into my own apartment, the first time in 9 years I've lived by myself
*learnt to meditate, and seen an amazing improvement in my mental and emotional health
*started to take Wellbutrin, which has given me a real kick in the pants at work
*gone flying in a friends private plane, and realized that I really want to get my license
*gone riding in Topanga Canyon, and remembered how much I love it
*realized that cooking for one kind of sucks
*plotted to kidnap my dog
*done very little sewing, but slowly working through unfinished knitting projects
*thrown away my TV, and subscribed to the few shows I love (30 Rock, Dexter) through itunes
*read a bunch more
*gotten back into my yoga habit
*gone running for the first time this century
*gone to my meditation group Knowledge Meetings on Monday, and been impressed by how many people are being touched by the practice.

More soon!

Simplicity 3631

2007-08-02T22:07:00.001-07:00

I am such an old fart. This new Simplicity pattern totally speaks to me. The whole thing is very Audrey Hepburn, chic, effortless, sophisticated. Exactly what I need to run the streets of LA in. If I didn't feel ancient before... I guess I must just give up and accept that I am about 40 years behind the times, and just go with it. The current (and apparantly last) issue of Sew Stylish is devoted to multiple incarnations of this pattern...

This weekend I move into my new apartment. It is in a very orthodox jewish neighborhood, which suits me fine. Plenty of businesses within walking distance, valet service at the corner market, and the lulling sounds of chanting on Friday at sunset...

Va-voom...

2007-07-26T16:48:00.001-07:00

My Burda WOF dress is almost finished, and perhaps the close-up shot explains why I like it so much! I'm usually accused of dressing uber-conservatively, which is fair enough, but this one, with it's 50's styling, gives me a little cocktail hour flair.... a more detailes post to come...

Libertine dress in action

2007-07-25T16:53:00.001-07:00

I wore my Libertine dress to work today, and got some very pleasing feedback... I like the vintage-y styling, and with the 30's shoes I look like a tea-girl in pre-war London.... always a good look for me!

Hummingbirds...

2007-07-23T10:17:00.001-07:00

I'll post on my super fantastic Burda WOF 50s dress shortly... till then...

No great post, but just something really beautiful and inspiring that I saw today.

I was walking Seven up the hill, and stopped at an amazing bit where you can stand at the top of a steep cliff / hillside, and look over the whole of Los Angeles. There was quite at wind, and as I watched the wind shot a tiny, tiny little bird up about 50 feet in the air over me. It hovered for a second, folded it's wings back, and dive bombed down all the way to the distant valley floor. Again and again several teeny tiny hummingbirds did this--letting the wind shoot them up high high into the air, then plummeting down like a rollercoaster. It was obvious they were just revelling in the joy of movement and being alive.

For some reason I found it incredibly moving to see joy and a love of life in such tiny creatures...

That's my thought for the day!

Libertine Dress...

2007-07-16T13:30:00.001-07:00

Like every other women in the world I jumped on this one:

Target reduced me to tears, so I ordered it in both size 7 and 9, and will return whatever doesn't fit...

Been a while...

2007-07-16T12:57:00.001-07:00

I've been AWOL for the last 6 weeks or so, hopscotching from weddings in Miami and Southampton to a sojurn in a french village with my Mum. Its been lots of fun, but also stressful in that way that travel can be when your life is incredibly unsettled already. In ten days I have to give up my fantastic Laurel Canyon apartment, and find new digs, which kind of sucks. Anyway, while I was in France I managed to pick up Patrones, and a new pattern mag for me, the Italian Modellina. Both are packed with great patterns:

The pants are a great slouchy, perennially good looking shape. I've never tried pants before, but might give these a whirl. The cover pattern in Patrones is fantastic too... a Marni color block dress... the pattern I've photographed is something I would never normally sew, but Tany did a fantastic job with something similar, and has inspired me!

Here, finally, is a finished dress! I started this literally years ago, and in one of my many moves it got packed up and forgotten about. It was from a Vogue pattern that I've since lost, and was inspired by Annabella Lwin in Bow Wow Wow---kind of a early Vivienne Westwood feel. It is silk from Vogue Fabrics in Chicago (since closed down I believe) and has a great piratical feel... I almost wore it to the Cafe Tacuba show at the Hollywood Bowl last night, but figured I would be too cold...

Almost posted a shot of my Burda WOF dress---a 1950s fitted cocktail dress from the Feb issue--- but without the lining you can see my knickers, and that is just TMI!

One thing that always cheers me up...

2007-06-14T10:06:00.000-07:00

1) Wearing an evening dress to work. I do this a lot, because beautiful dresses are absolutely my favorite thing to buy. In the last week I have worn: an ankle length, 1970's, bright-red, skin-tight crocheted mermaid gown. A Trina Turk silver grey halter neck 1950s cocktail sheath over a black tee-shirt. A bias cut green chiffon dress. My "Pat Nixon" orange and pink chiffon dress.
The secret to doing this is pairing the dress with casual shoes and adding a layering element, like a shrunken cardigan or tee-shirt, to make it a bit more day.

I do this a lot, and it always cheers me up...

Suzy Wong...

2007-06-04T12:40:00.001-07:00

Well, this dress isn't quite done yet, but it's done enough to be worthy of posting I reckon. I learned alot making this, mainly that:

a) Starting a dress in 2005, and finishing it in 2007 shows poor work management skills.
b) Cheap materials are NEVER a wise investment, especially when you add up how many hours of your life you are going to put into the damn thing.
c) You need to honor your investment in the dress. If I'm going to spend a weekend and many evening sewing, then I need to respect this, and put a suitable amount of effort into really precise tracing, cutting and sewing. Ditto with the fabric; the clothes I make tend to last forever, so I need to get over my skin-flint tendancies and buy decent material.

This dress actually looks pretty good all things considered, but I'm not thrilled with it. I was a little sloppy when I cut out the fabric, and as a result the seam allowances were all different widths, which made precise sewing tricky. There is a lack of balance that bothers me.

One thing I am thrilled with is that I finally conquered invisible zips, which have always flummoxed me. I was never able to insert an invisible zip the way Threads or any other reference books tells you to (before you sew the seam). I used the technique that was outlined very well on another blog (sew the bottom of the seam up to where the zipper stop will be. Press the seam allowance to use as a sewing guide, sew each half of the zip down the respective seam, use a longer zip than you need so you can just sew over it where the zip stop should be, rather than futzing around with getting the bulk of the zip stop inserted....)

I'm also really happy to realize that sz 38 in Burda WOF, is my Golden Rule, or whatever you want to call it. It just works almost perfectly for me. Vogue doesn't always suit me, Simplicity's sizing seems way off but Burda is just right....

Now that makes me happy!

Fugly, or Fantastic?

2007-05-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

I secretly love this afghan / blanket thing from the Time Life Art of Sewing series. The series is a 10-volume guide to sewing and knitting that came out in the 1970s, and has some amazing design and photography. Not cheesy, more glam and retro-licious. I think this afghan, knit in the HoJo color ways, could look amazing in a really pared down, modern bedroom, with no totchkes or knick-nacks to give a sense of fustiness or grandma-ness.

what do you think?

But I care, really I do.

2007-05-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight is time for more sewing. I am desperate to start a few new pieces in some recent Burdas (the fifties cocktail dress from 2/2007 and the forties wrap from the same issue), but I have to complete something before I can do that. Hopefully there will be some more sewing content at that point.

In the meantime, a rant.

Every evening I walk my dog up a twisting road in my Laurel Canyon neighborhood. About half way up this bucolic country road I pass a pretty little house, with two very expensive cars sitting outside it. At least twice a week the owner of these two cars is out there washing them. Now, we are in the midst of a potentially very dangerous drought, and LC is a notorious fire trap. The whole Canyon is tinder dry, and packed with wooden frame houses that sit at the top of narrow windy lanes. If anyone in LA should be aware of the value of water, and the need to conserve it, it should be us. This guy is out there for HOURS. He chats on his cell phone as he splays water idley over his Audi and his BMW. He puts down the hose and lets it run as he goes inside to talk to his wife. The street runs with water, to the point where the asphalt gets that great steamy smell you normally only experience after a hot, unexpected summer rain storm.

If people like us, people with money and education and time to play around, don't 'get it' what hope for the rest of the world?

Oh Just Fuck Off...

2007-05-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

Cracking open my Sunday Times today to read the nauseating---but can't miss----featured wedding in the "Vows" section. Oh barf. 42 year old film dude marries 'luminescent,' 'ravishing' society 26 year old. We're all 'luminescent' and 'ravishing' at that age moron! God, just give her a few more years till she grows up, and realized she married her Dad.

Try marrying someone your own age, idiot!

Project Finish-all-the-forgotten-sewing-projects-piled-up-and-covered-in-dust-bunnies-under-your-bed....

2007-05-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

I started this dress over TWO YEARS AGO!!! Dear Lord. The pattern is from the Feb 2005 issue of Burda, which remains my all time favorite issue. It is packed with amazing, classic, yet still cool designs, and I've sewed up many of them. This issue would definately be pulled out of a house fire, along with my dog and my photo album.

The dress itself is a very, very streamlined Duro shape. Originally I didn't love that they'd sleeked it down so much, but now of
course the dress just looks like a nice, simple dress, rather than something that was completely in fashion, and is now potentially a little dated.

I threw this dress under the bed in disgust because I mis judged my cutting, and ended up with two back panels where the skirt motif (see how it is centered around the waistband) faced the wrong way. Yesterday I finally pieced together two new back panels from the scraps, and now it's not as pretty as the front, but it does 'work.'

Taking the dress with me to Miami, where I will beg my wonderful Phillipina aunt, Ana, to help me finish it.

I think I give up, again!

2007-05-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

This dress is the bane of my life. I started it last year, got discouraged by the back-less and bra-less connundrum, then was finally reinvigorated a few weeks ago to get it done. There's just no getting around the fact that there is No Tension in this dress from which to suspend any kind of bra-like device. As per Threads, I made what can only be described as orthopedic shoes for your boobs out of white elastic and bra-cups. It sort of worked, but not well enough to provide the necessary level of comfort and carefree-ness you would want in this summer frock.

The only solution I can see now is to unpick the painfully hand-sewn zip, undo the bodice, jimmy up some back panels, and make this a full-back dress. For now though... I'm done! This dress has caused more swearing, cursing and misery than it deserves! Damn you Anna Sui, damn you, ridiculously over-priced Liberty fabric.... arrrrgh.

Amelia...

2007-05-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

I've blogged about my style inspirations. Here is one of my life inspirations.

Brave, Passionate, Reckless perhaps, a Dreamer...

Amelia

Retro Rewind

2007-05-18T18:33:00.001-07:00

It's a little disconcerting - but a lot of fun - that mid-90s fashions seem to be coming back in a big way. It seems like only yesterday that I was sewing them up the first time! I am totally inspired my the Prada and Miu Miu looks from around 95 and 96. I love the bold fabrics (themselves a throwback to the late 60s and 70s), the mod-ish shapes and the simple glam.

Maybe we all are emotionally attracted to the clothes we wore when we were young and life was all promise. I was a troubled person in the mid-90s, but I wrapped myself up in images of Carolyn Murphy and Kristen McMenany in Prada, and had a vision of what life could be like. I sometimes wish I could go back to my 26 year-old-self, and tell her, "You're better than you think you are."

Life...

2007-05-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Life rolls on. The last few months have been way too rough and tough to blog about. I haven't been doing anything very crafty for much of that time, rather I've been dealing with a move, an emotional break-down and rebuilding and my new life. I'm still in Laurel Canyon, and it's beautiful here. The mornings are filled with bird song and fog, and the wierd pleasure of waking up alone. I like it. Really.

In a few weeks I leave for Miami, then I'm going to be in Southampton. Two weddings, younger cousins. It's been odd to realize I am now out of that period of your life where you are one of the young-ones. Where you and your siblings and cousins your own age are celebrating the big events in their life. Now its time for the people who were left sitting at the kid's table, even after I had graduated to the grown-ups.

But Im really not complaining. Life is good, I feel well, and happy.

Here is a dress I am working on finishing. Its an Anna Sui pattern from 1998, that is very '50s' in style. It is conservative from the front, but completely backless, with a little tie pulling the side panels together. Like it! I have so many other projects Im dying to start, but have to actually finish some of these damn things first....

LA Burns!

2007-05-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

Driving to the Tom of Finland party last night, was astonished to see flames licking their way down INTO Hollywood. Holy Shit... truly apocolyptic stuff, the kind of thing you have nightmares about, especially if you live in Laurel Canyon, like I do. Which is basically a tinder-box now. I look out of my tree-lined picture window, and imagine how fast, and how ruthlessly, flames would overtake my little wooden home. Dear God.

At Tom of Finland, I was surrounded by the most charming leather-clad bears, who kindly flirted with me, offered me chocolate and champagne, and admired my little red Built by Wendy mini-dress and black high-heels. A very good first-toe-in-the-social-waters type of event... even if the only person who hit on me was a fairly tough Marilyn Monroe-esque lesbian.

This weekend I am driving out to the High Desert Test Sites. An art instillation out in the boondocks of Yucca Valley... now if only I could get a big old hetero-bear to be my date....

Alot of sewing and knitting going on... but this is the only picture I have to post right now. My Twinkle SeaBerry Shell (from IK '06) too short... but not sure if I can be bothered to rip back to the armholes and knit further. I think it would look swell at this length with a high-waisted pencil skirt... but not much else.

Foggy Canyon Morning

2007-04-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been a jarring mix of can’t-get-out-of-bed despair, and a surprising sense of excitement at change and possibility in my life. The things that used to be ‘my life,’ my relationship, my home, my dog, feel very far away, perhaps because my physical location has changed so much. From living in the flats, I am now high above LA, looking over a foggy canyon, listening to the birds, the rain and occasionally even the coyotes. The hardest part is the fact that my boyfriend and I see each other every day, and must talk and collaborate constantly. A huge burden has been put on my shoulders---for the sake of our business I have to keep quiet about the gut-wrenching, shockingly inappropriate behavior at the heart of our separation. So I work, and I deal with it. I work and I deal. I work and I deal….

The Happiest Time of the Year.....

2007-04-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

COACHELLA!

Seaberry Shell...

2007-04-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

cute, soft Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. This lace pattern has been pulled and ripped and yanked to bits, as I hack away at it over 30 Rock and my tears...! I had planned to make some cute and cool outfits to wear to Coachella, but it looks like this might be all I have to show for my efforts....

What Would Daria Do?

2007-03-24T17:33:00.000-07:00