As it's been getting warmer, I've been a busy bee lately with life stuff, and my sewing time has been less. You have to enjoy the warm weather when you can, and sometimes that means hanging out on my deck rather than holing up in the basement sewing! (Much as I love holing up in the basement sewing!) But I recently finished sewing a vintage dress, and it's the subject of my latest video on YouTube. It's another ... Read more »
vintage sewing patterns
When I sewed a vintage capsule wardrobe for Viva Las Vegas
This week is the Viva Las Vegas rockabilly weekender, and while we're not attending, I'm reminiscing about the last time we went! Back in 2019, we attended, and I was a vintage sewing machine: I sewed a vintage capsule wardrobe, sewing a total of 10 outfits for the weekend, including two menswear shirts for Mel. I KNOW. Of the items in this more-is-more vintage capsule wardrobe, only one thing that made it to my ... Read more »
How I sewed my vintage birthday dress for 2023
It's my birthday, and as I've done for the last decade, I sewed myself a birthday dress to mark the occasion! I haven't been that great about keeping up with them all on my blog, but several have made it here, including my very first one, the one I made for my 40th birthday in London, and the one I made for Viva Las Vegas. They're almost always made from vintage sewing patterns, and this year's birthday dress was no ... Read more »
Sewing a plaid flannel jumper dress with Butterick B5748
If you've spent any time around my blog or social media, you know I love plaid. And I love sewing plaid. And apparently, I love sewing with Robert Kaufman Mammoth plaid. Because I've made a vintage dress with it, and a vintage tie-front topper, and now, in my latest YouTube video, I sewed a vintage jumper dress with it! I used Butterick B5748, which I wouldn't exactly call a tried and true pattern yet, but it's ... Read more »
My 3 favorite handmade vintage coats
If it's one thing I love to sew, it's vintage coats and jackets! Since sewing my very first jacket a decade ago, I've made several. I love the process of slowing down with tailoring techniques, and plotting a major project like a coat. And I Iove to wear them! My latest YouTube video is a little "sew and tell" of my favorite three coats that I've made. Spoiler alert: two of them haven't even all made it to this blog! ... Read more »
The jumper dress I didn’t know that I really wanted
Hello, friends! I greet you after a road trip to visit family over Christmas, with a project I sewed and photographed a few weeks ago but hadn't had the time to write about. Because I fully intended to write about this dress once I'd finished it, as it kind of surprised me how much I liked it. I originally had the idea to use this 1950s pattern, Advance 7747, with some Spoonflower cotton sateen in a winter print. So I ... Read more »