Over Christmas when Mel and I were at my mom and step-dad's house, I was lucky enough to get in some BFF time with Rochelle, who came to stay the first weekend of our trip with us! Uh, happy faces, anyone? This photo was taken just a few minutes after she got there. :) It was great, because other than an hour-long layover she had at O'Hare this summer, we hadn't seen each other since we hung out in March. ... Read more »
vintage sewing
Planning a 1956 swing coat
Hello my friends! I thought I'd share with you some early thoughts for probably the biggest project I'm planning this year. I'm going to sew Simplicity 1928, a swing coat pattern from 1956. The best part about this pattern? A HOOD! Hoods are a huge winner on coats and jackets in my book. I'll be doing view 1. I was looking for a swing coat pattern earlier this winter and then stumbled on this one for a good price, ... Read more »
More vintage, more embellishment, and a confession
Happy New Year! In my wrap-up of sewing and knitting in 2014, I mentioned that I had a few ideas floating around in my head for this year. And while wanting to keep it very low-key, two things keep surfacing in my brain: more vintage, more embellishment. So here I am to chat about it. And you get an added confession, to boot! More vintage Last year, I had fun knitting and sewing a lot of vintage-inspired things, but I ... Read more »
Triumphant return of cigarette pants (or, how I ate my words)
Maybe it's the unusually cool weather we've had lately, but my lust for pants has returned. A week or so ago I started hearing a niggling voice in the back of my head. It was telling me, "Pssst... remember those red cigarette pants you abandoned last spring? Butterick B5895? Maybe you should try them on." Against what I thought was my better judgment at the time, I went to my Sewing Corner of Shame (where I put failed ... Read more »
Shooting Star bolero and Cotton + Steel Arrow dress
My latest two finished projects are both repeats of a sort! And I'm pretty excited about both of them. This is my Shooting Star Bolero and my Cotton + Steel Arrow Dress. Oh yeah, if you missed that I went red and that photo surprised you, you can catch up on my hair color! Also we very recently painted our den and bedroom (FINALLY OMG) and hung up art, so welcome to a new place for me to take photos! I'll give you ... Read more »
Seahorses wrap dress
This is my Seahorses dress. Otherwise known as the Watch Me Chase Decent Lighting Around My Yard dress. Or maybe it's the Dress That Doesn't Want to Be Photographed. It's also the Dress That Nearly Did Me In. It's a dress. It was a bitch to sew. The end. Okay okay, not really the end, obviously. You've actually seen me sew this pattern before, it's Simplicity 1523 from 1945. I used the bodice and front skirt piece to ... Read more »