223. "Resort" Dress, aka Hazel Hack Dress

How is it that I'm drowning in work and still make time to sew?  That's never happened before.  Maybe my sewing mojo was blocked and all the work just hid that fact.  Anyway, the recent swimsuit success seems to have really buoyed me, so here we are with another project, again with vacation in mind.

212. Knock-off City: Cherry Print Knock-off Dress

On the left is my latest summer dress, and on the right is the knock-off point:

But really, nothing is truly original, right?

210. One (major) pattern piece

Hi, Blogland Buddies!  It has been a while!  I've missed you!  :)

Since my last post, which was just before Christmas, I've worked extensively for two very cool new clients and other very cool current clients, seen the Austin school district undergo a massive budget crisis which resulted in the threat of my son's fantastic public school being closed, lost myself in the ensuing drama, pulled myself back out with the help of good friends, and finally gotten back to sewing and life in general.

After a 2-month hiatus from sewing, I jumped back in by skinnifying 2 pairs of jeans for family members and mending a pair of Louis' shorts.  Easy stuff, projects to dip my toes back in the water.  Then came Book Character Day at school.  Louis wanted to be Curious George (again) so I made a (bigger than last year) monkey suit.  I took a McCall's boys shirt pattern and pant pattern and traced around them both, matching at the waist and (as best I could) aligning along the grainlines.  I've always appreciated those Simplicity Jiffy patterns from the 60's and 70's, with one main pattern piece, so I blended the front and back so that there was no side seam.  Et voila!  A one-piece pattern for a monkey suit:

209. I Don't Craft! Christmas Edition.

When I think about combining various related topics because I don't blog frequently, one thing I may have alluded to or outright mentioned a long time ago is that our household size has more than doubled with the addition of my sister and her two children!  They are with us until June of next year.  This means there are twice as many residents in the house and, somehow, four times as many presents under the Christmas tree!

It also means more indecision about the Christmas tree dilemma.  Long ago we stopped buying fresh trees.  Just didn't seem right to chop down a tree that we'd enjoy for 30 days.  We had a fakey-fakey tree for a long time, but it got all bent out of shape and we tossed it a few years ago.  One year we bought a rosemary tree and intended to plant it in the garden after the holidays, but I'm sad to say that somehow it died before January!  This year I decided to make one.

204. Fall Inspiration

I thought I'd be blogging more, but I can't even think of posting without an original picture to share.  Right after the fashion show last month, I went to Carmel, CA for a super-short work trip, came home to celebrate my birthday, and got ready for school to begin.  I've got another week of calm before the storm until things get busy with work again, so I will try to photograph my recent projects and post them soon.

In the meantime, it's all about inspiration:

1. My husband and I recently got a sneak preview of a pretty super sculpture (@5 tons and many feet tall!) that I can't share with you till it's finished and debuted in a month.  It was great to talk with the artist about his inspiration, the themes that tend to guide his work, and his creative process.  
2. I've been working with my son on a photo project with his kaleidoscope (which I bought him for my birthday), and put together a cool little photo collage.  
3. And just last night I ran across a New York Magazine photo collection of fashion designers and their inspiration for Fall 2010, in one word or one picture.

More soon, and Happy Labor Day to my U.S. friends!

180. Coming Home & Homecoming Dress

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you're enjoying the holiday, all you who are celebrating today. Autumn is always so busy for my work and I had a bonus trip out of town last week. So I'm extra- glad to be home, with extended family visiting, cooking and eating up a storm, and taking some time off.

I am surprised in the best way at the responses to the coat/dress in my last post! I figured there wouldn't be (m)any polite comments, only from the few who truly appreciated it. I didn't think it would see much support, and I appreciate every comment! When faced with unavoidable opposition I somehow feel fine, but I prefer it when everyone is happy with my work. It is cooling down 'round here so I might get to wear it soon!

A few weeks ago, I happened to work in my hometown for a few days. I missed my high school's homecoming by two weeks! I stayed with my parents instead of bunking in a hotel, and they ended up sending me back to Austin with a bunch of clothes, many new, to refashion. One of the not-new refashion candidates was my high school homecoming dress. (!!!!!) After I got back to Austin, I put it on Clementine and found that it is in the same size range as I am now:

In fact, the armhole princess seamed bodice fits Clementine quite beautifully!:

And from the back:

Not only was I excited to wear this dress in 1990, I selected the pattern and all the fabric and it was made just for me! (Technically, I didn't wear this to Homecoming because I ended up very inconsiderately standing up my date that very day. I was quite a mean little shrew back then. But my would-be Homecoming date and I have def. made up and gotten over it since then. I did wear this dress to the parades and what-not that candidates for Homecoming court attend. But I didn't actually wear this to the dance.....)

How much my tastes have changed in 19 years! I don't wear drop-waists anymore, my sewing is pretty void of frou-frou, and I don't think a shred of this dress includes natural fiber.

And yet... I consider what's right with this dress: the bodice looks like a good fit, the velvet is soft, and there's black involved. I think those are the only redeemable qualities I can see here. I've got my first holiday party of the season on Tuesday, and this dress is screaming out for a makeover so I can re-introduce it to the world, 19 years later, with a kindler, gentler, more mature owner/ wearer. I have some interesting ideas but know that time is of the essence. So I will keep you apprised of developments! (If you have any unusual and simple ideas, let me know! I am considering the simplest version, which includes shortening the bodice at the natural waist and re-attaching a simplified, symmetrical, gathered skirt.)

168. Refashion 29: Coco Top from Men's Dress Shirt and "Dressing Your Age"

Before I forget: PR last night was fun to watch in a large group! I highly recommend trying this if you haven't done it before!

It always starts out with an idea. In this case, after a couple weeks of Chanel immersion, I got an idea to make a birthday top for myself, refashioned from a men's dress shirt, of course. I have wanted to get more comfortable with asymmetry since the start of the year, so this was a great opportunity to work on something simple and to play a little.

From Chanel: Black & white palette; "epaulets".

From me: Pintucks; asymmetry, buttoned openings at the shoulder to get in and out.

From my mistakes: Asymmetrical pintucks (below) didn't drape well so I made them symmetrical (as in photos above)... better but far from perfect; as a result neckline is a little poochy; cut the armholes way too low, so little cap sleeves were not an option; changed my mind about how I would use the shirt placket so there are no pintucks on the back; just an inverted pleat (sorry, no pics).

I have to admit that, after weeks of torturous pattern refining and production sewing, this was quite a bit of fun, even though it didn't turn out like I thought it would at all!

There have been a lot of thick topics floating around in my head...

• A question about retro styles and gender inequality
• A rebuttal and bigger inquiry into ethical fashion, and,
• With my birthday yesterday, endless internal musing on the topic of "dressing your age".

I am really curious to know what you think about "dressing your age". This is subjective and personal, but please do share what's on your mind. For me, this has a lot to do with grace. When I turned 30, I got rid of those ridiculous miniskirts and chunky platform shoes in my closet. I mostly don't wear sweats ever, have banished most capri pants and hoodies for good, and assess, each year as my birthday approaches, if I feel like I'm "dressing my age".

What does "dressing your age" mean to you?

150. Fall inspiration from W Magazine 2009-06

Hello from the tropics! It seems mega-tropical by this pattern of 103 humid degrees, every single day!  There's nothing like a hot summer day to make you wish for the kind of weather you can layer in.  All other criticisms aside (GiniferGoodwinyou'readollbutidon'tbuythebadgirlimageyou'retryingonforsize), the June 2009 issue was full of the most inspirational clothing photos I've seen in a long time.  Not necessarily inspirational as in "do something about it", but inspirational as in "this is something special, way out of the ordinary, and really beautiful".  Here are a few of my faves:

Chanel, of course.  Classic, luxe.  Isn't it beautiful?  I don't like double breasted jackets but, with the lapel and scarf, and the trim, I'm sold on it.  And have you seen the Chanel ad from the same issue, with the black jacket that looks overly bedazzled in the very best way?  I'm predicting a future DIY project and tutorial for someone on the WWW.

All of these are Alexander McQueen but I can't take my eyes off the sculpted houndstooth number in the middle.  The asymmetrical neckline, the mounds of folds, the wrapped bodice... wow.  Next time you need to blend in with houndstooth wallpaper, a la Garden State, you'll know what to wear.

Ralph Lauren.  The long silk gown is so romantic and dreamy.  Paired with the silky vest and crisp, cropped blazer, it's a study in texture and contrast.  In my dreams, my hair is grown out and I'm wearing this ensemble, riding a horse at twilight through a dense, foggy forest.  (OK, that's not true at all.  But you see why I went there.  Just look at her.)

 

I totally, completely saved the best for last.  I was on the airplane flipping through this magazine a few weeks ago when I came upon this image.  Of course, in print it's much bigger.  I kid you not, the Rodarte leather jacket (left) took my breath away.  I assumed it was lack of air  pressurization in the airplane but Louis and everyone else on the plane was fine.  Yesterday I was going through the mags to rip out images to save and recycle the rest, and this jacket, again, drew air from my lungs and held me in a state of suspension for a few moments.  It is absolute and utter perfection.  All the buckles and straps look vaguely random and haphazard, but there's a lot of intent and meaning and vision.  

This image, once I catch my breath, might just inspire me to motion.

All images from Wmagazine.com.

141. Stop

I can't remember if I've mentioned here that I'm the yearbook editor for Louis' elem. school.  Well, this is the last full week before the book goes to print, so I've spent all week tracking down the 27 or so faculty, staff members, and kids who missed photo day and photo make-up day last fall.  I've dragged around this yard of blue cotton broadcloth and a roll of masking tape all week, to set up impromptu backdrops in sunny hallways around the school.  And I photographed the morning safety patrol crew, as above, and a few of us will spend the entire morning photographing today's track & field day, which is a huge, school-wide event.

There are a host of other teeny, tiny details, too, like making sure pages are numbered and a there's a 0.25" border around the artwork on each page, etc.  And bigger details like rounding up the last few pages that volunteers are putting together.

Don't get me wrong -- this yearbook has been a waaaay fun volunteer project and it's been a blast working with some very cool parents.  But I've got a fun new dress to show you that I finally finished Wednesday, and no time to pick accessories and take pics for you, so it waits until the yearbook is done.  Thanks for helping me stay connected through your blog posts and emails this week!  Miss you and see you again soon!  :)

P.S.  During weeks like these, I also turn to my three fave teen bloggers for quick inspiration:

• Sea of Shoes
• Childhood Flames
• Style Rookie

133. The Pants Sew-Along lives on

The March 2009 Pants Sew-Along is still moving along.  It has been a while since I've given a formal update not in the sidebar, so here goes.  Of the 6 who sewed along, two have crossed the finish line!  Congratulations!  

First up was Mary Nanna, who actually finished her pants on time, meaning by March 31.  She speaks pant fluently, like a second language.  I had a college professor who believed in language immersion, and I would focus on Mary Nanna's pants posts like I focused in this college Spanish class: intently absorbing every tiny bit I could.  What lessons to learn!  She picked a great-looking pattern, by no means uncomplicated, and she made a series of impressive modifications (13 total, if I recall) to create a smashing pair of trousers!  Love those side vents!  Ooh and ahh here over the almighty pants of Mary Nanna's, if you haven't yet.

My college Spanish professor, Prof. Arturo Flores.  Funny man, good teacher.  

Photo from TCU Daily Skiff.

Next to finish was Johanna Lu, who moved her household during sew-along month and drafted some complicated pants patterns from scratch on the way.  At one point in the process, she posted photos of her patterns that were so meticulous and beautiful I wanted to tape her pattern pieces together and wear them.  It was easy to see how she got so much inspiration from her original inspiration photo.  Imagine my surprise the other night, going through my old Anthropologie tear sheets, when I saw this photo of a green shirt I love from a few seasons ago -- but look at the pants!  I never noticed the pants till now.  The photo below is not of her inspiration pants, but I guess Anthro loves button front pants and is on the hunt for them every season:

I did see these pants below in one of the recent Anthro catalogs, and felt vaguely inspired.  Made me think of the Palmer Pletsch pants book I have and their recommended paper bag waist method of fitting pants, and since these Anthro pants in fact have a paper bag waist, maybe I should use a pants pattern to make these pants?  Then I would focus on picking a pattern with good crotch curve/ depth, easy hip fit, and drape to the waist?:

Another view, with model wearing them:

Also liking these high-waist shorts from Anthro... a nice way to take short-shorts with you in your mid-30's:

Always so much green!  For good measure, this green Anthro dress:

And a clip from Lucky.  I know I can make this dress in my sleep:

What's inspiring you this spring?

131. Style 1003

Brown and green...... I love these colors in nature, but in t-shirts with identical screenprint designs, that will come together to make one top......

Hmmmmmmm... Brown and green...

These two shirts have the same screenprint in similar colors, a series of eagles and the message, "When I grow up I want to be free." My friend Ashley felt strongly that the brown be the foundation and the green be the accent. The screenprinted message put in my mind this image of the vibrant green breaking free of the oppressive brown, and after consulting with sewing guru Shauna on the structural integrity of diagonal seams, she suggested exposed seams instead of internal seams where my green would break free from the brown. I like what happened:

Full disclosure: I knew I wanted to insert the green through the words and the big eagle, but I was terrified to cut into the fabric for fear of mis-cutting and thus mis-aligning the screenprint between the two colors of fabric. I sat on the concept for 3 days before getting up the gumption to measure and cut, and for all that worrying it took me what felt like 10 minutes to measure, cut, and insert that green strip of fabric! And it turned out A-O-K.

I've got to figure out the neckline. The "collar" in the photo above is just pinned in. I would love to scoop the neckline more but don't want to cut into the screenprint. A plain neckline looks too plain to me, but an embellished one might really take away from that green insert. I've been fussing and fidgeting with fabric but The Right Answer hasn't hit me yet. As always, I am open to suggestions if you have any and appreciate your time and considered responses. :)

126. 302Designs T-Shirt Refashion Project - Getting Started

Diana asked me, via a comment on my post about my self-dubbed "micro-line" with 302Designs, if I planned to blog about the process of creating the garments/ line.  Since this is much of the sewing I'll do the next few weeks, I thought I would.  The timing of Diana's comment was uncanny -- Martha McQuade from Uniform Studio had just posted on her blog about the benefits and challenges in blogging her clothing design process, and then wrote a great follow-up.  So blogging process/ progress for an unfinished product was already on my mind.

I rarely show, in my self-sewing for fun, pictures of works in progress;  nothing trumps the contrast between a "before" photo and an "after" photo.  But since the final garments from this project will get more attention than my clothes are used to, I'll probably only blog works in progress for this line.

About 302Designs if you haven't been over to their site yet... I don't want to oversimplify and inaccurately describe what they do by saying they are a t-shirt screenprinting company.  Their design and production process is very unique:

image from 302designs.com

Their key executives drive the vision for each collection by setting the initial theme, but the entire process is collaborative and productive, all the way to the end.  I've always appreciated 302's process, guiding beliefs, and involvement and leadership in the Austin community.  You can read more about 302Designs here. 

So, you see, these 16 shirts are really not just any ol' t-shirts.  The printed designs are much more than pretty pictures.  If I had picked up old corporate t-shirts at a clothing swap, I wouldn't think twice about hacking out the graphics and tossing those into the trash.  For 302, the graphics and concept really make the shirts and, as long as the printing is clear and in good condition, they should be worked into the new line.  Here they are:

(BTW, the shirt on Carmen in the bottom right corner is not a 302 shirt.  I just needed one more photo to complete the mosaic.  Haha.)

I had a really hard time getting started!  At first, for a couple of weeks, I was sketching out ideas, assembling an inspiration book from old tear sheets and various images, and still kind of in shock over how I got into this agreement.  There was a significant part of me thinking, "You've only been seriously sewing for 2 1/2 years -- why do you get this opportunity instead of someone who's made far more sacrifices for much longer?"  And then it occurred to me that I'm getting to do this because, basically, I asked for it.  I try to remind myself of that when I need to.

It was important to me to get clear about my own philosophy leading this whole project, and my mantras are: sustainability -- which is multi-faceted -- and local.  I knew I would stick with sportswear separates because I only had these 16 specific shirts, in a wide variety of colors, sizes, and printed designs.  Even with this in mind, I couldn't figure out where to start with my pile of sketches and pile of 302 shirts.

I felt that there were suddenly too many limitations:

1. Color.  Three shirts were that golden mango color, which is such a strong, intense color.  Three were that green I can't define.  I just know I would not wear that color or pick it for myself.  (Which is one habit I need to break if I am going to keep designing clothes for other people.)  
   
2. Fabric weight.  The shirts range from semi-sheer to lightweight, so unless I doubled up on fabric I couldn't see successful skirts coming of these recons.  So now only tops in the line?
3. Size.  My form has a 32.5" bust, and the size 6/8 that I borrowed has a 35.5" bust with matching proportions.  Even though a Size 2XL shirt would make a great dress for short me, it's not long enough for a (decent, modest) dress for a size 6/8 woman.  Another reality check for designing for others!
4. Damage and inconsistency of printing.  The whole reason why these shirts were not sellable is because a couple had stains, a couple had holes, at least one had a print that was asymmetrically printed on the front that was obviously not supposed to be asymmetrical, etc.  Just more details to mind that equalled more limitations.
5. Time.  As in, sew.  Right now.

I could feel my energy stalling out, so I just started with a huge pile of old white t-shirts and company shirts from my husband.  I cut out and sewed up three muslins based on sketches.  I wasn't in love with any of them and couldn't come up with any ideas about how to make them love-worthy.  I went back to the sketchpad, created some variations, and was suddenly lost in the myriad of options.  In a week, I had gone from too many limitations to too many options.  What is wrong with me????  LOL

So it occurred to me to lay out all the shirts on the floor, like a puzzle, and see if things started to make more sense.  Fortunately, they did.  This post is looooong enough so I will fill you in next time.  Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

115. Two weeks since I've posted?

Whoah!  Entirely too long then.  I've missed you!  I haven't touched my machine in over a week, been working the day job a lot lately, and my BFF Emily and I are in Miami for a couple of days to decompress after all that work intensity.  See that picture up there?  That's across from our hotel. 

FYI, there are quite a few brave, adventurous, fun souls who have decided to sew-along in this informal little pants sew-along in March (which is right around the corner, oh boy!).  I've added links to their blogs in the upper right, and as we sew along, I'll try to keep that list updated with their most recent sew-along posts.  I've decided on Simplicity 2700, which is kind of a sloper pattern.  I was heavily leaning toward this pattern and Faye's recent experience with it, and her amazing new pants, convinced me this is the one.  Johanna Lu has joined the sew-along and I'm very interested in her goal to re-create these Anthropologie pants she has loved for years.

For now, I'm headed back to the beach!  More soon.

111. Refashion 14: Single Pleat Tunic from Men's T-Shirt

Thanks so much for your super-supportive comments on the Chanel knock-off dress! It means a whole lot coming from you talented, creative sewists and stylists. I am nervous and excited about my first sewing contest and I believe voting opened yesterday. I'll let you know what happens after everything is tallied later this month (I think voting closes on Feb 11).

And BTW, happy birthday, Lisa! You have a great eye and I really enjoy your blog. Hope you have a lovely birthday.

An exceptional opportunity came up to tag on two leisure days in Miami after a business trip later this month. I'm on it! Now I need some beachwear... some comfy, throw-on-and-know-it-looks-great kind of clothes... preferably some knits.

After the many, many men's dress shirt refashions of the last 7 months, I am ready to refashion something new, like t-shirts. To be clear, though: I am not interested in anything that looks deconstructed, no-sew, or obviously DIY. Not shredded, not destroyed, not ironic. All that would be fine at an earlier stage in my life, but I'm not 20 years old anymore and I don't want to dress like I am.

I want to refashion some t-shirts into clothes that are unique, stylish, and finished. Something I might see in a store and want to buy.

So I'm on the hunt for some inspiration. It's gotta be a quick sew because I'm leaving on the 20th, and I will only whip up a few items. I took a cast-off t-shirt from my hubby's closet and draped it yesterday, using an Urban Outfitters sweater dress from this last winter catalog as inspiration (wish I had a larger photo for you but I snipped this from the catalog and there are no longer images of the dress on the UO site). 

In my version, the cotton is pretty heavy and there's not much stretch and very little bounce back, but it's a good start. After all, I hadn't put knit fabric under my presser foot in at least 8 months so this is a good start!  Here is my "Take One" with a collar that was too high on the neck and too short for the width of the neckline, as evidenced by the bunching around the collar.  Also, you can't tell in this photo but there was too much fabric in the back.

This is my "Take Two" and final version.  I increased the size of the back pleat to eat up some of that fullness, and I opened up the neckline and sort of finished it.  

I am going to send it through the wash and see how the neckline softens and wears, and if I don't like it I will probably re-finish the neckline some other way.  Truthfully, it is so comfortable as it is and semi-flattering on.  I want to mess with this basic style a bit more, with a deeper neckline using a lighter t-shirt with some lycra.  Have you seen any t-shirt refashions you'd recommend given my persnickitiness?

108. My trip to Ottawa!

There were several comments on the last refashion requesting a tutorial for a quick shirt refashion!  I'm back home now for a few weeks so I'll see what I can do.  :)  In the meantime, here are a quick few photos and notes from my Ottawa trip last week.

I must have said, "It's so cold!" about ten million times when I was there.  And it was!  The coldest I recall experiencing before I went there was 10 degrees F.  The morning I left, it was -2.2 degrees F!  

Here's the view from the air, as we landed.  If you can zoom in far enough, there's a farm in the upper left third of the photo that you can see pretty clearly.  Snow was everywhere:

I worked during the day every day I was there, so there were not too many great opportunities to take photos of the snow up close.  The one afternoon I got to visit the canal, which is frozen over and in the winter is the largest outdoor ice skating rink, I didn't bring my camera!  Ate a "beaver tail", which is a delicious sweet pastry, deep fried and showered with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon, which came straight out of the deep fryer and into my mouth.  I'm kind of a slow eater, and within 5 minutes it was practically frozen solid!

I also made it to Fabricland while there, and picked up some neat fabric.  I'll post photos of those later this week.

It was nice to work on light with my camera -- manually choosing aperture and shutter speed.  I do a pretty decent job now but will probably still use the auto-focus.  It's so great to take indoor photos in low light and not use the flash.  In fact, I took the picture below outdoors in low light and the color is pretty much the color of the sky that I saw.  I left my hotel at 6:30a to go to the airport, and here was some snow, piled up on the sides of the streets of downtown Ottawa, featuring the pre-dawn, deep blue sky:

From a cozy corner at the airport, the edges of the runway had accumulated beautiful, deep white snow, and even though luggage carts had made circular marks through some of it, the sections close to the side of the building were shaped by the wind.  I find this organic shaping so beautiful.  The snow here resembled sand dunes:

And I think this was the airport's main administrative building.  What a beautiful city!  So grateful I got to visit.

107. Kreativ Blogger Award

I got back from Canada yesterday and have photos to share in my next post.  While I was gone, Faye and Becky each bestowed upon me the Kreativ Blogger Award!  What an honor.  I have so much respect for both of you and your sewing prowess.  

It's great to be able to see so many talented sewists, crafters, entrepreneurs, and creators in general on the Web and here are seven blogs that are new to me these past couple of months, that are also inspiring me:

1. Melissa at Moonshine and Piffle
   
2. VeryPurplePerson at Sew I Do
3. RiAnge at RiAnge Creations
4. Katie at Prudence Rabbit
5. Port + Poplin
6. Keiko Lynn at Keiko Lynn
7. Ambika at Into the Fray

Should they choose to accept the award, here are the corresponding rules and responsibilities:

1. Copy the award to your site.

2. Link to the person who awarded it to you.

3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.

4. Link to those 7 on your blog.

5. Leave a notification message for your 7 nominated bloggers.

104. Winter Dress from Vintage Plaid Fabric

Remember this dress?  Found in Lucky and blogged in November.  Sewed a prototype from Simplicity 3694 in December.  Discovered the perfect fabric in my stash shortly thereafter but needed new pattern with shirred neckline to maintain the neat plaid lines.

I ended up pulling New Look 6731 from my 2008 projects.  Last spring I made the roll-collar version.  Recently Kyle made her knit tunic with this pattern.  Anyway, the fit is appropriately boxy and I used the hood from Simplicity 3694.  It came together in under 3 hours, with various episodes of Law & Order running in the background, with one huge mistake but oh well, I like the dress anyway!  LOL  

Here we go:

First, about the fabric...  It's a plaid fabric from my mom's stash, according to her from the 70's.  She gave it to me last spring and I hadn't found quite the right project for it till now.  I only had a yard and a few inches but it was 54" wide, so I had just enough for the dress and hood, and not even close to enough for sleeves.  The lining is a beautiful, shiny purple charmeuse from the fabulous Micah.  Thanks, girl!  :)

Side note: It's interesting that my mother paid 99 cents a yard for this fabric 30 years ago.  She still, in 2009, finds it hard to buy fabric for more than that.  If you look closely in the photo, you can see the label underneath that shows a previous price of $1.99/ yard.  At these prices, in 1970, I might think this is wool.  Indeed, it doesn't smell like petroleum.  But it is really coarse and kind of reminds me of those woven blankets for sale to tourists in Mexico (of which we own two).  And some of the fibers seem shiny.  So maybe some kind of cotton/ poly blend?

As for the patterns, I used New Look 6731 for the front and back bodice, remembering how easy it was to sew.  The armholes in the last sleeveless version were snug so I scooped out the bottom of the armholes by 0.75".  I also added 4" to the bottom hem b/c the original is tunic-length and I wanted a dress.  I lengthened the hood from Simplicity 3694 by 1.5" because the neckline for this dress is lower than the dress the hood was designed to accompany.

Do you see what I see?

Wow, that armhole looks almost like a racerback.

And it kind of pulls toward the back.  What's up with that?

This would be why.  I didn't read the instructions, and assumed that the notches on either side of center back were for gathering.  They are not!  The notches are to line up with the roll collar that I didn't sew in this dress.  Funny enough, the dress still fits well and is very comfortable.  Plus, I already trimmed all the seams down and worry that trying to take this apart will create new, undesirable challenges.  So off we go into the sunset!

Quick question for you:  What is the difference between being inspired and mimicry?  Esp. in clothing?  Where or how do you draw the line?  I've seen some designers post an inspiration photo of a garment and then a photo of the garment they came up with, often times nearly identical.  I think that's what I've done here with this dress, but I'm not sure I'd call it "inspired by".  It's pretty much a copy of.  What do you think about the diff. between being inspired and copying?

Inspiration way up in the air

I was on a lovely plane flight today.  It was a direct flight from Austin to Boston on JetBlue.  Everything went exactly according to plan, from boarding in Austin to grabbing my bag off the belt in Boston.  Until today, I'd only flown JetBlue once before, when Louis was about 3, and I remember being glued to the on-board satellite TV for the full 3.5 hours, amazed and grateful I was getting to watch what I wanted to watch, and not Thomas the Tank Engine.

All around me, responsible world citizens tuned into CNN.  But I...

... I watched Project Runway reruns.  I got a lot of motivation from it and a little inspiration from that frost on my window, pictured above.  Made me think of white lace.  And the wheels are turning...

Martha Stewart Sewing Ideas Site

I saw this super-cute little winter hoodie in an ad in this month's Lucky magazine, and before I could study the construction closely enough to find out how I could hack it for a men's shirt refashion, my eye was drawn to the note at the bottom of the page: "For these patterns and instructions, visit sewingideas.com."  So I did.

Looks like Martha Stewart has a nice new portal to offer us some sewing projects, while collecting data to offer her sewing machine company sponsors, and probably making a little referral commission on each machine sold through her site.  The good news is that many of these projects do look unique, not just recycled MarthaStewart.com projects.  Maybe they are also from the sewing machine companies' sites?  Nice resource for Christmas gifts, if you're on the hunt.

The crafty projects look great, like this owl applique pattern (love me some owls in the fall), but their apparel projects are really just ways to embellish clothes you've bought or created from a different pattern that you purchase and sew on your own.  AND I can't find any reference to the cute little plaid hoodie I saw in the ad, which it seems they imply there's a pattern for on the SewingIdeas.com site.  If you find it on the site, will you let me know?  Thanks!

A new fall look for this lil' ol' blog

Even though it doesn't feel like fall here, it surely does in many other parts of the world.  It's evident by the cute fall looks over at my guilty pleasure, Wardrobe Remix.  Plus, wasn't one of those days last week officially the first day of fall?

Seemed the right time to be done with the ultra-summery blog header.

I'd been working on some leaves in Illustrator and couldn't come up with anything I loved.  So I snagged a free-for-non-commercial-use graphic, changed up the colors to be autumn-ish, and went wild.  Plus, I found a tutorial to change this blog template from 2 columns into 3 (via How About Orange) and here we are!

BTW, the two-column thing seemed very awkward visually with photos.  That's better now, but it feels a tiny bit crowded.

Still haven't sewn in a while -- I really miss it -- but I'm working a bunch for a few more weeks.  I'm trying to focus on quick alterations and embellishments, and making some progress on WIP's instead of trying to tackle a refashion or sewing project from scratch.  It's also great to see what everyone's up to and get some inspiration (any of you see the fruits of Kyle's very productive recent sewing weekend?).  Hope to be sharing more sewing goodness with you soon.