"If you can't be pretty, you might as well cause trouble" – Florence King
Posted in dumb things I have done, Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing on Jun 19th, 2014
For a lark, I am creating a dress based on a mashup of these two patterns. I am using the View 3 skirt from the 1966 Simplicity 6840 and the full-length middy tunic from the 1974 Simplicity 9922. I measured the pattern pieces against one another and they are the same at the hip, so […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing, Up The Pole on Mar 26th, 2013
So said McCall’s back in 1973, and you know what? They weren’t kidding. This little frock was easy to make and should be easy to wear. It’s essentially an a-line from armpit to hem, given shape by the crossover sash which is integrated into the neckline binding. I made it a bit more complicated than […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing, Up The Pole on Mar 18th, 2013
…to keep cocking it up this relentlessly. But I managed to persevere through my incompetence and produce what turned out to be an actually pretty dress: This finally turned out very well. The fabric and the pattern combined almost perfectly. This pattern was intended specifically for moderate stretch knits. This fabric is not a knit […]
Posted in Fashion, Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing, Up The Pole on Feb 3rd, 2013
This is a 1969 Simplicity pattern which was one of two that my Mom or one of my aunts and one of her friends used to make beach coverups when they were in high school. They’d go to the flea market and buy cheap, brightly colored beach towels and then cut the front and one […]
Posted in Delight, Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing on Aug 1st, 2012
The first time I saw the movie poster for 13 Going On 30, I thought, “ohmigod, I love that dress!!” I went and saw that movie at a double feature of it and Mean Girls. Talk about tennybopper fashionable chick-flick heaven. My only disappointment was that the fabulous polka-dotted dress from the movie poster never […]
Posted in Fashion, Fashion/Sewing stuff, nostalgia, Sewing on Jul 7th, 2012
As far as I’m concerned, this is pretty much a perfect outfit. DVF-style wraparound dress, big-ass brass cuff bracelet, tri-tone (brass/copper/stainless) earrings, black-patent wedge sandals, red nails. I’ve been really into this sort of 1970s glam thing lately and have a hard time making myself wear anything that isn’t a wrap-around dress and wedge-sole shoes. […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing on Jun 10th, 2012
I’ve made a couple of shirtwaist dresses lately, a nod to that sort of late-1950s/early-1960s style that seems to be floating around courtesy of Mad Men and Pan Am and the like. Also, because I like that sort of style and it suits my figure. Anything with a great deal of structure and a well-defined […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, Photo entries, Sewing on Dec 18th, 2011
I made a new dress today – it didn’t pan out quite as well as one might have hoped, and it is, of course, my fault, as I did a piss-poor job of matching fabric to pattern design. I’d bought this fabric with an eye to using it with McCall’s M5974, which is a pattern […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing, Shopping, Well I'll Be Darned on Nov 28th, 2011
Man, there are times that being a seamstress kicks ass. Not so much when you put a sleeve in a jacket upside down or get finagled into doing a shit-ton of alterations for no money, but when you get about $200 worth of performance gear for about $40, it fucking rules. So, there’s this fancy-schmancy […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, NaBloPoMo 2011 on Nov 21st, 2011
IMG_0312, a photo by Meetzorp on Flickr. Just trying out a tank-top pattern on a bit of scrap from a dress I cut out recently (but haven’t assembled yet). Yes, I know the zig-zags aren’t well centered and all that, but I am just finding out if this pattern even fits me and works all […]