Good morning readers! Well, let’s first get the obvious out of the way: yes, I’ve been gone for awhile but nothing’s wrong. In fact, everything’s right because I finally, fina...
I was gifted this beautiful Singer 401A (mid-1950s) about a year ago by someone who is well aware of my obsession with vintage machines. She knew that I would cherish it and that it would be a treasu...
Things have been very busy for me since I returned from Couture Boot Camp! I am still working on my strapless dress whenever time permits but found myself with a free day today so I thought I’d...
Once the bodice had been hand basted together and I had another fitting, I stitched the dress together by machine. Notice that I took a smidgen off the bust curve of the Princess seam. All of the sea...
Once all of my muslin underlining pieces were traced and cut in mirror image (so that the markings would end up next to the body) they were hand-basted to an additional underlining of silk organza. H...
I decided to make a very fitted strapless dress in Couture Boot Camp because a) that’s a tough thing to fit on yourself and b) I’d never done it before! I selected New Look 6454 as my sta...
Of course, the week leading up to the eight wonderful days was filled with stress and buckets of tears as I said my final goodbyes to my sweet little Winnie. I can’t believe how quiet the house...
Sad to say, Winnie’s blood tests point to either mutiple myeloma (a form of cancer) or FIP (feline infectious peritonitis). Dr. Kelly and I decided there is no point in further testing at this ...
I apologize for being such a bad blogger this past month. I had company and then I was enlisted to make curtains for my son’s restaurant (not done yet, sigh). Additionally, I have been filling ...
Tomorrow is Bryan’s birthday and he has been hinting that he’d like a spa robe so last night I pulled out this pattern and whipped one up (really, this is a 2-3 hour project). Of course I...
I stayed up last night and finished the hems and lining, bring on the cold front! My next project is going to be a white pique spa robe for my honey (it’s his birthday on Thursday) but first I ...
It’s been in the mid-80s for a number of days so I haven’t felt like working on the jacket as much. But, now that I’m in the home stretch I am anxious to get it finished. We have a ...
We interrupt the faux mink jacket to bring you – by popular request – a pattern matching tutorial! Many of you are participating in the 2011 Men’s Shirt Sew-Along over at Male Patte...
I was finally able to get back to the jacket today, yay! I stitched the darts, shoulder and side seams and attached the collar. Because the fur is so plush I had to trim it out of the seam allowances...
Since I had some uninterrupted time this morning I decided to put the pockets in. Cutting into your jacket fronts is always scary (especially in a pricey fabric) and I wanted to make sure I had a cle...
After much deliberation, I decided to cut the collar on the bias. Thank you all for your thoughtful input! Doesn’t it look pretty from the back? (Lightened to show detail) I cut and sewed the c...
I finished cutting my jacket out last night and now I’m kind of stuck on the the collar. The pattern has you cut the collar with the nap going out towards the shoulder. The more I looked at it,...
My Tissavel faux-mink arrived from EOS today and, after a couple of pattern modifications, I’ll be ready to cut into it. I tried to photograph the fur but my pictures suck since my granddog ate...
I am so glad I went with this fur instead of the longer-haired one because I think it looks so much better with the denim. The collar went together very quickly and easily. I once again used the blac...
I recut the collar out of a different fur today. This fur is much shorter and smoother than the other, kind of a pelted sheared beaver. I think this works much better with the jacket as it won’...
I had some large scraps of fur left from my recent vest project so I thought it would be fun to make a removable collar and cuffs for one of my RTW jean jackets. I started by pinning the collar to a ...
This is my favorite casual belt. It’s quite a humble little cotton webbing belt which originally belonged to my son. It works well with a very casual jeans outfit (or even shorts) and fits perf...
I finished putting the lining in this morning so I’ll hopefully be able to give it a test drive before the weather warms up again. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I hate working with ...
Between Summerset’s adorable little faux fur jacket and the fur vests I’ve been seeing so much of lately I’ve been having some faux fur envy! Alas, there isn’t anyplace locall...
This jacket really went together very easily and quickly. If you eliminate the trim it would be an afternoon project. Here are the changes I made (or would make next time around): *Shortened body by ...
I am really enjoying my mini-sewcation and, despite a slow start, actually accomplished quite a lot this weekend. A couple of people had asked about the sizing of this pattern and, yes, it is a tall....
Phyllis recently received a treasure-trove of vintage patterns that belonged to her grandmother and mother (many of which she is currently selling through her Etsy Shop). Imagine my delight when she ...
I have always said that, when it comes to printing .pdf patterns, I need a remedial class. No matter what I do, the patterns never seem to print out at the correct size and I waste hours of time, kil...
I had a little free time this afternoon so I thought I’d sit down and see if I could remember how to thread the Merrow purling machine. I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t used it in ...
There’s just nothing like a bright, shiny New Year full of hope and promise, is there? I have set a few sewing goals for 2011: *12 jackets (this was so much fun that I want to do it again!) *A ...
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