I have always loved stripes, and although I obviously love colors, sometimes you just can’t beat a good black and white combo.
Each year this design is my #1 seller for Burning Man costumes. The pattern is my own design, for comfortable fit and stripe convergence.
These leggings are made out of slinky lycra that stretches 175% its original size! So they are equally perfect for dancing and gorging at a feast. You can get them in my Etsy shop now!
It’s a cross between a pillow and a pouf, which I suppose makes this creation another tuffet! My friend Mary requested a rainbow pinwheel pillow, and I eventually obliged.
It’s made entirely of scrap fabrics. The triangles were sewn together, and then topstitched onto a backing of blackout fabric (it was the right weight and I had 2 yd lying around). Continue reading →
The trims were all in my stash as well. And even stash-bustier, it’s stuffed with shredded fabric! There’s a tiny bit of mystery poly-fil in there as well.
The shredded fabric was all diverted from the trash can: ugly or tiny scraps that I cut into ~2″ squares and tossed in a bag over the course of a few months. It builds up really fast! However, all that fabric is HEAVY, so this wouldn’t make a good stuffing for your bed pillows, but maybe for plumping up seat cushions.
Mary just graduated and moved up to Santa Cruz with her fiance, and I finished it in time to give her as a going-away/congratulations gift.
I’ve been non-stop busy with work, but either it’s not interesting enough for a blog post, or it is but I signed NDAs, or I haven’t had time to post it!
As Burning Man draws near, I start making zipper dust masks. It’s as seasonal as baby polar bears learning to catch seals for the first time.
This is kind of amazing. I finished this dress, wore it to a party, took pictures, and got it posted all in one day!
This picture makes it look like the wind was blowing my hair to the side, but that’s just how I wear it nowadays.
At the end of the party I smashed my thumb in a door, and wound up taking home an old-fashioned glass filled with ice because it hurt so much. There’s some discoloration and it’s sore, but luckily no major damage! Anyway, that’s why I’m holding my thumb in this picture.
I used Simplicity 3835, which is an out-of-print Built by Wendy pattern. Luckily I was able to borrow it from a lady in my sewing group, which has inspired a pattern tracing party to be held next week (and I can’t wait!). Thank you for the pattern Jill!
My step-sister-in-law got the purple fabric in Hawaii years ago (same as with my bathrobe). It’s a mid-weight cotton with fabulous drape. The orange collar was cut from a scrap of my wedding skirt, and the gold/blue trim was in my stash. In fact, the only new material for the dress was the $.50 zipper.
I’m really smitten by the orange/violet combination. I was inebriated when I made the original decision, and second-guessed myself a couple times while sewing. I’m so glad I trusted myself! So far I’ve only worn it during the day, but the colors are so luminous in the sunlight.
My version was originally inspired by Kristin’s chic dress, although I made many modifications to the pattern. The biggest change was that I lowered the neckline by drafting a new collar (I made a muslin of the whole dress first). Since the neck was lowered, there was less excess fabric to be gathered, which I might add back in if I make this pattern again. Instead of the back side darts I shaped the zipper seam, and added darts to the front. My pockets are slightly gathered at the bottom.
Here’s my muslin with the original neckline. The picture on the right shows the original pattern piece (in yellow) and my wider collar (in white). I wound up shortening the collar piece to 1.5″ finished.
I cut the longer length for the dress, but wound up shortening it a few inches. This is definitely the shortest length I’m comfortable with, but I think that since I’m so covered up at the arms and chest that this dress needs to be short to keep its edge.
I finished all seams with bias tape, cut from a random polyester in my fabric cabinet (and also used on my Cool Contrast tee). I also made a belt, with orange stripes. I’m not sure if I prefer the dress to hang loose or to wear it with the belt. The belt has a tendency to create the illusion of a belly pouch…
Now I’ve jumped on the shift dress bandwagon! It’s not the Laurel pattern, but it’s still the sewing-world trend. I’ll definitely be playing with this silhouette more, with raglan and set-in sleeves.
I’m calling it a miimii because, when it was on a hanger before the side seams were sewn, my husband asked “what’s up with that muumuu you’re making?” And since it’s smaller than a muumuu it must be a miimii.
I wore it to my husband’s stepmother’s 75th birthday party in Malibu today, which just happened to be Hawaiian themed. It was extra perfect because it was her oldest daughter who had given me the fabric, and had planned the party.
My wonderful vintage giraffe blouse is on the front page of BurdaStyle this weekend!
Now that it’s getting some press, I’ll reveal that whenever I wear this blouse, in my head I’m constantly singing a song about baby giraffes going out for ice cream. The words and melody change with every imaginary performance, but that’s the secret theme.
This is my first time on the homepage of Burda, and I’m so excited! It was selected for an inspiration feature on ‘Beautiful Blouses,’ along with some lovely other creations! I’ve been thinking about making a new button-up (or button-down?) with a different vintage fabric that I’ve been hanging onto since 2008, so now I’m definitely inspired.
You can see the blouse on Burda, or with more words and pictures on this blog. It was a great little surprise to discover this morning, and now I know what I’m going to wear today (assuming I ever change out of my bathrobe, yes I’m wearing it now, yes I’m tempted to wear it to buy lighters at the liquor store and get quarters from the laundromat).
What’s a weekend without new lounge wear?
Although I’ve never participated in a challenge before, I was immediately jazzed about Julia Bobbin’s Mad Men Challenge. And although I’ve always been in love with the show’s costumes (especially after reading the ultimate Bitchy Kittens Tom and Lorenzo), the period clothing is mostly not my style. However. I had a amazing pattern from my Grandma, and gorgeous vintage cotton from Hawaii (a gift from my step-sister-in-law Ilaan), and damn if I’m not a sucker for over the top lounge wear.
You better believe I’m designing pajamas to coordinate. Who’s coming over for brunch? This robe is begging for champagne cocktails.
My design combines two luscious bathrobes from the finale of season 5, called The Phantom. Appearing first is drunk Megan’s psychedelic robe, which has the same large flowers and neon colors as my fabric.
Trudy’s robe has the frilliness of my pattern. I’d been planning on adding an organza ruffle with contrasting rolled hem, but while my sample looked amazing it was not very soft against my skin. So I have 7 yards of neon pink 5″ wide bias strips waiting for another project…
I used Butterick 3770; although I couldn’t find an exact date I know it’s from the 60s. I received this pattern after my grandma died, almost a year ago. Knowing that she cut the pattern and made it for herself was a great connection, and reminded me of the wonderfully frilly dresses she would make for my birthdays. The night that I finished the construction, I dreamed that she was holding my hand throughout all my sleepy-time adventures, and it was a pretty great feeling that lasted all of the next day.
I didn’t make any adjustments to the pattern (except the placement of the belt casing and using 4 buttons instead of 5). The arms are a little high, but that seems to be the style and I didn’t want to mess with it. I finished the seams with my serger, but I may come back with some bias tape. If I were to make this robe again (and had more fabric) I would make the skirt a little more flared in the back, to emphasize the cape.
Although I certainly don’t need another robe, I want to make 5 more of these in every wild silky fabric I can find.
Like so many of my projects nowadays, nearly all the materials came from my stash. The only purchase for this robe were 1/3 yd pink satin for the tie and button coverings, 6 yd pink lace, and blue ribbon binding the ruffle, for a total of $8. I had JUST. ENOUGH. FABRIC. In fact, one of the front facings had to be cut separately, because I chose to cut the back as a single piece (I was not loving the very obvious center back seam that the pattern called for).
I love that the shorter version of this robe is called “street length,” so that became the inspiration for this photo shoot.
Ah, I wish I didn’t have to actually work today. I’d much rather drink strawberry margaritas, eat egg rolls, and watch movies on the couch all day. But I might wear this to a potluck tonight.
