I live in New England, and I shouldn't complain, but damn it's been miserably cold lately. So it's been a good time to stay in and work on a project. The kilt is temporarily on hold. As suggested by one of my readers, Craig Thomas, I purchased the book The Art of Kiltmaking by Barbara [...]
Blog posts
A winter’s project — The Kilt
Happy New Year, readers. I know it's been awhile since I've posted on here, but small things HAVE been taking place. Unfortunately, none of them involve any actual sewing. Today I'm letting the cat out of the bag and announcing that my winter's project will be making an authentic Scottish kilt. So where to begin? [...]
Give me Liberty….. Um, well, faux Liberty
Today, readers, we'll be traveling to merry old England and visiting the flagship store of Liberty of London. If I'm ever lucky enough to visit London, this is sure to be on the itinerary. Truly, this is a Mecca for the fabric obsessed. If you follow this blog, chances are that you fall into this [...]
Tuxedo Finale x 2
I haven't posted a completed project in ages. So to make up for that I'm posting not one, but TWO completed tuxedo shirts. So with all due respect, Tennessee and Chumley ..... on with the show! First up is the VERY long overdue linen tuxedo shirt. I was working on this shirt when disaster struck this [...]
Tartan tuxedo update
Things have moved ahead nicely on the tuxedo shirt. I did tons of matching on the fronts of the shirt, but there are parts of a man's shirt where matching is impractical if not completely out of the question. The center back box pleat makes matching the yoke impossible, so it's better to cut it [...]
The highs and lows of ordering fabric online
Perhaps you live in the boonies like me. Don't get me wrong, I love where I live, but I'm at a real disadvantage when it comes to buying fabric. Basically I have two choices ; Wal-mart (ick) and JoAnn's (gag), both of which are about a 16 mile drive. Sorry, but it's just not worth [...]
Tartan Tuxedo Shirt — a de-stashing project
Thanks to all my readers for the get well wishes. I'm glad to say that I'm finally back in the swing of things, and feeling in desperate need of a project. There seems to be a lot of blogging lately about stashes. They're being agonized over, sorted, reorganized, and used. Mine, I'll admit is pretty [...]
No sewing, but lots of looking / dreaming
Wouldn't you know it, today I get a huge shout-out from Sunni at a Fashionable Stitch and my blog is at a dead standstill. Arrrgh! Well, I may not be doing any sewing lately, but I've sure been looking at lots of clothes. Namely, I've been looking at the SS2013 menswear collections that are [...]
The WORST summer ever
I don't have that many followers, but some of you may be wondering what the hell happened to the tuxedo shirt. Talk about being close, but ever so far away. I really had not been feeling well since mid June. Nothing specific, just that vague feeling that one's not 100% right. Around the time of [...]
The collar — Saving the hardest till last
I've been back and forth on the whole collar issue. Collar? or just a band? Since both my Victorian shirts have only collar bands I decided on a collar and stand for this shirt. The problem? I only have patterns for a buttondown collar and a rounded collar (which came out like crap because I [...]
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