The safari has officially left base camp, and the muslin is well underway. Because I ALWAYS have problems with my shoulders I decided to check the pattern against one of my shirt patterns first thing. Amazing! It appears that I won't have to make a sloped shoulder adjustment to my pattern. It seems very hard to [...]
Blog posts
My Pierre Cardin Bonanza!
Oh, Pierre Cardin, I remember you well! Your cute little curly-cue logo was everywhereIt was almost impossible to buy a necktie without your logo on it!And you had a great fragrance in a very phallic bottle. Shocking for 1972! And there was also THIS!!!! I came across this pattern quite by accident on Etsy and just [...]
More inspiration
This is my pattern for the safari project. I purchased it from Sassy Cotton on Etsy. I highly suggest her Etsy shop for anyone interested in vintage patterns. She has some amazing designs to choose from. This one, as you can see, is "virgin"! Straight from the Pixie Shop in Grant City, Missouri and still [...]
Safari inspiration, oh yeah!
Ok, I'm back to outerwear. Yay! A safari jacket for Spring has been on my mind for months. I'm totally chomping at the bit to get this next project launched. Spring is a very short season here in Maine. We sort of move directly from Winter to Summer, so I'll have to work fast if [...]
Finished — The Spring-y buttondown
So here is the finished oxford cloth buttondown. There's really not much to say. I see so many creative projects out there from incredibly talented sewists. This is just a man's shirt (yawn). It doesn't get much more basic. Still, this is a shirt that I could easily wear to my Mom's for Easter dinner [...]
The spring-y buttondown — stripe engineering
Things are progressing nicely on the spring-y shirt. Cutting out the various pieces takes some thought and a fair amount of care, especially when working with stripes. It took me awhile to wrap my head around the whole front placket matching, so hopefully this post can help some of you who may be contemplating a [...]
A sure sign of Spring!
Forget robins and bulbs poking up out of the ground. Here's the surest sign of Spring anywhere! These guys hatched the day after Valentine's Day. I have to admit that I totally love all the pastel candy colors that emerge this time of year. It's interesting that what could be considered the most feminine of colors, [...]
McCall’s 7590, AKA the Cocoa Beach Shirt
From 1964 comes the Cocoa Beach Shirt! Yay! This shirt was so much fun to make and I'm totally in love with its retro vibe. The fabric is a cotton voile from Denver Fabrics and the print seems made for this style. Of course the look is never complete without the pipe! The back view. [...]
Victorian shirt #2 — Afternoon tea
Welcome! Today we're having tea. I'm pulling out the tartan English bone china and wearing Victorian shirt #2 for the occasion. This is my own revised version of Folkwear # 202. The bib sections have been cut on the bias and the placket has been redesigned to simplify construction. The new placket also eliminates the [...]
The Cocoa Beach shirt…… some details
It was a rainy day here in Maine, a good day to work on the Cocoa Beach shirt. This is a shirt that I would make again in a heartbeat. I keep fantasizing about all the $2 / yard seersucker that was in one of the fabric dives in NYC last year. I'm hoping to [...]
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