holding pattern (and new Vogues)

I know I'm way overdue for an update here...sorry. New job and all that. It's over in mid-November. I like it there and I'll miss the people, but not the four-hour commute.

I've been posting pictures over on Instagram...everything from Male Pattern Boldness Day (very fun) to progress on the Alabama Chanin dress (I'm on panel 3 now!) to dyeing with avocado pits. (Semi-disappointing, but still interesting...apparently you don't need to use a mordant because of the tannins in the pits. I got a light peachy-pink on cotton jersey.) Also a gathered-dress fail, which I still need to unpick and redo.

Here are the 2 complete Alabama Chanin panels, btw:

I like it so far. I'm not completely thrilled about the line across the middle (it's really hard to get the stencil to repeat evenly), but also I'm not really going to worry about it.

I also bought a few patterns from DP Studio (yes, I paid the shipping...overall it wasn't that expensive). Looking forward to trying them out once I have some machine-sewing time again.

Finally, DID YOU GUYS SEE THE NEW VOGUES. Holyshit. !!!!!!!!

I love lots of them (like, it's really going to be hard to decide which ones to get when the time comes), but especially the tabard by Sandra Betzina.

I can see making it up in sweatshirt fabric or fleece for the winter, some kind of fancy fabric for parties, wool for the office. I like the shorter version too:

I really want to know how she proposed this to Vogue. Sandra Betzina: "Hey Vogue, how about a medieval men's coat for your holiday patterns?" Vogue: "Okay!"

I love how non-trendy it is too. Honestly, if I see one more cold shoulder...

I'm also digging this other Sandra Betzina top:

In the right fabric, it's very Salem-around-Halloween. (So is the tabard, actually.)

I like also the front cutout on the Tom & Linda Platt top:

And I'm intrigued by the Paco Peralta pattern, although once again, I'm not sure the skirt is short-person friendly:

Can I say that I'm also happy that so many of these are separates? Party dresses are great and all, but I only need one.

Anyway, looking forward to having some machine-sewing time in a month or so!

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Alabama Chanin Factory Dress, and an update

Right! So I've been thinking lately about making three "uniform dresses" with pockets in Alabama Chanin cotton jersey that can be worn by themselves or over t-shirts and leggings, under cardigans, etc. And then I got this new "accessory" in May (which I'll explain in a sec) and couldn't get a red dress out of my head. To match, sort of—even though I hate it—but also, I love red and for some reason have none of it in my closet. So anyway, here's the first Factory Dress! It's single-layer medium-weight cotton jersey in Carmine, in a straight size medium, with hand-stitched seams (although I machine-stitched Eloflex within the SA afterward for extra stability). I used the punch cards from The Geometry of Hand-Sewing for the Cretan stitch around the neckline and armholes, which worked out great. Bad closeup of neckline: This was a really enjoyable make—I had fun with the combination of machine and hand-stitching. I might k

complete: Nani Iro pocket dress

I made a dress! With the new sewing machine! Wheee! And not to bury the lede, but: We went to Japan for two weeks, and I completely fell in love with the clothing—especially Nani IRO and their amazing fabrics. I'm hooked. We tracked down the atelier in Osaka. ( Here's my review on PR .) They wouldn't let me take photos of the shop but said it was OK to take pictures of the fabrics. Lots of linen, cotton gauze and sateen in bright colors, as well as buttons and notions, an archive (I wasn't sure if it was possible to buy any of the archived fabrics), and jewelry. I bought some lovely blue linen with an asymmetrical print: And the book—the English translation had just been released. And it was signed! (I have a picture, can't seem to post it, sry.) So anyway. I couldn't stop reading the book—you know when you get really really obsessed with a pattern book? Like that. As soon as I got home, I decided to try out the pocket dress. Here'

a trip to Alabama Chanin

Hi there. It's been a while. Didn't mean to go on mute, but some things happened over the last year or two. Anyway! I finally paid Alabama Chanin a visit. I've wanted to go for years, and finally reached out to them to sign up for a Studio Day and embroidery workshop while I was sitting in a high school gym in Lynn recovering from my first Covid shot. Definitely a bucket-list thing. I would have signed up for their three-day workshop in May, but it happened to coincide with the date of my second shot. :( It was a bit nerve-wracking -- only my second trip since 2019, going to a new place and all that. I went with a friend from my stitching group, and we'd never traveled together before. We had a great time, though. It was an amazing three days! We landed in Nashville on a Wednesday, drove straight to AC, and spent the rest of the afternoon looking around and trying stuff on. Thursday was our Studio Day, where they let you focus on whatever you want. We toured the facto

duck bucket sewing

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