duck bucket sewing

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...

I had the best time at MPB Day—as always! The weather was slightly terrifying (lightning in the morning, sudden showers throughout the day), but I powered through and was glad I did. Here's Peter's roundup , and here's his Instagram with more pictures, and here's mine . We met in the morning at the museum at FIT as usual. The exhibit was something along the lines of "deconstructed and unfinished," showing pieces in progress and upcycled and mended garments. I loved it. Especially Betsey Johnson's jumpsuit made out of John Cale's old rugby shirts. And this dress, made from a pair of pants with the lining as the sleeves: Then it was off to Panera for lunch and catching up and a whole lot of pattern-swapping. I've always wanted to go to Around the World books and prioritized it this time. It was AMAZING. They had back issues of Marfy (with patterns) for $29, and a ton of back issues of really nice fashion-industry magazines for j...