duck bucket sewing

I bought the Guy Laroche , the Anne Klein , and the Patricia Keay . I can't stop thinking about the Laroche; it's such an interesting design. How do you even put that together? Metal or covered buttons? How does the overlay work? Why those sleeves? Etc. I kind of want the pattern just for the instructions. Then, on the PatternReview roundup , I saw the amazing original version: THAT MAKES TOTAL SENSE. Much better than the all-white version: I fell in insta-love with the original version and am now trying to figure out how to rent or borrow an embroidery machine to make it happen (either that, or learn hand embroidery, which is a whole new world and something I was thinking about trying anyway). Oh, SEWING.

I love Vogue, but there's not a lot I can do this time around (long, ruffly dresses do not work on short people, and open backs and cold shoulders are not my jam). But I'm looking at these: V1543, Anne Klein Dig the pleats in the front. Wondering if it would work in linen? Really wish they'd used plain fabric for the photo. V1550, Paco Peralta Not sure if this would work in short-personville, but I really like the shorter top and pants together. I like the Paco Peralta jacket , too. Unsure about: V1549, Sandra Betzina That's some excellent fabric, but again, you can't really see the lines in the photo. It looks boxier in the line drawing? V1548, Guy Laroche Appropriate short-person dress, but not sure about the overlay (is it totally detachable?) Could be good, could go so, so wrong. Those sleeves are amazing, though. I almost want to just get it and Frankenpattern them onto other things. I like the back seams too. V1542, Patricia J...

It's been a while. I haven't really been sewing as much, although that Sandra Betzina dress is still in progress and I'm thinking about a couple of projects. But a couple of things! First thing: I went to the Women & Textiles Expo in Lowell yesterday and met up with Deepika and a few others from PatternReview. hi! It was really fun! I think it's the first year for the expo, and I hope they do it again next year. There were lectures, a makers' table (we made scarves out of cotton and fleece strips), vendors, and a fashion show. Here's Deepika trying on a jacket from B. Felt: She bought the blue scarf from them: B. Felt! #goals The fashion show was pretty amazing. Here's what won Best in Show: Why yes, that is a reversible coat with a map of Amsterdam made out of felted organic merino wool, no big. I bought an amazing red woven scarf (you can just see it in the top photo) from Elizabeth Springett: Her friend, who ha...

We said goodbye to him this weekend. I miss him a lot. Hunkered down in the window, snoozing in the sewing room, stalking heating vents, chasing his tail... the house feels weird and empty without him. Our other cat, Cinders, knows something's up, and she seems pretty unsettled. So am I. I'm setting up a memorial space in his sleeping spot in the sewing room, with his blankets and a toy and the ridiculous baby t-shirt the vet asked us to make him wear (which he hated). It had some patriotic baseball thing on the front, and I wish I could have snapped a picture of his expression when we first put it on him. What the hell, person? He was so funny -- the type of cat that took everything extremely seriously, until he didn't. Going through my photos, it's amazing how many of them are sewing-related. He was always there! He loved sitting on fabric and paper patterns (especially PDFs, as I was trying to tape them up), and watching me thread needles. (String, person. ...

Updates! 1. I'm making slow progress on view A of V1510 . Slow because Harley the cat is still sick (his cancer is progressing, unfortunately), and this keeps happening: Me: Hey Harley, want to go work on the dress? Harley: I have a better idea. How about I curl up on your chest and go to sleep? This... ...or this? I like the dress so far, though. (I'm doing the tunic version, but it's long enough to be a dress on me.) And how did I not know that Sandra Betzina's instructions are fantastic? 2. I'm totally drooling over  Dries van Noten spring 2017 , especially this coat: I need this! Where can I find a giant floral print? 3. I dyed some fabric with purple basil. Did some cotton (including an overdye on a tansy/iron mix I wasn't crazy about), and then threw some wool and silk into the exhaust dyebath. I simmered each batch for several hours, then let it sit for 1 or 2 days. Result: two totally different colors. Plants, you are so weird....

Two things are kind of ticking me off this week: 1. Gwyneth Paltrow's extremely expensive GOOP "basics."  Made in Italy, and she says they're "luxurious ready-to-wear at a direct-to-consumer price." The tagline is Buy Now, Wear Now, Keep Forever. Hahahahahaha. Let's take a quick look at the fabric content of that  affordable $695 blazer : 37% wool, 29% acrylic, 22% polyester, 6% nylon, 5% silk, 1% elastane. I'm guessing that acrylic/poly/nylon isn't all in the lining. Which means it's going to pill like crazy, no? (FWIW, I have a similar blazer from the Gap. It's ~10 years old (wait, no, it's around 20! holy shit, I am old), 100% wool, and still holding up great. It was also less than $695, I'm pretty sure. 2. This story's been making the rounds over the past few days, and the comments are driving me up the wall. I'm really tired of (presumably) well-off women instructing each other to buy less, by which they ...

The Seamworker's Guide to Amsterdam is up! I found out that Amsterdam — like  Antwerp  — is a really great source for knits. Especially sweatshirt fabric. (I'm really regretting not buying some as I get ready for fall sewing!) I loved Noordermarkt — it was like an open-air Mood, just stalls and stalls of every fabric you can imagine, lots of them organized by type: gingham, lace, etc. Albert Cuypstraat was like a New York street fair, with off-brand socks and makeup, food trucks, and — unlike most New York street fairs — fabric stalls (and permanent fabric shops behind them). Also, I stumbled onto a hippie restaurant with no set prices — at the end, the cashier told me to "pay what you feel or pay what you think." I laughed, but the food was very good. And they had cucumber-lemon-orange infused water. On the way back, I stumbled across an amazing shop called Sprmrkt . The entrance was filled with trees, s...