• Throw Out That Seam Ripper!

    Let’s be honest  - there is nothing worse in sewing than having to rip a seam right?  The whole process ...

Vintage Score! Stunning Bill Blass jacket

By on November 11, 2012 in Designer, Designer Inspirations, Fashion

This weekend old friends came for a visit, we went to see the Human Sexual Response reunion show at the House of Blues (incredible!!) and also hit The Garment District a used clothing store in Cambridge for some vintage clothes shopping, which I hadn’t done in years.  I wasn’t planning on buying anything but had to poke around and as [...]

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Shirtmaking: Simplicity 2339, Version 2

By on October 29, 2012 in Reviews - Simplicity, sewing, Tailoring

Here is version 2 of Simplicity 2339, also made from Mood shirt fabric, a very pretty periwinkle-green-raspberry stripe with an even-uneven pattern.   I don’t know what this fabric is called but its that classic light but crisp shirt fabric used in high end RTW shirts. The inner collar stand is a remnant of cotton lawn left [...]

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Shirtmaking: The Journey So Far

By on October 28, 2012 in Fabric, Fashion, Reviews - Simplicity

Vogue 8747  is a crappy pattern.  Crap.  And it pains me to say that because I instantly fell in love with the style and just like in real life, falling rashly in love is not a good thing.  My experience with this pattern is like your first serious relationship where you fell head over heels [...]

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Cool Tool: Perfect Alignment Laser (PAL)

By on October 16, 2012 in Technology, Tools

A few weeks ago in an email Pam mentioned a new sewing gadget, a cross hair laser attached to a lamp and it looked like a great concept, although I wasn’t keen on the fact that it has to be mounted to a table.  So Google to the rescue and I found the same company [...]

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Threads Body Double – Part 5, Fine Tuning The Fit

By on September 23, 2012 in Tailoring, Threads Magazine Dress Form Double, Tools, Tutorials, Uncategorized

Ann and I got together yesterday to finish up padding her body double.  One good thing about a project like this that you learn a lot and we came up with some new ideas that I used on my form when I got home.  In the original   post I was not really satisfied with [...]

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Threads Body Double – Part 4 Finished

By on September 6, 2012 in Threads Magazine Dress Form Double, Tools, Tutorials, Uncategorized

Ann and I got together recently to pad out my body double, which is the final step.  The whole process went pretty quickly and we learned a few things that Kenneth king’s article doesn’t really mention: Fusible batting has glue on both sides so use a dry iron, no steam A silk organza press cloth [...]

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