Right now I’m finishing up a vest from Simplicity 2556 for Abby and she wants nailhead embellishments on the leather collar. The most secure way to attach studs or nailheads is with a bench setter, but they are way more expensive than what I need for an occasional project like this. Hot-Fix nailheads are not really an option [...]
“I never conform to any sort of fashion ideal. My ideal was to always show reality, even though I started at Savile Row and ended up a Givenchy in Paris, to depict the times I live in”
- Alexander McQueen, Harper’s Bazaar, September 2008
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Click for a larger view
Wow it’s been quite a while since I’ve done baby sewing! This dress is for Lily, my first cousin three times removed; her grandmother is my mother’s cousin. She’s 18 months old and is the flower girl in [...]
The video finally arrived from ADA Providence! I wish this was in High Def but competition videos tend to be shot in an older format so they’ll play on virtually any DVD player. From start to finish it took me about six weeks to make all 56 costumes. The inspiration was a Salwar [...]
For sewers with teenage daughters, Spring always means “Mom, can you make me a dress for the (insert: dance, semi-formal, prom)?”…when my daughters were young I did a lot of sewing for them, but now that they’re older they like shopping and that’s fine, it means I can sew for myself. However, when prom season [...]
The past month has been a blur of holidays, work, snow, pattern uploading, school, dance, snow, work, school, seed catalogs, snow and more snow. I’m not one of those people who bitch about winter though and this lovely blanket of white is good news for spring and summer gardening. I also have my [...]
The weather this weekend has been glorious and yesterday I took a long-overdue trip into B0ston for a stroll down Newbury St. In the 80′s I had great apartment on the corner of Newbury and Dartmouth so I was feeling nostalgic for the old neighborhood. Shopping was on the agenda and now I’m the happy owner of two pairs of John [...]
Click!
Click!
Miss Cranky Pants is banished, this skirt managed to exorcise her! Recent projects by Gigi and Bunny inspired me to dig through my stash of heirloom trims and use them up. I did a lot of heirloom sewing when my daughters were young, but they outgrew those styles long [...]
Click!
Click!
New England is sweating away in the heatwave and this dress is kind of timely. One thing I remember from childhood are seasonal fabrics that have virtually disappeared from summer, old favorites such as madras, seersucker and dotted swiss come to mind. Gigi made a wonderful top from dotted Swiss and [...]
I learned to embroider when I was about 7, and I was maybe 14 when I made this shirt. The pattern is long gone, but it’s Big 4, probably Butterick because back in those days (and unlike today) it was actually a trendy line and my favorite. The fabric is a truly wretched synthetic pretty typical of that [...]
|
Phyllis - one of the original "Sewing Divas". Please visit my other sites.

This is where I write about organic gardening, raising backyard chickens, cooking and eating and green ideas for a more sustainable lifestyle.
|
Recent Comments