Mindful Entertainment - Getting Things Sewn

Readers,

The project I’m working on at the moment is so boring (a pants muslin) that I can hardly bear to write about it, much less take pictures of it. Maybe a professional could style and light a pants muslin brilliantly, but I sure can’t.

Great-fitting pants: worth the effort to make, of course, but not exciting to write about.

The interesting part of sewing pants is, frankly, getting them done. For my figure, simpler lines in skirts and pants work best. Jackets, vests, coats, tops, dresses, hats, and scarves allow much greater creative range and challenge for me.

To get through the boring parts of projects I like to take breaks by visiting the Vintage Patterns Wiki. Browsing page after page of vintage pattern envelope illustrations is, I was going to say, mindless entertainment, but actually, it’s the opposite for me. It’s mindful entertainment: I have loads of fun looking at pictures intently and picking out the ones I like the most.

I copy and paste the images of my favorite pattern designs into a Microsoft OneNote notebook I set up for myself for wardrobe and sewing ideas and add comments that are keyword-searchable.

In pants, simpler is better for me. Tops are where I put the distinctive details.

I can impulsively add any pattern illustrations I like, and if I change my mind, delete them later. Over time I can see which patterns have staying power and whether they have common elements that suggest a wardrobe direction.

Recently I’ve been browsing vintage blouse patterns, to use great fabrics from my stash and to go with jackets I’ve made or am planning to make. What great choices the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s offered! And so many would fit effortlessly into today’s wardrobes.

Here are some of the blouses that caught my eye. Long live Vintage Pattern Wiki!