Readers, After covering tailoring materials in disc 1 of Smart Tailoring, Kenneth King moves on to tailoring tools. “In tailoring, as in all sewing,” he says emphatically, “pressing is the most important thing. You can save bad sewing with good pressing, and you can ruin good sewing with bad pressing. So the most important tool […]
Gathering My Tailoring Materials
Readers, I’ve started watching Smart Tailoring all over again, pausing the video every couple of minutes to jot down notes. This DVD set is packed with information and I don’t want to miss a thing. Kenneth King starts Smart Tailoring by saying “I’m going to be talking about ‘old school’ and ‘new school’. ‘Old school’ […]
Tailoring with Kenneth King
Readers, A couple of weeks ago–okay, it was January 15–I was searching the Threads magazine website for a clever technique of Kenneth King’s that I’d used for cutting ravelly fabric when I stopped dead in my tracks. I read the announcement, probably just minutes old, of the release of his new DVD set, Smart Tailoring. […]
Getting Back Into the Sewing Game
Readers, The illustrations for a post about taking a pattern-drafting class are not exciting. The tools–a 2-inch clear ruler, a fashion ruler, a measuring tape, mechanical pencil, and paper–aren’t the most interesting things to photograph. The instruction sheets are dull, too. What is exciting about pattern-drafting, in my experience, is the fervor of patternmaking teachers. […]
Setting Up My New Sewing Room
Readers, My sewing room, occupying the largest bedroom in Jack’s and my new home in Columbus, Ohio, is about 90 percent set up now. It was fairly easy to plan the layout, and fun, as well. From my little desk I merely have to turn around to bask in the morning light streaming in from […]
How Do I Proceed?
Readers, I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but this blog is not all that much about completed projects. It’s about process–my process, at any rate. That’s why this blog is called “Getting Things Sewn” rather than “Things Gotten Sewn.” Since I’m in process mode (aka The Slough of Despond) a lot more than in finish […]
Meeting Edith Head
Readers, As Cynthia and I were walking toward the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio late Sunday afternoon, I overheard a woman exclaim to her companions, “I had no idea it would be so awesome!” Oh sure, she’d just seen three dozen or so costumes from Paramount Pictures’ vaults that curator Randall Thropp had rescued from […]