Readers, I went to the Textile Center today to catch the Minnesota State Button Society’s semiannual “Famous Button Buy,” where members can sell buttons and socialize over a potluck lunch. The event is open to the public. As I wrote a while back, I’m not a collector, although I’ve amassed a lot of buttons from […]
Lessons in Pleatership
Readers, I miss my sewing domain. A week ago Jack and I folded up my worktables and took my pegboard, which stored a lot of sewing tools, down from the walls. Jack pulled off most of the grasscloth wallpaper that a previous owner had put up. Sunday I started scraping off any remaining paper backing […]
Field trip: Costume Rentals, Minneapolis
Readers, With the sewing domain unavailable due to the start of improvements (about which, more to come in future posts), I did a field trip to Costume Rentals in Minneapolis Saturday. Costume Rentals occupies 17,000 square feet and stores about 70,000 items belonging to the Guthrie Theater and Children’s Theatre companies in Minneapolis, representing about […]
What Works/What Doesn’t: Butterick 5542, 1930s jacket
Readers, I wanted you to see some properly lighted and shot photos of my linen jacket, Butterick 5542, which is from the 1930s, that I finished in May. Here’s the previous post about that project. The skirt is from a McCall’s pattern, 3830, which is current as of this writing. My mannequin, Jackie (she came […]
What Works/What Doesn’t: The Anorak
Readers, Remember the anorak I finished a while back? I’ve been wearing it on neighborhood walks for a few weeks. I modeled it recently in a photo shoot in Cynthia’s studio. And last week I brought it to a gathering of sewing friends. This anorak has been worn in the wind and rain, stuffed into […]
What Works/What Doesn’t
Readers, Maybe you remember a post titled Anatomy of a Dud: The Green Scarf, in which I modeled a regrettable purchase. I’ve rethought that post. Oh, I still think the scarf is a dud for me. And I was imposing a look on myself, and that doesn’t work. So, what does work? If I want […]
When Bad Patterns Happen to Good People
Readers, Yesterday I took my blouse project, Advance 5455, from 1950, to my sewing teacher, Edith, to look it over. I’d gotten to a place in the instructions that had stopped me when I made the muslin five or six years ago. I was still stumped. No wonder. I still don’t quite understand the instructions […]