Readers, I was browsing recently through a lot of photos my photographer had shot in a session last fall and realized I’d never gotten around to writing about this Misses’ top designed by Katherine Tilton that I’d made. I just looked through my notes to recollect what changes I made. They were the usual ones: […]
Book: Year of No Clutter by Eve O. Schaub
Readers, How can I write a tidy little review of a book that, like its author, is seeking–but only occasionally finding–order? I’ve just reread my extensively mind-mapped notes from Year of No Clutter by Eve O. Schaub, and my mind is jam-packed with random thoughts about this sometimes exasperating book. After the publication of her […]
Vogue Patterns 8772: Easy Options Blouses
Readers, Even though summer can be the easiest and most fun season to sew for, I didn’t sew much for summer during our years in Minnesota. After all, it wasn’t till May that I was finally convinced I could probably go outdoors without a coat, and in September I was bracing myself for the first […]
What Works, What Doesn’t: Five Versions of the McCall “Mannish Jacket” from 1941
Readers, Remember this jacket pattern? Of course you do. In 2015 I used it for a project following Kenneth King’s “Old School” instructions on his Smart Tailoring DVD. From 2003 to 2015 I made up this jacket five times. Don’t ask me why, but I always loved the jaunty pattern illustration. The actual jackets? I […]
More Than What Meets the Eye
Readers, One morning late last week I piled five jackets, a blouse, and my mannequin Ginger into my nifty red folding utility wagon. After a two-minute commute I arrived at my sister Cynthia’s studio for our photo shoot. Almost as an afterthought I brought my latest creation: mint-green flannel pajamas. I wasn’t sure at first […]
What Problem Does That Solve?
Readers, Blame my background as a librarian for calling a new form that I’m experimenting with an “Acquisitions Record.” Out of my 22 years working in libraries I spent four and a half in my system’s Collection Management department, in Acquisitions, selecting adult fiction, large print, and audiobooks. (I also pestered advised my colleague who […]
Field Trip: “Dressing Downton,” Taft Museum, Cincinnati
Readers, Last month I got to see three dozen costumes from Downton Abbey up close in the show “Dressing Downton: Changing Fashion for Changing Times” at the beautiful Taft Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the invitation of a friend of my sister Cynthia’s who is a member of the museum, I joined Cynthia and our […]