Readers, Thursday evening I found myself saying “Nooooooo…!” to the computer screen as I read the news on Peter Lappin’s blog, Male Pattern Boldness, that Paron Fabrics in New York’s Garment District was closing in just a matter of days. Dozens of readers have left comments expressing their sadness at the passing of another source […]
Guest Blogger: Our Advice Columnist, Miss GTS
If the writer of this blog has been somewhat elusive, And more than a little aloof and reclusive, It’s only because she has been on sabbatical Attempting to superintend projects radical To transform a house locked in 1958ness Into an abode that is destined for greatness. Warned her sister, “Of tobacco this dwelling does reek, […]
A Perfect Vintage Jacket
Readers, Last week I brought home a very special souvenir of Jack’s and my visit to Portland, Oregon: a vintage jacket with a mysterious past. It came from a lovely little shop, Living Threads Vintage, on Taylor Street opposite the Multnomah County central library. I was actually on my way to the Button Emporium next […]
Class: Tailoring Details with Kenneth D. King
Readers, That humming sound you hear is coming from my head, which is still spinning from spending last weekend at Janie’s Sewing Corner in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s where I joined 31 fellow sewers to see Threads magazine contributing editor, adjunct professor at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, and self-described “couturier to the stars” Kenneth […]
The Ripple Effect
Readers, A few days ago I learned: Kenneth King’s pattern adaptation for notched-collar jackets doesn’t work for peaked lapels. I had picked a jacket pattern with a peaked lapel. I was mistaken to think all peaked lapels look the same. They definitely don’t. I so wanted to stop thinking about fusing jacket front and under […]
In Action is Better Than Inaction
Readers, After I wrote my previous post, about how my plan to make a tailored jacket came to a grinding halt, I rallied. I posed my question in the PatternReview.com forum, Pattern Modifications, Design Changes & Pattern Drafting section: I composed what I hoped would be a catchy title for my thread, “Success Using Kenneth […]
It’s Easy, All Right–If You Know How
Readers, Yesterday I sewed my buttons–the ones I bought recently at Taylors Buttons in London–on my 1941 McCall “mannish jacket,” which I sewed according to Kenneth King’s “old school” method in his Smart Tailoring DVD set. They look just right. In coloring, size, and style they fit right in with this tweed. That was very […]