Three! - And 25

I've been a real slacker about blogging lately. But it's because I've been really busy. I've been on a buying trip this week. I'll be posting the fruits of that over the next couple of days. In the meantime, are you sick to death of seeing fabulous fabrics from that couture house on the rue Cambon? Oh well, too bad! Because guess what? I got not one, not two, but three beautiful fabrics from that couture house on the rue Cambon!!! Here, for your viewing pleasure (and feel free to click on the links beneath each picture if you want to do more than just look!), are three new belles tissues!

 Afternoon at the Tour Eiffel Bouclé - Pink/Coral/Ivory

 

Tea at the Paris Ritz Bouclé - Chartreuse/Gold/Ivory

Paris in the Evening Novelty Bouclé - Black/Navy

Sorry for the less than usual quality of the photos. I took the pictures from my phone. But these fabrics are totally GORGE! (Is that French?)

The other news is that the test came back. The number is 25. Sigh...

Well, you know what they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get sewing! So I think I'll spend this weekend doing exactly that. I should have the bulk of my jacket completed. I picked up some chain while I was on my trip, so I'll apply that. I need to figure out what to do for trim, but I have time for that. OMG, and I have to show you one more fabric (it isn't Parisian, but it is totally fabulous): Fancy Italian RPL in bright orange! I fell so in love with this that I took 3 yards to make into this Vogue dress:

Isn't that just totally Michelle Obama??? I love it, and I'm going to make that as soon as I can!

I want to sign off with a big shout out to Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic. We had dinner last night. Carolyn is one of the dearest women around. She's funny, smart, sassy and the best dinner companion and friend you could ever wish for! Her blog is a must-read. Carolyn sweetie, it was wonderful to see you! Let's do it again soon - say in 12 weeks or so?

Parting Shot: Two Redheads

 

Sorry it's blurry, but the fabulous Laura Bennett and I got together in New York this week. You know she has a book coming out? It's going to be funny and fabulous - definitely a must read! 

That's all for now. Stay well and happy sewing!

Bedside Reading Material and Another Great Site

I had the great pleasure of speaking at length with Julie Cole, a professor at Harper College of Design and at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago about two weeks back. We had a great chat about the current state of sewing, design, fabric procurement, etc. I could talk with her for hours! She mentioned to me that she had recently come out with a new textbook, with Sharon Czachor, about sewing for designers. She suggested that I call Fairchild Publications and request a reviewer's copy of her book, Professional Sewing Techniques for Designers. I checked out the Fairchild website and saw that they put you through too many hoops before they'll consider you a reviewer, so I decided to buy it instead. I am so glad I did! This is literally my bedside reading, so I'm only getting through about a chapter per night, but this is one of the best references on sewing out there, whether you are a professional or not. I'll do a full-blown review when I finish it, but I'm utterly impressed with my first skim-through and the full read of the first 6 chapters.

Another professor with whom I had the great pleasure of meeting and talking with is Susan Scafidi. Susan is a tenured professor of law at Fordham University. She teaches a course on Fashion Law, I believe the only one in the US currently. I first met her at Emmett's, and we went to dinner that night. She's a hoot and a fascinating lady. She walked in wearing one of Emmett's coats and Christian Louboutin stilettos. How could you not love this woman? In addition to her work at Fordham, she works with the CFDA and other organizations and writes the blog Counterfeit Chic. She's working on the revised draft legislation to allow copyright protection to designers. We had a lively conversation across the dinner table (I hope we didn't bore our other friends too much), and she actually managed to sway my views somewhat. I'll reserve my final opinion for when the revised legislation is presented and I can read it, but it sounds much more reasonable than the first proposed bill. Do check out her blog. It has all sorts of interesting information!

Happy sewing!

Here's One to Bookmark

Have you seen the site Weekend Designer? If you haven't, get your bad self over there for a heap of inspiration and how-to. The site owner shows current fashion and gives how-tos for drafting patterns to approximate the looks. It's fantastic!

And I just love the subtitle: "... it aint rocket science" How true!!!

Happy sewing!

Oh. My. God - This is FANTASTIC!

Photo: The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

You have got to check this site out: The House of Dior. Click on the link to The House of Dior for the really good stuff.

I was looking for a reference picture from the first collection that John Galliano did for Dior (not the one above, but that's pretty great too), when I stumbled across this part of the Dior Site. I had not seen this before. What a wonderful treasure trove. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit down and enjoy the videos. I especially love to watch the embroiderers in "The Birth of a Collection". And watching the snippets of activity in the atelier is so fun! Don't miss Galliano's tribute to Dior. M. Galliano. "I had some fun with that one." Boy, you can tell he has fun with all his collections! M. Galliano has a new fan in this girl!

Enjoy, happy inspiration, and happy sewing!

A Very Funny Way to Waste Time

Sock and Awe

Be warned, this is almost as addicting as Elf Bowling!

Wow - What a Great Site!

Having nothing to do with sewing, but here is an amazingly cool site.
Pandora.com
DH turned me on to it. It's an internet radio station that allows you to create playlists based on artists, songs, or genres that you like to listen to. It then grabs similar songs and starts playing. You can tell it that you like a certain song or not, and it will adjust your playlists accordingly.

I created two lists today: Steely Dan and Ne-Yo. I'm jammin to Usher on the latter as I write this. I'm lovin' this! It makes my iTunes library seem second class...

NAYY, but you gotta check it out. It's great for sewing music!

BTW, I'll be in New York tomorrow on a buying trip. If you have any special requests, either for Gorgeous Fabrics or if you are in search of something just for yourself, drop me an email through the site and I'll keep an eye out.

Happy sewing!

Okay Okay Okay!

Thank you all for your feedback. The blogroll stays. It's no hassle for me, and people seem to like it, so why fix something that isn't broken? I didn't get a ton of sewing done this weekend, but yesterday I was the speaker at a New England ASDP meeting. The topic was Spring Fabric Trends. It was a ball! I woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning with my heart pounding, thinking "How the heck am I going to talk about fabric trends for two hours???" But just as nature abhors a vacuum, so I abhor silence. And being Irish, and inoculated with a phonograph needle as a baby (according to my mother), I was able to yammer on for almost all of the allotted time! The only downside to the meeting was that I missed the Pats/Dolphins game. When I got in the car, they were just down to the two-minute warning. Go Pats!!!!

Today I'm going to work on the coat. I'm waiting to see Tatiana to decide which of the tricots (thanks LindsayT!) we prefer for her dress, and I won't see her until tomorrow.

Oh, and speaking of LindsayT, she's switching blog hosts right now, so if you get an error (specifically from RSS feeds) when you try to link to her, she's still there! She asked me to let you know that she's working on it and hopefully all will be working properly soon. For now, you can link to her blog by clicking on her name right up above here.

Happy sewing!

You Have GOT to Check This Site Out!

I read three newspapers per day now. I added Women's Wear Daily to my roster. And given the depressing headlines stalking the other two, I'm glad I did. Though I must admit, lately the gloom has spread to the front page of WWD.

But you know what? This post isn't about that. This post is about fabulousness in its purest form, available for free online. To whit, WWD had an article on Tuesday about the latest offering from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. They are placing their entire catalogue online! And my favorite part?

The Costume Institute

Oh. My. God. How happy am I?? Want to see a Chanel Suit? Here you go!


Or a stomacher from the 18th century? Have at it.


Or how about Alexander McQueen's Oyster Dress? Look all you want.


Yes, I'm in heaven. I have a new fave rave site. Check it out, get inspired and have fun!

Happy sewing!
All photos: The Costume Institute

What's on Your Nighttable?

There are lots of memes going around now. I don't usually participate in them, mostly because I don't know when I've been tagged in 99% of the cases. So if you have tagged me on any memes and you don't see me taking part, please don't be insulted. It's because I have no clue.

But I have been catching up on my blog reading today, and I saw that LindsayT tagged me for the latest meme - a literary one. I like this one a lot. It's interesting to see what people are reading (LindsayT - I'm with you. Me Talk Pretty Some Day is one of my favorites!)

Anyway, the game goes like this:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

I feel like Geekster McGeek here. The nearest book is The History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Leyte (June 1944 - January 1945). It is Volume 12 of the series written by Samuel Eliot Morison. There's a fascinating story in itself, but I'll save that for later. I inherited the entire series when my father died. He was an Army officer in WWII, but I swear he should have been in the Navy. He had a great love for all things naval. But I digress.

Here are the sentences:
'Half an hour's shore bombardment left the Japanese still frisky. A 75-mm shell struck the forward stack of Goldsborough at 1542, killing two men, but the ship sustained only minor damage. At 1550 her boats returned with the UDTs, which had enjoyed a good look at the landing beaches: they reported that "Chick" Parsons was right - no underwater obstacles or mines, and beaches very suitable for landing.'

That last one is pretty run-on, eh? Sister Celia would have marked me down for it!
I think all the sewers I know have been tagged at this point. So I'll tag some of my non sewing friends:
Bill
Kanani
Casey
Thombeau
and of course, my darlings Tom and Lorenzo

Check Out This Site!

Have you seen BurdaStyle.com? It's a site that provides pattern downloads, many of which look quite stylish! I have downloaded several, and when I get some free time (HA!) I'll sew some up and review them. I don't want to call this a site review, because I haven't had time to completely investigate it, but it looks interesting, so here are my initial thoughts.

On the Plus Side:
Stylish patterns that are very reasonably priced or (can't beat this) free! You download the patterns to your computer, and then you can print them out and have at them. No waiting for sales at JoAnns or Hancock, no waiting for the mailman to deliver the patterns

On the Minus Side:
You have to either download umpteen pages and tape them together, or take them to a printer like Kinkos to print out on large format sheets (which can be a significant expense).

I'm going to give a few of them a try to see how they work and fit. I think this is the wave of the future. The technology needs to catch up, but so did cellphones, so it's worth looking at.

Personally? I think I'm going to check out these patterns:
Talea 9301

Esther 8027

Emily 8153


I really want to try some of the pants, but I'll start with the blouse and the sweater. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Sewing!

Shameless Plug - Sewn Magazine

Well, it's a shameless pre-plug, actually. My friend and fellow sewist, Lisette is launching Sewn Magazine, an e-zine specifically geared toward apparel sewing, on November 15. So be on the lookout for that, and if you want to subscribe to it (I already have) you can do so from that link.

As I said on one forum, I am happy to see any sites that promote sewing, especially garment sewing! So go check it out on the 15th. Here's hoping it's wildly successful!

Another Cool Tailoring Blog

Desmond Merrion Bespoke Tailor Blog

The gentleman who writes this blog dropped me a note today, so I decided to take a look at his blog. Wow! It's a must-see if you have interest in tailoring. He does beautiful work, as you would expect from a bespoke tailor, but his details and photographs are positively educational! The basting stitches on his jackets are a tailoring lesson unto themselves. Definitely check it out!

Happy tailoring!

Fave-rave Tailoring Blogs

Thank you to PACC, I was introduced to a very informative and entertaining blog. Martin Stall Bespoke. He's a bespoke tailor in Spain. His blog isn't very extensive, but it's quite fun to read and informative. I love the section on comparing the armscye of a high-end RTW suit to a custom suit. Another great tailoring site is The English Cut. Both are definite must-visits!

Happy tailoring!

This is Brilliant!

Have you seen ThreadBanger.com yet? If not, get thee over there. It's a great site with videos on sewing and crafts that are informative and entertaining, sometimes devastatingly so!

Happy sewing!