"If you can't be pretty, you might as well cause trouble" – Florence King
Posted in Art Projects & Making Things, dumb things I have done, Parenthood, Sewing on Jul 4th, 2014
 So, these are basically home-made Robeez. With nonskid soles, even.  I’d like to say this is because I am all craftsy and innovative and capable and shit, but to be perfectly honest, it’s largely because I somehow managed to lose my son’s actual pair of Robeez. McCall’s M6342 View I, to the rescue. Kiddo’s […]
Posted in dumb things I have done, Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing on Jun 19th, 2014
For a lark, I am creating a dress based on a mashup of these two patterns. I am using the View 3 skirt from the 1966 Simplicity 6840 and the full-length middy tunic from the 1974 Simplicity 9922. I measured the pattern pieces against one another and they are the same at the hip, so […]
Posted in Parenthood, Photo entries, Sewing on Jan 28th, 2014
A few years ago, I picked up a couple of yards of this crazy printed cotton jersey and made myself a dress: There it is on the dressmaker’s dummy. And here it is, on the dressmaker. I was rummaging through my scrap bag the other day looking for a piece of red corduroy I needed […]
Posted in Parenthood, Sewing on Aug 26th, 2013
I’ll show you some things I’ve made recently. First things first, I’ve got a baby’s butt to keep covered, so I did the mundane, cheapskate thing and made a bunch of diapers. Using this pattern: I made two dozen diapers. Most of them are just boring, plain white: with blue topstitching, but some of them […]
Posted in Sewing, Up The Pole on Jun 15th, 2013
I’ve had this sewing pattern for ages. It was in a box of oddments my grandma gave me shortly after I bought my sewing machine. So, it’s been in my stash since 1996. Grandma had hooked me up with some old sewing patterns, some extra fabric, a couple of how-to books, and a fantastic box […]
Posted in Art Projects & Making Things, Sewing, Up The Pole on May 16th, 2013
Well, well. The last time I posted about diapers, I was quite, quite silly. The “doody diaper” resides in my Milk Crate Of Baby Stuff, and will, of course, be used, but so will this one: This was some novelty calico I bought out of the remnant basket at Bon Bon Atelier last year. I […]
Posted in Art Projects & Making Things, Sewing on May 15th, 2013
I’ve been jackassing around making purses lately, and this little thing, which was basically an experiment in scrap fabric, has turned out so well I’m actually pretty stoked about it. It’s an older Amy Butler print, and is scrap fabric leftover from a project I did for a friend four years ago. Other scrap from […]
Posted in Sewing on Apr 2nd, 2013
I was on Flickr yesterday (a regular online stop for me) and was checking out the Home-Made Maternity group, because at the moment, it is relevant to my interests. This one woman had posted a really cute smock she’d made for herself of an olive-green diamond-printed fabric with orange, floral appliques. She had noted that […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing, Up The Pole on Mar 26th, 2013
So said McCall’s back in 1973, and you know what? They weren’t kidding. This little frock was easy to make and should be easy to wear. It’s essentially an a-line from armpit to hem, given shape by the crossover sash which is integrated into the neckline binding. I made it a bit more complicated than […]
Posted in Fashion/Sewing stuff, Sewing, Up The Pole on Mar 18th, 2013
…to keep cocking it up this relentlessly. But I managed to persevere through my incompetence and produce what turned out to be an actually pretty dress: This finally turned out very well. The fabric and the pattern combined almost perfectly. This pattern was intended specifically for moderate stretch knits. This fabric is not a knit […]