Restricting the bask to directly under the heat lamp.Filed under: Love it, Sewed it | Tags: company, movie, Rosalind Russell, sewing, UHF
I finished the top of my niece’s fuschia(!) Christmas dress, according to pattern. I took forever and a lot of care, binding the seam allowances and carefully topstitching. Since I always want to finish(!) projects(!) already(!), I promised myself I would only do the top last weekend.
Even better, I didn’t print out the tiered skirt tutorial so there’d be no temptations.
EVEN better, a kooky movie starring Rosalind Russell as Mother Superior was on the old UHF — Where Angels Go, Troubles Follow.
Hip shindigs, mod dresses, nuns looking fabulous and learning about modernity…
How is Rosalind *so* glam in a black habit?
No se. Has to be the sunglasses?
I love mindless movies to sew by — Svengoolie’s selections being my favorite. A good radio story works, too. A little Sewing By Nancy on PBS? Music’s ok sometimes, but I prefer a story.
Does anybody else sew to anything in particular? Songs, movies, TV? Silence?
Filed under: Fixed it, Gifted it, Love it, Sewed it | Tags: Christmas, dress, pattern, present, tiers, tutorial, twirl
The same little girl who got these dresses for her and her mom gets a custom Christmas dress every year made by her faraway aunt. I figure if I can’t spend time with her, I’ll spend time on her. And twirly dresses are super fun. Best part of all: We’ll get to take a trip to Gaffney’s together next weekend where she’ll get to pick whatever fabric she wants.
Kiddo wants something like this, the Love To Twirl. In green. I haven’t yet seen an exact pattern, with tiers starting right under your shoulders, but I found these two Simplicity patterns on sale at the JoJo that I think could work. How don’t I already have anything close?
So 2711 is for wovens and 2943 (Project Runway for kids now?!) for knits.
I think the trick’s going to be getting the upper body to fit her, then to chop the bodice high and start adding tiers. This tutorial should come in handy.
Filed under: Love it, Made it, Printed it, Read it | Tags: invitation, news, print
We made invitations to look like news.
Used these seal and send invites bought from LCI paper. They fold up nicely into a small packet that’s self contained.
And has a detachable postcard at the bottom that works suitably for a reply card (my mother won that debate).
It was the closest we could pull off to these AMAZING invitations I found at Tugboat Printshop on Flickr. We’re writers, not printers, so we had to cheat a little bit. Also, no envelopes and no extra paper waste (think: those awful little tissue paper inserts).
Ecru paper looks old since we’re both newspaper reporters getting married in an old Philadelphia newspaper building. Used some story text from Bruno Mancari’s murder trial where we met, to add some gray texture to the front.
And the story chosen recounts the outburst in open court of a witness’ wife who shrieks before the judge and jury that her husband (who now has taken the fifth amendment and reneged on his deal with the state) still! has! a! deal!
Lesson learned: Stand by your husband, even when he’s accused of burying a hammer in some poor slob’s brain. ESPECIALLY when he’s accused of such.
The Liberty Bell has remained a strong image throughout the few things we’ve had printed, as have the pointing fingers that appear on the front page of the real-life Public Ledger. The Liberty Bell was to be the main event on thank you cards, too, but my Mister protested about his Chicago roots. More to come about those cards soon.
Will just say for now that screwing up the plan often leads to a better plan. And securing a reputation for being a little off-kilter is a worthwhile enterprise that may spare later headaches.
Filed under: Love it, Made it, Sewed it | Tags: dress, gold, pattern, silk, taffeta
I never thought about weddings as a child or young woman. I guess I hoped I’d find a friend to spend my life with, but how the party went down I knew not. And from going to a whole big bunch of weddings in my 32 years, I knew I wanted the day and the occasion to fit the people involved, not the other way around. Because it’s not a dream, it’s a happy day.
The one thing I did think about was the dress. I started sewing in high school while broke at a prep school. Figured out pretty quickly I could have really amazing dresses for dances if I made them myself. So every time there was some special event, I made a dress: senior prom and college graduation ball. I sewed for my sister when she wanted something particular, too.
Of course, I must have thought, I’d make my wedding dress. Buying ready-made polyester satin made in China wasn’t going to cut it, and I wanted a simple enough shape. Even the plainest silk dress I tried on had four digits. The two I liked best would have more than doubled what I wanted to spend, with all the alterations. In fact the alterations on the last dress I considered were going to run about what I wanted to spend on fabric. Also, I live in the city home to Fishman’s Fabrics. Also, another amazing place called Vogue Fabrics.
So why not blow the budget on the silk and screw the formality? Tell the bridal shopladies to keep their dreams because I’m going to make a dress?
So here goes. Vogue pattern 2931 (sans bow and w a few other alterations). Gold silk taffeta obtained from Fishman’s, lined with the sleekest, softest gold silk from Vogue Fabrics.
Filed under: How to do it, Love it, Refashioned it, Sewed it, Thrifted it | Tags: applique, how to, Led Zeppelin, Roxborough, Salvy, sister, t-shirt
Courtesy of my sister in Philadelphia, who transformed a classic Led Zeppelin shirt that had seen better days into two shirts. Zeppelin thrifted by me for $.99 at my favorite Salvy in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia. New backing shirts purchased by her on the Kohl’s clearance rack.
Check out the how-to here.
