A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable. BOOKS – A DRESS A DAY The lovely people at Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Sunday Sews, by Theresa Gonzalez recently, and it’s a beautiful book.I would love to live in the perpetual Sunday of this book, where everything is suffused in a kind of mid-morning sunlight and you still have hours and hours left to get through all your weekend errands and projects before Game of Thrones comes on. SUMMER IS FOR STRIPES heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

FIVE SEWING TOOLS I USE ALL THE TIME Highly recommended, and under ten bucks. 3. Tailor’s Ham. You’ve probably read by now that half of sewing is really pressing, and it’s true. A tailor’s ham lets you really steam curves so that your collars, facings, sleeves, and so on all lie flat nicely. Also, it’s really fun to throw a tailor’s ham at people who bother you

when

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

JAPANESE FABRIC SHOPPING: TOMATO But: back to the fabric: When you walk into Tomato in Nippori, the first thing you see is the half-wall of 100-yen fabrics, presided over by the winking Tomato. It's pretty crowded around that wall, as you might imagine. When I was there on a Tuesday morning, the crowd was split pretty evenly between younger, student-y looking women, and

sweet

JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAIN So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable. BOOKS – A DRESS A DAY The lovely people at Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Sunday Sews, by Theresa Gonzalez recently, and it’s a beautiful book.I would love to live in the perpetual Sunday of this book, where everything is suffused in a kind of mid-morning sunlight and you still have hours and hours left to get through all your weekend errands and projects before Game of Thrones comes on. SUMMER IS FOR STRIPES heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

FIVE SEWING TOOLS I USE ALL THE TIME Highly recommended, and under ten bucks. 3. Tailor’s Ham. You’ve probably read by now that half of sewing is really pressing, and it’s true. A tailor’s ham lets you really steam curves so that your collars, facings, sleeves, and so on all lie flat nicely. Also, it’s really fun to throw a tailor’s ham at people who bother you

when

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

JAPANESE FABRIC SHOPPING: TOMATO But: back to the fabric: When you walk into Tomato in Nippori, the first thing you see is the half-wall of 100-yen fabrics, presided over by the winking Tomato. It's pretty crowded around that wall, as you might imagine. When I was there on a Tuesday morning, the crowd was split pretty evenly between younger, student-y looking women, and

sweet

JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAIN So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Only four pieces sounds like a bad deal when it's a box of See's, but when it's a pattern, it sounds pretty nice (especially to me because I'm still wrestling with Simplicity 2180, and by "wrestling" I mean "sobbing over with a seam ripper that is glowing red from friction").. Like with this great pattern from Michelle at OldPatterns.com (which, by the way, has had a major update, including

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be MAY 2020 – A DRESS A DAY 1 post published by Erin during May 2020. Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to:

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TODAY’S PATTERN STORY Today’s Pattern Story. Lara: If I just made these sleeves a little bigger—like, five or so feet, that’s not even two yards!—I could leave the house! Nobody could get

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. JAPANESE FABRIC SHOPPING: TOMATO The first time I went to Japan I didn’t speak any Japanese, and I was delighted to be able to successfully purchase several meters of traditional indigo-dyed cotton in a very tiny fabric shop I found by accident in a tiny neighborhood (Higashi Koenji) of outer Tokyo.When I was there last year it was with two and a half years of Japanese study under my belt, but I was unable to find that ONE VINTAGE DRESS, WITH ZEBRAS, PLEASE I love this dress, but I think I would have posted it even if I didn't because I love the surreal zebra mask. So much better, and funnier, than modeling the dresses wearing giant sunglasses. I understand the desire for anonymity, but giant sunglasses (especially worn inside) just make people look like drug addicts, or HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, JEN! Isn't this pattern adorable? It's so pretty I wish it were a bit bigger, but it's such an old-fashioned, teen-at-first-boy/girl party kind of dress. I would have worn this to DEATH when I was fourteen. I would have been like a preschooler with a favorite pink shirt, demanding to wear it every day (thus THE HEARTBREAK OF GAPOSIS Amy says: March 23, 2009 at 4:04 pm. You all probably know this already, but another technique to preventing gaposis is to stiffen the button-placket and buttonhole-placket. You can use fusible interfacing or a piece of stiffer fabric, but the key is to make the fabric stay straight up-and-down between buttons. Like.

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be

A DRESS A DAY

I made a dress that *wasn’t* the Simplicity 2389/Heidi mashup, finally: The bodice is the same one as here (Anne Adams 4687) and the skirt is (I think) from an old McCall’s pattern that I traced off ages ago to make the pockets bigger, then lost in a clutter of random pieces and finally unearthed two months ago.. The fabric is from Britex, and I sewed it up in about a week, which is TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

A DRESS A DAY

A dress, nearly every day. Salt: No, you have to maintain an air of mystery, like this. Turn your head, just until you can see your right shoulder blade, or your neck cramps, whichever comes first. THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAIN So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PRETTY You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked

“female”.

JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be

A DRESS A DAY

I made a dress that *wasn’t* the Simplicity 2389/Heidi mashup, finally: The bodice is the same one as here (Anne Adams 4687) and the skirt is (I think) from an old McCall’s pattern that I traced off ages ago to make the pockets bigger, then lost in a clutter of random pieces and finally unearthed two months ago.. The fabric is from Britex, and I sewed it up in about a week, which is TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

A DRESS A DAY

A dress, nearly every day. Salt: No, you have to maintain an air of mystery, like this. Turn your head, just until you can see your right shoulder blade, or your neck cramps, whichever comes first. THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAIN So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PRETTY You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked

“female”.

JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable. BOOKS – A DRESS A DAY The lovely people at Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Sunday Sews, by Theresa Gonzalez recently, and it’s a beautiful book.I would love to live in the perpetual Sunday of this book, where everything is suffused in a kind of mid-morning sunlight and you still have hours and hours left to get through all your weekend errands and projects before Game of Thrones comes on.

A DRESS A DAY

I made a dress that *wasn’t* the Simplicity 2389/Heidi mashup, finally: The bodice is the same one as here (Anne Adams 4687) and the skirt is (I think) from an old McCall’s pattern that I traced off ages ago to make the pockets bigger, then lost in a clutter of random pieces and finally unearthed two months ago.. The fabric is from Britex, and I sewed it up in about a week, which is

A DRESS A DAY

A dress, nearly every day. Salt: No, you have to maintain an air of mystery, like this. Turn your head, just until you can see your right shoulder blade, or your neck cramps, whichever comes first.

A DRESS A DAY

This is the Rushcutter dress again—this pattern is definitely one of my favorites now, even though I’m convinced I look faintly ridiculous in it. (Actually, “Faintly Ridiculous” would be a great title for an autobiography.) This is some old Marc Jacobs stripe denim/canvas—it’s plenty heavy, either way. FIVE SEWING TOOLS I USE ALL THE TIME Highly recommended, and under ten bucks. 3. Tailor’s Ham. You’ve probably read by now that half of sewing is really pressing, and it’s true. A tailor’s ham lets you really steam curves so that your collars, facings, sleeves, and so on all lie flat nicely. Also, it’s really fun to throw a tailor’s ham at people who bother you

when

ONE VINTAGE DRESS, WITH ZEBRAS, PLEASE I love this dress, but I think I would have posted it even if I didn't because I love the surreal zebra mask. So much better, and funnier, than modeling the dresses wearing giant sunglasses. I understand the desire for anonymity, but giant sunglasses (especially worn inside) just make people look like drug addicts, or JAPANESE FABRIC SHOPPING: TOMATO The first time I went to Japan I didn’t speak any Japanese, and I was delighted to be able to successfully purchase several meters of traditional indigo-dyed cotton in a very tiny fabric shop I found by accident in a tiny neighborhood (Higashi Koenji) of outer Tokyo.When I was there last year it was with two and a half years of Japanese study under my belt, but I was unable to find that DON'T WEAR GREEN TARLETAN DRESSES Don't Wear Green Tarletan Dresses. Attention has very frequently been called to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in green tarlatan, which has given rise so many times to dangerous symptoms of poisoning when made into dresses and worn, so that it is very rare now to see a green tarlatan dress. This fabric is still used, however, to a WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

FREE PATTERN FROM THE V&A! Broadly speaking American sizes are one size different to UK. So UK 10-12-14 is approx US 8-10-12 or if you’re used to BurdaWOF sizes, its a 36-38-40.The pattern instructions gives sizing in cms, but to convert into inches thats:UK 10 – B32.5, W25, H34.5 UK 12 – B34, W26.5, H36 hipsUK 14 – B36, W28, H38The V&A has a great little site DON'T WEAR GREEN TARLETAN DRESSES Don't Wear Green Tarletan Dresses. Attention has very frequently been called to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in green tarlatan, which has given rise so many times to dangerous symptoms of poisoning when made into dresses and worn, so that it is very rare now to see a green tarlatan dress. This fabric is still used, however, to a JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAIN So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?): I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns. "Cool," I thought. (Insert

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

FREE PATTERN FROM THE V&A! Broadly speaking American sizes are one size different to UK. So UK 10-12-14 is approx US 8-10-12 or if you’re used to BurdaWOF sizes, its a 36-38-40.The pattern instructions gives sizing in cms, but to convert into inches thats:UK 10 – B32.5, W25, H34.5 UK 12 – B34, W26.5, H36 hipsUK 14 – B36, W28, H38The V&A has a great little site DON'T WEAR GREEN TARLETAN DRESSES Don't Wear Green Tarletan Dresses. Attention has very frequently been called to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in green tarlatan, which has given rise so many times to dangerous symptoms of poisoning when made into dresses and worn, so that it is very rare now to see a green tarlatan dress. This fabric is still used, however, to a JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAIN So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?): I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns. "Cool," I thought. (Insert BOOKS – A DRESS A DAY The lovely people at Chronicle Books sent me a copy of Sunday Sews, by Theresa Gonzalez recently, and it’s a beautiful book.I would love to live in the perpetual Sunday of this book, where everything is suffused in a kind of mid-morning sunlight and you still have hours and hours left to get through all your weekend errands and projects before Game of Thrones comes on.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be

PATTERN STORIES

Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to: keep an attentive, thoughtful look on your face for up to three hours

straight

100DRESSES – A DRESS A DAY The Hundred Dresses: Day 100. September 10, 2013. Erin. 30 Comments. And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses -the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it. I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit:

A DRESS A DAY

This is the Rushcutter dress again—this pattern is definitely one of my favorites now, even though I’m convinced I look faintly ridiculous in it. (Actually, “Faintly Ridiculous” would be a great title for an autobiography.) This is some old Marc Jacobs stripe denim/canvas—it’s plenty heavy, either way. QUICK MASK HACK: ADD A NOSE WIRE WITH PIPING! Here’s how to do it: Cut out your mask pieces (fabric and lining) and sew the center seam of your mask as directed. Cut a piece of piping long enough to go the whole top edge of the mask: Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire

INTO

A DRESS A DAY

A dress, nearly every day. Salt: No, you have to maintain an air of mystery, like this. Turn your head, just until you can see your right shoulder blade, or your neck cramps, whichever comes first. A NEW FAVORITE DRESS, AND A NEW FAVORITE SIZE. The more eagle-eyed among you will notice that this pattern is a half-size pattern, and so that Simplicity 1577 is, too. Half-sizes are my new favorite, favorite, favorite thing, because, wonders of wonders — I don’t have to alter these half-size patterns. Not one bit, not one jot. It turns out that (unsurprisingly, since I AM a middle-aged FREE PATTERN FROM THE V&A! Broadly speaking American sizes are one size different to UK. So UK 10-12-14 is approx US 8-10-12 or if you’re used to BurdaWOF sizes, its a 36-38-40.The pattern instructions gives sizing in cms, but to convert into inches thats:UK 10 – B32.5, W25, H34.5 UK 12 – B34, W26.5, H36 hipsUK 14 – B36, W28, H38The V&A has a great little site – I seem to remember there were some vintage PROM TIME (CIRCA 1989) Prom Time (circa 1989) It's prom time, isn't it? I am starting to see prom stories in the news, and folks on the various sewing lists I'm on are starting to post their war stories of sewing dresses for their daughters so I thought I'd dig up the photo of the great dress my mom made for me. My mom has actually made me two prom dresses; the

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAYA DRESS A DAY BLOGNEW DRESS A DAYA NEW DRESS A DAYONE DRESS A DAYDAY DRESS GOWNSLIGHT CHIFFON DAY DRESS Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be APRIL 2020 – A DRESS A DAY Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire INTO the piping. Just poke that sucker in between two stitches! Skoosh it through the piping, like you were putting elastic or a drawstring cord through a casing.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAINSIMPLICITY SEWING PATTERNSBUTTERICK SEWING PATTERNSFREE PRINTABLE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNS So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAYA DRESS A DAY BLOGNEW DRESS A DAYA NEW DRESS A DAYONE DRESS A DAYDAY DRESS GOWNSLIGHT CHIFFON DAY DRESS Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be APRIL 2020 – A DRESS A DAY Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire INTO the piping. Just poke that sucker in between two stitches! Skoosh it through the piping, like you were putting elastic or a drawstring cord through a casing.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAINSIMPLICITY SEWING PATTERNSBUTTERICK SEWING PATTERNSFREE PRINTABLE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNS So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Only four pieces sounds like a bad deal when it's a box of See's, but when it's a pattern, it sounds pretty nice (especially to me because I'm still wrestling with Simplicity 2180, and by "wrestling" I mean "sobbing over with a seam ripper that is glowing red from friction").. Like with this great pattern from Michelle at OldPatterns.com (which, by the way, has had a major update, including

PATTERN STORIES

Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to: keep an attentive, thoughtful look on your face for up to three hours

straight

MAY 2020 – A DRESS A DAY 1 post published by Erin during May 2020. Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to: 100DRESSES – A DRESS A DAY The Hundred Dresses: Day 100. September 10, 2013. Erin. 30 Comments. And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses -the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it. I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: QUICK MASK HACK: ADD A NOSE WIRE WITH PIPING! Here’s how to do it: Cut out your mask pieces (fabric and lining) and sew the center seam of your mask as directed. Cut a piece of piping long enough to go the whole top edge of the mask: Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire

INTO

A DRESS A DAY

A dress, nearly every day. Salt: No, you have to maintain an air of mystery, like this. Turn your head, just until you can see your right shoulder blade, or your neck cramps, whichever comes first. FIVE SEWING TOOLS I USE ALL THE TIME Highly recommended, and under ten bucks. 3. Tailor’s Ham. You’ve probably read by now that half of sewing is really pressing, and it’s true. A tailor’s ham lets you really steam curves so that your collars, facings, sleeves, and so on all lie flat nicely. Also, it’s really fun to throw a tailor’s ham at people who bother you

when

PROM TIME (CIRCA 1989) Prom Time (circa 1989) It's prom time, isn't it? I am starting to see prom stories in the news, and folks on the various sewing lists I'm on are starting to post their war stories of sewing dresses for their daughters so I thought I'd dig up the photo of the great dress my mom made for me. My mom has actually made me two prom dresses; the YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PRETTY You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked

“female”.

DON'T WEAR GREEN TARLETAN DRESSES Don't Wear Green Tarletan Dresses. Attention has very frequently been called to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in green tarlatan, which has given rise so many times to dangerous symptoms of poisoning when made into dresses and worn, so that it is very rare now to see a green tarlatan dress. This fabric is still used, however, to a

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAYA DRESS A DAY BLOGNEW DRESS A DAYA NEW DRESS A DAYONE DRESS A DAYDAY DRESS GOWNSLIGHT CHIFFON DAY DRESS Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be APRIL 2020 – A DRESS A DAY Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire INTO the piping. Just poke that sucker in between two stitches! Skoosh it through the piping, like you were putting elastic or a drawstring cord through a casing.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAINSIMPLICITY SEWING PATTERNSBUTTERICK SEWING PATTERNSFREE PRINTABLE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNS So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAYA DRESS A DAY BLOGNEW DRESS A DAYA NEW DRESS A DAYONE DRESS A DAYDAY DRESS GOWNSLIGHT CHIFFON DAY DRESS Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be APRIL 2020 – A DRESS A DAY Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire INTO the piping. Just poke that sucker in between two stitches! Skoosh it through the piping, like you were putting elastic or a drawstring cord through a casing.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAINSIMPLICITY SEWING PATTERNSBUTTERICK SEWING PATTERNSFREE PRINTABLE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNS So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Only four pieces sounds like a bad deal when it's a box of See's, but when it's a pattern, it sounds pretty nice (especially to me because I'm still wrestling with Simplicity 2180, and by "wrestling" I mean "sobbing over with a seam ripper that is glowing red from friction").. Like with this great pattern from Michelle at OldPatterns.com (which, by the way, has had a major update, including

PATTERN STORIES

Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to: keep an attentive, thoughtful look on your face for up to three hours

straight

MAY 2020 – A DRESS A DAY 1 post published by Erin during May 2020. Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to: 100DRESSES – A DRESS A DAY The Hundred Dresses: Day 100. September 10, 2013. Erin. 30 Comments. And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses -the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it. I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: QUICK MASK HACK: ADD A NOSE WIRE WITH PIPING! Here’s how to do it: Cut out your mask pieces (fabric and lining) and sew the center seam of your mask as directed. Cut a piece of piping long enough to go the whole top edge of the mask: Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire

INTO

A DRESS A DAY

A dress, nearly every day. Salt: No, you have to maintain an air of mystery, like this. Turn your head, just until you can see your right shoulder blade, or your neck cramps, whichever comes first. FIVE SEWING TOOLS I USE ALL THE TIME Highly recommended, and under ten bucks. 3. Tailor’s Ham. You’ve probably read by now that half of sewing is really pressing, and it’s true. A tailor’s ham lets you really steam curves so that your collars, facings, sleeves, and so on all lie flat nicely. Also, it’s really fun to throw a tailor’s ham at people who bother you

when

PROM TIME (CIRCA 1989) Prom Time (circa 1989) It's prom time, isn't it? I am starting to see prom stories in the news, and folks on the various sewing lists I'm on are starting to post their war stories of sewing dresses for their daughters so I thought I'd dig up the photo of the great dress my mom made for me. My mom has actually made me two prom dresses; the YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PRETTY You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked

“female”.

DON'T WEAR GREEN TARLETAN DRESSES Don't Wear Green Tarletan Dresses. Attention has very frequently been called to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in green tarlatan, which has given rise so many times to dangerous symptoms of poisoning when made into dresses and worn, so that it is very rare now to see a green tarlatan dress. This fabric is still used, however, to a

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAYA DRESS A DAY BLOGNEW DRESS A DAYA NEW DRESS A DAYONE DRESS A DAYDAY DRESS GOWNSLIGHT CHIFFON DAY DRESS Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be APRIL 2020 – A DRESS A DAY Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire INTO the piping. Just poke that sucker in between two stitches! Skoosh it through the piping, like you were putting elastic or a drawstring cord through a casing.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAINSIMPLICITY SEWING PATTERNSBUTTERICK SEWING PATTERNSFREE PRINTABLE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNS So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

A DRESS A DAY

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAYA DRESS A DAY BLOGNEW DRESS A DAYA NEW DRESS A DAYONE DRESS A DAYDAY DRESS GOWNSLIGHT CHIFFON DAY DRESS Just so we're clear: I freaking love this dress. So far I've made it twice, and if I am ever in my sewing room while the sun is up, I will take a picture or two of the ones that I've completed. (I also have two more cut out and half-sewn.) Here is why this dress is near-perfect: 1. The collar is adorable.

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

The dress is the last bit of femininity in our closets; it's the only item of clothing which (most) men and women don't share. Wearing a dress is a powerful way for women to express themselves--and every style conveys a different message. Inspired by the Eleanor Estes' children's classic The Hundred Dresses, Erin McKean's classic-to-be APRIL 2020 – A DRESS A DAY Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire INTO the piping. Just poke that sucker in between two stitches! Skoosh it through the piping, like you were putting elastic or a drawstring cord through a casing.

ERIN_SEWING

heavily modified Chalk and Notch Fringe dress in Kaffe Fassett yarn-dye. I think I bought this fabric at Scrap in Portland, in the beforetimes, but I’m not sure.. So yeah, this is the Chalk and Notch Fringe dress, which is super-comfortable, even more so when you turn the skirt into a six-panel one and add gathering to the center front and back and extremely deep pockets. TEN REASONS SKIRTS ARE BETTER THAN PANTS 1. Drawing your pants legs back from someone in disgust as you pass them is insufficiently scornful.2. Studies have shown that wearing skirts is 90% effective in preventing VPL (visible panty line).3. Ditto for "plumber's butt," "whale tail,"

and "camel

THE HUNDRED DRESSES: DAY 100 And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses-the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it.I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: I don’t know if I ever posted

this one:

DRESSADAY_LOGO

Visit the post for more. I just read “The Secret Lives of Dresses” and I fell in love with the characters and storyline. WHY I WON’T BE USING SIMPLICITY PRINTSEW PATTERNS AGAINSIMPLICITY SEWING PATTERNSBUTTERICK SEWING PATTERNSFREE PRINTABLE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNSONLINE SEWING PATTERNS So I was faffing about on Pinterest, and there was this great link from SewWeekly's Make This Look (isn't this dress lovely?):. I went to go check out the pattern (which is Simplicity 2180, not Butterick 2180, as it has in the image) and saw that Simplicity was now offering print-on-demand patterns."Cool," I thought. (Insert ominous music here.) I blithely entered my Paypal information and JANE TISE PATTERN AKA "BEST MIDRIFF EVER" But a couple quick Googles turned up that she was one of the founders of Esprit, back in the day! And that Esprit was called The Plain Jane Dress Company first, which, while cute and having that fakey-homespun feel of the late sixties/early seventies, probably didn't have the marketing ooomph that "Esprit de Corp" had. Or the little inherent

pun.

PATTERNS – A DRESS A DAY Only four pieces sounds like a bad deal when it's a box of See's, but when it's a pattern, it sounds pretty nice (especially to me because I'm still wrestling with Simplicity 2180, and by "wrestling" I mean "sobbing over with a seam ripper that is glowing red from friction").. Like with this great pattern from Michelle at OldPatterns.com (which, by the way, has had a major update, including

PATTERN STORIES

Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to: keep an attentive, thoughtful look on your face for up to three hours

straight

MAY 2020 – A DRESS A DAY 1 post published by Erin during May 2020. Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records!. In this course, you’ll learn how to: 100DRESSES – A DRESS A DAY The Hundred Dresses: Day 100. September 10, 2013. Erin. 30 Comments. And so we come to the end the Duro! The Duro is actually one of the Hundred Dresses in The-Hundred-Dresses -the-book, and it’s named for Duro Olowu, who designed it. I fell in love found a reasonable facsimile and I made it a lot. To wit: QUICK MASK HACK: ADD A NOSE WIRE WITH PIPING! Here’s how to do it: Cut out your mask pieces (fabric and lining) and sew the center seam of your mask as directed. Cut a piece of piping long enough to go the whole top edge of the mask: Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): Insert the wire

INTO

A DRESS A DAY

A dress, nearly every day. Salt: No, you have to maintain an air of mystery, like this. Turn your head, just until you can see your right shoulder blade, or your neck cramps, whichever comes first. FIVE SEWING TOOLS I USE ALL THE TIME Highly recommended, and under ten bucks. 3. Tailor’s Ham. You’ve probably read by now that half of sewing is really pressing, and it’s true. A tailor’s ham lets you really steam curves so that your collars, facings, sleeves, and so on all lie flat nicely. Also, it’s really fun to throw a tailor’s ham at people who bother you

when

PROM TIME (CIRCA 1989) Prom Time (circa 1989) It's prom time, isn't it? I am starting to see prom stories in the news, and folks on the various sewing lists I'm on are starting to post their war stories of sewing dresses for their daughters so I thought I'd dig up the photo of the great dress my mom made for me. My mom has actually made me two prom dresses; the YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PRETTY You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked

“female”.

DON'T WEAR GREEN TARLETAN DRESSES Don't Wear Green Tarletan Dresses. Attention has very frequently been called to the presence of large amounts of arsenic in green tarlatan, which has given rise so many times to dangerous symptoms of poisoning when made into dresses and worn, so that it is very rare now to see a green tarlatan dress. This fabric is still used, however, to a

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A DRESS A DAY

A DRESS, NEARLY EVERY DAY. TODAY’S PATTERN STORY: SIMPLICITY 1170

__May 2, 2020

__Erin __4 Comments

Here we present four stellar graduates demonstrating what they learned in our best-selling _How To Look Like You’re Listening While Thinking Of Completely Unrelated Things_ course—available as a seminar on three long-playing records! In this course, you’ll learn how to: * keep an attentive, thoughtful look on your face for up to three

hours straight

* subconsciously register pauses so you can say “why, I never thought of it that way!” or “what an interesting idea!” at

appropriate times

* make mental lists of things you would rather be (or should be) doing, and remember them even after you are released from your

“conversation”!

Order now and get our special bonus booklet: _How To Listen Without Giving Any Sign of Encouragement That The Speaker Should Continue_! Perfect for public transit, work break rooms, and large family

gatherings!

QUICK MASK HACK: ADD A NOSE WIRE WITH PIPING!

__April 16, 2020

__Erin __2 Comments

Hi folks! Like everyone else in possession of a sewing machine and any amount of free time at all, I’ve been sewing masks! I’ve been using the NYT pattern — not because I necessarily think it’s the best, but because it was Good Enough, and I found myself falling way way way down an internet hole of different patterns, techniques, etc. …. which was not getting any masks sewn! I’m _very_ lucky in that I have tons of leftover/scrap high-quality cotton fabric, and literally MORE BIAS TAPE than I knew what to do with. I also have (as regular readers know), vast quantities of piping, and much love for same. I also wear glasses, and was interested in maybe having a mask with a nose wire so that I could fit it tightly and limit the amount of glasses-fogging that could occur. Plus (and this is the important part) I had some leftover wire from a project that I don’t even remember doing. The only problem was, the wire was thin and sharp … hmm … what to do … piping! By adding wire to piping and piping the top line of the mask, I could have a tighter-fitting mask, not poke myself in the eye, and _also_ have piping! Win-win! Here’s how to do it: * Cut out your mask pieces (fabric and lining) and sew the center seam of your mask as directed. * Cut a piece of piping long enough to go the whole top edge of the

mask:

* Cut a piece of wire (with paper scissors, not fabric scissors!) about 3/4 to 5/8 as long as the piece of piping (I just eyeball it): * Insert the wire INTO the piping. Just poke that sucker in between

two stitches!

Skoosh it through the piping, like you were putting elastic or a drawstring cord through a casing. It should go through reasonably well, although you might have trouble if there’s a seam in your piece of piping. Take care not to shove it so hard that it bunches up the piping cord or goes through the piping fabric. (This is easier than it sounds, I promise!) * Make a sandwich of the piping, lining fabric, and outer fabric: Note that the piping edge is going DOWN into the mask! (I had yards of this fine white cotton fabric and wasn’t sure where it had come from, and after cutting quite a lot of it for mask linings I realized that it was leftover from the surplices my husband’s grandmother used to sew for her local priest …) * Sew the piping sandwich. I use a narrow foot. If your lining fabric is thinner, put that side up. Basically you want to be able to feel or see the edge of the piping, so that you don’t sew over it. IMPORTANT: THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE YOU COULD BREAK A NEEDLE IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY HIT THE WIRE (I HAVEN’T YET) SO DO WEAR SOME EYE

PROTECTION!

Pivot the needle at the center seam:

* Turn and press:

* If your fabric is likely to fray, you can finish the edge with a narrow zigzag. If you’re feeling super-ambitious you can also edge-stitch the lining, but I haven’t. * Finish as you otherwise would! I hope you find this helpful! Stay well! ANOTHER MASK PATTERN

__April 2, 2020

__Erin

__3 Comments

With a few small adjustments this mask would handle both airborne virus particles AND help a LOT with social distancing! NOTE: THIS IS A JOKE _PLEASE_ DON’T MAKE ONE OF THESE INSTEAD OF A REAL MASK. GOT A GREAT MASK PATTERN? PLEASE PUT IT IN THE COMMENTS! (If you really want to make this—I don’t know, social isolation does weird things to people, no judgment—the pattern is available on Etsy from seller PatternGrove

.)

TODAY’S PATTERN STORY: ADVANCE 5640

__March 26, 2020

__Erin __1 Comment

Flora: Soon my “date” will be here! Little does he know this will be the last prom he _ever_ attends! My Boutonnière of Death shall

ensure it!

Nora: If … I … can … just … get … this … electric … collar … off … must … warn … Bobby! Image is from our old pal Sandritocat

, on Etsy.

TODAY’S PATTERN STORY __March 19, 2020March 19, 2020

__Erin

__11 Comments

Lara: If I just made these sleeves a little bigger—like, five or so feet, that’s not even two yards!—I could leave the house! Nobody could get close to me! Sara: I’ve heard dumber ideas! STILL ON THE FRINGE(S)

__December 27, 2019

__Erin

__5 Comments

Hello! Happy New Year! Well, 2019 has been a blur, hasn’t it? I did more sewing than I did blogging, that’s for sure. The dress I was obsessed with for most of the latter half of 2019 was the Chalk and Notch Fringe

dress (with some

significant alterations, mostly in the pocket department). I liked the neckline and the roominess of it, and the shirt-tail hem (which I faced for better weight/drape rather than using a narrow hem finish). It’s nice in the summer, with sandals, but I’ve also been wearing it over a long-sleeved tee/with a cardigan and leggings with boots

.

What did I make it in? Well, probably a better question is what _didn’t_ I make it in. My favorite was probably the Nani Iro double gauze, which I made in two colorways because one is never

enough:

I didn’t take a good picture of the multicolor stripe, but you can get a glimpse of it here

. I

also made it in a lovely gray broken plaid double gauze from Stonemountain and Daughter

(did you know they

send you sewing stickers now if you mail-order?), but no pictures of that yet, I’ve been too busy wearing it! This pattern is great for fabrics with large motifs (and/or masochists), because there’s really only one big, important seam to

match:

In order to have pockets in the style to which I have become accustomed, I split the front skirt panel into three pieces, and changed the pockets from in-seam to scoop, like so: (Of course there’s piping, pockets are 87% to hold your stuff and 10% to give you an excuse to add piping, and 3% to put fun

linings

in.)

By making the skirt three panels (I did this with the back skirt, too) I could add some more gathers and make my now-customary Sir Mix-A-Lot adjustment to the back pieces. I replaced the cuffs and ties in the pattern instructions with plain ol’ bias finishing: This dress has a button-front version, which I also made at least three times (but only have pictures of one version so far). This is a gray chambray with some slightly dodgy topstitching: With any luck it won’t be another year before I update again! HEAR ME ON HOBBY HORSE!

__November 18, 2018

__Erin

__1 Comment

If you like podcasts, and this blog, and, uh, word stuff? Then you will most likely enjoy hearing me and Matt Haughey talk about sewing, Project Runway, and dictionaries on his excellent podcast, Hobby Horse . Check out the episode here

.

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