Brandy Melville Coral Shorts with Fringed Pockets
Fringed pockets, one step closer to the original Sexy Skirt
Category Archives: Fashion
Fringed Belt: 20,000 Years Later
They say there is nothing new in Fashion.
Once upon a time, at Georgene’s recommendation, I read a book:
I loved this book. It was as though my own passion was stretched behind me by thousands of years as I read about the development and wealth of textile craft.
Upon learning that the first skirts were fringed belts mostly likely made of twisted string, I’ve been watching and waiting for this suggestion of seduction, fertility, and childbearing to reappear. How could this potent symbol vanish?
According to the author, string skirts are still worn with the folk costumes of Mordvin; Walachian (Romanian);Yugoslav Macedonian; and Albanian cultures. They are like half aprons of fringe suspended by a frontal piece with waist strings.
I’d show you the illustration on page 62 but the camera just died. Kodak point ‘n shoot ‘upgraded’ cameras are not good and why can’t the batteries last??? Take a lesson from this frustrated blogger…avoid avoid!
Ahhhh, Stop the Presses!!! The camera decided to reset itself and work again so now I can show you the more modern string aprons 
A fringed belt was carved into a bone Venus figure uncovered at Lespugue, France,from the Gravettian culture circa 20,000 BC.
Venus of Lespugue; Musee de l'Homme, Paris, photo taken from image shown on page 44 of Women's Work
Finally I have spotted a fringed belt in our current fashion world, albeit in half form, and ripping up cultural nomenclature by tagging it as Cherokee Chic.
And now, today, you can buy your very own ancient symbol of female sexuality for $300+. Click on the photo below to see where and how.
Or you can make your own to sit at your hips and in the width and leathers or fabrics you love.
I.Am.So.Tempted!
Layering Pieces for Travel
or What Happens When the Whining Stops 
and gray is incorporated into the wardrobe.
The rust brown color was really bothering me and I was grinding to a halt. But then I noticed: Eureka! The faux suede (it’s called Peachskin, isn’t it???) has a silver gray in it
I thought of the wardrobe I did last winter using McCall’s 6244. A guipure lace topper, a steel gray tee, silver sleeveless tee and a swing vest
Ahhh, much better to combine the two, mix-n-match. That introduction of gray revitalized me.
This morning I jumped into modeling without fussing with hair and makeup and doing that helped me not think about how I looked, just be happy and get the photos done. Just Git ‘Er Done. That’s a good motto for me. Too much thinking can stop me in my tracks.
Over the past few days I carefully saved my hands for sewing. No gardening, only gentle housework and little typing at the computer. That helped tremendously. Using my KwikSew TNT turtleneck top pattern I grafted on a larger collar and lengthened it into a tunic with side slits. The wind caught the top just as the shutter closed so the front is poofed out. Really, it was the wind, I tell you.
Git ‘Er Done Production: 1 knit tunic, 2 pairs of elastic waist pants, 1 swing Jacket with matching short skirt and belt, a cowl neck sweater and two “30 Minute Toppers”. Here’s the short topper:
Now, I have been thinking about these 30 Minute Toppers for years. I stashed the fabric long ago and have been thinking and thinking. What a waste of brain power! Took me just a few hours to cut and sew them up.
I held up the fabric on my body to get gage the weight of the knit and fix the cut points and then folded the fabric in half lengthwise and then in half crosswise and just cut. What did I have to lose? Here’s the pattern with the dark one already sewn up and approved, laid out on the flowery fabric
Here’s the dress shape cut
And here’s the result, good for a long tunic, dress or bathing suit coverup
So. I think I’m done. Add a few pieces of jewelery, a couple of belts and maybe things will work together and maybe they won’t
I’ll just have to play it by ear.
RIP
Fred Bloebaum. Thank you for adding your sparkle to the sewing community. You’ll be missed.
Athena Blouse by La Fred Bloebaum
Orange Plaid Coat: Marfy 1877 Forties Adventure
More bad weather coming so here’s the coat, just a bit shy of finished:
This pattern is a 40′ish style with raglan sleeves and flare at the vented back center seam and side seams, (my hands in the pockets are pulling the side seam forward), bracelet length sleeves with turned up cuff and patch pockets
It’s straight sided when viewed from the front
front darts at the shoulder, folded to the outside of the coat and top stitched,
and a modified standing collar,
And lots of top stitching
I had to draft the lining and the back neck facing. I added a rat tail piping at the lining/front facing join but it seemed so small and inconsequential that I added a bigger and much fatter half-inch piping next to the first piping.
The lining still needs 2 details to be declared Finished!!!: First the hem needs to be attached via French tacks to the coat hem
And the front ease tucks need to be cross stitched down.
The main question about this coat is whether or not my vent lining technique will cause pulling. So far, the answer is no, there’s no pulling.
But I’ll have to wear it a while to test it in action
My next post will be some of the things I’ve learned in my research on adding a lining to a raglan coat. It’s been quite an adventure to discover a new-to-me vent technique using my older tailoring books.
More construction details to come and some explanation of fitting a lining by hand.
Gusseted Magyar & Turban: 60′s Edith Head Pattern
Newly arrived in the mail from Vintage Fashion Library
A boxy early 60′s Edith Head pattern: a skirt, blouse, jacket and … Yes … a turban!
lined, interfaced and underlined “magyar” style jacket with side panel and gusset cut in one
I got curious about the Magyar draft
last January when I bought the book Coat & Skirt Making by Samuel Heath FCI
I’ve never worn a turban much less made one so I feel a great excitement creeping in
Suggested fabric: cotton suitings, pique, linen, blends, silk linen, faille, satin, silk tweed, wood crepe, tweed, flannel, jersey, blends. Hmmm, quite a bit of variation allowed. Ohhh, the stash will be searched extensively!!!
I’ll have to grade up 2 sizes but i think I can do that without too much trouble. I have a grading tool I’ve never tried before. Our dear Fashion Incubator author, Kathleen Fasanella, ALMOST reviewed it in 2006 in her post on Grading Machines and Rulers and it was ALMOST discussed in 2004 at Pattern Review: Pattern grading ruler: New gizmo!! but it was the Gizmo not to be reviewed so I’ll give it a bit of description here.
(I haven’t used it yet…still slowly finishing up the coat. I used to be able to do many things at once but no longer, it seems…anyway…)
I admit I lost track of this Gismo for a very long time but found it again during the clean out this summer. Here’s some pictures taken before the camera finally died a couple of days ago:
I tried to find an active link for retail purchase of this Gismo but there doesn’t seem to be one any more. Not to worry, I don’t believe it is worth the money I spent on it and I’ll give you links to probably much better sources.
This Grade Master is ridiculously simple and helpful mostly because it shows how the grain line should be lying under the clear Plexiglas. But other than that it is a simple procedure of extending incrementally to the seam line: (measuring visually) it is 6mm at the collar end, center front and back, neck point front & back, and sleeve crown; 5mm at the sleeve head (which, I believe,means at the width of the sleeve cap), 3mm at the cuff and 12mm to the side seams. Calipers would be more accurate than my eye but since this little tool is unavailable I think this approximation should suffice.
Different drafting tools and systems most likely will have different increments and I’m sure most readers would like to hear about your particular system for grading, if you care to share in the comments.
Currently available guides to grading patterns:
Threads’ Making Sense of Pattern Grading
Connie Crawford’s Grading Workbook
Fun Ahead! Happy Sewing
Musing in the Cold “They Did Not!” Category
Today is hopefully the beginning of the end to the cold snap that has kept me indoors and away from back porch photography. The porch is under the snow and I’m just not that kind of girl. Oh, the dogs demand that indeed I shall march through the frozen fields with them but modeling is just not a job I do out of doors in this kind of weather. There’s just not enough money in it, te-he!
So finished coat pix are coming…later this week.
In the meantime “They Did Not!”. Pendleton did not put all their current and classic styles on sale…oh noooo, just when my budget is completely snuffed by medical and insurance bills and the economy in general.
Oh but they did: Pendleton online catalog It’s a given that I’d snatch up any of the women’s garments in a heart beat. But, but, I’m not sputtering only for my own selfish interest, Dear Lord, the men’s sale is fabulous too! Please windfall me some cash really soon, like today?
I have lusted after iconic the wool robe for the Huspartner forever! His Sir Pendleton, Lodge and Board shirts have been staples of The Stitchery Christmas giving for the past number of years. These shirts are so gorgeous and they stay gorgeous for a very long time!
And now they are on sale.
sigh.
I’ll live through this lack of cash somehow…I’ve survived a severe curtailment of fabric money for the past year so I can survive this. But, but, sniff.
On the Good News side of cold musings is that in visiting Annika’s Atelier and Esty Shop and generally catching up with this productive and lovely lady I’ve rediscovered a blog I used to love: Beauty Tips for Ministers PeaceBang is back and beauty blogging again. She’s been back for a while so I’ve got lots of reading to do. I love her writing style and thrift consciousness. And she talks about Proper Fit. LOVE….
Could Spring be just a few months away?
Embroidery Is Good
I confess: I have an embroidery machine that I don’t use as much as I used to. I have had terrible luck with getting my very expensive digitizing software to do my bidding. It is no good at doing fabric content labels and Custom Couture name labels because it can’t seem to handle tiny fonts nor very close up work without crashing. I just bought into the wrong software, plain and simple.
My machine is runs well and is in great shape, though. I gave up trying to get the fancy labels I wanted and instead used a “stock” font to embroider the recipient’s initials in a soft gray poly thread on a section of black grosgrain 1″ ribbon which I then stitched on to this latest shrug:
I satin stitched the cut ends of the ribbon to secure them from fraying and the ribbon serves to control the traditional pleat in the silk lining.
Doesn’t a touch of embroidery class up the garment? I’m pleased.
Now to send it off for Christmas surprises and warmth and change the sewing and serging threads to some color besides black, some color more friendly to these old eyes. And I just got new glasses this past summer. Too soon to need new ones, isn’t it?
Another Shrug from Hot Patterns Free Download
I’ve just finished another Hot Patterns Slinky Shrug (first version and tips for download given here) in a black, gray and white colorway.
I had a little over 2 yards of this great 60″ wide fabric from The Wool House so it was perfect for a shrug. It’s a loosely woven wool, very warm and I had just one yard of the faux fur.
I faced the back faux fur stripe with silk charmeuse because I wanted to have enough left over so I could make a gift for a very special person out of the rest of the wool and fur. I believe I’ll have just enough.
I wasn’t really prepped for photos today and I’m in a bit of a hurry to finish up, shut down and go home, but what must be, must be . We had our first snow of the season today (love it!)
This shrug was cut on the bias and is fully lined with black stretch silk charmeuse from GorgeousFabrics.com (lovely stuff!) I used a fusible tape to secure all the cut edges of the wool and then used a multistitch zigzag on top of it to ensure no fraying.
It’s comfy! And very very warm.
