Happy Spring!

A tiny sampling of pictures taken in the shop in the last 3 weeks. (Most of these things are sold, but the the black velvet gown, green party dress, the yellow day dress, and chiffon dress with open balloon sleeves-- are all still available.  I also have the white unform jacket in a larger size.).   So much fresh merch---- so much ironing to do!  

The peek-a-boo Abe shirt

Often when I'm hunched over needle and thread behind the counter in the shop I'm really just goofing off with my own clothes.  For example, this is the new Peek-a-Boo Abe shirt I've been playing around with lately

 It was a plain button down shirt that I liked simply for its soft cotton lavender stripes (plus it was already sorta nicely beat up).   I more or less rehashed it into a practical summer blouse with a bunch of one-of-a-kind details.

After cutting off the sleeves and mending a few holes

 I (1) made exterior armhole facings in contrasting stripes

(2)  derailed the stripes on one side of the collar for a sort of cubist mitered look,  

 (3) made a checkerboard-ish patch for the left pocket,  and
(4)  made an asymmetrical flap out of one of the leftover cuffs for the other pocket.



I opened up the top-stitching on the cuff/flap and inserted a 5 dollar bill, folded almost exactly to the size of the flap.  I sewed it back together, opened up a little porthole for Abe's face, and finished it off with white bias tape.    The idea here is to have a secure pocket that A) an ipod would not fall out of during a bike ride, and B) could hold a hard-to-get-at 5-spot to cover me in a flat tire or dehydration emergency.  I'm pretty sure I've rigged it so the only way of getting at the bill is to open up the stitching or cut the cloth.  We'll see.

Handmade Valentines

I finished the shirt from the sew-along and I'm happy with it.  Towards the end of construction I asked Alan to model it for me for the sew-along flickr group and not only did it fit him well, he really, really liked it.


Since we have a tradition of handmade-only Valentine Day gifts in this house, it became his Valentines gift.
The Valentines Alan makes for me are always made of wood.  This year I dropped a hint back around Christmas time, when I was setting up my vintage miniature Christmas.
I've always wanted a miniature (1/12th scale) dress form, but would never tolerate a modern, cheezily manufactured one. So he carved me one out of wood.

It is 5 inches high and has sweet little cabriole-shape legs just like full-size ones in my shop.  Perfect!

(The collage behind it is the Valentine Card I made for Alan. I didn't realize when I chose the central image that the man in the etching was holding a knife- oops--)

I joined a Sew-Along!

My true passion is to hunt down, repair, and revive old clothing, but every once in a while I like to make a garment from scratch. For camraderie, inspiration, and disipline's sake, I joined this group at the wonderful Male Pattern Boldness blog. (click on pic to take you to the sew-along page)

Through the magic of the internet a whole bunch of sewing enthusiasts get together online and construct a casual man's shirt together. (Or did I mean a man's casual shirt?)
Anyway, here's my pattern and fabric:

It's going to be a lightweight short-sleeved shirt, made from a pair of x-tra large linen gaucho pants I picked up in a thrift. Yummy mixed stripes.
In the interest of not boring my blog readers (all both of you) I'll be posting all the fascinating details of my journey on my flickr page, where the Male Pattern Boldness Group page is. Should be fun.

I've already said "phooey" to the construction of a muslin practice piece (mistakes, ME?), and started cutting out my pattern today.

Quick Dye Note of Note

In an attempt to camouflage a blood stain (ack!) at the bottom hem of an otherwise stunning 1930s champagne pink silk negligee (middle of photo), I did an experimental dye bath yesterday combining Scarlett with Cocoa Brown.  I'm really excited about the kind of oxbloody results ---even though I ultimately decided to re-hem the piece and remove the stain entirely (the camouflage only works to a certain extent). With the extra hem fabric I was able to do some repairs on the straps. Now I need someone to come in a model it for me -it's totally divine.
Other random items that got tossed into the batch: Cotton mandarin dress with gold trim, 50s slip with lace insets, 30s rayon and lace camisole, and a satin and lace bed jacket, formerly powder blue (gag).

From Helen's closet to Kimberly's closet

                                                     This is Helen P.

I purchased a nice carload of vintage clothing from Helen last May when she invited me to come over while she was cleaning out her family home across the river in Greene County.

 inlcuding the yellow and blue silk ensemble she is holding in the photo at top.

Helen served as a nurse in the Vietnam War, and had the outfit custom made during a visit to Hong Kong.  

 Just like the good old days (and still common overseas) You'd walk into a tailors shop, get measured, pick out styles and fabric, and then the outfit would be constructed, personalized with embroidery, and delivered to your door in a sturdy cardboard suitcase.

The ensemble included a blue purse to match the blue coat, and yellow shoes to match the dress.

This is Kimberly.

Unlike many customers throughout the summer, Kimberly was interested in the entire ensemble as a whole, (while everyone else just wanted the coat, or just the dress). She got the whole shebang for $50.

If you know of anyone who would be interested in a ca 1970 wool Nurse's Uniform, I promised Helen I would find a good home for that too.  It's about a size 12.

Happy Veteran's Day.

The Fairy Gaga Halloween Costume

I started on my Halloween costume early this year, as I usually do---with one big difference-- I didn't really know what I was going to be.   All I really knew was a) I wanted to wear a pleather dominatrix suit I'd picked up at Salvation Army last summer, and b) I wanted to try my hand at making a cage/hoop skirt from scratch.  At some point Lady Gaga entered into the non-idea, as well as the fact that I was attending a "Witches' Ball", so I just kept improvising and struggling along with multiple concepts, hoping for the best.  

ie. sleeve design fail 

Hurdles included bad wigs, challenging sleeves, fabric shortages, and what felt like seven thousand trial-and-error measurements getting the hoop skirt to look right.

many, many glue sticks into the project....

Much as I adore hours and hours wielding a glue gun, my favorite moment in the whole costume process came when I spotted the plastic Princess tiaras at Ye Olde Dollar Store, which I envisioned as brilliant sparkling epaulets.

The stars for the wand were also from the Dollar Store:

I did not decide on the fairy wings until just hours before the party, when I saw them at Rite-Aid while buying candy.  I bought them and changed the fabric and trim, using an old pair of silver pantyhose.   The wings provided a nice backdrop for the puffy sleeves, but made a fairy princess silhouette, which conflicted conceptually with the witch's hat. Uh-ooh...whatever.  With one more day I may have made a Glinda from Oz crown for the top instead, but --my time was up. 
>

In the end, it all somehow came together.

(Thank You to Scott Baldinger and Gretchen Kelly for use of their photos here )