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My Trip To NYC!

I’m baaaack!! Hope y’all have a big ol’ Lauren-shaped hole in your hearts that needs filling, because this is about to be a super long post, filled with lots of pictures that I mostly stole from other people’s blogs. What can I say – I was too busy ~enjoying the moment~ to be bothered to take pictures. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself 😉 Rather than break this up into a bunch of posts, I’m just going to do one megapost so it’ll be easy to skip if you’re not interested!

Sonja kindly offered to let me crash on her couch while I was in town, so that’s where I stayed the majority of the week (a couple days were spent visiting some old Nashville friends up in Ossining. I took the train by myself and everything – so proud, you have no idea ha). Sonja was a GREAT hostess – with some of the cutest, no, THE cutest pugs ever! I would now like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my new girlfriend, her name is Peggy and she’s the cuddliest darling in the world:

LOOK AT THAT FACE. LOOK AT IT.

After an afternoon of eating cookies and lurking dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum, we met up with some of the in-town Mood Sewing Network bloggers for dinner and drinks. I had a few people ask me this, so I just want to clarify – Mood didn’t have anything to do with my NYC trip. I mean, duh, fabric shopping was a big huge giant to-do at the top of the list… but I planned and paid for the trip on my own accord. Once that was set in action, Oona actually handled most of the meeting up deetz, including the Mood dinner. Honestly, I would have been totally lost and probably flailing in the dark somewhere if it hadn’t been for her and Sonja taking control of the plans. Thanks, ladiez!

Meeting Sonja and Oona made me feel like I was part an epic trio. I feel like I talked about this nonstop during my trip, but it’s so cool to meet people ~in person~ and realize that they are even more awesome than you guessed from reading their blogs. That’s how I felt about everyone I met. I don’t think I stopped the smiling the whole time I was there (and still smiling now, fyi!)

Meg from Mood joined us, as well as Carolyn (who I was super excited to meet!)

Peter showed up too!

Friday morning, I woke up bright and early to…

SNOOOWWWWWW!!!
Southerners will understand my delight. Snow! That sticks! And the whole city didn’t shut down! Such novelty!

Friday was the first day I spent fabric shopping – what started out as a pizza and spandex date ended up a 7 hour shopping spree, no lie! We started out just me, Sonja and Oona, then after lunch we added Peter and Carolyn for my first foray into Mood.

What can I say about the garment district? In one word, it is OVERWHELMING. The stores go on forever, all selling completely different stuff, and the prices vary wildly. There are specialized notion stores, stores for different types of fabric, stores that seem like they should be the same thing but aren’t (Spandex House, Spandex World). Some of the places I went in were cheeeeeap. Although, to be fair, Mood is pretty cheap compared to the prices I pay here in Nashville. Most of what I bought cost at least half of what I’m used to… some were even cheaper. I’m just going to say this right now: I bought a lot of fabric. Like… well, we’ll get to that in a minute. Anyway, the employees in Mood were so so great – every time I pulled out a bolt that I wanted, someone was standing behind me ready to drag it to my pile. The customer service in that place is great, I never felt like I had to track down someone for swatches or help finding something. Especially George. I loved George, he was my favorite!

Here is my first ~Mood Experience~. See? Overwhelmed in the best way possible. So glad I brought a detailed shopping list!

Saturday was meet-up day! I was SO EXCITED for this shit, I barely slept and actually woke up at 6:50A (woof… I don’t even get up that early to go to work!). But first, before meeting up at Mood for round #2, a boozy brunch was in order. Devra hosted at her seriously gorgeous/fancypants pad, where the champagne and coffee flowed freely (although not together, ew) and her badass cat kept jumping into my lap and we were BFFs within 5 minutes. Also brunchin’ with us was Wanett, Christine, and again Sonja/Oona/Peter.

Also within 5 minutes was Oona breaking a plate. She was smiling at me right before it happened, which means this is also partially my fault. SORRY DEVRA.

We also had a mini-swap, in which the cat showed us just how much of a badass he was by making himself at home right in the middle of the pile while everyone was digging.

GOD, I love that cat ♥♥♥

After we finished, I realized I was running late TO MY OWN FUCKING MEET-UP and hightailed it to Mood.

And look at how many people showed up!! Awww!! You guys!!!!!
We took names and blogs and Oona shared the list with me when I got home (see what I mean about getting nothing done without her?!) – of course, this was after we spent about an hour in Mood, so I may have missed someone who slipped out early. Speak up if you don’t see your name here; I want to lurk aaaaall of you guys!
Gaby, Carly, Lee, Charlotte, Devra, Cindy, Janice, Allie, Lisette, Kim, Meredith, Kayleigh, Sonja, Oona, Rosie, Wanett, Shelley and Christine. Whew!!

We spent a good chunk of time in Mood, split into cackling packs and talking each other into buying fabrics (I like to think I’m very good at peer pressure but Carolyn proved on Friday that she has that shit down to an ART). Post-Mood, we ventured further into the Garment District to check out a few stores… specifically, Pacific Trimming, Chic Fabrics, and Fabrics for Less. Guys, if you have not shopped these stores… I have three words for you: $10 Wool Coating. ACK OMG.

We ended the meet-up at Houndstooth Pub, which we discovered when we tried to go to Stitch and realized they were closed. Houndstooth pub seemed like a good substitution – I mean, it being named after a fabric and all 🙂 Although I feel kind of bad for the bar having to accommodate our enormous group on a moment’s notice – they were good sports about it! Also, the food was amazing.

Thanks again to everyone who was able to make it out to the meet-up – I’m so bummed that I didn’t have time to talk to everyone one-on-one, which means obviously there will need to be a round 2 in the future 🙂 I really enjoyed getting to meet other sewists and I just love fabric shopping with people who actually get excited about that shit, ha! Y’all are the best!!

HOLD UP THOUGH because my trip is not over yet!!

I woke up bright and early (too early… damn Daylight Savings Time. Wait, no, I actually love you) Sunday morning and took the train solo to meet with Devra, Wanett and Peter at the Chelsea flea market. I’m actually super proud of myself for getting there – considering I don’t understand how that public transportation shit works at all. I didn’t buy anything at the flea, but I had a lot of fun looking at all the stuff and gawking over some of the prices (guys… come to Nashville. I’ll show you my flea and you shall weep.).

We did run into Kenneth King, though! Holy shit, I was so starstruck!! He’s so funny and a great storyteller – and that jacket is way way way more amazing than any picture could convey. Trust me.

Ok, one more surprise star-studded meet-up…

Yep, that would be Karen, just dropping into NY the same weekend I was there! What are the odds!?!?

I don’t even remember where we ate, except that I had a lamb burger and the dessert was amazing and the girl sitting at the table next to us kept giving us the stink-eye. She was clearly on an awkward date, sux 2 b her. Karen is just as sweet as you would expect from her blog – and that accent! GOD why don’t I have an accent like that!?

My trip actually wrapped up on Tuesday, and I rolled back into Nashville late Tuesday night (my flights kept getting delayed waaah and LaGuardia airport sorta sucks, there I said it). I actually left the city on Sunday night, stayed with friends Monday & Tuesday in Ossining. I did go back into the city on Monday, to check out Soho and Chinatown… and also make a third trip back to the Garment District. Whoops.

Oh, I guess you wanna see the spoils, huh?

Here it is in a big giant pile on my sewing room floor. SO MUCH FABRIC, it barely fit in my suitcase (and spare duffel bag) haha. I actually spent most of the day yesterday prewashing it all and reorganizing my sewing room. I have plans for every single piece I bought.

Here are some individual pictures, collaged as not to overwhelm this already huge post! Almost everything is from Mood, anything that isn’t is indicated in parenthesis.

Starting at top left: chambray, lightweight non-stretch denim, medium-weight linen from Marc Jacobs (confession: I chased this bolt around Mood on Saturday, as it switched dozens of hands. I have really exciting plans for it too, although I can’t tell you right this second!), striped ponte knit, striped cotton sateen (the colors look black, but they are navy and white), french terry, lightweight red wool crepe, yellow wool crepe (Carolyn talked me into both of these wool crepes… I was resistant because I live in such a warm climate – it’ll be 70* this weekend, ugh – but that woman could talk me into anything. Also, I’m really glad I bought them and I can’t stop touching them and admiring how lovely the colors are), swimsuit fabrics (Spandex House- the stripes are navy and white, and that weird underwear-looking shit in the background is the lining).

Starting at top left: red seersucker (this was intended for my 2013 Sewlution, but upon further inspection I have realized the fabric is quite stretchy, so it might not work for it’s intended purpose. I will, however, find a use for it!!), red floral voile (Chic Fabrics), floral print swiss dot, leopard ponte knit, mint and red cotton jersey (Fabrics for Less), tiny bows Betsy Johnson silk (also from Fabrics for Less – I looove that guy, go buy his fabrics!), hot pink wool coating (Chic Fabrics), polka dot cotton batiste, gingham.

Starting at top left: plaid seersucker (Oh god, I don’t remember where this is from… help? Was it Fabrics for Less??), assorted chiffons (from the swap), white cotton twill/brown lightweight corduroy (from the swap), bemberg linings and cotton batiste.

YEP.

A big chunk of Sonja’s yarn destashing also went straight into my suitcase… check it out!

So that’s my trip to New York! Thanks again to everyone who made this trip so fucking amazing – Sonja, Oona, Meg, Carolyn, Peter, Devra, Wanett & Karen for taking me out/showing me around, and every single one of y’all who came out for the meet-up. It really means a lot to me and I look forward to more meet-ups in the future. Hopefully some more in New York (must go back!!), but hey, if you’re ever in Nashville… holler at me 🙂

Before I dump out of here, I have a few more things I wanted to mention!
– I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining a slew of talented ladies for Miss P‘s Refashioner’s Challenge. I remember watching the challenge unfold last year and loving all the makes that came out… and now it’s my turn!! Yay!!
– My girl Mari just started a new pattern line and is currently trying to raise funds for it! You can donate to the Kickstarter Campaign here. The first pattern up is a pullover hoodie – with pockets in the back so you can keep your hands warm while wrapping your arm around someone. GENIUS. The new goal is $1640, which will enable her to produce actual printed patterns. And she’s SO CLOSE. Please, donate if you can!
– I just found out yesterday that on July 1, my beloved Google Reader will be no more. First of all: Fuck you, Google. Second of all: Does anyone have reader suggestions that are similar to the look/feel of the gReader (I mean, other than Bloglovin)? Ughhh I’m so lost. Third of all: Now I guess is the time to claim my blog on Bloglovin, so following me there is an option!
– Speaking of RSS feeds, I had a few people tell me over the weekend that they were having trouble getting the Mood Sewing Network to show up in feeds. I had the same problem in the beginning – which meant I didn’t read the blog, since I’m not about to click back to something every and and see if maaaybe there is an update, you know? Anyway, I talked to the Mood staff about it and they helpfully pointed out that you need to click on the RSS button near the top-right corner, and copy that address into your subscription bar. I tested it in my reader and it worked like a charm, so I thought there might be other people who would want to know the solution too!
– And one last little Mood tidbit – I got a small shout-out in this month’s issue of Threads. AMAZING. Check it out – that’s my name in print, omgomgomg!!

Ok, I think that’s it! Thanks for hanging in there and letting me gush about my trip 🙂

Tags: amazing fabric, fabric hoarding, flea market, hot damn this is my jam, meet-up, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, NYC, vacation

Comments 107 Comments
Categories misc, Mood Sewing Network

A Day at the Flea – October 2012

30 Oct

Lord have mercy, the flea market was GOOD to me this month. I’m almost embarrassed by the excess, although I keep telling myself I’m saving money & keeping trash out of landfills. Right? Right!? Humor me here.

Anyway, I went on Saturday with my best-flea-market-buddy-ever, Lauren (and you should definitely go lurk her blog if you enjoy being jealous of beautiful white crocheted lace dresses, because, hot damn). My first mistake was forgetting that October was the “big” month for this flea market. I don’t know what people have against November & December, but for whatever reason, they choose October as their month go to Christmas shopping. The place was PACKED – lots of slow-moving old folks with their dogs in covered baby strollers (sidenote: why? Why wouldn’t you just leave your dog at home? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND). On the flip side, it meant that all the sellers brought out their big guns this month… and we made out like bandits.

Here’s a shitty Instagram pictures of my haul, minus the clothes I bought (oh yes… there are clothes).

This is the very first thing I bought – like, within 15 minutes of getting there. Isn’t she a beaut! I’m pretty sure this is from the 40s/early 50s. I (unsuccessfully)tried to lighten the image; it’s a lovely forest green velvet. The buttons are mother-of-pearl with gold edges. This will definitely be my Christmas dress 🙂

The second dress is a navy day dress from the 40s. I’m not totally sure of the fabric content, but I’m thinking rayon. Sidenote- the seller & I bickered over the age of this dress. She said it was late 30s, I said early 40s. She said she knew her vintage, I said I know my sewing patterns. Later when I was hemming it up (don’t worry – the original hem is still there, I didn’t cut anything off :)), I found a tag on the inside of the skirt that dates it to 1940. I guess that’s kind of a compromise, huh?
Ps – I know it looks totally ugly on the hanger, here’s an action shot of it on me 🙂

I also got some patterns. Aren’t these darling? The seller remembered me from last month & saved me a box!

I came across that giant box of zippers right before we left. As in, “Let’s lurk this last shed and then go home, I’m cold.” The seller and I haggled a bit on the price, then settled on $15 for the whole box, plus whatever else I wanted to stuff in there. I added a few scraps of fabric, giant covered buttons, and a purse pattern that Lauren was eyeballing. I wasn’t sure if I got a good deal or not, I just grabbed the box & hi-tailed it home.

I know it doesn’t look like much, but there are 83 zippers here! Almost all of them are 22″ (some longer), and they are about 50/50 nylon and metal. Every color of the rainbow! That comes out to about $.18 per zipper, so yeah, I reckon I got a good deal 😉 Add that to the giant bag of metal zippers I scored a few months ago; I’m pretty sure I’ll never need to buy another zipper again trololol

You’re probably wondering what my second mistake was.
My second mistake was going back the next day.

This time, I went with my parents & niece Caroline, who is the sassiest little sass that ever sassed.

I would have bought this if it wasn’t $10.

I discovered that I was a designer in a past life.

And here’s haul #2, combined with some stuff my parents bought. Aren’t those side tables amazing?

I missed one of my regular sellers the first go-round, so I was interested to see if he still had anything for me (I usually get my patterns from him):

OH! Ok!

(yes, the “kloth” is in there and yes I plan on using it)

Change purse gloves!? DED.

I actually have no need for these (you should see my collection of fitting books), I was just amused that they were from the US Department of Agriculture. So randumb haha!

I found this pattern at a different booth. I was really excited about it – it was only $1 – until I realized that some idiot piece of shit waste of life SEALED THE ENTIRE THING UP IN CONTACT PAPER. S/he had arranged it in some weird cardboard shadow box with a bunch of sewing notions (not cool vintage sewing notions… like, shit from Joann’s) and plastic-wrapped the whole thing closed. I only wanted the pattern, so the seller punched the front out and gave it to me lol. I was able to rip the top open very carefully with a razorblade, and the envelope contains one pattern piece & the instructions. So boo 😦 Oh well, at least the artwork is pretty enough to display.

I also bought more clothes!

50s wool skirt that feels like a blanket.

50s party dress that fits me perfectly (and yes… that is a bird shit stain on the collar lol. I need to clean it!)
This dress was only $5. Hold onto your hats – there is a significant amount of fading down one side of the dress, all the way to the hem. Those spots have been lightened to purple. Hence why it was so cheap. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it – the sun damage isn’t terribly noticeable when worn (the seller suggested I wear it in the dark haha), but you can still see it. I thought about dying it, but I really like the color as-is. So idk yet. But for $5 – I couldn’t leave it behind!

This square dancing dress was also $5. I’m not sure of it’s age – it’s handmade, at any rate – but it fits and that skirt is super twirly. MINE.

I also found these beat-up 70s wooden platform sandals for $5.

All in all, a good 2 day haul – and I spent way less than $100 total!

And just to keep this related to all things blog~

I’m wearing the blanket skirt today – it goes perfectly with my Chuck sweater 😉

Tags: fabric hoarding, flea market, hot damn this is my jam, patterns, vintage, zipper

Comments 30 Comments
Categories misc

Completed: Thurlow Shorts (the sequel)

27 Aug

Y’ALL. I am still having trouble getting over these Thurlow Shorts – I wear them all the time. Seriously! I actually worry that my friends are starting to think I only own one pair of shorts :B They are such a great fit, so comfortable, and look fantastic. Could this be love? Could this be TNT??

As a christening to my new sewing room – I made a second pair! Those gingham babes definitely need a break 🙂

I made these using leftover chambray from my last pair of trousers – at 60″, I only needed about a yard of material. Nice! The gingham insides are from a piece of fabric I found at the Goodwill Outlet. Overall, cheap cheap. And fast – I cannot believe how quickly these basically flew together.

There’s not much to say about the construction of these, since they are essentially the exact same as my previous pair. There are a couple of things I would like to point out, however.
– I forgot to interface the fly facing. DERP. I am quite sure that normally, this would not be a problem… however, my fabric is very lightweight. Which means there is wrinkling all over the fly since it’s not stablized. By the time I realized my error, I had already sewn on the waistband. Oh well! They’re chambray – they wrinkle everywhere else, so hopefully the fly doesn’t look too bad 🙂
– Instead of shortening the length, I just made the cuffs extra wide. Me likey!
– I couldn’t find a pants hook & eye – and trust me, I ripped my entire sewing room apart looking for them (which bums me out because I KNOW I recently bought some! Where are they!?) So these are closed with regular hooks & eyes. It works for now, although I’m still looking for my lost babies.
– The pockets as drafted are pretty shallow – you can’t really put anything in them. I slashed & taped mine so they would accommodate my phone and/or wallet:

Since this piece has to be folded at the line, I slashed both above & below the fold line & added 3″. I can still insert the pocket as instructed – and it will hold all my junk. Win!

I actually wore these out last night for a bike ride/dinner meet up with these awesome ladies. These definitely pass the cycling test – especially with my new rear pockets 🙂 This will also explain why they are super wrinkly. And also why there is a giant grease stain on my cuff & my leg. lol

I forgot to get a picture of the back! I’m sure you can imagine what it looks like.

Here I am yawning instead. I got up extra early to shoot these photos 🙂

Oh, and while I have your attention – check out all these crazy patterns I found at the flea market this past weekend! All $1 each!

McCall’s 1391
I am DYING to make some gloves, but this pattern is Large & I have child-sized hands… so I may be learning how to grade down a glove pattern haha.

Simplicity 1390
Would you guys still be my friend if I started channeling my inner Pilgrim?

Vogue 9993
This style of hat would look terrible on me. I couldn’t resist, though – the artwork is beautiful!

Vogue 9992
This style of hat, however, has been proven to look awesome on me 🙂

Advance 9046
Sleeves!

Butterick 7206
Because, why not?

Butterick 9945
I almost did not buy this one, but changed my mine at the last minute. I love the scallops with the peter pan collar – so sweet!

Vogue ?614 (sorry, I forgot to make sure the # was in the picture!)
Another sweet blouse.

Advance 8511
I really love the neckline darts on this thing.

And one piece of fabric:

I have enough to make a simple dress… but what pattern? Hmmmm.

I may be quiet for the next couple of weeks while I knock out some commissioned sewing. It sucks, but mama’s got bills to pay! And by “bills,” I mean “fabric.” Haha!

Tags: completed, flea market, patterns, shorts, Thurlow

Comments 42 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, misc

A Day at the Flea – July 2012

31 Jul

The flea market hit Nashville again this past weekend, and OF COURSE I went (never mind that I’m moving & throwing stuff away left & right – FLEA!). Joining me was Lauren, new friend Allie and my super awesome sister-in-law, Sarah. Since I don’t have a lot of money to spend, I budgeted myself on a strict $20 and stayed within budget… well, sort of. More on that in a minute!

If we’re friends on Instagram, you probably saw my loot pile after I dumped it on the floor:

SO GOOD. $20!

Now I’m going to show you every piece of it!

That big pile of zippers was an entire bag that I snagged for $3. I KNOW! I counted them when I got home, and there are 39 zippers. 37 of them have metal teeth. My zipper stash was running on empty, so this was a good thing to come across!

That picture-looking thing is actually a crewel pillowcase that I got for $2. I stuffed it with poly fiberfill (side note: I have like 3 bags of this stuff. Why?? I don’t use it for anything, yet it is somehow reproducing in my sewing room! Help!) so it is now a proper pillow. I actually have another embroidered pillow that I got last month for $1, so they’re like pillow buddies now. And that, my friends, is how I started my newest collection.

This isn’t fabric – it’s actually a maxi skirt! A nice wool-blend, I think it’ll go well in the winter. It reminded me of Stevie Nicks, so I had to take it home with me. Also, it was $3.

30s Lace Collar, $2
I obviously need a dress to sew this onto – taking pattern suggestions!

Haha, ok, this isn’t part of my $20 because Sarah actually bought this for me. Isn’t it awesome, though? I need to find a frame for it, and where to hang it! I’m thinking right at the front door, so people will know what they’re getting into >:) Hahahahahahahha

These are the yellow buttons from yesterday’s dress. They were dirty as hell, but they cleaned up real good! $1

The very last thing I bought – I had exactly $1 left, and we were walking to our car when Lauren decided that she wanted a utensil holder. I found this lemon-y goodness hook for my last dollar (and yes, there was a utensil holder at the table as well… it even said UTENSILS on it lol)

Awesome bright tablecloth, $5

Advance 7055, $1

Dude also made me take these fabric scraps with that pattern. Free! They are pretty small, but I think I can eek out some facings with them. My soon-to-be brown wool old man Thurlow trousers are totally getting the brown/yellow floral facing treatment.

Simplicity 4697, $1
Already have a fabric planned for this.

Simplicity pattern, $1
I want to make a corduroy jacket! With elbow patches!

So that would have been it… except upon leaving, Lauren & I came across this magnificent china hutch that she just fell in love with. When she asked about the price, the guy said it was part of a set he was not willing to break up. The set included a buffet, table & 4 chairs. Jokingly, Lauren asked me if I wanted to split the furniture with her…

And they were amazing, so of course I said FUCK YEAH.
Seriously! I wish I had better pictures to show y’all, because they are incredible. Definitely 60s, real wood, and they are going to look amazing in my house. I am going to need to reupholster the chairs, but the wood is just beautiful.

Here’s a bad picture of the chair (you can also see the buffet behind it)
Unfortunately, there is absolutely no space for them in my current house, so there really isn’t any room to walk… I have to crawl over stuff lol. Totally worth it, though!

In case you were wondering – I got all that furniture for $100. SERIOUSLY. I told you our flea market was a good ‘un!

And now, for something completely different – here are a couple sneaky peeky pictures of my our new house 🙂 I stole them off the rental website so they’re a little outdated, but you get the idea!

The living room! It’s not this color anymore; it’s actually a soft burnt orange (really pretty!). I just love the big picture window. There is a really great front porch, with a porch swing!

This is going to be my sewing room 🙂 It is being repainted – I chose Behr Mint Majesty. I just love the windows & the hardwood floors! This picture is actually a little deceiving – the room is HUGE.

In the meantime, I started packing my sewing room yesterday, so I won’t be doing any sewing for at least a week or so. I’m already feeling a bit stir-crazy, augh!

Tags: flea market, hot damn this is my jam, my rad house, patterns

Comments 27 Comments
Categories misc

A Day At The Flea

25 Jun

Alternately titled: Why I Love Tennessee And It’s Awesome Flea Market!

The flea market here is monthly, and I do try to go every month (last month I had to miss because I was in Florida – but I’m not complaining!!). The whole thing is MASSIVE – and full of vendors selling all kinds of stuff, from priceless antiques to dirty junk. I personally like the dirty junk 🙂 There are also vendors who sell boring shit like socks & discontinued Clariol hair dye & door mats with whimsical pictures of your preferred dog breed, but I tend to avoid those booths because, well, boring!

Anyway, I took my new friend Jenna with me this time, as she had never been before! We met up with Lauren Winter after about an hour. We also ran into Kaelah as we were leaving – Nashville is such a small town! I’m not going to go into detail over what everyone else bought – let’s just say we had to make an extra trip to the truck about an hour in, because we already had too much stuff to carry around! 🙂

I didn’t make out with quite as much bank as I customarily do – no huge garbage bags of fabric for $4, or stacks of patterns for pennies apiece – but I did come home with some perfect little gems.

My absolute favorite thing I bought was this dress – I bought it right before we left (after seeing it first thing & obsessing over it for the next few hours, ha!). I haggled the lady down to $15, which is totally a steal I think. The fabric feels like some kind of silk-blend; it is unfortunately much too hot to wear during out 100*+ days. Anyway, the colors are kind of autumnal. But I love it so much!

I did end up swapping out the buttons to these – the ones on there obviously weren’t original, as they didn’t match the dress at all. Also, there was one missing. I am quite sure I bought these brass buttons at the flea as well, so it seems like a good fit 🙂

Those are the old buttons on the right – silver rhinestones. lolwut

One thing that really delighted me about this dress is that there is a lot of hand-mending all over it – including these little darned holes at the hem. It was obviously a favorite dress.

I also bought this pillowcase (filled it with polyfil from my sewing room – for some reason I have like 3 bags of it?) for $1 – I love all the embroidery! The lady who sold it to me said the woman who did the embroidery was in her 80s at the time. I just think it’s so pretty!

Some pretty brooches – the pinecones came from the same booth that the silk shirtwaist dress is from.

As far as sewing notions, I found a few…

Crazy zippers! Lol I have NO idea what I will do with these, but they had to come home with me.

Crazy bias tape – I see a floofy Christmas dress in my future…

Plaid taffeta… good for another Christmas skirt? Man, I love Christmas.

Celery green lining fabric… kind of boring, but it was also kind of only a $1 sooo no complaints here.

In the world of things I didn’t buy but considered taking home with me anyway –

THE CUTEST PUPPY I’VE EVER SEEN
He’s a miniature Australian Sheepdog! At 19 weeks, he weighed about 6 pounds. We all fell IN LOVE, but apparently he already sold (lol who sells a dog at the flea market anyway?).

Well, no, I didn’t actually want to buy this. Thought I would share anyway. Apparently, this is Farrah Fawcett’s head, in a wooden box.

I actually started – and mostly finished – a new dress over the weekend, but the weird slinky poly was giving me an absolute fit, and the pattern wasn’t looking too hot on me (maybe because of the fabric?), so I ended up tossing it (rather violently, I might add) in the corner & instantly felt 100% liberated. I haven’t had a proper UFO in about 2 years, so this is a very new experience for me.

In the meantime, I started a new dress – we are revisiting Simplicity 1803. In the loudest print I have ever purchased.

Headed toward Tackyville, y/n?

Tags: fabric hoarding, flea market, simplicity, work in progress

Comments 23 Comments
Categories misc

Recon: The Hawaiian Sundress

30 Apr

I’m still slogging away on my Bombshell dress – although right now it appears to be more of a bed than anything:

More on that later! Today, we will talk about my newest recon.

I actually started plotting the making of this dress on Friday afternoon – I found this sweet Hawaiian maxi dress and I spent the rest of the afternoon obsessing over how to make my own. My drive home from work ended taking A FUCKING HOUR AND A HALF (I drive about 5 miles & it usually takes 15-20 minutes – tops! 25 minutes is long enough to make me feel desperate, no lie) – thanks, Country Music Marathon! – so I had plenty of time to plan the making of my new dress. I realized the head start was actually hanging in my closet.

If you’re feeling underwhelmed, well, so was I. I picked this dress up at the thrift store last summer – I loved the print, and it’s rayon which is my faaaavorite fiber to wear in the summer. Also, it was $2. Unfortunately, it’s a big shapeless muumuu. I thought I could cinch it with a belt and be done with it, but belting that much fabric leaves some weird gathers & poof, so this was a dress reserved for hanging around the house.

This was a REALLY easy (and fast!) recon – I sewed a strip of wide elastic at the waistline, cut 6″ off the hem & sewed that to the elastic neckline. Done and done!

The original inspiration is sleeveless, but I actually like the extra ruffle the sleeves give, so they stay… for now.

It is hemmed a little short – you can’t tell from these pictures, since I have the tripod angled, but I could definitely use an extra inch. Although I did wear this to shop the flea market with my mom on Saturday & she never mentioned the length (or lack thereof), so maybe it’s not as bad as I think it is.

I got a LOT of compliments on this dress! Probably more than I’ve ever received for any of my clothing – funny! It seemed like every other person I ran into had something nice to say about it 🙂

Oh, and thanks to the elastic waistband – it looks great without a belt! This will be extremely important once the rest summer heat+humidity hits 🙂

Some construction notes…

The elastic waistband was really easy to insert – I measured the elastic around my waist, and then sewed it to the middle of the dress (try it on first to check the placement), giving the elastic a good stretch while I sewed it on. I just used a straight stitch, since it’s not a really high-stress area.

From the front – it gathered up nicely, I think!

To make the ruffled collar, I sewed cut-off dress bottom (hem intact!) to the inside of the dress, wrong side up. Again, I stretched it as I sewed so it would gather up.

Then just flip the ruffle of the outside, hiding the seams.

The hem is finished with a small rolled hem. No, I didn’t take a picture. I’m sure you can use your imagination 😉

And that’s it! Easy, breezy, beautiful… err, this’ll be great for Me-Made-May 🙂

As for the flea market… well, the pickings were pretty slim this go-round 😦 I did meet two vendors who said they have loads of fabric they need to sell off, so I gave them my contact information and hopefully I can spend the money I didn’t spend at the flea market on their fabric 🙂 Haha!

I did pick up this pattern… there’s not a listed manufacturer anywhere, just the pattern number.

I love the button placket.

It’s undated, but based on the fact that it’s unprinted & it has THIS across the top of the (sparse)instructions, I reckon it’s from the war era 🙂

I also bought two pieces of stretchy fabric, although they were from the thrift store, not the flea.

Probably going to save this one for winter, it’s kind of… velvety? I like how loud it is, though. And yes, my cat is modeling because she refused to get off the table.

This is polyester, but I just love those 70s stripes!

The Bombshell is making excellent progress – and it still fits! YAY!

Tags: Bombshell dress, dress, fabric hoarding, flea market, minidress, reconstructions

Comments 20 Comments
Categories completed projects - reconstructed

Completed: Giant Plaid Circle Skirt

30 Jan

This is a pretty giant plaid, huh? I originally bought this fabric from Denver Fabrics, anticipating a cute little plaid dress (view A of Vogue 8667, to be precise), but once I actually got the fabric in my greedy little hands I realized I was not in the mood to match that enormous repeat. So the fabric went into my stash – for a year (or has it been two?) When I went through my big fabric reorganization effort, I pulled out the plaid yet again and wondered what the heck I could do with it.

Make a circle skirt, duh!

I’ll keep this recap simple: I used my self-drafted circle skirt pattern, courtesy of Casey’s sew-along. My plaid was big enough where I didn’t have to cut any seams – it’s just a circle with a little circle in the middle! I lined it in bright yellow Bemberg rayon – also no seams, yaaaay – and sewed 3″ horsehair braid at the bottom for a nice floof. The waistband is interfaced with horsehair interfacing (lots of horsies went into the making of this skirt, it would seem…), which I opted to top-stitch down to keep it from stretching out (something my previous circle skirt has been slowly doing, sadly, despite stay-stitching and everything). The back is closed with a button. Besides letting the thing hang for 48 hours, this was a really quick project!

IT’S SO BRIGHT.

Some yellow lining for your troubles

In all it’s circular glory

lol I tried to take a twirl shot… it sort of worked out…

I guess you want to see it without the belt, huh? I cut the waistband on the bias to avoid doing any plaid-matching.

Here’s the back. That bright yellow line is actually the bright yellow zipper – if I’d known it was going to stand out so much, I would have made a better attempt to hide it in the plaid design. O well.

I finished this up on Friday night & wore it to the Flea Market on Saturday… these pictures were taken post-Flea (hence my frazzled hair). I went onward with two things in mind – buttons for the Violet blouse, and yellow lace for this skirt. And look – the gods of the Flea Market were smiling down on me!

No pictures of me wearing it all lacy-like, though. SORRY.

Speaking of the Flea Market, ahem…

Check out my haul trolololol

I’m not going to post every single thing I picked up, but here are my two favorite patterns-

Slip!

Pants!

All kinds of notions & buttons! I am the most excited about the bound buttonhole maker – I’ve been looking for one of these babies for a few months now! I don’t even know how much I paid for it because it was in a giant bag of stuff for $4. Also excited about those little flower buttons on the bottom – there are several in that container, although they are dirty as hell so they will definitely be getting a good cleaning soon.

Well I think I just ran out of things to say so I’m just going to end this here.

Bye!

Tags: circle skirt, flea market, patterns

Comments 46 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

more flea market goodies

20 Dec

i have a personal rule that i don’t buy myself gifts right before christmas, but i broke it over the weekend because… well, it’s the flea market! how can i resist the beautiful siren song that calls to me on the 4th weekend of every month (3rd weekend in december)? no. i can’t.

but i can share my goodies with y’all. ooh! let’s talk fabric & patterns!

the first batch of patterns are, sadly, not my size. they’re not terribly off – i usually wear a 32 or 34 bust- and i figure i can use them to learn pattern (down)grading. or maybe save them for a giveaway? 🙂 what do you think?

look at that awesome jacket with those sassy shorts!

i wish my hair did that.

this one reminds me so much of new look 6000, no? or maybe it’s just that pretty blue color.
i’m sad the envelope is so torn 😦 it was in slightly better condition when i bought it, but i ripped all the way when i pulled it out of my bag. waaaaah!

so that lot was $4. yep! i love this particular guy – he always has patterns for me, and his booth is full of cool antiques & records. speaking of which, in the same general building, there was a guy selling a singer featherweight for $250. my dream machine! i was ready to drop all my cash right then & there (and subsequently spend the rest of the month bicycling to work & eating ramen – seriously!), but i tested it & it was having major stitching issues 😦 aaand he wouldn’t go down on price. so we will wait on the featherweight.

flea market fabrics:

idk what this is, some kind of stretchy sateen fabric from the 80s lol. it is actually 3 irregular pieces, but i think i can make some kind of cute little cycling top out of it.

giant piece of plaid fabric that might morph into a jumper.

isn’t this one pretty?? there are about 2 yards, and it is sooo soft.

haha this one is pretty indulgent – and very small – but how could i leave it behind? peter rabbit corduroy? COME ON.

the colors are off in this one, it’s navy blue & white. it’s a sheer polyester something – i’m thinking either a chantilly or the peony with no sleeves.

my favorite – some class of terrifying plaid polyester fabric! i am seeing another pair of clovers already. of course, my boyfriend took one look at the fabric & said it looked like the kind of shit we used to buy at hot topic 10 years ago (you know, back when they sold velvet gothic dresses & vampire energy drinks lol), but i have decided to ignore him.

a couple big pieces of this creepy green fabric… after i got it home (and ew it smells like an old man), i realized it is obviously some kind of upholstery fabric.

a nice sized piece of bandana fabric, which is clearly destined to be some class of skanky halter top, amirite?

there were several yards of this one… i think it’s a linen-blend? kind of 80s.
fun fact: serging the edges for prewashing looks like shaving a mustache lol

hahha so southwestern! i think this fabric is sort of ugly (and, i quote my boyfriend, “that looks like an ugly set of curtains i ripped out of a house i was gutting”), but it also looks very 50s to me & i think it would make a great shirt dress! especially since there is a LOT of it. i didn’t measure, but at least 4-5 yards.

i LOVE this floral fabric. it is kind of stiff, but i think a wash will soften it up a little.

total for all the fabrics: $6.
they also all smell like a really really old man, so they’ll be getting a proper wash tonight. where? at my boyfriend’s house, of course. he can’t insult my flea market fabrics & get away with it.

i also tried to buy a singer spartan sewing machine for $25 at the last booth i visited, but the woman got all bullhurt at me because i wanted to test the machine (you know, to make sure it sews!) and then yelled at me for pulling off the throat plate to check that the bobbin was intact. she accused me of trying to break her sewing machine and wasting her time because i obviously had no intention of buying it. i will admit, i cried a little after that confrontation. kind of dampened my mood… i just went home. but you know what? at least i only had to deal with her for a few minutes. she has to put up with her bad attitude for the rest of her life.

more patterns! i picked these up at the southern thrift store by my house. they have this terrible policy where they dump a bunch of “like” items in a plastic bag, staple it shut, and make you buy the whole bag. i convinced the cashier to let me open the bags & dig through, but she wouldn’t let me swap out patterns. there was something like 15-20 patterns per bag, and 4 bags of them, so you can imagine how much she hated me by the time i was done 🙂 haha! i bought 2 of the bags… here are some of my favorites.

i don’t even like this pattern, but i LOVE THAT PONYTAIL

really really REALLY wish the envelope was intact 😦

lol i can’t even

LOVE this one.

welp, there’s the shirt dress!

and there’s the jumper!

this is totally ridiculous. the girl in the pink is my favorite.

is this a maternity pattern? it looks a lot like one of the dresses posted on liz’s blog (~new relaxed silhouettes~, third image).

i will confess that i end up with a lot of patterns just based on the illustration. helment-hair over here is no exception.

and look! a couple of men’s patterns!

too bad my boy is too small for these 😦

the bags were priced at $5.99 each, and i bought 2. in addition to the pretties here (and many many more that i haven’t posted), i got some uglies too. not a bunch of really bad ones – most were just stuff that doesn’t look good on me, like 60s A-line dresses – but oooh here are a few of the worst.

this is a bad picture of a picture, but i swear those pants…things are cut out of an actual fleece blanket.

yep.

there are quite a few more patterns that i didn’t post (48 photos in all!), so if you want to see the rest, check out the set!

Tags: fabric hoarding, flea market, patterns, vintage

Comments 13 Comments
Categories misc

nashville flea market? don’t mind if i do

25 Oct

i caved into internal peer pressure this weekend & went to the flea market. at first i immediately regretted my decision – october is traditionally the busiest month for our local flea market, and this year was no exception. the place was PACKED – moving was very difficult & i kept running into little old ladies who thought it was perfectly acceptable to just straight stop in the middle of the moving aisle (forreal, who thinks this is ok? anyone?). i eventually figured out that people were staying out of the sun, so as long as i avoided the air-conditioned buildings, i avoided the crowds. yay 🙂

anyway, let’s talk loot.

first, some patterns! i got all 4 of these for $3:

simplicity 1799

vogue 5381. someone on ebay is asking $53 for their copy lolwut. also, i definitely have the 80s version of this pattern as well. what can i say, i’m a pattern hoarder.

advance 2540. can i say now that i’m kind of weirded out that the vintage pattern wiki has a different envelope picture for what is obviously the same pattern? uhh…

mccalls b-100. now this is a weird one. it’s a basic sloper pattern, except the pattern is printed on something sturdier than tissue (it feels like mediumweight interfacing, tbh) so you can try it on and make adjustments. after you have fitted the sloper to your liking, you can make view B or C, or use the sloper to adjust a different pattern.

i’m bummed that it’s missing the instructions, but meh.

fabrics, $4 for all. the prints are cotton, and that big dark blob is actually a deep purple speckled linen.

lingerie elastic, 10 yards for $1, or rather, 40 yards total for $4. can’t wait to make slips & undies!

serger thread, $5 for the whole set. he actually had a LOT but i limited myself to only buying groups of 3. except for that orange. i needed the orange, wouldn’t you?

non-sewing related purchases:

DIS SUIT & fur collar (the collar isn’t part of the original suit, but doesn’t it look nice! i bought it from the same vendor), and this shirt (that i can’t seen to get a good picture of), $7 for all

love my vintage suit! it is really well-made (100% wool, fully lined, bound buttonholes) and it fits me perfectly. none of my friends like it, though, trolololol

totally randumb, but i also found snes control pads for $5 apiece:

YES.

in other sewing news, i have yet to perfect my pants muslin. i traced the pattern & pulled a GIANT horizontal tuck (like, more than 1″ sup short crotch) and added a small FBA to the rear. muslin #2 still needs work; it’s barely passable, but sarai’s clovers on the coletterie are totally smooth so i will keep chugging along. meanwhile, my muslin pants are now muslin shorts and i am running out of stretch fabric, hey-o!

Tags: buying shit i don't need, fabric hoarding, flea market, FUR, hot damn this is my jam, patterns