CLOSET CASE STUDIO

Sweet mercy, the engines on my machines have been OH so busy churning out some lovelies I am not ready to share with you.... yet (but I think everyone who enjoys lakes, pools and beaches will be pretty happy when I do. I'VE SAID TOO MUCH).

Life got infinitely easier when my oldest friend lent me her fierce little serger. I had no idea they actually worked. The one I bought off Criagslist was more temperamental than a spoiled 2 year old after a bag of candy, and using one that actually FUNCTIONS has sort of changed my life.

This experience has only added to the deep, powerful longing for a new sewing machine.Being the classy, champagnes taste kind of lady I am, I've decided I can't settle for anything less than... Bernina. Even her names sounds classy, that Swiss minx. I'm eyeballing Craigslist while socking away my pennies but I haven't decided if I should go all the way and buy a new one. Anybody have an opinion on this? Listening to Daughter Fish' podcast Thread Cult with that sewing machine salesman, I became completely sold on new machines, after stubbornly insisting to myself for years that all metal was infinitely better.... Thoughts?

In the meantime, I thought i would show you where I've been shackled. I mean sewing.

Tis the sewing space of my dreams. I have so much room to cut and work at the table, and it gets great light during the day. The chandelier is so crazy bright I have no problem working in the evening.

This room was my biggest priority when I moved into the new apartment. I found the oversize B&W photo on the Library of Congress website (seriously, the best source for old photos EVER) and paid them to have the negative rescanned and emailed to me in high-res. I then blew it up and had it printed on a large format photocopier. I was planning on wheat pasting it to the wall, but to avoid hearing my landlord spazz out, I just stapled it for now. Hoping it doesn't get too distorted in the humidity of Montreal summer....

I'm super pumped about my new rainbow collection of serger thread, a surprise donation from a friend who does the repairs for Lulu Lemon. I practically sang a Broadway tune when she handed them over. The desk is the perfect size, and cost less than $60 at Ikea. Just a white laquer top on metal legs I spraypainted gold (see above, champagne taste). Couldn't be happier in this room, even when it is for hours and hours and hours while I maniacally test the secret thing I am testing.

Off to San Francisco & Sonoma County for a bonding trip with my mother, one that I hope does not end up resembling the movie Sideways (Mum looooves her vino). Any suggestions for fabric shopping in SF?

ANOTHER WAX PRINT PARTY DRESS

There is something about wax prints that just screams "HAVE A GOOD TIME" to me. Maybe that's why I sent Oona a few yards of this gold peanut print beauty for our Sew Bossy exchange - Oona IS good times personified.

That is also why when I decided to make a very very VERY last minute dress for New Year's, I turned to the scant 2 yards I had left to make something. Something short. Something cleavagey. Something New Yearsy. Now, I know it is now April 24th, and New Years happened many moons ago, but I realized I haven't posted this guy yet. And I have a backlog of projects to be photographed so in the meantime...

In a shocking turn of events, I added an exposed zipper. I think I might be close to over this detail now. Almost every dress I've ever made has had one.

Now, it's been so long since this  dress was made I don't remember what pattern I used on the bust. But it was just a simple sheath dress from my stash, nothing spesh. I added a circle skirt, just barely eking it out of the little material I had left. I lined it in a rayon bemberg. if I remember correctly, I finished it about 20 minutes before i was supposed to leave for my party. If memory serves, I had a wonderful, drunken night and danced until sweaty and kicked 2012 in it's lousy ass.

Then came home (*intoxicated*) to a burgled home.

Maybe that's why I kept postponing posting this dress. Bad memories.

But I've worn it since and tis a fun party frock and doesn't deserve to be put in the naughty chair because of some jerk with a hammer, amiright?

In other news, I received a surprise prezzie from Sarah at Pattern Vault this week. She had actually mailed it to me in February but in my moving madness I gave her the wrong address and it didn't get rerouted back to her until last week. Imagine my UTTER DELIGHT, JOY AND WONDER when I opened it to find this:

Why yes readers, that is a HAND TRACED copy of a 1930's Vionnet pattern I had innocently adored on her blog, not remembering that our sewing pals are the types of people to HAND TRACE VINTAGE VIONNET PATTERNS FOR YOU BECAUSE THEY ARE THE LOVELIEST PEOPLE ON THE PLANET. How rad is this dress? The beauty on the left is going to be something silk and bias cut the moment I finish this new, for the moment secret project I am working on. A project I hope you will all get to enjoy very soon.

In the meantime, Argo and I have a belated date. Work has been crazy (I flew to Toronto today to meet with our new, amazing cafe client) and I need a lay down and a brain break. Hope spring is a spring in your step.

BRASSIERE FEVER

I caught it. BAD. The bra fever. Once it gets in your bloodstream, you're finished.

How could I not? Have you seen some of the magic that our friends are making? Novita's CAT BRA? Kazz's VINTAGE DOILY NUMBER? Madalynne's floral longline? Everything Amy has ever breathed on?

How else to explain the fact that I've made FIVE in the past 2 weeks? A brief (actually, not really) timeline:

• Spend few days tweaking the Elan 645 pattern. Technically 34D but after much tweaking and pinching and darting go down to C cup on D underwire.

• Make simple black bra using Fabric Depot kit using simplex cups and powernet band. It fits. Perfectly. A little more conservatively cut than I normally wear but it's SO FREAKING COMFORTABLE. And boobs? Never better. Like being 17 again. MY BRA BEAT GRAVITY'S ASS.

Exhibit A:

• Start on second bra, another kit from Fabric Depot, this time using nude lycra. Here things get gnarly. I never tell people who are interested in this hobby that sewing is hard. Because it isn't. It's so accessible I don't know why everyone doesn't do it. But bra-making.... bra making is hard. It's a lot of fiddly pattern adjustments, and then a lot of fiddly sewing with fiddly elastics, and then trying to get nice straight topstitching on fiddly underwire channel.... It's a fiddle fest. Not impossible, but challenging, at least at the beginning when learning the ropes. This bra was victim to that learning curve. So much seam ripping, hair-pulling, frustrated tears. And blood. Actual blood. I bled on this bra, and when I tried it on I had an ill fitting, too small, over worked nightmare with blood on it. Boobs? Not impressed.

Exhibit B (I took the underwires out... it wasn't QUITE this bad):

• But I'm tough. From a blue collar town straight out of a Bruce Springsteen song. Women like me, we put our hair up with old bandannas, crack our knuckles and figure it out. Realize we need to make the band a little longer. Find a little stretch black lace and try again........ We fail. Again. We fail again so hard. We fail to properly underline the stretchy cup fabric so that when we try it on, we have saggy sad cups. We cry again. Another bra bites dust.

Exhibit C (hard to tell lying flat, but the cups were a disaster):

•  Okay. Debate throwing in the towel. Have mild existential crisis where I question my ability to make anything ever again. Pity party. Self loathing is a 7 on a scale of 0 to WORTHLESS SACK OF BONES. Then.... watch 10th episode of The Good Wife and realize Julianna Margulies would never give up after a few bad cases. Take deep breath. Crack knuckles. Tighten bandanna. Modify pattern to make a longer line cradle/band with a demi cup. Cross fingers. Give purple polka dot mesh scored at sample sale a kiss for luck. Apply lessons learned in 2 epic bra fails (longer bands, properly lined cups, magic touch that comes with sewing in a few underwires) and.... OH MY FUCKING GOD IT FITS. And it looks good. Amazing, actually. And boobs? Dancing perfectly supported jig of joy. (Described fit as almost as good as a pair of loving hands). Speaking of... a crying shame single right now. Don't think cats appreciate how good I look in underwear these days.

 Exhibit D:

 And while we're at it (winning), may as well throw in a pair of matching Rosy Ladyshorts (which are the perfect pair of knickers, btw):

• Whew. Bra fail streak broken. But now have a new problem. Now all I think, breathe and eat is bras. Salivate over Pinterest inspiration. Infiltrate expensive lingerie shop and take sneaky spy photos of construction photos in dressing room. Realize the only way I'm going to win this war is by reinforcing my supplies. Trawl a few local notions shops and score a variety of elastics and other necessary doodads. Make a road trip to weird stretch fabric store down in the trade only rag district. After deliberating for 1 hour over various meshes and stretch laces, doing mental math to figure out how much ramen I will have to eat to feed the more important gaping bra hunger, discover huge crate of various pieces of stretch lace, mesh and lycra sold by the pound. Lose mind. Spend $20 and get enough material to make 100 bras. Restrain self from embracing lycra salesmen. 

Exhibit E (officially crossed the edge to Glen Close in Fatal Attraction compulsion):

 Please note silver lamé.... expect crazy space woman bra very soon.....

• Buy dye at drug store. Spend afternoon experimenting with dilution and dye ratios to come up with all the fixings needed to make a clean kelly green and light mint number. 

•  Spend rest of weekend in bra rabbit hole. Phone is on silent. Forget to look at it. Forget to return Mum's urgent phone call Saturday regarding booking our flights to San Francisco in May. Mum has uncharacteristic freakout Sunday, convinced I am dead in ditch. Have to explain to her when I finally check phone and see many missed calls that I fell into a bra fugue zen state so intensely concentrated I laughed that it was like what the 50's housewives must have experienced when high on amphetamines manically cleaning all day. Mom is relieved, annoyed, excited to see bras. 
• Sunday force myself to take a bra break. How many bras does a woman need?  A woman must wear other clothes after all. Start work on By Hand London Skirt. Love. But still have bras on back of brain. Will probably make silver lame space bra this week.
• Sleep.
• Want to tell anyone interested in learning to make bras that a) Is challenging. At first. But has steep learning curve. Gets easier. Then gets addictive. b) Takes almost no fabric to make bras. Good for stash busting. c) Your boobs never knew they could have it so good. All those lying foam bras that make us all look like we have bubble boobs need to go.  Bra-making celebrates natural shape of body. This = good. d) Having your breasts look natural and beautiful in something you made and sweated over and customized is one of the most thrilling things I've ever experienced as a sewist. Been happily flashing anyone (uh, minus straight guys) curious about said bras. Including boss. Neighboring office building was probably really confused. e) If interested in pursuing bra-making, get thee to Amy's Bra Sewalong. Insanely helpful. Keep referring to it. Not sure I would have persevered without her Bra Buddha wisdom. Also to her lovely and thoughtful replies to my emails when I wrote her in near tears. Amy is the best.
• Terse point form-ness of this blog post inspired by a short story in the best book I have read in years, maybe ever. Go get Tenth of December by George Saunders. So funny, smart, wise, empathetic, prescient. Makes one grateful for all of it.
• Bye.

TWITS HAPPEN

Hey y'all. So the inevitable has happened... I'm now on Twitter. I had a "personal" one for years, but mostly just to follow Jule Klausner and other comedians so I could laugh while waiting in various lines.

However, after seeing Lucky Lucille hook up with Julia Bobbin for the Sew Bossy Initiative on the Twitter, and observing all the mad dares going on between Oona and Ginger, I'm taking the plunge. This way our convo isn't limited to the comment pages of our blogs and the occasional emails we send. You can follow me here.

THE SEW BOSSY FANTASY DRAFT PICK

Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for the kind feedback on the sewing switcheroo Oona and I did this week. It seems like quite a few of you would be down to get in on the Sew Bossy Initiative, which would make both of us squeal with joy. Marcy mentioned it on twitter, but this isn't something that needs to be done in a day.... it took us 6 months to get our shit together.

After quite a few cocktails last night, I started drafting some fantasy sewing matches.... I'm not making any demands (or maybe I am, because I am SO BOSSY) but wouldn't you be curious to see what these two would cook in the bossy kitchen?

Debi vs. Peter
Two of my favourite vintage bloggers.... no one does period better. And aren't you curious to see what Debi would have in store for Cathy?!

Carolyn vs. Reana
Two Australian domestic goddesses face off in the ultimate sewing challenge... WHO WILL SURVIVE? Both actually, looking beautiful and lovely as per usual.

Paunnet vs. Marie
This one is so obvious I don't have much to say except OF COURSE YOU SHOULD DO THIS.

Mokosha vs. Kazz the Spazz
I think this is a pretty inspired pairing - these guys both boss around colour and pattern like it's their job. I'd love to see them boss each other around from across the world.

Sallie vs. Otga
What happens when you take two women who have totally mastered their individual, modern, avant garde sense of style? SOMETHING BOSSY, THAT'S WHAT. IN ABSTRACT PRINTS.

Lauren Lladyird vs. House of Pinheiro
Nashville rock n' roll bombshell vs. Brazilian by way of Britain bombshell. DISCUSS.


Honestly, this is only half the list I came up with after just a few vodka apple juices. I'm just too hungover to keep linking. What do you think of these sewing boss fests? Do you have any other sewists you would like to see face off in the the ultimate Bossy Challenge?

OONA FOR A DAY

I know we’ve all said it at some point or another.

I love you guys so much. Seriously. It is such a joy to be involved in this community and I feel like every other day I discover some new amazing sewist who is making beautiful things while wittily writing about her escapades with silk and sergers. My {real life} homies tease me all the time when I say things like “Oh my pal Sallie said….”, or “My girlfriend Elisalex lives in London and….”

Because I have not actually ever, um, met any of you. But it’s inevitable that a close knit community of women with the same interests will fall a little bit in love with each other, even if we are basically pen pals with DSL connections. One of my sewing crushes/long distance buddies is the vibrant, the inimitable, the spectacular, the bold, Ms. Oona Balloona (aka Marcy). When I initially started following sewing blogs, Marcy was one of the first women I discovered on the Sew Weekly, and she blew my mind with her fearless, kaleidoscopic approach to pattern and colour.

I can’t think of anyone else I know with such a trailblazing, idiosyncratic sense of style. It was inevitable that I would want to steal just a little of it for myself. So, WAAAAAAY back in September we started discussing doing something together. That rough zygote of a plan turned into the idea of switching sewing identities. We agreed to mail each other a Mystery Project. Everything we would need to make said project would be included: pattern, fabric, notions, thread etc. It took us a few months to get our shit together, but some time before Christmas, I got THIS in the mail:

 CLASSIC OONA.

Two colours I never in a million years would have thought to pair (chocolate brown and raspberry), along with a gorgeous plaid metallic threaded georgette that I would have caressed, pondered, and inevitably backed away from in terror at the fabric store. And what pattern did our Oona send me? The Nicola dress by Victory Patterns (don't be confused by the Simplicity number - that was just a bonus gift). Delightful. However, by the time I got the package, Christmas was coming, and then I had to pack and move, and then get settled in the new place. So here we are, months later, and we are finally posting the results of our Sew Bossy Initiative.

 When it came time to working on my Oona baby, I forwent a muslin. Don’t ask me why, since I’ve made it a habit to mock up most of my new projects these days, especially when I’m working with a new company. I was just so excited to get started couldn’t be bothered. According to Kristiann’s measurements, I *probably* should have cut out a size 10, but I had just enough georgette to eke out an 8 so I threw caution to the wind. The wind almost bit me in the ass. When I tried on the bodice it was way too tight, but seemed to fit okay once I minimized the seam allowances to ¼”. I also took about an 1.5” off the length.

In terms of construction, I followed Oona’s lead (she made a gorgeous Nicola back in September) and underlined the georgette with the raspberry poly-silk lining and serged all my seams. The instructions were incredibly clear and it came together fairly easily. The georgette proved to be very manageable, and listening to the mix she made me while I assembled it and drank a stiff cocktail in her honour, I felt positively Oonatastic.

Feeling Oonatastic means making lots of really expressive faces, btw.

There was a snag, of course. Which was that once I tried the finished dress on, there was a huge gap at the bust. Spring was busting out all over (and by spring, I mean my cans). I’m not blaming the pattern as I keep having weird fit issues with everything I make. I’m not sure yet if it’s my shoulders, if I have a short torso, or whether I need a FBA but the only way to fix it was to sew weird pleats at the shoulder to gather all the excess fabric. It’s not ideal but I don’t think it’s super noticeable with the drape of the sleeve and the busyness of the print.

The final verdict? I think this is one of my favourite things I’ve ever sewn. It fits beautifully (besides the weird shoulder issue), the fabric is WONDERFUL and it makes me feel like a hot plaid disco ball (IN A GOOD WAY). There were other Victory Patterns I probably would have sewn first if given the chance, but I fell really hard in love with the Nicola once I started working on it. A classic wrap dress with a few really feminine, romantic details, I just feel really special and lovely in it. And I have the fantastic Oona to thank. There is nothing like the challenge and vision of someone you respect to push you outside your comfort zone.

So thank you My DopSewGanger, My Singer Dictator, My Tailoring Taskmaster. I really enjoyed visiting Oonaland.

But don’t worry my sweet; I won’t Single White Female you. But I may Take a Bus to NYC to Come Hang Out With You.

Now guys, if any of you have a long distance blog pal whose style you admire, we are throwing down the gauntlet. SWITCH SEWING IDENTITIES! I can’t stress how fun this whole process has been, and how much it has opened my eyes to what I can make. No more fondling beautiful, scary fabrics and backing away in terror. Now I will ask, “What Would Oona Do?”

Here is a badge you can add to your site if you want to participate:

The Sew Bossy Initiative needs new recruits! Keep me posted if anyone else decides to join in the fun, and we can do a big roundup post later and feature all the sewing style switcheroos!

REST IN PEACE GOOGLE READER

Hello troops. I choked on a sob the other day when Google revealed they were "retiring" Reader, the RSS feeder I have relied on for the last few years to condense the hundreds and hundreds of blogs I follow into one manageable space. Jerks. Why you would retire an extremely popular service is beyond me (seriously couldn't figure out a way to monetize it, hey geniuses?)

ANYWAY.

I've switched to Feedly, which I really like so far. The interface is way prettier and it imported my blogs no problemo. I know a lot of you are switching to Bloglovin'. You can follow my blog on that platform by clicking here.

Meanwhile, I will be chained to my work table all week working on the umpteenth muslin for the bra pattern I am modifying. BREASTS, YOU WILL BE CORRALLED. PRETTILY. OR I WILL DIE TRYING.

Bon weekend mes amis!