Posting this, I’m as nervous as a Bake Off contestant approaching the Gingham Altar after a particularly gruelling technical challenge. What will everyone think? Will it be good enough for The Handshake. You know, The Hollywood Handshake. Sure, I start every make hoping to be worthy of such an accolade. However, as things progress, you… Continue reading Goth Gingham
One could argue that gnome-one else would want trousers like these. But in counter-argument I would say I care not a jot because I like them a lot! A lot a lot. I was sooo pleased to see them after the delayed-baggage-debacle. If only the little garden gnomes could talk they could tell me where they spent… Continue reading gnome-one has trousers like these
I love the idea of a hat in hot weather. Something to shade one’s face. Something to look elegant and sophisticated beneath. The reality of a hot weather hat is that I can’t get one to stay put. The merest whisper of the most gentle of on-shore breezes and pooft, my hat is cartwheeling its… Continue reading Hot Weather Hat – Simplicity 5631 #VintagePledge16
I sometimes wonder if I know myself at all. There’s a rhythm to my sewing productivity and I’m astounded that I have, until now, been so blissfully unaware of this that at the beginning of the year I made a pledge that involved a monthly sewing target. A monthly sewing target! I’m putting in a… Continue reading annual rhythms – sewing, not in circles, but in cycles
Dear Sewsan, What’s a ‘weird crush’? I get the crush thing, several years as a teenage Duranie taught me that, but what makes a crush weird? I mean, surely all crushes are a little bit weird? I’m not asking for me. It’s for a friend. She’s got this pattern and ever since she made her… Continue reading Weird Crush
Zebra Facts Weighing up to 350 kilos… Vogue 7433 in a dense polyester and elastane scuba-style knit. Zebra Habitat The vast plains and semi-arid grasslands of… While most at home foraging for information along vast rows of shelving or through the labyrinthine corridors of the Internet, in the winter this creature is a frequent visitor to… Continue reading Jungle January IV – my jungle has a zebra
A three-hander. Sequel to My Jungle has Birds and Butterflies. Cast List Agent Velvet Black : Velvet has always been in the shadow of her brighter and more popular colleagues: Intense Violet, Bahama Blue-eyes and of course the fiery red-head – Burlesque. But not this time, this time Agent Black will truly make a difference. Pattern Patsy… Continue reading Midnight Jungle
One of the many things that I love about working with an older pattern is drawing deductions about the time that the pattern was written. I have no clue where you would start to search for contemporary accounts from seventies seamstresses. The archives of Houseparty or Womans Weekly? It matters not, I’m shunning the… Continue reading Expectations and Assumptions – Butterick 4743
An oxymoron if ever there was one. I wonder if the creators of McCall’s 8118 envisaged anyone fashioning their dress in such a fabric? Given that in the year of its making both the Russians and the Americans were slipping the surly bonds of Earth, vacating their crafts and having a bit of a walk about in… Continue reading Vintage scuba
Yep. Truly delighted cackles. Delighted cackles emitted, by me, on pulling this: from its hanger. Yes, it’s so bright it’s attracted a fly. Yes, it’s too bright for work. Yes, the ancient cotton will tire quicker than a toddler on a trampoline. However. Whatever. Aloha autumn! This dress is the colour of the nectarine that… Continue reading Delighted cackles
pennylibrarian 