Recently a young friend of mine showed me a dress she bought second hand. This rayon floral dress featured two strong design elements. The first a corseted center front, purely decorative with a self fabric tie. The second feature was an exposed, silver toothed, zipper along the center back seam from top to hem. The […] Read more…
Sewing With Friends – Shannon Waldman
My friend Shannon is teaching herself how to sew. She’s not using a book. She’s not using patterns. She’s altering cast off clothing into new garments of her own design. I love her fearlessness. Read more…
How a dress became a skirt and a purse. Part 3: the Purse.
What got me started on this project, or what made this project (turning my mom’s dress into a skirt) jump to the front of the line, is that I really wanted a simple bag for summer. And I really wanted a grey bag. I saw that dress crumbled up in my mending pile and realized […] Read more…
How a Dress Became a Skirt. Part 2. OR Patch Pockets Tutorial
The Details: The skirt, like its parent dress, was simple but now, without its boat neck to echo the horizontal tuck near the hem, it lacked something the dress had. The tuck looked like a mistake; like I added on fabric to the hem as a way to add length. I needed to accent the […] Read more…
How a Dress Became a Skirt and a Purse. Part 1
Recently my mom was cleaning out her closet and thought I might like a dress she had made in 1982. Maybe I could put it in a consignment store she suggested. It was a simple, straight sheath dress made in a silvery grey raw silk with a boat neck and an interesting detail of a […] Read more…