by Dave | Aug 17, 2015 | Blog, Fashion, Inspiration, Lucy's Sewing Lab
It’s time again, to worry about fall fashion. You know, visit the library, local bookstore, or coffeeshop and study up on what’s new and make lists of where you may find the fabric you are lusting after. I start my search at Girl Charlee. I just love the hand of that fabric. Then I hit Fabric dot com. Both stores are equal as far as I am concerned. I’ve never had a reason to complain. My new favorite place for shopping is the thrift stores. Those 2xl shirts have a lot of fabric and where I live, Mondays are 99 cent clothing days. $5 will get a lot of fabric.
September is the month I scour all the fashion magazines, deciding where I’ll shop and what I’ll buy. I’ve been doing this since childhood. So far I’ve discovered,
- Huge earrings are back
- Lace, lace, lace, we can’t get enough of it. I’m so glad! I love lace, it makes me feel sassy.
- The choker is also back, pretty cool, especially compared to those hot turtlenecks.
- And, slipping into fall is the uncovered shoulder look. Pretty useful under a cardigan, vest, or kimono. What do you think?
- I think this is going to be a great season. Patterned and lace tights are back. (I promise that was not me screaming 🙂
- There seems to be a patchwork trend going on here. Great for us!
- Neutrals are back as well. I feel like the Fall theme is “BACK” lol
- White is sliding into the new season. Paired with colored faux fur makes the look feel right for the season.
- Pantone is kind to us this season giving us a wide variety of colors to keep from getting bored.
[envira-gallery id="1635"]
[envira-gallery slug="1635"] WOW! I love the variations.
- If this isn’t enough to get you started there is a Facebook page I am sure will help choose some colors for your fall wardrobe.
Remember, it’s more about style than fashion. Use your go to styles and change the colors or textures. Show me what you come up with, ENJOY!
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by Dave | Aug 11, 2015 | Blog, Experimentation, Fashion, Inspiration, Lucy's Sewing Lab
Budding designers begin young,I don’t know about you, but as a child, a very young child, I was a budding designer. I always had paper and crayons or pencils to quickly sketch whatever it was in my head I thought someone may want to buy. Not only was I designer, my grandmother sewed. Double bonus! I think it up, put it on paper, and my grandma makes it a reality. I remember they had those little plastic forms you could color over and create something wonderful. Wonderful and just like everyone else’s. How boring! I did nt want to be that person making the same thing everyone else made. I wanted to be the girl with all original clothing. Funny thing is, now that I make my own clothes, I color the pattern the same way I want the garment to look in the end. Also at that time I can change the sleeves, the skirt, anything I don’t like about the pattern.There is a new line of products like this for children.
Perfect for the catwalk designer
I’m not sure how kids would like these, but I am pretty sure I would need to buy some for me to try out. You know, nothing is worse than disappointing children on Christmas. Besides, I may come up with new designs. This does not mean I will be giving up on using paper and pencil sketches. I just means I want to try the newest toys! ENJOY
by Dave | Apr 22, 2015 | Blog, Inspiration, Lucy's Sewing Lab
Mad Men a show about midcentury life! I love how the life is so different today and hate it. Various reasons for the love hate relationship. I mostly hate that family dinners and women in aprons are no longer the norm. Life seemed simpler? I miss seeing women in aprons. No I am not anti feminism. Aprons are so fun! They conjure up days passed of grandmothers and fresh pies, of mothers making dinner out of love for their families. Mad Men, wildly popular because we love nostalgia. For some of us, it’s more history than nostalgia. I was very young during the period of the show, not even alive until mid 1960s.
I’ve began making aprons. I love how it makes me feel. With every seam I remember something else from my grandmother and her sisters. Wearing aprons was a daily occurrence for them. I love thinking about making beautiful aprons that mimic Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress, someone’s favorite pair of jeans, and the gingham curtains on the kitchen windows. One thing I’ve learned about nostalgic sewing is that there is more detail in the garment than today. When was the last time you saw ready to wear clothing with bias tape on it? Probably never!
So, I’ve learned to sew with bias tape. It makes things look so finished. I used lace trim when I was younger. But, sewing with bias tape is something to be mastered. First of all, I had no idea the tape wasn’t meant to be placed around the raw edge and sewed. Nope! It seems that the proper way to attach bias tape is to sew the tape with the raw edge of the tape and the raw edge of the fabric matching. WOW, that tidbit saved me tons of time and headache.
In case you haven’t shopped for bias tape lately, it’s kind of pricey. Since I am a tightwad, I made my own. It’s really easy. Much easier than expected. It involves cutting the fabric on the bias. Basically, create a piece of fabric into a square. This will be double thickness. Then, fold the fabric diagonally to create a triangle. Pretty easy so far huh? At this point, place the folded edge of the triangle on a straight line of your cutting board. Measure the width you would like, and cut. Continue cutting using the same width. Another method is completely different, although, mine worked fine. There are great detailed instructions of another method here.
In any case, I love making my Mad Men attire and aprons. I hope you will at least try to make one. They are really fun. Most of all ENJOY!
by Dave | Apr 15, 2015 | Blog, Inspiration
One of my favorite stores, Anthro. The clothing is divine! The price tags are heavenly, as in high as the heavens to me. I am not in any way knocking the clothing. Quite the opposite, I love the clothing. The best form of flattery is using your garments as inspiration, right? Which is why I love Anthro Hacks.
I love these tops, especially the bigger than normal and higher than average peplum. To me it’s really a statement piece in a world full of traditional peplums. This one stands out and says I am my own art! I’m not like the other peplums and I love it! Embrace my mantra and wear an Anthro hack, an out of the ordinary peplum too.
I feel like, for me, the average peplum is played out. When I saw these from Anthro, I saw the ultimate peplum challenge. Then I started breaking the pattern down. I must hack this Anthro garment. What I found was essentially a favorite t shirt pattern and a gathered skirt. The individuality comes with the sleeves, the positioning, and the length of the peplum.
I wanted to hide a few pounds. I love knits. So, of course, m peplum has a longer than average peplum with an above average amount of gathering. In order to recreate these you need a top pattern that you love, and a rectangle of fabric twice as long as the circumference of your top. I cut the pieces for the t shirt out, down to the area I wanted my peplum to begin. For me, this was about 10 inches below the shoulder. For the peplum, at this point you must determine how long you would like the bottom of the peplum to fall. Anthro has their hems falling a few inches longer than the length of the top half of the shirt. I believe I used 12 or so inches. Make sure the peplum is two times the length circumfrenece of the top. Sew the top part of the top as indicated on the pattern, if you are using one. Then gather the top of the peplum, it doesn’t really matter which is used for the top. The peplum piece is a rectangle. The only time this matters is when there is a definite pattern. After the gathering is complete, adjust the gathers to fit the top. Sew the ends of the peplum together to create a circle. Then, with right sides together. Attach the gathered portion of the peplum to the bottom of the top. It’s really that easy!
This post will only allow one photo. So, I’ll be posting my version in a follow up post. Let me know how yours turned out, I would love to see pictures.
ENJOY!
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by Dave | Apr 8, 2015 | Blog, Inspiration, Lucy's Sewing Lab
Do you realize this is the LAST season of Mad Men? McCalls knows and are preparing for us to go mad over retro patterns. I love retro and mod clothing. I have a few patterns in my own collection. A quick search on Pinterest reveals a frenzy! Even before I did a little searching for this blog I have been obsessed with the whole look of Mad Men. I just did not realize until I plugged those words into Pinterest how popular the show is. You see, I just don’t get out much anymore. lol I love the looks, it reminds me of childhood. That’s how the grown ups dressed. With that in mind, I’m not sure I’m grown up enough to don these looks. Admit it, some of those clothes are pretty scandalous. Maybe it’s fashion that created the free love era and not free love that created fashion?
“Mad Style: Feminine patterns and fabrics—a touch of lace, a sweet bow on a blouse, or a flowy dress—keep your wardrobe classic and effortlessly pretty. The trick to not looking too girlish or 1950s housewife is to keep the shape of each piece modern (try a structured blazer or pencil skirt) or to add an alluring touch: Channel Joan’s va-va-voom appeal with ladylike fabrics tucked into body-hugging shapes” a quote from The Muse. And they were kind enough to add pictures in their story. It’s not hard to recreate those looks, is it? Not when the big pattern companies are rereleasing their vintage patterns. That makes it pretty easy to become a Mad Man fashionista.
Butterick Patterns has a new Retro section. B4790 is one of those patterns, a wrap dress.
I think this looks like something Betty Draper would wear. I might wear it too, if I made it. I’m sure this isn’t the last you’ll hear of Mad Men until the season ends. I’m sure this blog will be mentioning it again, soon. I’ll leave you with this added inspiration 
Enjoy!
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by Lucy | Mar 21, 2015 | Blog, Experimentation, Inspiration
I sew therefore I refuse to pay for ready to wear! So, I’ve been working on a few Anthropologie and Victoria’s Secret hacks. Anthro has some of the best fashion out there. They must, everyone is trying to hack it. Well, I jumped on the bandwagon too, why? The styles are really pretty straightforward and pretty easy to duplicate. Thank you again Anthropologie. 🙂 
This is a perfect example! Let me break it down for you, it’s a yard of fabric, folded in half, with side seams and a v neck. There are several tutorials out there. It’s made out of rayon spandex jersey. Which can be found here for about $6 or $7 a yard.
Anthro seems to have a love affair with peplum tops. Just do a pinterest search. I found this one 
I love it! It’s too early here for tank tops so I’m working on a short sleeve version out of knit. I’ll hopeful finish it today and post the finished product and some hints on how to do it. For a little teaser….hint number one is find a bodice pattern you love and make it fit you perfectly! From there the options are endless!
One of the new trends for 2016 is a high cut bra. The lace shows through the top of your tank. Check it out. They are calling it the new eyelash lace collection. The bonus here is you can make your own tank to display this sexy bra. I found some free patterns at Sew City. They seem to be the Victoria’s Secret of the sewing world. I imagine these can be created for under $10. ENJOY!
