The Right to Bear Scissors

Sometimes you come across people who really drive you up a wall. I met one such person at the local fabric store.

The facts were these; I absolutely destroyed the bodice of the dress I’ve been working on, so I went to go pick up another yard of the fabric to redo it. There was a scrap of the fabric left on the bolt, maybe 3/4 yd if I squinted. But I needed the fabric. And it was all they had left in the store. So I took it up to the counter to measure.

I handed the fabric to the cutter, and she unfolded the fabric. And folded it so the two cut edges were together.

“A yard and a quarter,” she informed me

I stared.

“I’m really sorry but you miss measured,” I said. “You should be measuring the length of the fabric, not the width”

She looked at me like I was mentally handicapped.

“Along the selvedge,” I explained.

“Who taught you to measure fabric?” She snapped. “It’s a yard and a quarter.”

I argued with her for half an hour. There were a whole bunch of problems in the store that day, and no manager in sight. If I hadn’t needed the fabric so badly I would have just gone home. But I DID need it. So before my very eyes, she cut a quarter of a yard off the selvedge.

Okay. Maybe she was new, and sometimes people make mistakes.

But then I bought an entire bolt of fabric, and asked her to measure it for me. She was displeased. On e she was done, I asked if she could just roll it back on to the bolt.

“No,” she snarled.

I persisted in getting a bolt for the fabric to be rolled on to. So she grabbed an empty bolt from a fabric hat was 20$ a yard, and scanned that bolt end. So my ten yards of 6$/yd fabric was suddenly 20$/yd. I couldn’t take it.

“Excuse me, but you scanned the wrong bolt,” I said, maybe a little more hostile than I intended.

What followed was another half our argument over who was right.

I won. Because she was wrong.

The moral of this story is that some people shouldn’t be allowed to wield scissors. Or to reign over the cutting counter. Or even touch fabric. Ever.

Beware the fabric store gremlins!!!!

I’m NOT Scared (I will Now Hide Under the Blankets WEre the Monsters Can’t See Me)

So really this is just some tech week shots for the show on Tuesday. The school I work for (Delaware County Community College) is putting on GODSPELL. The cast are all students in the acting program, and we have the smallest crew the world has ever seen working on a musical…

A skeleton crew, as it were.

Anyway, enough blah blah blah. Here are some pics I shot between changes with my lil iPod. Sorry for the crap quality.

This is our wonderful goth Ida. You wouldn’t know it but she’s got blonde hair that is longer than Rapunzel’s. no, I didn’t make her cut it. We got a wig.


This is the opening costume for our prep. Don’t worry, her costume change is much more fabulous!!


This is Jesus. The character, I mean


The first costume for our tomboy Jasmine.

Our sports fanatic


The flower child


The artsy girl


And the second costume for our goth. I know goths everywhere are eye twitching, since she has become a raver.

Oh! To clarify, I don’t remember the actual character names… But it was decided that the characters should all be stereotypes you find on college campuses!

Full make up and final costumes on Wednesday!!!

Of Ancient Egyptians and Bias Tape

First, let me introduce you to Hatshepsut!!


She is my brand new industrial sewi g machine that I bought for 50$. No joke.

She needs some living care, like some oil, and a new cord, and maybe a new lamp, since the old one got smashed in the moving process.

But other than that, she runs like a dream!! I can’t wait until I have her back in ship shape, so I can put her to work… And let my moms sewing machine take s vacation. That poor little Viking has really been a trooper for me!

So what I have for you today is a rant about bias tape.

I just spent two days making 5 yards of shantung bias tape from 1/8 of a yard of fabric. “Why?!” You ask.

Because the fabric stores near me only sell decently priced cotton bias tape, and for this new panty design, I needed cherry red shantung bias tape like this.


I’m going to cry blood when I run out of this bias tape!

Some Girls Buy Clothes, I Buy Cloths

Most people go on shopping sprees and they buy clothing. And jewelry. And shoes. And electronic gadgets.

Not me.

When I go on shopping sprees, I buy fabric, and beads, and embroidery thread. I mean, why shell out hundreds of dollars on clothes made in a sweat shop in china, when I can make it at home, and fill the sleepless nights?

So today, I dragged my mother to Joann Fabrics. It’s no G Street Fabrics, but it fills all my basic requirements, and I get some banging discounts, because I moonlight at a school as a costume designer… Or am I moonlighting as a fashion designer/anthropology student, while working as a costume designer? I’ll let you work that one out.

I figured after putting my costume shop back together, with massive help from the show director and a stage craft student, I deserved some congratulatory shopping.

So anyway, Joann Fabrics.

In one hour, I came up with a 20 yard bolt of muslin, so I can start sewing my projects, and some decent sky blue crepe for the finished product if the robe.

And some bright red silk to finish out a tap pants order.

And odds and ends to get started on my inventory for First Friday (which is approaching like a rider of the apocalypse…)

And a HOARDE of stone beads and pretty sparkly crystal beads, just because I have the tendencies of a magpie and am attracted to shiny objects.

Oh, and some embroidery floss because I always wanted to teach myself to embroider.

And I only spent a dime over 100$, because I’m aces with sale shopping!!! Definitely a great way to round out a VERY busy day.

I think I’m going to sit in front of my stash and drink some cocoa now, I’m beat!!!

Because Sometimes Your Best Friend Needs to Drag You, Kicking and Screaming

A very long time ago, it seemed, I wanted to try and start my own business, as a fashion designer. True, I had dropped out of an apparently well respected university’s fascist fashion program because the professors were all Nazis, and the students were all Abercrombie&Fitch drones… not that I was judgemental or anything…
And true, I changed my major to Anthropology (and am now happily frollicing about the class rooms of Temple University). And maybe I decided to pick up a few other side jobs because the start up fashion design business wasn’t exactly booming the way I anticipated… Which will happen when you only end up with 10 hours a week to sew, between three other part time jobs, and a full course load. (Yes… I know, the term over-achiever-about-to-become-burn-out might POSSIBLY be applicable… but that’s not the point!)

So I was thrilled when I pillaged The vintage lingerie patterns of MrsDepew, and got the okay from her to sell the things I made with her patterns in my store. And even MORE thrilled when I picked up two orders! Imagine, little ol’ me, making “unmentionables”! Surrounded by rolls upon rolls of laces and satins and crepes (covering my mother’s living room floor…)

But when it really cam down to it, even though I’d managed to get three listings put into my store, I was unhappy. Where was the glitz and the glamour? Where were the people clambering for my carefully crafted, excruciatingly detailed clothing? I was supposed to be famous by now, and making clothing for Dita von Teese, dammit!!

Enter one of my trusty best friends, who listened to me bemoan my fate , very patiently. He took a few moments to consider my options.

“Uh, didn’t you used to have a blog?” he asked me. well… yes…

“Did it ever occur to you to keep your blog UPDATED, so that people will see what you’re working on?” … But it takes SOOOO much time to come up with a post, after classes and work, and more work, and homework….

“Don’t you have, like, FIVE HOURS between classes, when you sit in Starbucks and watch Netflix?”

And that was where he got me. True, I can’t drag my entire sewing room on SEPTA and through the college campus. But I can keep my blog updated. But what was I going to put IN my blog?

Well, he solved that one for me, too. He remembered how much fun I had in the summer and fall, drafting vintage patterns for day dresses and then trying to sew them, and get them too look right. So, my goal has been set for me!

From now on, Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re going to be kept updated! (Because he’s making me do it, whether I want to or not…)

Oh. One more thing. To keep myself motivated, I apparently have to show you what I’m going to be tackling first. How hard could it be to mess up a kimono, anyway? 

 

Think Pink, A Better Way of Life! :)

All this lingerie sewing might have just gone to my head. I finished the Pin up bra I’d been working on, and then made a pair of cute little tap pants that matched. I wanted photos for my store, and since I’d made the bra and tap pants in my size, I thought “what the heck? I’ll model them!”

Am I a trained (or even self taught) model? No, I’m not. Do I have any understanding of modeling? Well, no… Not really. Am I even model proportions? Nope. Not even close.

But some times, A girl’s just got to say “screw it”, and be silly and have fun. As it is, some of the photos actually came out good enough for me to use in my shop!

Am I trading in my sewing machine and tailor’s chalk for the bright lights?

Nah.

But I got to admit- It was fun!

Photos by G. Dunn

Bra and tap pants are available here, as a set: Pin Up Lingerie Set

Bra available separately, Here: luxurious bombshell bra

The Pin Up Sew Along Project Pt. 2

Last week I put some serious effort into the bra project- I even went as far to time myself, to see how long it took me to make… I know. I know. I was a little bit obsessive… :$

Once I perfected my pattern and sewed half of the sample, I simply couldn’t wait to make the final glorious product!!
I used a decadent, reasonably priced polyester charmeuse. On the upper part of the bra, I did a lace overlay with one of the wider galloon laces from my huge stash.

Obviously, it’s an asymmetrical pattern, so I tooka good hour trying to figure out which way I wanted to lace pattern to go.

I eventually chose to cut it with the scalloped at the top, mainly because it created a pretty icicle effect.

The sewing was pretty straight forward. A little tedious, maybe. But with 8 cups of coffee and Katherine Hepburn movies, I managed to get the cups done in about and hour!!

Pretty, don’t you think?

Now I will admit that I made a mistake- I forgot to attach the back of the bra to the cups before I sewed in the lining… So I ended up sewing it like an insert , which didn’t work out as bad as it could have, but definitely not as good as I hoped. Live and learn.

Instead of using hooks to close the bra, I decided to do a ribbon loop button closure… And didn’t think to look for directions… Not too bad!!

I’m working on finishing up the bra this week for a little pin up photo shoot!! Stay tuned for my finished project and the next part of the sew along I’m working through!!

For more information on the Pin Up Sew Along, check out Anna’s blog : A Few Threads Loose
And Sarah’s blog: Ohhh Lulu

The Pin Up Sew Along pattern package can be purchased here: Ohhh La La Pin Up Sew Along

Or you can purchase the bra pattern I’m working with separately, here: 1950′s Pin Up Bra #2001

Sunshine & Cinnamon,
Mack