Here's a relatively unusual post from me today! I have a makeup tip. It's something I found so profoundly changed my perception of an area on my face that was bugging me, that I had to share. So today's post is an ode to MAC Browset! Not a sponsored review or anything, just a girl who fell in love with a new product she bought. ;) This is for those faux redheads out there who, like me, have naturally dark and ... Read more »
My Bettine hack tutorial at Sew Your Hart Out (and more of my new dress here)
Hello everyone! Today I have something really fun to share! I collaborated with Harts Fabric, an independent brick and mortar as well as online fabric store. Each September they have a full month called "Sew Your Hart Out September" in conjunction with National Sewing Month, to promote sewing. It's full of contests, tutorials, blog posts and such. This year they've expanded it considerably, with lots of great sponsors, ... Read more »
The full inside story: my Shaheen-inspired sarong dress
Hello everyone! I bring you this post while I'm off on a long weekend trip! You saw The Dress last week. In case you missed The Dress (I feel like I have to use all Title Case here since so much went into the damn thing), let me catch you up: it's a strapless sarong dress that I sewed, in collaboration with WAWAK Sewing Supplies. They provided most of the inner supplies, I bought the fabric and pattern to the party, ... Read more »
First glance at my Shaheen-inspired sarong dress (a collaboration with WAWAK)
In the battle between a formidable adversary of a pattern and me, who was the victor? That would be ME! (Whoops! Sorry you'll see the tripod in the mirror in some of these! The stars didn't align to take photos outside) But let's backup a bit! Because I'm not quite here today to tell you all about this dress exactly. Don't worry, you'll get that soon though! Here's the story. I've been wanting to sew up the above ... Read more »
A redhead again and LOVING it!
Well my friends, my mom was right. (As moms usually are!) Once you're a redhead, and you then stop being a redhead, you'll probably never stop actually thinking about being a redhead again someday. And so someday is today! Ahhhhhh. That feels SO good!!! I had my hair dyed red by my stylist a little over a year ago. And I absolutely adored it, for 4 or 5 months. But for a variety of reasons I went back to ... Read more »
A Vintage Pledge refashion and a pair of shorts
Have you been following along this August with Portia's fantastic Refashioners series over at makery.uk?? I hope you have! She's rounded up sewists to take part in this year's Refashioners challenge the entire month. I'm so honored to be a part of the Refashioners again! Today, you can see my full refashion post on her blog. The theme is "Get Shirty", so we were all given a man's shirt to start off with for our ... Read more »
Building an outfit with safety pins, castles, and a coral top
I am so, so behind on things to blog about this summer. Hell, this year, even! Things I've sewn, places we've been. I don't think I'll ever catch up. So instead of catching up, how about just an outfit from last week? This was just a typical summer outfit that I wore last weekend, and Mel graciously snapped a few photos before we set off for the day. We didn't do anything special—far from it. A bit of antiquing, ... Read more »
Brumby skirt, now with extra sailboats
I was flattered awhile back when Megan Neilsen asked if I'd like to try out her Brumby skirt pattern. She was right on the mark in thinking I'd like it—Brumby is totally up my alley. source: Brumby Skirt by Megan Nielsen Out of the envelope, perhaps it wouldn't necessarily scream "me", but if I can look past modern styling and see a bit of a vintage twist, then I'm in. So a gathered skirt and big ol' pockets? Not much ... Read more »
Vintage Shetland blog tour stop (help the project, pre-order the book & more!!)
There are a lot of things I love in this world. Knitting is one of them. Vintage is another. History, yet another. When all of these things come together, it's magical. Such is the case with Susan Crawford's latest project and upcoming book. It's called The Vintage Shetland Project. If you're a fan of vintage knitting, then you know Susan Crawford. She's a renowned vintage knitwear designer and one of my knitting ... Read more »
A new vintage fashion staple with Emmy Design’s señorita top
Recently I had the pleasure of being contacted by Emmy Design, a small Swedish retro clothing company, to work with them on a review of something from their Spring/Summer 2015 collection. They make truly beautiful and quality items that fit in wonderfully into a vintage wardrobe, and I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with them! I love that Emmy Design's focus is on quality wardrobe pieces ... Read more »
Rock n’ roll Ginger jeans
I'm so happy to say I've tackled the ultimate wardrobe staple: jeans! Yep, my Ginger jeans are finished. And honestly, they might be my favorite thing I've sewn. I LOVE THEM. All caps kinda love. Actually there's a lot of all caps in the next couple of paragraphs, I'm that excited! :) They're not mistake-free, nor a completely perfect fit (is anything ever?). And I've done tailoring, and sewn jackets, but ... Read more »
Ginger jeans progress report
I thought I'd do a little progress report on how my Ginger jeans are going! Okay, actually a long one. Mainly for those of you who, like me, haven't sewn jeans before, or maybe you're scared to, or on the fence, or perplexed about the idea in general. Or otherwise just want to read some boring sewing nitty gritty about jeans. There's a lot of "these are awesome!" finished posts out there but I thought I'd give you a ... Read more »
Wait, sewing jeans?
Hello everyone! I'm back from our trip and once I have photos all organized, I'll be regaling you with a few tales of waterfalls and remote Midwestern lands and such. :) But in the meantime, I thought I'd share what's on my sewing table! You already know my current knitting project, which saw a lot of progress while we were gone. I'm going to sew the Ginger jeans pattern! Me a year or two ago would never have believed ... Read more »
Forlorn and forgotten
I have a habit with knitting sometimes, and it's a habit that does not cross over in the slightest to sewing. I temporarily abandon projects. Maybe for a month, sometimes 6 months, sometimes 2 years or more. It happens for lots of reasons. Generally speaking, I'm a fast knitter. But sometimes my mind is racing faster than my needles, and off to a new fancy project before I finish what was the new fancy project 2 ... Read more »
Why I love (but am not doing) Me Made May, AKA it’s a Me Made Life
Happy Friday, my friends! I got up early before work to take some quick photos to talk about something that's been on my mind this month. You get lip balm, an un-ironed dress and possibly unbrushed teeth. Aren't you lucky. ;) As we near the mid-point of May, I thought I might spend a few minutes explaining why I'm not participating in Me Made May 2015, because you might expect me to. And the best way to sum it up ... Read more »
A very basic 1950s sleeveless top
I have my next Vintage Pledge item of the year to share! I believe I pledged to sew 5 things from vintage patterns, which I figured would be easy for me, since I sew with vintage patterns quite a lot in general. Though I haven't been sewing as much this year, so it's taken until May to hit #2 and #3. Soon you'll see my second item, a wrap dress, as soon as I finish up the jewelry that'll go along with it. In the meantime, ... Read more »