pattern junkie

Last Day to Enter the Pattern Junkie Fabric Giveaway!

Don't forget!  Today is the last day to enter my fabric giveaway for a chance to win 3 yards of this 1980s pinstriped, neon-figured wonder!

To enter, leave a comment on this post by midnight PST tonight.  Good luck, my fellow junkies!

 

006: License to Nil

Vogue 1561, 1966

She backed against the faux bois wall, doing her best to affect a casual tone.  "Microfiche?!  I don't even know what that is!  How could I possibly steal it?"

They weren't buying it.  She could tell that.  Why oh why hadn't she listened more carefully to Q when he explained how to use the hidden compartment in her dress collar?  It wasn't fair. They'd never make James wear something that made him look like one of those stuffy American pilgrims at Thanksgiving.

Monday Morning Eye Candy: Ruffles Galore!

Oh, how I love the exuberant ruffles of McCall 8258:

Four rows of ruffles at the hem!  It looks like it would be so much fun to walk in -- you'd swish and rustle and make a grand entrance.  Let's not even get started on what it would be like to dance in it.

It's from 1935, but I can't be the only one reminded of this dress style that was so popular in the 1970s:

Web Junkie: April 25, 2011

Some fun web diversions for the weekend:

• Kathleen of Grosgrain is hosting a Free Pattern Month starting Monday!  Stop by daily to check out offerings from some fabulous blogs, including Big Dill, Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing, Colette Patterns and Elegant Musings!
• McCall's just released some new summer patterns.  I looked them over and...yawn. 
• Looking for solace after inserting a sleeve backwards or sewing the wrong pattern pieces together?  Check out CraftFail, the misery loves company blog devoted to craft projects gone oh-so-wrong.  My fave?  "Yarn Barf Slippers."
• I'm dangerously in love with a new site called Heartsy that's basically Groupon for handcrafted and vintage goods.  Sign up through this link and get $5 off your first purchase.  
• Speaking of Heartsy, through it I discovered a wonderful etsy shop, Jenna's Red Rhino.  I purchased a waist cincher to use as a wide, corseted belt and fell in love with it!  The workmanship is just gorgeous (and I'm very picky when it comes to handsewn items.)  I highly recommend the shop!

• Finally, don't forget about my fabric giveaway!  Enter by Wednesday to bring some 80s glory to your home.

Unfortunate Fashion Friday: Harem Perils

I'm afraid I have no words for Burda 8130:

Really.  I don't know what to say about a pair of pants that balloon around the hip and thigh, narrowing to hug your calves from the knees down.  And that are decorated with criss-crossing leg ribbons.

Sorry.  You guys are on your own on this one.

Pattern Junkie Raging 80s Fabric Giveaway!

As I wrote on Sunday, I'm on a mission to get control of my sewing room and bring my stash down to a manageable size.  Giving away some fabric to blog readers is an obvious way to get closer to that goal, right?

Here's the problem I've been struggling with: what exactly should I give away?  What fabric qualifies to be featured in such a glorious manner?

Perhaps you think it should be something useful.  The kind of fabric any seamstress would be happy to get.  Or maybe you think it should be a thing of beauty: a breakthaking length of cotton or silk that you can hardly bear to cut into.

To which I say: have you been reading this blog?

Drum roll!  Prepare to meet your destiny: three yards of 60" wide vintage 1980s fabric.  Words don't really do it justice, so here it is:

"Wait," you may be thinking.  "Those look like people, yet...their shoulders are so enormously large!  And what's with the teeny heads with sharp points?"

Yes, it demands a closer look.  Behold:

Yes!  Those are 80s dudes and Valley girls with new wave haircuts and "Stop Making Sense" shoulder pads!  They're dancing!  And skateboarding!  All in neon 80s colors!

To enter, simply leave a comment telling me what you'd make with this treasure.  Would you zig on the zagged line and embroider giant chains on it?  Would you offend 50s fashion lovers by making a winged wiggle dress?  Or would you embrace the 1980s in all their misguided glory and make this Dihann Carrol ruffled capri pantsuit?

Enter by midnight PST by Wednesday, April 27.  I'll pick the winner by random number.  Again, be sure to tell me what outlandish dream project you'd make with it (and if you'd like, email me a pattern photo.)  Don't worry -- I won't hold you to your promise to make hot pants or giant jackets, but those boppin' New Wavers just might...

 

Monday Morning Eye Candy: Delicious Draping

Put down that latté and take in the pretty that is Vogue S-4730:

The draping!  The bows!  The way the two women are just so, so elegant...while clearly ready to give anyone a piece of their mind if need be.

Personally, I don't think I have the build for a hip bow...but this pattern is almost enough to convince me to try.

Of Junkiedom and Discardia

Well hello, readers.  It's been a while, huh?

I've been going through a reassessment of sorts lately.  It started with my disaster of a sewing area.  Denise of The Blue Gardenia asked me months ago to be a part of her lovely "Sewing Spaces" series, and I tried to work up the nerve to let it all hang out and show my sewing space as it truly is.  I couldn't muster the courage, because that room is a PIT OF DESPAIR:

(And this, dear readers, is AFTER a little picking up.)

Is it a wonder that I hardly get any sewing done at all?  When I do carve out some time to sew, my process is something along the lines of 1) make room on cutting table and around sewing machine, 2) spend half an hour looking for essential implement, 3) reach end of sewing time.  Repeat process again in two weeks.

For a couple of years I was under the delusion that I could sew my way to freedom -- just bust through that stash, get it to a manageable size, and then organize.  Ha!  A backasswards approach if ever there was one.  See, I am a sucker for the deal -- the fabric store mystery bundle, the eBay lot, the thrift store score.  And so I've accumulated quite a bit of fabric that I never deliberately picked out.  Considering that in a good YEAR I sew four pieces, I have more fabric than I'll sew in a lifetime.  I have WAY too many patterns.  Sure, I'll always have a collection, but I literally have hundreds I'm not interested in.  The sewing room purge has begun (slowly), with the ultimate aim being to have a space I actually enjoy and use.

The website Discardia has really influenced a lot of my thinking about this.  There are a lot of "enjoy life more with less" websites out there, but Discardia was the first I had seen that acknowledged that an avalanche of information and ideas can be just as hard to deal with as a house full of stuff.  That in addition to focusing on keeping what you use/getting rid of what you don't, you should evaluate all that "stuff" in terms of what you want to be doing. 

I'm an information and internet junkie.  And just like Dinah of Discardia, I can go from just reading about someone's experience -- whether it be in sewing, travel, writing or something else -- to assuming that I need to do it, too.  Look, here's a blogger draping a pattern and drafting a skirt block -- why am i just using a plain old pattern?  I must make my own bias tape!  Take up knitting!  Make a bra from scratch!  And, dammit, I should write a book about it while I'm at it!

That's what makes some of the fabric so hard to let go of: the idea each piece represents.  How many times have I looked at a length of fabric and imagined the garment I would make -- and the person I would be in it?  But for me it's hit the point of too much.  I need to narrow my choices and get rid of the stuff that I'm not going to sew.  Life's too short for bad fabric!

But my loss is your gain -- yes, there's a fabric giveaway in the works!  Details later this week!