Later this year my husband and I are going to Italy for a vacation. This vacation is partly to attend Milan Frocktails, a sewing gala, and partly to visit Florence and Onano, the city of my Italian husband’s family. The idea of Italy and fashion has without a doubt had ...

Last year I became fascinated with some fashion related concepts which have completely framed my entire fashion strategy going forward. I need to do an entire post about this one day, but in summery, I had a professional seasonal color analysis done, and I found out my Kibbe body type ...

I enjoyed making the V2000 DVF wrap dress pattern so much that I made another one as soon as I finished my purple lipstick print one. This one is quite the 1970’s retro dress! This time I used a very 70’s inspired geometric print, again from Spoonflower in the organic ...

Finding the Perfect Vintage PatternI was delighted with finding my perfect dress sewing pattern for the Dressmaker’s Ball, a vintage Butterick 7943 (circa 1956). I discovered this sewing pattern among the many piles and piles of vintage patterns at Vint’illage in Bowling Green, Ohio. After I decided that a Rococo ...

About a week ago, I had the pleasure of a long, unexpected layover in NYC. I wrote a post about my visit to Mood Fabrics of “Project Runway” fame, and how I shopped for the perfect boiled wool, and leopard print fabric for a future sewing project. The plan ...

I had the most thrilling and enjoyable layover today! In a twist of luck, Crew Scheduling reassigned our crew for a 40 hour layover in NYC. I felt like I won a vacation! I had an entire day in NYC to do just as I please in my introverted, exploratory ...

Charles James Dresses I follow a variety of seamstresses on Instagram, and through this sewing community I heard about a British event called The Dressmaker’s Ball. It certainly sparked the curiosity of this feminine, dress-wearing, vintage-fashion-loving seamstress! I started to see mention of a ball planned for this year (2023), ...

When we booked a Christmastime voyage on the Cunard Queen Victoria, I decided I wanted to sew a festive dress for the occasion. I had purchased 1940’s vintage Simplicity R11333 earlier in the year and it was perfect for my project. The antique-looking poinsettia cotton caught my eye at Joann ...

The first time I went to Europe was by ocean liner, upon the Cunard Queen Mary 2. This happened to be the Fashion Week crossing, and I had the most enjoyable experience (i.e. getting to meet shoe designer Stewart Weitzman, and much more – here is a post about ...

I enjoy sewing Simplicity pattern 1426, which is a vintage crop top reproduction pattern. This is the same pattern I used for my Miss Rockabillaque outfit, and I also made a quick crop top using this pattern when I had some left over red and white gingham.After a few ...