You might associate the McCall Pattern Company and its products with your pre-digital childhood (if you had a crafty mother) or even some hazy midcentury Before Times. But sewers will inform you that they’re very much still kicking, and they apparently love the Internet.
Vintage sewing patterns, like so much of fashion, often feature very strangely posed models engaged in inexplicable behaviors and interactions. Well, someone has finally collected a bunch of spectacular examples and slapped captions on 'em, speculating about what's really going on.
Or: Quick and Dirty Pattern-Draping for Fun and Profit! If you're even a neophyte home sewer, you've probably dreamed of making clothing from your own customized patterns. Commercial patterns are fantastic in many ways — the sheer variety always makes flipping through a pattern book (or browsing vintage reproductions…
Strapless dresses: is there any other garment that promises so much, but at such high risk? If you've owned or worn a strapless dress, you've probably spent at least one night pulling the damn thing up every couple of minutes. That's because most strapless dresses are too cheaply made to provide sufficient support to…
Scott Brown of Massachusetts is pretty much the GOP's greatest remaining hope for hip, modern ideas in a party increasingly characterized by dour, prude regressionism. A visionary new voice for a party that's unfortunately branded itself as a retro outfit that just wants women to get back to the kitchen. Yes, Scott…
One of the easiest things you can do to spruce up your living environment is re-covering a throw pillow or three. It's a great use for an eye-catching fabric-and-piping combination, because pillows are small and a busy print won't overwhelm a room. It takes no complicated sewing know-how — just a machine and an…
If you've never made a purse before, this just might be the purse for you. My last bag, the envelope clutch, was a great opportunity to explain the basics of leather working and bag construction. But that project had six major seams and nine minor ones. This bag, on the other hand, has two: the bottom and sides are…
I was raised in a temperate climate — New Zealand, to be precise — but it didn't take me long to grasp the absolute, primal importance of coats in much of North America. (Moving to Minnesota in January will teach you the value of a proper winter coat in, oh, about 15 seconds. Which is about the time it took the parts…
You know what I have too many of? T-shirts. There are t-shirts in my closet that I've had for years and never worn. Band t-shirts, random promotional t-shirts, fun-run t-shirts, hand-me-down t-shirts — whether scoop or V or crew, t-shirts basically go to my wardrobe to sit around in neatly folded piles, collecting…
Did you hear about the newest trend? It was invented in prehistoric times, and we've spent thousands of years developing technology so that we don't have to do it, but now urbanites are discovering it and so it's cool again! It's sewing!
I feel like this happens to me all the time: I'm browsing the racks at the SalvA, skipping past unfortunate housedresses and schmattas of little significance when I spy something astonishing. Something really gorgeous. And this something only costs a few bucks, and I simply must have it. Only problem is, it doesn't …
Okay, so your shorts don't have to be white. You could make them blue, red, yellow, teal, cerulean, seafoam, hyacinth, striped, spotted, dip-dyed, appliquéd with your home-made N*Sync fan art, or printed with a mosaic of stills from Rebecca Black's "Friday." Mine just happen to be white, because something about white…
It's summer, and while we're all sweltering in the 98° heat, our thoughts turn naturally to cooling, natural, beautiful, necessary water. The seaside. The local pool. The river. The nearest lake. And when you've had your swim and you get out and towel off, reveling in that unfamiliar feeling of our body parts not…
Having a custom dress form that matches your body shape is a boon to any home sewer. Especially any home sewer who'd like to more precisely alter commercial patterns, or venture into pattern-drafting and draping. The problem? Cash money.
To any home sewer and pattern-drafter, the appeal of a custom dress form is obvious. Commercial forms don't resemble the human body in the slightest: nobody I've ever met has that weird, smooth monoboob like on the Wolf forms, nor that cleft-less so-called "ass." Plus, those things are like $400 used. Adjustable…
Okay, so it doesn't have the gravitas of Mad Men. But nothing can else on TV can fill me with such unmitigated delight as On the Road with Austin and Santino. Here's why.
[Vienna, September 10. Image via Getty]
Quilter's Home has rocked the needlework world to its foundation with its exploration of adult themes in quilting. "Shocking Quilts: We Show You the Controversial Patchwork," says the (plastic-wrapped) cover! Hey, it's a recession!
I've always wanted to be the kind of woman who could sew her own clothes. It's a skill that combines practicality and creativity - always desirable - and, theoretically, is thrifty, too. What's more, how great would it be to be able to whip up a replica of the dress she wears in The 39 Steps, and when compliqueried,…
