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Sewing the Hepburn Top

If you’ve been around here a while you know that I love novelty print skirts, be they vintage or modern. A novelty skirt and a slightly dressed up tee shirt is my go-to casual look. Unfortunately, it’s rather difficult to find a good slightly dressed up tee. I’ve experimented with sewing my own before, but…

Lamour Again

Greetings! I swear I haven’t just been making Lamour dresses this summer, even if that’s what it looks like on the blog. I actually finished a much simpler dress between my last Lamour and this one, but I haven’t managed to get good photos of it yet, so (naturally) I can’t share it until I…

Jellyfish Love

Greetings! I’m still up to my neck in home improvement (we have 2 more floors to do this weekend) but I figured I could take a little break and show you one of my favorite new makes. After much waffling and procrastinating, I finally decided to turn the 4 yards of jellyfish fabric (Sea Bloom…

Disneyland: The Peter Pan Dress

For Valentine’s Day, my husband and I decided to reprise our honeymoon trip and get the heck out of snowy icy Massachusetts for a week . Our itinerary was simple: spend some time with friends and family, go hiking, and spend a few days at the Happiest Place on Earth. disneylandoutfitsewingsimplicity 2880simplicity 3773springvacation

Christmas Cardinals

Whoooo…  I… started this post, and then I got distracted, and now I’m finally publishing it.  Better late than never, right? And as far as I’m concerned, cardinals are seasonal at least into February… Because I cannot resist a theme or a last-minute project, I decided on the 23rd that I totally had enough time to make a new dress for Christmas. I found this cardinal print cotton by Cotton + Steel in the fabric store in the morning, and by the evening I’d managed…

Chocolate Mint

It’s no secret that one of my favorite flavor combinations is chocolate and mint.  When my husband’s cousins were in town to visit, they invited us go with them to the locally famous Langham’s Chocolate Buffet, and I knew I had to come up with an appropriately chocolate-themed ensemble. 1940sfalllifemake do and mendsewingwinter

The Dressmaking Retreat: What I Made Afterwards

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a second dress started before the end of the dressmaking retreat I attended in Beacon, NY last month.  With my first dress successfully finished, I decided to pick up Gretchen’s new Night and Day dress pattern (conveniently stocked in the shop we were in!) and give it…

The Dressmaking Retreat: What I Made

Earlier in the summer on a whim I decided it would be a great idea to sign up for one of the Beacon Dressmaking Retreats led by Gretchen Hirsch of Gertie’s New Blog For Better Sewing and various pattern and book publication fame.  The location for the class is only a few hours’ drive from my…

The Roaring Twenties Lawn Party

On Friday morning, I (aided and abetted by my husband) made a very last minute decision to attend the Roaring Twenties Lawn Party at the Crane Estate. There was just one problem – I generally dress in 40s and 50s styles and had nothing to wear. My husband picked up the tickets online, and I…

Armpit Gussets

Continuing our non-chronological trek through my photo backlog, today’s outfit features a bit of a mending trick. You see, I bought this dress from FabGabs when she was having a bit of a clearance sale and although the dress fit like a glove, there was no way that my arms were going to fit in…