Mini bloomers… take two.

Alrighty… earlier this week I groused about the early sunsets cramping my picture taking style and I may have mentioned something about low light, home-made movies… just wait ‘till after the jump…

I made my second pair of bloomers – these ones are actually meant for me to wear! I altered the pattern a bit and sewed this version up in a knit (BTW… bloomers work well in knits, too!) The fabric is from the same Oliver + S line that I used for the pink ones… just yellow and stretchy!

I raised the waistband about 4” by slashing horizontally right above the hip notches and adding some wax paper (marked in pink below.) I also graded the pattern up horizontally by about 3” total by adding .75” to each pattern piece (marked in green below.) A note on the pattern sizing – my hips and waist are about 3” larger than the Colette size 18 measurements. BUT the pattern printed out a little on the small side – the test patch was 3.75 x 3.75”, not 4 x 4” like it should have been. So for anyone working through the pattern alterations in their head, I hope that’s helpful.

Mini-bloomers. Take one.

Here’s just a quick pic of some adorable mini-bloomers (the Colette ones. I swear, I’ll move on to a new pattern designer eventually…) I made these as a sample for the shop where I’m working. Aren’t they they cutest things you’ve ever seen?

omigoodness… the best giveaway ever at The Blue Gardenia

I seriously considered NOT posting this, in order to give myself a theoretical better chance of winning, but I decided in favor of doing the right thing. So here goes… Denise at the Blue Gardenia Learns to Sow Her Blossoms is doing a fantastic giveaway through next Friday. A gorgeous pattern (mmmm… view B for me!), four yards of lovely wool and some nice red lipstick and nail polish. Did I mention the cool 50’s pattern?

Head on over to join the giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment about why you like vintage patterns and if you’ve ever sewn one. That’s it. Head on over! May the best internet savvy contestant win (me! me!)

Yes, sencha…may I have another?

Another day, another shirt. Four more episodes of Buffy. Today, I present my first version of Colette’s Sencha! I wasn’t so sure about this shirt, thinking that it might not be the most flattering cut for me. I like the finished product, though, and will definitely add to the rotation (with a few tweaks, of course…) Without further ado, here’s the shirt, worn with a denim skirt, boots and cable-knit knee socks. Probably how I’ll wear it the most, although it looks cute with jeans, too!

A pinteresting new way to obsess over Anthro catalogs and silk charmeuse…

Mr. Bug and I brought our Subaru to the spa today in preparation for a two and a half hour drive through literal woods and real-life snow to get to Auntie Marilyn’s house for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Of course, Minneapolis is covered with dreamy Christmas-like snow that’s traveling north, so we’re not sure if we’re going anywhere. Perhaps we’ll be staying home, power-watching Buffy, which I missed the first time around and so far is much better than Twilight. Also, second episode, Buffy had a totally adorable dress (with a bow) on! Holy 90’s tv. Brings me back!

So. Here’s some eye candy in lieu of actual sewing work… who’s on Pinterest? Anyone? Anyone? It’s only the COOLEST THING SINCE iPODS!! For those of you who don’t know, Pinterest is a website sort of like Facebook, mostly like ripping pictures out of magazines and pinning them on the wall behind your sewing table. Once you get your account set up, you can set up as many ‘boards’ as you’d like, add the ‘pin it’ button to your toolbar, then when you see a cool picture on the web, you click the little ‘Pin It’ button to add the picture to your board. I’m still figuring out how to use mine, but here are some of my boards… click to see them a little bigger.

There’s ‘Dwelling’ – pictures of interior designy type stuff that I like…

Better late than never… a Mondo tribute outfit.

So folkses. I’ve actually had this sweater in my possession (unhemmed, of course) since a few days after the terrible event that I still can’t talk about without tearing up. Freaking amazon hipster stealing the win from Mondo, he of the kneesocks and tapdancing… It took me forever to finish the skirt (and hem the sweater.) So here’s a quick little unveling of my Mondo tribute outfit… First, me winning a staring contest with Lucy the hound.

Beignet–the fit so far…

I had high hopes of a more complete post, but not only is my Beignet not ready for primetime, but this ridiculous daylight savings time is ruining my picture-taking mojo. Get ready for eight months of blog photos that resemble home-baked sex tapes. All blurry and bad lighting. Or at least, that’s what I imagine them to be. Not that I’ve seen one.

I’m slaving away on my Beignet. See? I rhyme! The picture taking I’ve managed has been spotty. I started out with a straight grading up of the pattern. I needed to add 3” to the size 18 at the hips and waist in order to get to my measurements, so I added 3/8” to each pattern piece (4 pattern pieces X 3/8” = 1.5”, X 2 = 3”.) Here’s a photo of the graded up pattern pieces**, I marked in the leftmost pattern piece in red where I cut and added the wax paper…

**Eagle-eyes will spy that the two left pieces are clearly graded up a bit more than the two right pieces. That’s because this photo is of the SECOND round of alterations, post muslin #1…

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Elle, blogger at It’s a Sewing Life and owner of the Jenna Belle Designs Etsy shop where one can find adorable little clutches and handbags! With flowers! And buttons! And monograms! Check out her blog! Hopefully she’ll come back and show us her finished mystery Colette Pattern…

For everyone else, thanks for sharing your photos! And SPECIAL thanks to everyone who acknowledged my love of the platypuses, although I have to admit, I still have no idea what one looks like. Not one actual photo of a live platypus. C’mon people…

After the jump, links to finished Colette patterns that were left in the comments…

Utilitarian sewing. Grimace mittens. And ham radios.

More utilitarian sewing. Still playing catchup in Snug Bug-land! Last Saturday when I bundled up to head out into the snowstorm of the decade, I realized that my BASSET HOUND had systematically gnawed off various fingers from all of the (apparently delicious) toasty gloves in the house. So I made myself a nice, toasty pair of mittens (no fingers, possibly basset hound proof?) All wool and flannel and purple. They were dubbed the grimace mittens (remember Grimace, the furry purple hamburger lover and ham radio enthusiast from McDonalds ads??) by a friend. You can see why!

Don't let today slip away without visiting The Blue Gardenia! Last day to take advantage of the 20% offer!

Reminder: Head on over to Blue Gardenia and enter the code SB20 in the order box to get 20% off orders of $40 or more – this special offer for Snug Bug readers ends on today.

OK, you twisted my arm… a GIVEAWAY!!

Alright kittens! And chickens! And duck billed platypuses (dude! platypuses is in the SPELL CHECK!!). In honor of all the Colette love going on (in my head, in my sewing room, over at Gertie’s blog) I’ll do a giveaway. I’ll even do a wide open one…

Who can enter the giveaway.

Again, I’ll open this up all international style.

What you can win.

A Colette pattern. Any pattern of your choice.

 

When to enter.

Get your entry in by Friday, November 18th, 2010,  for a Saturday announcement! I know this is enough to make your head explode, dear fellow U.S.icans. Harry Potter and a free Colette pattern in the same day…

How to enter.

1. Follow this blog!

2. Leave a comment and tell us either what Colette patterns you’ve made (and what you think of them) or what Colette pattern you WANT to make! Extra (metaphysical) credit if you include a link to pictures (of the finished garment. Or duck billed platypuses.) Oh! And let us know if you’re going to do the sewalong with Gertie!

3. You MUST leave a comment to enter and include a way for me to contact you!!

That’s it. Share the Colette love. Ready… set…. GO!

Dream jobs… first stop Silicon Valley, next stop Portland. Sarai from Colette patterns on designing, writing, educating and inspiring.

Sigh. Our next woman with a dream job barely needs an introduction. I’ll try anyway. Sarai Mitnick is the founder of Colette Patterns, purveyor of perfect patterns, designer of dream dresses, vintage vixen of… oh, you get the picture. Join us as she shares a little of what it’s like running the coolest pattern company out there!

Describe Colette Patterns in a sentence!

Colette Patterns produces pretty and timeless sewing patterns with great instructions and beautiful packaging, sold through our website and independent fabric stores around the world.

How did you end up launching Colette?

Before launching the company, I worked in Silicon Valley.  I worked in the tech industry, but on the design/usability side of things.

I became a bit burned out on the tech industry.  I wanted to do something creative, and I also knew I wanted to work for myself doing something I felt passionately about.  For me, that was the craft of sewing.  I envisioned Colette Patterns as a way to fill a niche of stylish and well-presented sewing patterns, but also as a way to contribute to the preservation of the craft of home sewing.

Don’t forget to stock up on your Blue Gardenia goodies!!

Reminder: Head on over to Blue Gardenia and enter the code SB20 in the order box to get 20% off orders of $40 or more – this special offer for Snug Bug readers ends on Thursday, November 18th.

Utilitarian sewing. A tale of two laptops, a fast car and a pretty princess.

Back to sewing. Sort of. Part of what’s taken up my sewing time over the last week is the construction of cases for our new laptops. It was a fun project and allowed me to indulge in my affection for funky Japanese import fabric. Here’s the result. Can you guess which one is mine and which belongs to Mr. Bug?

[two snug laptops]

Spreading the love–join Andrea from The New Vintage Wardrobe in DIY December…

Hey all! Just wanted to pass this on! The lovely Andrea at the New Vintage Wardrobe is hosting a flickr group for another month of picture-snapping and agonizing in front of the closet! Like many of you, I found Self Stitched September a fun challenge – I did SSS ‘lite’, wearing one handmade item a day. I was sad when it ended and May felt like too long to wait for the next one, so I was PSYCHED to see that someone else felt the same way! Among other things, DIY December will help me bulk up my sadly lacking winter wardrobe.

For those of you who aren’t up on your memes… Zoe, she of the striped shirts, leopard coats and awesome other things, and writer of ‘So Zo…’, spent March of this year wearing handmade garments every day and documenting it on her blog. Everyone thought it was so awesome, it turned into a group thing  in May of this year with sixty-some people wearing handmade items, blogging about it and getting to know each other. In September, more than 150 people joined in Self-Stitched September (I was one of them!) For me it was an excellent experience, forcing me to stretch everyday by not throwing on the closest and comfiest thing, spending a few evenings madly sewing something to wear the next day, and (almost) faithfully taking photos every single day and posting them.

Head on over to Andrea’s blog and join up! It’ll be a good way to stay sane through the holiday season!

A new look, home for The Snug Bug. Also, a few project hints.

I’m back! Mr. Bug and I got new laptops (matching!) on Wednesday night, and the great computer migration not only was a much bigger project than I remembered from last time, but I was inspired to update the look of my blog and finally set up my new domain that I bought ages ago (don’t worry, the old link still works too.) Also, check out the view of our back yard from this morning! Holy snow batman!

Will you blog for me? The fitting workshop–fitting a pencil skirt on all those curves…

Hello kittens! Mr. Bug and I completely dorked out tonight and bought matching laptops. His was five years old and only stayed on if he held the cord in the exact right position. Mine sounded like a jet plane, was sans-CD drive and frequently shut off for no reason. And we can’t have a computer emergency on our hands,now, can we??

I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow (OK, maybe dark and later.) I’ve got pencil skirt fitting on the brain and the pattern pieces for beignet cut and altered. While I’m busy re-installing Photoshop and playing with my new toy, please chime in with any pencil-skirt fitting tips. I’ll compile, add my own and hopefully have a frightening photo of a table-cloth beignet muslin for you all tomorrow! Meow!

[photo from Damn Good Vintage]

Dream jobs… Blue Gardenia moves out to the country

Anyone in love with vintage fashion already knows all about Blue Gardenia – web destination for lovely patterns spanning the decades! And pretty much everyone who loves sewing is completely addicted to to the Sewing Spaces series over at The Blue Gardenia learns to sow her blossoms, blog-home of Denise, owner of Blue Gardenia. But! Did you know that Blue Gardenia has had a web presence since 1996?? Her WEBSITE spans decades! Here’s a story that’ll speak to anyone who’s thought of moving to (or, back to) a small town…

 

Tell us about your business…

Hubby and I have a website that sells vintage sewing patterns and costume jewelry.

[Is it just me, or does this pattern have a total Sencha vibe? Find it in the 30’s section on Blue Gardenia!]

Colette Crepe. Best dress pattern ever.

Well, at least this week! I finished my Crepe and am completely in love with it. Most exciting is that this is a straight-from-the box pattern – I did zero pattern alterations. I didn’t even drop the vertical dart point like I thought I would. I wanted to see how it went making the dress exactly as drafted. I probably will make a few changes for the next version, but I’m very, very happy with this version.

Jenny’s weird cousin, Bertha.

Anyone who avidly reads my blog posts and sporadic comments on other blogs will know that I have a reluctance to assemble my Burda Jenny pattern that borders on pathological (even with excellent suggestions of paper cutters!) So I did the laziest thing possible. I cut out the waistband from the Jenny pattern and made a a franken-Jenny out of the skirt portion of Vogue 8648 (my green wool dress). Not content with going against every single wardrobe recommendation ever printed, I decided my high-waisted pencil skirt would only do in a creamy white, super nubby mystery fabric. Behold!

Cinnamon and crepes.

Back to my guessing game… Laurwyn, Karen, LAP and Tanit-Isis all get gold stars. Tasia gets TWO stars. Crepe is definitely in my future! And possibly Cinnamon as well. And yes, I was SUPER excited to see Gertie announce her Crepe sewalong.

Muslin accomplished, looks sort of nice as a shirt, doesn’t it??
 

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Julie B for winning the adorable ham in the Cupcake Goddess giveaway! Once again, the giveaway winner has a completely cool blog that you should all go check out if you haven’t already!

Top three reasons this blog is awesome…

	She appears to be wearing a Jenny skirt in her blog header photo! How cool is that??
	She made a Jedi quiet book! I didn’t know what a quiet book was – but it’s so cool!
	Hats with bows! Hats with bows!!

Thanks again to Sunni for donating the ham and for giving us a glimpse into the life of an Etsy seller!

What’s a girl to do? A multiple choice quiz.

OK folks, this working four hours a day is seriously impeding my, you know, messing around and blogging time. I’m low on blog subject matter. I was leaning towards a pictorial retrospective of Lucy the hound’s 30 months of life, but instead decided to head down guessing game lane. This time with some help. Here’s the hint. What am I making?

Baby it’s cold outside. Sprucing up the dog-walking coat.

OK folks. Back to non-glamour sewing. It’s cold here. It’s cold for about 10 months of the year. I own three pairs of Uggs. I knit wool socks. Mr. Bug’s and my main fight is over whether 78 is too high to set the thermostat (I say nay.) Accordingly, walking the dog requires sportswear similar to that needed to climb mount Everest. Or so I imagine.

My winter dog-walking coat is a toasty, puffy, boring, $35 dollar LL Bean find. It’s black and white and reversible and filled with down. But it’s going on seven years old and dingy. I’ve looked for a new coat, similarly warm, lacking in excessive ties and not ruinously expensive. I found nothing. Nada. Apparently all down coats are only meant for fashion these days, not warmth. I gave up the search and decided to just make what I already have work – it’s still warm, just dingy. Behold what a half yard of organic cotton flannel and a nice sharp sewing needle got me… before on the left, after on the right. Yes, that’s a pile of wool batting laying on the floor behind me on the right. That’s how I roll.

 

Silk and toile and twirling. A new dress.

Happy first of November! Happy NaNoWriMO! Who’s doing it? C’mon, everyone ‘fess up. I’m doing it. Are you? I have 1,681 words done. That puts me 14 words ahead of goal. Yay me.

OK, down to business. I snuck a dress project ahead of Mr. Bug’s coat. This fabric was meant for my Lady Grey coat, but I realized at the last moment that I didn’t want to deal with pattern matching across a bunch of princess seams so I chickened out. Then I made a dress out of it. With princess seams. Silly me.