Today I’m grateful for, among other things: Beautiful weather in Lyon Having gotten a no-muss-no-fuss haircut for vacation dry and style in 3 minutes! Great traveling companions. Friends at home watching our house so we don’t have to worry. Today’s togs: K. Tilton top, M. Tilton pants, both from M. Tilton fabrics and Vogue patterns. Au revoir to Lyon. Bonjour to Dijon.
On the evening before wheels-up to France, I finished the tote bag to keep me sane on this trip! My friend and fellow fiberphile, Mary Lou Alexander, recently destashed and transferred some goodies she no longer needed to my stash. I wanted a new bag for this trip and started digging into her upholstery fabric remnants. Voila! (as they say in France). Marcy Tilton has designed a number of great handbag patterns for Vogue, but Vogue 8590 fit my needs. My small travel purse doesn’t carry enough things to get me through a long plane trip, so I always like … Continue reading
In preparation for our upcoming vacation in France, my recent sewing frenzy has been totally focused on moi. But, ever the devoted Grandma, I saw a cute new McCall’s pattern and decided DGD needed a new dress for her upcoming end-of-year festivities. Ridley will be 10 in a few weeks, but she got her height genes from her mother’s side of the family. She’s probably about 5’4″ and wears a girls’ 14 (although there are items in her closet in Misses Small). I did not ask her mother to measure her before cutting out the pattern–oops. I looked at RTW … Continue reading
Hot off the sewing machine today is another pair of Marcy Tilton’s Vogue 8859. My first attempt occurred last week. Today’s version proves one can improve upon success. I wore the gray slacks two or three times last week to test them out. Each time, I found myself pulling and tugging at the waist and hiking the pants up. The more I thought about it, the more I realized they were too big. I purchased another piece of fabric from MarcyTilton.com, this time a cotton/poly/lycra blend from Theory. Marcy calls it Cocoa Canyon Stretch Woven. This has a sateen finish … Continue reading
After writing about my feeling of exposure given the length of the front “ruffles” on Katherine Tilton’s Vogue 8691, I went back to my sewing table and gathered up all my scraps. Alas, there was not enough fabric to cut new, longer panels. So I pulled out the pattern piece for the two front panels and cut a second panel to be attached to the bottom of the first panel. The piece started at the bottom edge of the front panel, extending down 2″ and up 1″—a total height, if you will, of 3″, with the bottom of the first … Continue reading
Here’s the top I finished yesterday. It’s another Katherine Tilton top, Vogue 8691. I snapped a quick pic to send to Jas at work before I left to attend a performance of Mahler Symphony #2. As I was walking from the car to Stambaugh Auditorium, I realized I felt a tad exposed. I wasn’t comfortable with how short the front was. No, you can’t see my crotch, but it feels like you can. That just won’t do. This morning I tried it on with my EF black slim washable stretch crepe pants, and didn’t like the look. That was going … Continue reading
You’ve seen two versions of this pattern so far (1, 2). Those were all View C/D of Katherine Tilton’s Vogue 8817. While I was in Santa Barbara for Design Outside the Lines, I saw two women wearing tops out of View B. It was very flattering on them, and I wanted to try it for myself. I had seen a gorgeous stretch rayon/lycra knit on the Emma One Sock site. The print is a mix of large abstract and small marbelized pools. Just gorgeous! The colors called my name. When the fabric arrived a few days later, I almost purred … Continue reading
I spend Tuesday and Thursday mornings in the pool at the JCC Fitness Center around the corner from my house. First I take the class that’s designed for arthritis sufferers, then I stay afterwards for an hour of water volleyball and laughter. This is a volleyball game unlike any other. There are three beachballs in play at all times, and every so often someone will call out, “What’s the score?” Someone will shout back, “87 to 13”, or some other random set of numbers. We have great fun, and we get darned good exercise. I don my swimsuit with shorts … Continue reading