Bringing it all together?

Dear readers,

One of the issues of blogging only sporadically is to remember to give some contexts to whatever I’m about to say. Over the last few months, I have mentally wrote several posts so I feel like you are up to date with my train of thoughts when in fact, not at all! So let’s recap a little.

Since moving back to Haiti exactly a year ago, I  have moved from one challenging and time-consuming job to another  even more challenging and time-consuming one. Who would have thought that was possible?? But possible it was, and this is the situation now… In parallel, I also found that if I thought that being the single working mom of an infant was not an easy job, being the single working mom of a toddler is a completely different game. Basically, I have two very tiring jobs….

So where has my sewing time gone? Well, it’s not entirely gone, the proof is that today I’m including in this post pictures of two of my personal samples for Just Patterns, the Kate Bias Top and the Yasmeen skirt. But my personal sewing time has also been diverted by the attempts to keep Just Patterns (barely) alive. I haven’t been able to do much more than responding to customer requests and some occasion Instagram posting so that people know that we are still active. I’m disappointed because I had basically two patterns to release since the beginning of the year, but it has not been possible and I don’t see how it will become easier in the coming months.

Pattern

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Pattern Link  – Just Patterns Yasmeen Skirt and Kate Bias Top
Size – 34

Amazingly, the patterns have continued to sell! Compared to last year, we did very little marketing effort, released no new pattern and yet we are on track to sell more patterns… This makes me so happy and proud. It also makes me realize the this little pattern project means a lot to me than I initially thought. I regularly day dreams of running away from my job. I can’t help but think that if I dedicated more time and effort to it, it could turn into something else. My job is stimulating and rewarding but it is also extremely stressful and it has me outside of the house/away from my daughter 12 hours per day. I’m definitely not ready to quit and start living the sewing life, but there are days when the temptation is real…

In the mean time, I need to re-assess how I commit my time and my energy. I’m starting to realize that the idea of maintaining two blogs, one here and one for Just Patterns is completely unrealistic. I don’t have time to produce enough content and I never got used to the more neutral tone for Just Patterns. The way I write on this blog feels much more like me. There are also other considerations, such as never really liking the interface of the Just Patterns site or the name of my own blog “Sewing Tidbits”. When we launched Just Patterns, I just used a standard wordpress website, which doesn’t allow us to host a proper e-shop. It was fine then but now it looks a bit sad.

Making

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Fabric – Raspberry silk from stash (bought years ago in the NY garment district) and blush linen twill from Mood Fabrics in NY.
Notions – Invisible zip and grosgrain waistband from stash

So I have been thinking about creating a new site for Just Patterns and moving my blog there too. That way I would only maintain one blog, with my rea “voice” but also the tutorials we do occasionally for Just Patterns… I still have a few technical and time management concerns, but mostly what I would like to hear is your opinion. Since Eira and I launched this project, I have tried to be as transparent as possible with you and listened to what readers and customers had to say. So I thought I would ask you, would it be weird to have it Sewing Tidbits and Just Patterns under one virtual roof?

On my 2017 sewing year and why I don’t plan a #2018Makenine…

Dear readers,

It has only been a week since I last posted here, so this should give you an idea of how much I am boiling inside, waiting for my sewing machines! This year I sewed 23 items, which is a pretty good output for me:

• 17 garments for myself. I’m happy with that number. I try to keep my wardrobe a manageable size and it wouldn’t make sense for me to aim for more. The big lesson here is that I probably shouldn’t buy sewing patterns anymore… This year, 9 garments were from patterns we released under Just Patterns, 4 were self-drafted, 1 was Burda, 2 from Indie designers (both free) and 1 is an mash-up of indie/Big4/self-drafting.

• 3 items for the little human: a spring coat, a white special occasion dress and a summer hat. I’m terrible at documenting baby sewing outside of Instagram. Actually, let me rephrase: I’m terrible at baby sewing. I find it really difficult to find  clothes that would be 1/comfortable for Little Tidbits, 2/ are interesting to make and 3/ not too time-consuming because she outgrows them so fast.  Or maybe I’m just a  Selfish Seamstress (TM) and that even motherhood could not change that!
• 1 Just Patterns sample in our fit model size (to be released next month).
• 1 fabric basket to gather toys from Sanae’s lovely book: Sew Happiness. I very rarely do home sewing, but this was quick and it looks pretty!
• 1 unusual item, I made a sample for a friend who runs a gender queer underwear business. She showed me a picture of a lapel to accessorize her line and I made the first sample. You can see it on the Play-Out website!

For the sake of accountability, here are the garments I included in my #2017MakeNine post. I sewed 4 out of the 9 garments below:

2 Blazers

I did finish the white Blazer (it’s the pattern mash-up mentioned above). I haven’t managed to blog about it but I have a few pictures I used for Instagram. The Balmain blazer on the other hand saw no progress. It’s in a box and well advanced. I hope to complete it in 2018.

3 Skirts

I made 2 out of 3. The white pencil skirt was my submission for the first round of the Pattern Review Sewing Bee Contest. I also finally got around sewing a Stella Jean inspired skirt from one of the pieces of African wax I have in stash since leaving in Zambia. This one is un-blogged, but you may have seen it on Instagram. I sewed 3 more skirts but not the one included in the Makenine.

Self Drafted White Pencil Skirt

2 Dresses

I did sew my own sample of the Linda wrap dress. Actually I sewed 2 more variations. One sleeveless I posted on Instagram and one for Sew News that I will show you next year. I wasn’t sure about the Capital Chic sheath when I made my plan and I didn’t get even close to sewing it.

2 Tops

I sewed 4 tops  and 2 Tshirts this year, but nothing I had mentioned in the 2017Makenine. Oops…

What are the lessons for 2018?

In my last post, I did mention that my realization that I wouldn’t be able to document all my sewing in blog posts but when I counted how many garments I blogged vs sewed, I realized that out of the 17 handmade garments for myself, I only blogged 5. That’s really low in my opinion. Even if 5 of the 12 un-blogged items are samples for Sew News that I  cannot blog them before the issue they are featured gets published, that still leaves 7 garments that could have made it to the blog.  I will try to post some of them in 2018 and I hope it won’t bother you. Let’s just pretend that I’m super professional and I plan my content in advance!

I will not be making a #2018Makenine plan for several reasons. First, i don’t think that the #2017Makenine helped me focus my sewing. I sewed what I already knew I would make and, unsurprisingly, didn’t sew the ones I wasn’t sure about. Just for the sake of making a plan, I tend to include clothes that I’m not 200% excited about. There is no value in doing that. Secondly, in my experience, when moving to a different country, it takes some time to reevaluate what you need and want to wear. So I’m going to take some time thinking and maybe doing some planning. Just like everyone else in the sewing world, I’ve been reading the Curated Closet, and I also did a round of the 10×10 Challenge (you can read about it here and I’ll post more in details about it later). I want explore the intersection personal style and a handmade wardrobe and I will try to document the process.

In order to plan be more mindful of what I sew and what I wear, I need to be realistic about my average sewing productivity. For 2018, my assumption is that I’ll sew between 15 and 20 garments for myself. 6 technically already decided on since I have a commitment with Sew News for 3 samples and we have already made plans for 3 pattern releases with Just Patterns. Ideally, everything I make this year will bring cohesion to my closet and contribute to a decrease in my fabric stash!

I’ll be back soon with my thoughts on a year of selling PDF sewing patterns but in the mean time I would love to hear your thoughts about wardrobe planning and sewing plans! Did you manage to follow-up on your 2017 plans? Are you taking part in the  #2018MakeNine? Happy new year!

A move, exciting news and what to expect around here in 2018…

Dear readers,

 

The last quarter of the year just seem to have been on fast-forward. Life has been busy at Tidbits HQ.  The main reason behind my silence is that I traveled to France for holidays (Yes, I saw the Dior exhibit. Yes, it is absolutely amazing!!), came back to New York and was then learned that I would be moving back to Haiti (on Thanksgiving weekend…) less than 2 months later. A Things were hectic. I had break my lease, sell all my furniture in New York, organize the shipment of the rest of my belongings (aka the sewing room), find a place to leave in Haiti and start my new job! I’m going to miss my friends, the Garment District, my nice apartment and the City in general, but I’m also really glad to be back. Haiti is a beautiful country and I managed to avoid the freezing New York winter!

The Paris Christian Dior Exhibit I visited in September

As things are finally starting to slow down, I started writing this post 3 weeks ago. I initially thought that I could write some more before the end of the year, but that quickly became unrealistic. So I figured that I may as well make it an end of the year kind of post. Currently, my sewing room is in a container somewhere in the port of Port-au-Prince and I’m trying to arrange for customs clearance and delivery, right between Christmas and New Year. This is going to be fun… But in the mean time, I am completely restless! Without sewing to keep myself busy once the little human is asleep, I just don’t know what to do with myself.

I’m particularly impatient because several deadlines coming up. Last summer, I started contributing to the print magazine Sew News! I always wanted to write more formally about sewing. I even have a secret-not-so-secret dream of writing a real book one day, which is a bit weird, considering how long it took me to be comfortable writing this blog! My book fantasy is a topic for another day, but I figured that writing articles for a print publication would be good practice and a fun thing to do. So when I heard this episode of the While She Naps podcast, I decided to be brave and I sent Sew News an email pitching some article ideas and asking to be added to their contributor calls. I was so surprised and thrilled when Amanda, the Editor of Sew News, not only expressed interest in some ideas, but also mentioned that she was already following me on Instagram! After some back and forth, we firmed up on 2 submissions, for which I have sent back my texts already (one of them included  samples and there were some mad sewing nights). I’m now working on 3 more articles with a sample each. I can hardly believe it…I managed to take some in-progress pictures like the 2 above. I’ll share more details once they are published! I think the first piece will be in the March/April issue and I CANNOT WAIT!!

Just Patterns – Yasmeen Skirt

Pushing myself to be more involved in the sewing community was one of my motivations when I started Just Patterns with Eira this year, and it’s one of the most rewarding aspects of running an independent pattern activity. Since releasing the first pattern back in January, there has been so many great interactions with sewists and fellow bloggers. Talking about Just Patterns, we just released our fifth pattern, the Yasmeen Skirt. It’s one of the garments hanging in Eira’s closet and that made me repeatedly beg her to start the pattern business with me so I’m particularly happy about this release! I sewed my own sample of the skirt in a blush color linen and hemmed it to wear with flat sandals for a casual/resort vibe which I think will work well for me here. Unfortunately it’s in my shipment, so I can’t show more than the picture below with Eira adjusting my sample on me! We have already mapped out our next 3-4 pattern releases, so Just Patterns will continue in 2018, despite us no longer being in the same country.

On the blog side, I am coming to terms with the fact that I probably won’t be able to post to post everything that I sew, even if my productivity is not that great. And maybe it’s not a bad thing. I’m realizing that I enjoy more discussing with you what is going on in the sewing community and how we feel about our handmade garments rather than what I sewed. I’m not saying that there won’t be finished garment posts anymore, because otherwise the blog would feel like an empty shell. But, maybe it’s just a matter of acknowledging that it hasn’t been about the clothes for a while now!

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A post shared by Maria Martimo (@maria_martimo)

It  also helped me figuring out how I want to structure content between the blog and my Instagram account. I fell in love with Maria Martimo’s Instagram Account (as well as with her impeccable sewing, and taste!). She sticks to the same structure for every project: a picture of fabric/notions introducing the next project, some construction pictures and a couple of pictures of the final garment. I decided to  shamelessly copy her strategy for the below Stephanie Skirt I sewed recently (with a gorgeous wool/cashmere coating from Mood!) and the verdict is: I loved it. It brings cohesion to my feed, and gives me the opportunity to discuss sewing techniques. I’ll try to post in that format from now on until, you know, I change my mind again…

Just Patterns Grey Wool Stephanie Skirt (Unblogged)

Sometimes, I feel like every other post here has me questioning the very fact of writing a sewing blog. And yet, Tidbits just celebrated its 5th anniversary. This is quite incredible to me considering my bad record at any documentation habit. I never thought that I would actually make it that long, so I spent  time reflecting on why I managed to keep the blog running and I think I have the answer: it’s you! No matter how much time past in between 2 posts, you were always around to welcome me back and engage, so I want to say a huge thank you!

I hope you are all having a peaceful end of year and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about what 2018 has in store for the sewing world!

Thrifted Inspiration: Chanel

Dear readers,

 

I’m not much of a shopper and I feel like my appetite for the RTW I can afford is decreasing everyday. However, if there is one thing I cannot resist, it’s designer labels at the thrift store. Especially the French luxury Ready-to-Wear pieces. I have such an admiration for those brands that the idea of owning a little piece of it is just too tempting. I thought I may share my occasional weakness with you!

I found this Chanel silk shell at Beacon’s Closet in Manhattan for about 50$ if I remember correctly. The color is a very trendy “millennial pink”. Based on a quick internet search I would think it’s only from the late 90’s, but this garment has had a rough life. It has a tiny hole and some discoloration. It’s still wearable but definitely not in “mint condition”.

The shape is very simple, semi-fitted, no darts, hip length with a placket opening at Center Back (and the original button, yay!!). It’s a size 36 (french sizing) and although it’s a bit big on me I will be able to wear it. The fit in the bust is very nice and the armholes/neckline do not gape at all.

In terms of construction, the armholes and neckline are finished with a .5cm/1/4″ bias binding. The remarkable feature for me are the teeny tiny flat felled side seams, no more than 1/8″. I tried to replicate them on my machine but I can’t say I was very successful, as  evidenced below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ8wvA6BeEE/?hl=en&taken-by=sewingtidbits

Another notable point is the shoulder seam with a fused seam allowances, then stitched, pressed towards the back bodice and overlocked. One of my favorite features is the lingerie strap guard. I usually don’t make the effort of sewing some on in my handmade garments and I think I should! The buttonhole is very fine. I don’t think there is a way for me to achieve this quality. My home machine produces ok-buttonholes for things like cotton shirts and little human garments but I think it would ruin the look a delicate garment like this one…

This kind of pieces really inspire my sewing, as I love the idea of putting a lot of effort in garments that you can wear any day of the week. And in case you want to re-create a vintage Chanel silk shell at home, watch what will happen at Just Patterns (hint hint)… I hope you enjoyed looking at the details of this simple top. Chanel has a special place in my personal fashion Pantheon ( and I would love to hear which are the brands that keep inspiring you?

A project 17 years in the making…

Dear Readers,

I remember vividly why I started sewing and I bet you do too. In my case, I was 14, I had my mind set on a particular dress I saw at the mall for the holiday season and I had no money to buy it. It’s was a bustier dress with a floor length a line skirt. The fabric was a cheap purple woven with some stretch and a tulle overlay. One of my friends was fortunate enough to own it, so I borrowed it and decide to recreate it. I went to “Marché Saint Pierre” in Paris, bought inappropriate fabric and a plastic zipper. I went home and got to work. No pattern, no tutorial, nothing… Unsurprisingly, I ended up with a big mess. But I took it to a professional seamstress, aka my grandmother, who was very encouraging and ended up saving the day.

Just Patterns – Bias Slip Dress

With time sewing has become something more than just owning clothes I couldn’t buy, I learned to enjoy the process of making and recognized it is an essential part of my inner balance. But why I sew has never really changed, it has always been about making the clothes I couldn’t afford or find. The clothes that I find appealing today are not the same but I still can’t buy them… Setting high-end RTW as my standard is a sure way to get frustrated. With some exceptions, there are no patterns, books, or YouTube videos teaching you how to make what is for sale in Galeries Lafayette or on Net-a-porter. I bought all the books, trying to teach myself pattern making. I took drafting and draping classes at FIT. I even took a CAD pattern making class.

Getting the fit and the silhouette right is a time consuming affair. And even more time consuming than drafting a shell/sloper/block is adding everything else, the pockets, the closure, the collar, etc. All the little elements that make or break a design. As you witnessed if you have been following this blog for some time, I kept going back and forth between making my own patterns, hacking existing ones and sewing garments straight out of the envelope.

Just Patterns – Linda Wrap Dress

In addition, sewing patterns are only one side of the equation. Construction is the other side, and home sewing has its own set of rules. Some of those rules are linked to the home sewing machines, some are from past practices and some are adapted from “industry” or from “couture”, etc. What they have in common is they are not equivalent in terms of the results they provide. For instance, like many others, I find that sewing with smaller seam allowances is more accurate and reduces the need for trimming/notching, etc. But, because home sewing is somewhat codified, many pattern companies still release patterns with 5/8″ seam allowances. Yet in some cases, for instance when your fabric frays a lot, wider SAs may be a good idea. Let’s just say: it’s complicated…

How much the sewing world has changed in the last 5-10 years is something that I recognize and I write about regularly here. But I still feel that there is more to be brought to the table, and I’m going to assume that there may be others like me. Or rather, I’m going to test if others feel like me! While on maternity leave, I was obviously not seeing things clearly and I decided it was the perfect time (??!!) to release sewing patterns… I convinced Eira (from the The Pattern Line) to follow me in my madness, and we used her existing pattern library to choose five patterns. They were digitized and graded and four of them are already available in our Etsy Store.

Just Patterns – Kate Bias Top

In a way, we followed the Minimum Viable Product approach that is so popular with Tech Start-ups. It consists in developing a new product with sufficient features to satisfy early adopters and to take their feedback into account to refine further iterations. This is guiding a lot of our choices for the project. The website, Just-Patterns.com is nothing fancy but hopefully it is functional. Our only “marketing” (that’s a big word for what we are doing…) currently is Instagram with @just_patterns and the patterns are for sale in an Etsy Store so that we don’t have to run our own e-commerce. The instructions are minimal by choice, because we want to keep the costs down and we believe that dressmakers have a mind of their own. You can suggest things but they always end up doing it their way. That’s for sure how we do things around here!

Just Patterns – Pleated Skirt

To understand better how to improve, it’s crucial for us to get systematic feedback from our users. We currently systematically email a survey 30-45 days after the pattern purchase and we maintain a log of comments made to us directly by email/IG or that we find on blogs and sewing boards. This is something that we really want to take to the next level and in order to do that we are about to set up a pattern development group of 10-20 sewers to review our existing and future patterns. It’s similar to pattern testing, in the sense that the patterns will be provided for free and there will be some sort of deadline. But we want to make it a wider discussion space to review what is working and what is not. If you are interested, you can email me!

I think that’s already quite a long post, so I will leave it at that for today! I will of course keep running this blog for my personal sewing but also to keep you updated on how the Just Patterns project is going. I hope you find it interesting and that you don’t hesitate to comment if you have questions/suggestions/comments/criticisms! Everything is welcome and you know how much I love to discuss what is going on in the sewing world in the comments!!

Tidbits #6

Dear readers,

It’s Me Made May! I wish I was able to write some clever opening about it but really I can’t… I obviously didn’t make any “commitment” to MMM but I’m trying to make conscious decisions about wearing my handmade garments more often. So I’m loosely participating, and I broke my personal pathetic record by wearing at least one me made items around 10 days of the the months so far. I actually don’t have a clear idea of how often I wear clothes I made rather than RTW. But I’m nerdy and I would like to know more about how much I actually wear my clothes (not only the handmade ones). I bought the Stylebook app but I have yet to catalog my closet… I’ll report back if I ever get around it!

Although I’m fascinated by people who dress exclusively with clothes they made, I never made it an goal for myself. I wonder why I find the idea more attractive than the execution. Maybe because I have RTW items that I really love. So far I noticed that one of my challenges is that I haven’t been sewing pants for years. I wear a mix a denim and slim ankle cigarette pants. I know that sewing jeans have been all the rage lately. It has sort of been on my mind but I never particularly struggled to find styles or fit that I liked in RTW (I know… lucky me) so I guess my incentive is quite low. I also had a less than satisfactory trial years ago with the pattern considered the holy grail of jeans patterns back then, Jalie 2908. So that leaves me the option of sewing trousers. It’s tough. I don’t like the patterns out there, the crotch fitting is fiddly and I was never completely satisfied. Something to think about…

Let’s move on to this edition of things I enjoyed these days!

1. Sewing sketch on SNL

I always found the “sewing” part of superhero movies hilarious. I’m glad SNL picked up on that!

2. Designer Sewing Patterns

Since my teenage years, I’ve been dreaming of sewing some of the free designer patterns released on Showstudio. And they just published a new one! From the archives, my favorites were always the McQueen kimono and the Galliano pirate jacket. The Watanabe dress is also quite intriguing. I love just looking at the pattern pieces because they are “THE REAL THING”!!.

3. Echo Look

Did you see the Echo Look camera that Amazon is about to release. I can’t say that I care about the style “advice” feature. Seriously why would I ask a robot to tell me if I’m “well dressed”? Beth from SunnyGal Studio summarized my thoughts perfectly in her latest Random Threads. However I can’t help but think that it would make taking outfit pictures a breeze. Also, it could act as an improved mirror for self-fitting. I know that I could just put my camera on the tripod semi-permanently but with a little human about to start crawling that’s probably a bad idea… Do you know of a similar hands-free camera (hopefully a lot cheaper…) ?

4. Is Fast Fashion A Class Issue?

Are ethically produced clothes a privilege for the wealthy? Should people with limited disposable income really be expected to pay more for clothes just to avoid buying cheap stuff that’s bad for the planet?

Tabi Jackson Gee, Refinery 29

Those questions are of course tough to answer but this article is a good follow-up of the previous tidbits and the discussion that followed in the comments. The only solution for me is to buy less. It’s nearly impossible to ensure we are buying “clean” clothes/fabric etc. I feel that I need to go through my closet again to remove some items. I found out that the less clothes I own, the less I feel like shopping. I’m not quite sure why but whatever works! I may use ThredUp to send clothes out. I used it recently to buy some tops and I thought it was more convenient than going to a consignment store.

That’s it for today, I hope you share what you’ve been enjoying lately in the comments and some of your thoughts on MMM and 100% handmade wardrobes!

 

Tidbits #5

Dear readers,

Welcome back for a new edition of Tidbits, where I gather links of what I enjoyed reading, watching and listening lately. This week is all about inner conflict and my naturally french contradictory spirit. You can blame it on my on-going binge of In Treatment. That show is seriously addictive! I decided to add excerpts of the articles I am referring to in case you don’t have time to read through. Let me know if you think it’s the right or wrong approach!

Sewing Bits

1. 1. Pillowcase Pattern Co

      The patterns will be available soon from Etsy for just $24, and include detailed instructions with full color photographs, beautiful packaging, and all the information you need to get started. There will also be a big blog tour so get ready!

      Made by Meg

      This April fool’s joke was hilarious. I do see the irony of me saying that, since I just started selling sewing patterns on Etsy. I decided to jump on the bandwagon, when I realized that there were 2 ways of not selling 24$-beginner-friendly-hipster-sewing-patterns. One is not to sell sewing patterns at all, which is what I had been doing until then. The other other is to sell cheaper patterns that would build on sewer’s experience and encourage self-confidence rather than hand-holding. So far, we had a little over 30 sales with our marketing efforts are very minimal and inconsistent so I feel it goes in the direction that there is appetite for a different offer…

 

1. Sewing Polar Bear

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A post shared by @sewingpolarbear

I admire makers that are able to create visually pleasing Instagram accounts. I certainly don’t have the discipline to do it myself (hum hum… all the baby pictures) but I wish I did! See what I mean with this lovely lady, Sewing Polar Bear. At the same time, I look at my feed and I like that it reflects my real life, or at least a filtered version of it…

Other Bits

1. 1. The White Wall Controversy: How the All-White Aesthetic Has Affected Design

      So what does that mean for white rooms and the all-white trend? I think this look is one of the many styles in this particular zeitgeist that will be beloved and revered by some for years to come, but changed and moved past relatively soon for many.

      Grace Bonney,  Design Sponge

      My walls are all whites and my style revolves around classic and simple silhouettes. Still, at times, I am embarrassed about how much it fits current trends. Is it what I really enjoy, or am I a product of too much Pinterest? How do we keep challenging myself visually? Obviously home and fashion trends follow similar cycles. Are we on the verge of going back to a more maximalist approach to design?

 

1. 1. Minimalism is Boring

      Can I have both — the noise and the quiet; the jeans and the neons? Here are three outfits born out of the totems of a minimalist wardrobe.

      Leandra Medine, Man Repeller

      Gretchen Jones touched upon a similar issue in Episode 7 of Seamwork Radio when she said that she wasn’t really interested in the current fashion scene. I like Leandra’s differentiation of a maximalist style vs consumption. Hopefully, you can achieve an over the top look without over sized closet size.

 

1. 1. Minimalism: another boring product wealthy people can buy

      We cannot pretend that performative reduction in consumption, or choosing to only consume in certain ways, is not one of the most gratuitous displays of privilege out there, and to frame it as in any way a moral choice is more than a little offensive.

      Chelsea Fagan, The Guardian

      I’m a Konmari convert, but I couldn’t help agreeing with a lot of what was said in the article. This type of writing is essential for me. Although I can never be free from trends or my preconceptions, recognizing that they exist is the first step in minimizing their impact on my behaviors.

 

1. 1. The Myth of the Ethical Shopper

      We are not going to shop ourselves into a better world. Advocating for boring stuff like complaint mechanisms and formalized labor contracts is nowhere near as satisfying as buying a pair of Fair Trade sandals or whatever. But that’s how the hard work of development actually gets done: Not by imploring people to buy better, but by giving them no other option.

      Michael Hobbes, Huffington Post

      I cannot agree more with what is said here. Buying fair trade is not bad per se, but it shouldn’t stop us from looking at the (very) big picture. Changes have to happen at all levels!

 

1. We’ve Forgotten How to Dress Like Adults

   Each decade of age seemed to offer its own licenses.
   “By the age of thirty, most women were married, held jobs, or both,” writes Przybyszewski. “And they were presumed able to handle the eroticism embodied in the draped designs that made for the most sophisticated styles.” Draping gathers excess fabric into unique waves that draw attention to the wearer’s womanly curves and the tug of gravity.

   Rebecca Huval, Racked

   “Adult” dressing used to be valued and enviable. Back in December, I visited a great aunt in her 80’s with a great sense of style. She was telling about meeting her late husband when she was in her early 20’s and he was in his 40’s. She said “You have to understand, it sounds like a big difference but back then at 23 we were women. We wore gloves, suits and a hat. Not jeans or t-shirt”. I was of course in my rattier jeans with the little human on my lap…

That’s it for today. I would love to hear your thoughts and what you have you read lately that challenged you!

Tidbits #4

Dear readers,

 

I hope you are enjoying the weekend. I am finally catching up on sewing plans I have been delaying and I’m finally making some progress. For today’s edition of Tidbits I gathered some information about making an arm for your dressform.

Sewing Bits

1. First I thought I would mention this nice blog I follow : Note to self. I just love the short note style and the pretty nordic style pictures!
2. This post from Cloning Couture, is what reminded me about arm making. Mary is even offering her pattern for free!
3. I drafted mine (above) from a book one of my professor had when I took classes at FIT Integrating Draping, Drafting and Drawing. I’m fairly certain this is the method referred by Pandemic Apparel, unfortunately the post is old and all the pictures are gone…
4. The last one, I’m terribly curious about. It’s from researcher Rickard Lindqvist who write all sorts of complicated interesting things about pattern making. His free pattern is a 3D simulation of an arm. It looks so unusual. If anyone you make it I hope you will let me know!!

Other Bits

1. I’m not a quilt person, but I thought those modern designs by Louise Gray were very pretty and would fit very nicely in my apartment…
2. I have a total crush on the Fall 2017 RTW collection by Christian Dior. I just want to dress in subtle shades of navy all day, every day!
3. Talking about Dior, here is an nice Instagram accountnice Instagram account of a “petite main” who works as an extra during runway season. Enjoy!

That’s it for today, I hope you still find Tidbits interesting! Please let me know what you have been reading/watching/listening to!

Tidbits #3

Dear Readers,

 

It’s been a while since I wrote the last Tidbits, but here we are. I had drafts sitting in my blog editor forever and I had to delete a lot of the links which I thought were not relevant anymore. But I kept some, that I thought were interesting anyway. I want to mention first that if you are like me and enjoy those round-up posts, my two favorite sources articles you won’t find mentioned on all the other blogs are Oliver + S weekend links and the newsletter of Center for Pattern Design.

On my sewing table…

Sewing bits

1. I have an obsession about automated drafting to measurements so of course, Sew Fitography caught my eye. It seems to me that this is something that should already be widely available… At least, if I was a big pattern company, I would be investing on this quite a lot. Two years ago, I had an interesting discussion with the founder of Fitle (we graduated from the same business school) and it was fascinating. They are already working with established brands for RTW but also with custom shirt makers. The founder never thought about the home-sewing pattern market… Can you imagine trying on a pattern on your virtual double to decide what size to start with? All the fabric and time one would save?? That’s the dream for me!
   I just love when sewing intersects with new technology. I have so many questions about Kite, the pattern projector that Upcraft club is developing, but I’m excited to see what comes out!!
2. This is a shameless plug, but my friend and I just started a pattern project. We had some sales already and we are super excited. I think you can tell that marketing is not our strong suit…. We’d rather be sewing all day!! I really want to do a full post here to explain the why and the what but I’m still thinking and pondering!
3. I never heard of In-Seam studio before but I find their tutorials so pretty. I kind of wish I had the eye to make things look like that…

Other bits

1. I believe I could spend hours just looking at behind the scenes video of Couture…. I’ll assume that all of you saw Signé Chanel, but maybe you haven’t seen that short video on the making of the mirror dress from S/S 2017.
2. A great article by Tim Gunn.

 

That’s all for today! Did you read/see/heard something super interesting recently?

Tidbits #2

Dear readers,

Welcome to the second edition Tidbits where I randomly link and talk about sewing and non-sewing things that have been on my mind lately! I really enjoyed the discussion and the links you shared on Tidbits #1 so I thought it would be worth to keep going…

found on Sigrid Sewing Projects

Sewing Bits

Interesting thoughts from Debbie at Lily Sage & Co on why you may end up with more iterations of a trend when you sew then when you buy RTW. Refining a design does require more than one garment for most of us, but unlike Debbie I don’t do much transformation/refashion of my previous makes and no matter how slow I sew my wardrobe grows and grows and grows…

You may have read recent blog posts and reactions (here at Sew Liberated and at Noble&Daughter) about the pressure of blogging, which I thought was quite interesting. I would link it to the sewing blog transition almost exclusively towards showcasing finished items. I was enjoying recently the latest posts of Sigrid who has been in my reader for a very long time.Like Sigrid’s, a few years successful blogs were all about elaborate evening dresses, little french jackets or tailored coats sewalongs, highlighting the process of making things. I went back to Gertie‘s older posts too, when she was actually sewing her way through the Vogue Book (exciting sewing blog times!!), and her posts were definitely more about the making. Today, the frequency of finished garments posts  influences heavily the popularity of a blog. While, blogs showcasing the process of making complex garments still exist but they are just not the norm anymore.

It could explain the relative simplification of patterns offered by some Indie Designers, as they try to match our expectation to have a quick make to show. But of course, there is only so much content you can create around making a woven tank, so you only post about your finished garment. The vicious circle of consumption is activated and you are looking for the next tank pattern, to sew in 2 hours and blog in 1!

In addition, it puts pressure on the Indie designers to try to churn out patterns as quickly as possible. I guess that if you are StyleArc or Burda, you have professional patternmakers, samplemakers and graders on your payroll as well as a huge library of existing patterns to derive new designs from. It’s completely possible for you to do monthly releases, especially since instructions are rather sparse… But if you’re not one of those established companies and you have the pressure of delivering new patterns regularly, it can lead to disappointing or underwhelming patterns. In my opinion, the latest pattern from Tilly and the Buttons, the Marigold Jumpsuit is the perfect example of that.

As a disclaimer, I’ll say that I am not in T&TB’s target customer so this pattern is not intending to fit my expectations. I have also no idea if this pattern is actually selling or not. So it’s definitely a stretch for me to call it a bad pattern release. It may be selling like hot cakes (“comme des petits pains” for those of you who like French-isms). But in my eyes, it’s just so sad. I don’t see it flattering, well-designed, filling some kind of gap or even cute. I know we could enter the endless debate of what is a flattering fit, personal taste, good design, etc. and that’s not exactly where I want to go. I’m not even sure that it does match well the rest of this designer’s offering. In addition, there are several cheaper and better looking jumpsuit patterns available in Burda, Big4 and other Indies… I will direct you to this fun free pattern released on the French blog Essais & Erreurs, if you are looking for something different!

On the other hand, having some kind of trust issue with the more complex patterns of Indie designers, I rarely buy them and even more rarely make them. I want to remedy that and I bought the Françoise Jacket by République du Chiffon. Between the pattern price and the shipping to the US, I ended paying way more than I normally would allow myself for patterns so I hope it proves a success. I am in love with the proportions and the narrow collar but of course I want to make changes so I will have to make a muslin and take it from there. I would like to make 2-pieces sleeves with functional button vents, add a back vent (or 2) and see if I can forego the double closure. Lots of work ahead, so I’m not sure I will gather the energy to do it all.

and other bits

Because we cannot only talk and read about sewing, here is an interesting article in the NY Times about having more time to unwind, except if you are a woman…

Today, I have grand plans of managing to go see the Manux X Machina exhibition at the Met, getting my nails done and taking pictures of finished makes all before 4pm (can I insert a nap somewhere??) so I’d better stop my ramblings, and get started!! Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts  and own tidbits in the comments, you know how much I love reading them!