About Me

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Los Olivos, California, United States
You can reach me at fool4fabric (at) gmail (dot) com

Friday, November 25, 2011

The Cape

As I mentioned, I promised to make a wool cape for my daughter to wear while D-J-ing in the desert. She had brought me one to refashion, but it was pretty yucky, and I figured I might as well invest in good material, as long as I was investing my time. I used Simplicity 5794 view C.

I ordered black wool melton and silver poly satin for the lining. Capes like these take a LOT of fabric...6 yds of 60" for each. All went well untilI began to sew the 4 pieces together. I recalled, 10 years ago, after sewing several King Size duvet covers, vowing NEVER to sew a voluminous project again. Too late!


Here is the cape, on me. The trim is silver flocked velvet. Needless to say, my entire studio is covered in silver sparkles! I added some interior pockets to the lining.

The clasp is a lovely heavy pewter celtic ornament, salvaged from the original cape.
Because my DD reads my blog (Hi, Maggie!) suffice it to say I'm glad the project is over(!!!!); I walked into her house yesterday, surprising her with it as she was getting ready to host our Thanksgiving dinner.

Now, back to sewing for ME (after a good cleaning of the studio)!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're about to set off for our daughter's house in Venice (the California one, not the Italian one). I am, of course, wearing The Boot! (Maybe the 10th time I wear them I won't feel the need to blog about them)
I am wearing a black wool skirt/pant by Shirin Guild which is very similar to the Sewing Workshop Origami skirt, and the Barbara De Jounge sweater that Shams
and I bought at AIF.

I am also taking THE CAPE, which I will blog about next time...
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!


Thursday, November 17, 2011

WOW! Clowns + Zebras!

TWO items to share! First is Vogue 1116, unfortunately known as "Clown Pants".
Unfortunate, because these are uber-stylish pants designed by Andrea Katz, and some of us LOVE them! I made these for a friend who can DEFINiTELY
work them! They are made out of a crisp nylon taffeta-like blend which makes the unusual seaming visible.

Please notice that she is wearing THE BOOT!



Then, because this is all about ME... I made a quick and satisfying Style Arc Debra Zebra Top which is rapidly becoming a TNT for all who have sewn it...
like Shams, who made TWO in no-time-at-all!
This is in a rayon/lycra black and gray knit from Marcy Tilton from 4 or 5 years ago. It's very similar to the Burda Funnel-Neck Tee which I made a few weeks ago. I will probably wind up morphing the two to achieve the "perfect funnel-neck tee"!

Next? If I'm a good Momma, I will make the wool/satin cape promised to my daughter for her desert parties. BUT, I'm not always a good Momma...we shall see!

Monday, November 7, 2011

The Deconstruction of an Idiosyncratic Fashionista Wanna-Be

Today was my debut as an Idiosyncratic Fashionista Wanna-Be. I have been eagerly awaiting my opportunity to wear The Boot and I decided that this was

the day. I was going to a meeting and lunch with a group of women who have been meeting for 25+ years. I knew they would not only accept my outfit, but I would disappoint them if I didn't wear something "over-the-top".
   I have on a RTW striped tee, a pair of Spirithouse pants, a CLD Anything But Ordinary jacket, striped socks, and The Boot.
I don't quite have the "je n'ai sais quoi" yet, but I'm working on it!


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Fall Fashions and Food

I had a lovely, uninterrupted Friday and Saturday to sew, and made my second
McCalls 6408 in a wonderful Ponte from EOS. It's gray with black "leopard" spots, and plain gray on the reverse. Lovely to look at, easy to sew.



The only change I made from the red one was to add inseam pockets, plus a few shortcuts that made the already easy-to-sew jacket even easier. I was so inspired by finishing it by mid-day Saturday that I immediately made my second pair of Vogue 1197, the slim pant. I'm wearing them in the above picture, but I need to tweak them a little before I show them off. Plus, they're black!

My next two projects will be for others; I'm making a cashmere/wool lined cape for my daughter to wear in the desert, and I'm making something for my friend Joan, who chose...Clown Pants!...AKA Vogue 1116.

I'm one of the seemingly few who love pants like these, and I'm excited to sew them. She wants them without the bow in back, and we're making them in a faintly sparkly black poly blend.

Remember my #1 Role Model Jean? She and her buddy Valerie are the subject of a cool new book, Life Dressing: the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, by Joanna Avilluz.


It's drawings of them dressed in their wonderful ensembles. I got mine last week, and I love it!

The Food part of this post?  Yesterday I made this Red Wine and Beef Stew in Claypot from one of my favorite cookbook authors, Andrea Nguyen. It was/is 
outstanding, if I do say so myself. We have cold weather upon us (California Cold, that is) so a hearty stew with a good Syrah is just the ticket.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Burda Funnel Neck Tee

I made my first from-the-magazine Burda, the very popular funnel-neck tee from the September 2010 issue. I'm very happy with it, but OMG...I stared at the pattern sheet for 15 minutes, trying desperately to focus on one of hundreds (or so it seemed)of patterns, all on the same sheet. I finally outlined the 3 pieces I needed for this tee and traced away. I see why there has been so much hue and cry about Burda consolidating their patterns!
I made this in a polkadot rayon/lycra knit from Marcy Tilton, and it falls somewhere between droopy and drapey!

The assembly and sewing was easy, except for a couple of operator errors. I have Jilly to thank for documenting her journey with this top, and several shortcuts she advised. I made it straight from the pattern, but next time I will definitely alter the sleeve cap; it's so high that I caught it in my serger (one of the operator errors).
Here's the back (memo to self: stand up straight!) and here is is with the BFF
red jacket:
I rarely have had this off my body since I finished it last Thursday. I think another one is in my future!

My workshop last weekend in Petaluma was wonderful...I can wholeheartedly recommend it. There were 12 people in the group, the youngest were in their early 50's, the eldest in their mid-70's.