as always, you can email me to purchase one of these boleros or to place a custom order!

but now that burningman has come and gone, i’m enjoying a bit of a break (until shopping season officially starts). as part of my self given reward for all the hard work, i took an intro to draping and pattern drafting class. i wanted to learn the basics on how to create patterns from scratch. i usually copy ready-to-wear garments on to shopping bags used as pattern paper, alter the pattern to my liking, then create and hope for the best. darts have always been a bit of a sticking point for me (how do you move them for instance???) i thought it was time to step up my game and gain the skills necessary to be able to create garments entirely from my own visions.

recently, one of my beloved customers: jennaluna had requested a fitted, cropped vest. “hmmm” i thought. i’d never done a custom fitted vest from my very own pattern before. i do love a good challenge sew, i decided to apply what i had learned in the intro to draping and pattern drafting class and make one for me first. i only wish i could show you how it looks on me, not the other woman. but alas, my photographer doesn’t live across the street from me anymore…

here’s how it all happened:

since i have a vintage dress form that pins don’t readily stick in, i had to first make a cover out of tee shirt material.  this gave the pins something to be pinned to.  then i marked the dress form with twill tape. i don’t recommend this method at all. it’s a pain in the neck and the cover tends to slip around. there are still spaces where the form separates and the pins are hard to secure there.  i just bought some 1/8″ tape that works MUCH better, no need for pins at all.  anyway, i then added my design lines for the vest i had in mind. here is what the other woman (that’s my dress form’s name) ended up looking like:

then came the pinning of the muslin to the other woman. once it was all pinned in place, i took a sharpie and roughly traced my design lines and darts. when everything was marked, i removed the muslin and viola! i had made a two dimensional pattern from a three dimensional form. (ok, it wasn’t really that easy but i’m try to simplify here…)

i transferred the rough pattern to actual pattern paper, trued (is that a word?) it up and was pleasantly surprised at how accurate my pattern seemed. i sewed a test garment together with muslin and it fit great! i went ahead and quilted my ties together and then cut out the pieces.

after sewing all the pattern pieces together, i realized that bias tape for the edges would be the perfect finishing touch. i decided to make the tape from the tie scraps that i had used to create the vest. i sewed them together and ran the strips through my bias tape maker, followed by a steaming hot iron. and of coarse, i poked and pricked myself a gazillion times; giving new meaning to the phrase “i gave this project my blood, sweat, and tears”.

after attaching the bias tape around all of the raw edges, i finished the vest with three pearl snaps on the front. here’s how it turned out:

and of coarse, my trademark special stitching:

boxy, boring, non descript!

recently, i experienced a major shift in my career choice. because of this, i have a huge pile of office attire that’s taking up valuable space in my closet. for the last four years, i was wearing suits to work every day and under the suits, i was wearing typical “office appropriate” tops. you know the kind: boxy, unflattering, boring, unnoticeable type shirts that cover all your lady parts just right. i’ve always considered my suits and plain tops a type of costume or armor that i had to wear to hide the real me from my office mates. sad, i know. but today i found a spectacular use for those boring old shells! i rescued three very similar tank style shells from the give away pile. i thought it would be a good idea to use them for practice to get to

much better, but it still needs something...

know my serger a little better. i figured that the worst case scenario would be to throw them away instead of give them away. best case scenario would be turning those boring, lifeless tops into something i actually wanted to wear. well, i have to be honest. the first one turned out bad. it was lookin pretty good until i decided to put a seam straight down the middle of the front. bad idea. that just brought the armpits closer than they needed to be and it looked kinda funny. the lesson there was that if it’s fitted already, don’t serge down the front! but i learned, and the second top came out pretty good. and it seemed pretty easy once i got over my fear of ruining it (which was irrational considering it was slated for the good will anyway). it was pretty bulky so i was able to serge it in a criss cross pattern to reduce the size a

awesome new tops!

bit, which worked beautifully. it fits just like i thought it would. the third one was surprisingly just as easy and probably took half an hour to complete. i think the overall lesson for me is that with a little bit of imagination, skill, and fearlessness, anything is possible.

ok, sew i made it yesterday but i was too lazy to post about it! i didn’t take before pictures because i forgot to. i need a personal assistant but that’s another topic…

i’m always on the hunt for cute tops that i can hoop comfortably in. their are many considerations in choosing the right hooping clothes: sweating, bare skin needed for grip, comfort, cuteness, and sew on. i really love cotton tank tops because they breath when you sweat, are comfy, and leave my shoulders bare (which is essential for shoulder duck outs) but they are a bit plain and remind me of gym wear. i wanted to make some hoop tops that were cotton, comfy, AND cute. that’s how i came up with this adorable, tank-ish style top.
i used two cotton tee shirts, scissors, pins, ruler, chalk, needle, and red embroidery floss. the gray tee shirt has 5% spandex which makes it hold it’s shape more than plain cotton and is fitted (size xs) on me. the red one is ribbed and stretchy. first, i cut away the sleeves on the gray shirt while being very careful not to cut the collar. then i turned it inside out and drew a heart pattern across the chest and marked the heart with lines one inch apart. next, i tried slashing the lines with a razor blade but couldn’t get a clean line out of it. it looked jagged and seemed to want to make the cotton run. instead, i used my sharpest, pointiest, deadliest scissors to poke little tiny holes and then smoothly cut the slashes across the heart. at this point, the top was pretty cute but because i had cut the sleeves out to bare my shoulders, i wouldn’t be able to wear anything under it to cover my parts. sew, i decided to insert the red material (which was just a square cut from another shirt) and hand stitch it together with the red floss. and viola! i know have a cute, comfortable top that is perfect for shoulder hooping because just enough skin is left bare!