Suit Pants Day 5 - I blame Claudine!

Readers, I am this close to having my suit pants completed -- in fact, I totally expected to finish them yesterday.  I had my new charcoal gray commercial waistbanding from Steinlauf & Stoller (a steal at just $1.80 per yard) and a new can-do attitude.





But fate intervened in the form of an email from master sewer and blogger Claudine of Adventures in Couture.  I've been lurking on Claudine's blog for nearly two years now, observing her stunning couture-inspired creations -- not to mention the square footage of her house -- with not a little envy.  I had met Claudine once before, on MPB Day last August, so naturally I count her among my closest friends.  I even know her last name.

Claudine relaxes at home.

Therefore, when Claudine invited me to join her for a little upscale fabric shopping and a visit to the latest FIT exhibit, The Great Designers, Part One, I dropped everything, threw on a relatively clean shirt, and hightailed it to B&J Fabrics, where we met in the late morning.  Highly organized and productive Claudine had already been to see the Christmas windows at Bergdorf's and done a little holiday shopping at Saks (where she picked up a lovely gift for herself -- I'll let Claudine tell you about that -- although, alas, nothing for me).  At B&J, Claudine was in search of English woolens, no doubt to make another impeccably tailored jacket like the beautiful original she was wearing yesterday, a tweed boucle that you can read more about here.

I think Claudine was a little taken aback by my New York brashness, but nevertheless complied with my request that she remove her jacket so I could examine the handstitched silk lining; I discovered that Claudine's natural state of sang froid isn't easily disturbed.  I'm not sure she'll be wanting to fabric shop with me again, though, as I revealed my tendency to loudly exclaim Eighty-five dollars a yard for THIS!? every three minutes.  I'm a bargain basement shopper, friends.  Not so Claudine.  

We grabbed lunch at Pret A Manger on Broadway, which despite offering considerable seating, was completely full.  Pas de problème: imperturbable Claudine suggested we sit outside in the pedestrian mall.  Friends, it had to be forty degrees out and it was windy yesterday, albeit sunny.  My instinct would have been to stand uncomfortably close to a table of tourists and loudly sigh and roll my eyes, thus making them so uncomfortable that they packed up their sandwich ends and headed out the door -- I'm confrontational.  (Just ask demure Debi, who on a big blogger meetup a few months ago, when I was criticized by some impatient loon on the Dean & Deluca line for excessive chatting at the food counter, witnessed me release such a series of expletives in return that she shrank to palm-size.)  But that's how we roll here in NYC.  Anyway, Claudine and I did eat outside, me with blue lips and chattering teeth, and elegant Claudine sitting hatless, a few stray wisps of hair blowing in the wind, relaxed and happy.  Maybe I need to eat more protein.

Next we hit the Fashion Institute of Technology, whose museum exhibits are free to the public and always breathtaking.  The Daphne Guinness exhibit is still on display, of course; this new exhibit is in their somewhat smaller street-level gallery space, but it's marvelous.  Designers are presented in alphabetical order and all the biggies are represented, from Armani to Zoran.  What a privilege to tour this exhibit with someone like Claudine, who can look at, say, a Prada dress, and say (I paraphrase) Ah yes, the 2008 collection -- the one that turned me on to guipure lace, without sounding the least bit pretentious.  This woman knows her designer fashion, and after an hour with her, you start to feel like a true fashionista, although most of my comments were still of the Isn't that pretty! variety.

You can read the NY Times review of The Great Designers, Part One here.  Even if you can't see this exhibit with a couture maven like Claudine, please go see this wonderful show.  It's open now through May 8, 2012.

Meanwhile, back in Pants-landia, newly inspired by Claudine's masterful attention to detail, I started attaching my waistband yesterday evening.  Of course nothing went as planned and I had to rip out the same seam twice, but I have much higher hopes for today, readers.  I am committed to finishing these today, in fact, even if it means adding an elastic waistband, which is so very un-Claudine-like.

I'm deciding between a double hook-and-eye (or tailor's belt fastener) on the waistband extension, or a hook-and-eye with button, the disadvantage of the latter being that I'd have to make a buttonhole in my all-but-finished pants, with all the concomitant risks.   Hey, there's always velcro.





Friends, I hope you're having a fruitful week.  Please don't let the Claudines of the world sabotage your productivity, as I did.  They wouldn't let us do that to them, you can be sure!

I leave you with an additional wig-shot, as they proved so popular on yesterday's post.  (Who knew there were so many Bea Arthur fans out there? )  Who's the actress and in which movie did she sport this shaggy hairdo?

Happy Friday, everybody!

Read More

Fabric Shopping With Alicia!

Readers, as you know, there's nothing I enjoy more than fabric shopping with fans.  I get to feel like a celebrity, boss people around, enjoy the thrill of the hunt without spending a dime, and, occasionally, get treated to lunch, as I did yesterday (preceded by the familiar drama-at-the-cash-register that goes No, let me.  No me!  No, I insist!, etc.  Finally, I succumbed, all the while wishing I'd gotten that brownie.).

Let me just clarify a few points about this.  I certainly never expect to get treated to lunch -- it's not a quid pro quo -- in fact I'm almost never treated to lunch, so when I am treated to lunch it's really a thrill.  I think that accepting others' generosity toward oneself is really a form of altruism, don't you? You're giving them a gift by letting them give to you.  Friends, I have so many gifts for you if you're ever passing through NYC!

Now, I know I've disappointed a few of you who have caught me on a day when I couldn't spare the time to meet, but this is rare. I'm usually up for anything and, just so you know, I prefer lunch on the early side -- definitely before 1 pm -- and I'll never take you anywhere major credit cards aren't accepted, though cash is, as they say, king.

Yesterday I got to spend a few hours in the Garment District with MPB reader Alicia, who hails from Chicago and is in town for a (very) long weekend.  What fun we had!



Alicia is your typical sewing blogger -- funny, urban-hipsterish in A-line skirt and canvas Converse low-tops, passionate about vintage style, and highly computer literate -- except for one thing: she doesn't have a blog.  I hope you will join with me in urging Alicia to get with the program while she still has the youthful energy.  Parenthetically, I loved Alicia's outfit, which she sewed herself out of coordinating vintage fabrics she purchased on eBay.  The blouse is the popular Colette Sencha pattern.  Very well done.

Speaking of youth, I hope I'm not violating a confidence when I share that Alicia was in something of a funk yesterday, having just celebrated a milestone birthday that takes her squarely out of her early _______'s (decade).  You can imagine the outpouring of empathy this inspired in me, who was already shaving when she was born.  Friends, if you're upset about a leaky kitchen faucet, don't complain to the person whose house was just washed away in a flood -- need I say more?  Fortunately my aural reaction was limited to a silent scream, though I think Alicia could tell what I was thinking when my eyebrows shot up to what's left of my hairline and my eyes narrowed to knife-like slits.  She won't be making that mistake again.

One more thing about Alicia, and actually this is something I wonder about many of you.  Say you were intending to sew a vintage Fifties shirtwaist pattern.  Something like this, for example:

On the back of the pattern envelope, the "suggested fabric types" are cottons and blends, calico, chambray, linen, shantung, and flannel.  Wise readers, would you decide, that's all well and good, but I want to make my dress out of polyfleece?  This is a hypothetical question and I am not suggesting that Alicia had any intention of making a Fifties shirtwaist out of polyfleece, but rather velvet -- whoops, another confidence violated.

I had hardly known this woman three minutes -- though I now count her among my closest friends -- than I was scolding her in public for ignoring not only the suggested fabric types, but also the design suggestions on the front of the pattern envelope.

Now, I count myself as a true anti-authoritarian, but when it comes to pattern envelopes, I am obedient-bordering-on-goose-stepping-brownshirt.  I simply don't question the pattern company's authority and assume that if the envelope shows a dress in a polished cotton floral print, by jiminy, you'd better make that dress in something similar if not identical.  Am I unusual this way?





Needless to say, when Alicia showed me the photo of the vintage pattern in question on her iPhone, I immediately dragged her out of the velvet section ASAP; the poor thing was stunned and nearly in tears.  Seriously, though: who wears velvet these days other than Goths and Gothic Lolitas?  (And yet fabric stores are full of the stuff.)   So Phantom of the Opera.

After lunch, we made a beeline for Metro Textiles, where I used subliminal mind-control techniques to steer Alicia to a gorgeous blue chambray at a very reasonable $5/yd.  Success!  I tried to get her to pair this with a sunny orange gingham, but she resisted, opting instead for a plaid Pendleton wool.  At least it wasn't velvet.



Here is Alicia at Metro.  Please, step away from the knit prints with your hands up.



I would hate readers to think that I get some kind of kickback for bringing visitors to Metro Textiles.  Just the opposite is true; Kashi charges me more, which is certainly a strange way of doing business but hasn't stopped me from buying.  I just don't think he likes me very much.  Alicia and I also hit H&M, the quintessential packed-to-the-gills fabric dive with no air-conditioning (it was 85 degrees yesterday), and had our delightful lunch at Pret A Manger, my favorite lunch chain of the moment.  I fully endorse both.

Returning home quite spent, I managed to successfully hem my BurdaStyle sew-along dress, cutting 2"-wide bias strips of that treacly coordinating paisley fabric (the one I'd originally used for the skirt underlay) which I then used as a facing.



The great thing about these bias facings is that they don't pucker the way a normal 2-3" turned-up edge would (if you just turn up the edge, the edge is wider than the point you're stitching it to, hence the puckering or buckling, or whatever it's called) which meant I could use a machine blind hem stitch to finish the nearly five yards-wide hem.  I usually stitch hems by hand but I wasn't feeling it last night.





I probably didn't have to attach rayon seam binding to the inner edge -- the bias wasn't going to fray -- but I did it anyway.  Was this one step too many, in your opinion, or does the bias need some kind of edge finish?



Anyway, Leah comes over later today for a final fitting, and I hope to be able to wrap things up and get on with my life.

In closing, a few quick questions:

1) Do you think fabric suggestions on pattern envelopes are just that -- suggestions -- and should be taken with a grain of salt? 

2) Do you ever sew with -- or wear -- velvet, and if so, when?

3) Does your vintage sewing machine pedal -- the kind with the little foot button -- ever have a tendency to stick?  The one I'm using with the Singer 201 Rain gave me does, and it's a little unnerving to sew with a semi-stuck pedal -- like driving on cruise control in city traffic -- though it does unstick pretty easily.  Should I open the pedal and clean it?  Any ideas?

Thanks for the guidance, and Happy Thursday, everybody!

Read More

This I WILL NOT skimp on!

Readers, I know I'm not the best person to write today's blog post.

Unfortunately, my original idea for today, which I mentioned yesterday in passing, has shown up this morning on someone else's sewing blog.  All's fair in love and blogging I always say, and I do believe we are all connected to a universal brain.  Or in this case, to mine.

Lucky for me that in a safe surrounded by a deep moat inhabited by crocodiles, I keep a list of back-up blog topics.  And so it is that today we're talking about what we refuse to skimp on when it comes to sewing and all things fashion-related.

As you know, I'm beyond thrifty.  I have dug through dumpsters for designer jeans and crawled under cars for imported shoes.  I don't ask too many questions and I'm not 100% certain I haven't carried off a bag of clothes left at the curb when the owner was merely out in the street hailing a cab.  This is New York.

Even most of my underwear is second hand, or second something; I'd rather not think about it.  Rest assured everything gets washed before wearing unless it smells like Bounce dryer sheets, in which case I take my chances.  I hate to pay a lot for new things I can find used for less.  Like my recently acquired Allen Edmonds shoes, my new obsession till the next one.

There is one thing I will not skimp on, however, and that is socks.

I have learned through nearly 50 years of living (and 35 years of thrifting), that nobody throws out good socks; you will not find them in thrift stores.  And you won't find them being sold by street vendors either.

In my experience -- and if you know better please speak up -- you really have to go to a better retail establishment like Bloomingdale's or Lord & Taylor and bite the bullet to avoid Orlon Acrylic and even then you have to be careful.  In the winter I like to wear wool socks and I love the selection at Paragon Sporting Goods off Union Square.  I've been going to this store since I was a kid and it's a zoo, but they have an excellent selection of sports and hiking socks.



It breaks my heart to spend $15 or more on a pair of socks but the alternative is something that will stretch and pill and bunch up in your shoe.  Also, ix-nay on the otton-cay.  Cotton absorbs moisture (think towels) so it's not ideal for feet.

As far as sewing goes, I'll save a buck any way I can.  The fabric can't be cheap enough, the sewing machine old enough.

I wouldn't use a Brand X needle -- I like Organs -- but then again, I've never actually seen a Brand X needle.  With few exceptions I no longer buy individual spools of thread, opting instead to buy big spools at Sil Thread.  The quality seems find to me.

No, I think my refusal to skimp begins -- and ends -- with socks.

Readers, how about you?  I've known a number of women who refuse to wear drugstore make-up or wear anything but Christian Dior pantyhose.  (Fortunately, Cathy isn't one of them.)   I know many of you line up outside Jo-Ann Fabric on 50% off days, and will wrestle your peers to the floor over $1 Vogue patterns.

Others haunt the remnant bins at Walmart but sew on $3,500 Bernina's.  It's not entirely rational but who am I to question?

Friends, where are you willing to cut corners and where do you refuse to skimp -- and why?

Have you ever tried to save money on something -- against your better judgment perhaps -- and lived to regret it?  Can you wear a used bra and hold your head -- or anything else --  high? 

Savvy savers and champion cheapskates, let your voices be heard!

Read More

Sewing and the Impulse Purchase

Kind readers, I won't lie: I've indulged in a few impulsive pick-ups in my day -- shopping, I mean.

I am not a spendthrift, however -- just the opposite -- and other than my local Rite Aid (when I need nail polish) I avoid stores.

You're probably wondering, well, how about those saddle shoes you were obsessing over the other day?  Friends, they came, I saw, and I conquered my desire for saddle shoes; plus the toe box was too narrow.  Back to Zappos they go!



Walking the dogs yesterday, I chanced upon these Opening Ceremony brand men's gray suede shoes in great condition in the trash.  The price, as they say, was right, and the fit, perfect.  Saddle shoes can wait for the sales.



At the flea market -- completely cash-based, obviously -- I'm always clear-headed and cautious. A typical purchase is $2 kid gloves or vintage fabric, or a few $1 patterns, many of which become giveaways (I'm always thinking of your needs, readers).





 

With most other things like clothes, I'm happy to shop the Salvation Army or make it myself (with the exception of socks).

Parenthetically, one of the best things about Amazon is that you can create a "wish list."  Nearly everything I've ever put on my wish list I've revisited later and decided against purchasing.  Try it -- it's a great tool.

No, when it comes to shopping, I have only two weaknesses: Etsy, and eBay.

Actually, since the only things I've ever bought on Etsy are patterns, it hasn't been that big a problem. Do I sew every pattern I purchase?  Of course not.  But I have sewn roughly half, with about half of the rest on my to-do list.  A few, admittedly, are filed under "What Was I Thinking?"



But we're talking $5 here, $5 there (and often less), nothing big. Some people buy Soy Lattes at Starbucks, I buy patterns. And I always shop around (many patterns are listed by multiple sellers at wildly varying prices).

Here's my latest, which can be had for $4, $6, or $12 -- take your pick.



Ebay is my true weakness.  To be clear: I will not purchase things I don't have the money for upfront.  I would never go into debt for, say, a doll...or five or six.



Or their wardrobe.



Or stinky luggage.  (Note to self: remove months-old cat litter, execute Plan B.)



Or vintage wool bathing suits.  (A passing phase.)





So you can probably guess where this is leading.  On Friday I made an impulse purchase of the worst -- or best -- kind, depending on how you look at it.



The way I see it is this:  I haven't bought one sewing machine yet all year and here it is nearly April, my birthday month.  I've had an intense last few weeks, and it's healthy to indulge now and then, right?  If I hate it, I can clean it up a bit and sell it.

I've been looking at these on eBay, Craigslist, and at the flea market for a long time and while the one I chose wasn't the bargain of the century, it wasn't high for Featherweights (due, in part to the machine needing a new belt and coming in a somewhat beat up case).

I should receive it any day now and friends, I can't wait.  Shouldn't a man who writes about vintage sewing machines have working knowledge of a Featherweight?  Of course he should (I think).

In closing, dear readers, confession time:

Have you ever made a sewing-related impulse purchase?  Do you tend to be more impulsive with sewing purchases or are you the same way with everything you buy?

Fabric, sewing machines, notions, other -- we don't judge at MPB. 

Confess and absolve yourselves!

Read More

New Acquisitions: Insomnia Edition

Friends, unlike you, I can't talk about men's shirtmaking endlessly without the occasional break; I'm simply not a shirt-obsessive.  With all the focus on our Sew-Along, I neglect to mention all the other exciting things going on.  Since I'm wide awake at 3 am, I'd like to share a few of them.

First of all, look what arrived in the mail yesterday -- or should I say who. 



Reader's, I picked up this 12-inch vintage vinyl Viking on eBay and can I just say this was one of the best $20 I ever spent in my entire life?  I don't know why I never bought a Ken before.  I have a few vintage Barbies somewhere and a Skooter (Barbie's sister Skipper's friend) I picked up in a thrift store out West.  Somehow Ken never interested me though we're roughly the same age and I don't mean seventeen.

Until Sassy Lassy.  Readers, surely you are familar with Sassy, of Sassy Lassie's Vintage Life. Now I am considered by many to be a bit of a kookie collector, but Sassy...well, Sassy puts me to shame.

Last January Sassy ran a series on her blog about her doll collection.  A few highlights:

Midge.

Barbie.

Ken.

Whoops, wrong photo -- that's Mr. Sassy and quite a doll himself if you ask me.  This is Sassy's Ken doll.

Sassy wrote a loving tribute to Ken that moved me to tears -- and to eBay.   After much inner debate, I decided against the original flock hair model in favor of painted hair (just like Sassy's, I mean, Sassy's Ken) and, Troy Donahue fan that I am, I opted for the butternut blonde.



Friends, I am in love with every painted hair on his injection-molded vinyl head.  And look at that suit.  It's even lined.







And the shirt...





Sure he could use a sloping shoulder adjustment, but who couldn't?

I am fortunate to own this book, which I've had for 17 years.  It's full of color pics of all of Ken's Male Pattern Boldness-worthy outfits, with detailed descriptions of each.







Readers, if you are looking to find a home for your priceless Ken doll wardrobe, please think of me.  Remember: decluttering is next to Godliness!  More Ken pics here.

Let's move on.

Good news from the penitentiary -- Cathy is nearing the end of her sentence and should be out by mid-March.  It seems she's lost a little weight and could use a frosting but I think she'll be back in fighting form pretty fast.  In honor of the occasion I picked up 3 yards of this cotton sateen on Tuesday -- should I have bought 6?



I'm envisioning something like this.  What do you think?

I've already bought this, to give it the poofiness it deserves if I go in that direction.

The alternative is this type of thing, which has a bit more of the Doris Day-in-Jean Louis look to it:

I'm not sure which way to go.  Thoughts?

I also bought some cotton shirting.   This sort of had an anime vibe and seemed so utterly inappropriate for a man's shirt that I had to have it.  It's what I'll be making my final version of Negroni out of, though it probably belongs in a baby's bassinet.



Finally, friends, I picked up a dozen of these transparent sewing machine needle plate decals.



Neither my Singer 66 treadle nor more Pfaff 30 has any measurements on the needle plate and they don't sell the measured plate, though you can line things up with various screws for accuracy. But really, this seems so much easier.  I suppose I could have measured the various distances myself and used colored tape, but I'm lazy.

Friends, this little insomniac needs to return to the land of Nod. 

In closing, two questions:

1) Should I collect Ken's entire vintage wardrobe?  I fear another vintage luggage debacle.  Please don't suggest I sew for him. 

2) Cathy's comeback dress: wiggle or bouffant -- or something else entirely?

Thanks, guys!

Read More