Late edit: Breaking news but personally unverified: Mood Fabrics opening in Houston in November. Yay. Source: Instagram post by @adorkablemecosplay. Now, back to regular programming.

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Fashion obsessed sewers do take hiatuses from sewing without resorting to buying retail — we usually have enough in our self-made wardrobes to tide us through the dry spell. However, we can’t stop thinking about making nice clothes. Even when I’m doing other stuff the idea of a sewing a nice wardrobe piece is always lurking. When tea-chats turn into discussions of making clothes, I become all sparkly and alive. Know that feeling?

Since my sewing has slowed down a bit, and I cannot pinpoint why, here are some chatty things that might keep our interest on that sparkly level. By the way, I am currently analyzing why my sewing has slowed down; but that’s for another day.

People Deep Inside the Garment Industry:

It warms my heart to know that skilled workers in New York’s garment industry are so crucial to bringing designers’ vision to life on the NY Fashion Week runways. This Vogue article lists just some of the people who help make a designer’s vision come to life (there are so many more) — and it’s about time we “see” them. Read their interviews in this Vogue article.

The cutter

The sewer/seamstress

Pattern maker

Grommet Queen

Assistant Design developer

Product developer and production manager

Sample maker

Master Craftsman

Studio artisan (embroidery)

Do everything employee

Owner of in-house atelier

UPS driver

Fashion Book reading:

From the book “Skirts” (gifted to me by my daughter), once you get beyond the initial chapters on hem lengths and styles since the early 20th century, it gets interesting and the author Katherine Chrisman-Campbell gets into delicious trivia.

We all know Diane Von Furstenburg’s iconic wrap dress, right? Ms. Chrisman-Campbell tells us that it was “created” on a dining table. So relatable.

I also loved some trivia in the chapter on Dior’s “Bar Suit”, part of his first couture collection in 1947. The Bar suit represented the inner essence of the first collection in 1947, but it was never a best seller. The reason being, as reported in this book, the complex inner structure of the suit, it was exorbitantly expensive; even the licensed copyists were hesitant to copy it stitch for stitch. Hmmm.

WTH?

An outfit from designer Paolo Carzana’s collection for Spring Ready-to-Wear 2026. Ready to wear??? I’d love to meet Mr. Carzana’s customer who has my utter admiration for bravado and subversiveness.

Kudos to the designer for using an environmental concept (okay, environmental truth) of humans destroying nature; and kudos to him for using plants to dye the fabrics. But did he have to manifest the concept this way? The Vogue reviewer gushes over this. In my unsolicited opinion, conceptual apparel design is great, when it’s also somewhat wearable. Go to Voguerunway.com to see the entire collection.

So friends, keep thoughts of creating beautiful clothes and that sparkly feeling alive in yourself, even if you are not actually sewing. Until next time, when I hope to have sewn something …… Samina