Originally posted on VIRGINIA HILL:
H.Dannecker, G. Schick, 1802, Staatliche museum, Berlin, Germany leather and gold decoration, shoes, 1790s How do we choose our shoes? what makes us long for a pair of very pointed flats rather than round toed ballerinas?… Fashionarchaeology has been musing over this question very much lately. Pointy flats are, after…

Dear readers, thank you for visiting.  This post is about a humbling episode in my sewing life, and an educational one. It’s a lesson in picking your sewing battles. A cover for a set of patio chairs in the backyard has been on my sewing list for a while. The original cover was very cheap vinyl and pretty much disintegrated with… Read More The Outdoor Project and Sewing Lessons Learned

Dear Readers, Today, I want to bring your attention to the Bishop Method of Clothing Construction.  I’ve become the owner of three books about it, published by J. B. Lippincott Company, not in operation today. Back in the day, your grandma or your mom or you (if you’re approaching the golden years) may have learned to sew with… Read More Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, a Very Short Overview

Dear sewing friends, I could not help the alliteration in the title. But that’s just me….. Revealed here is the ongoing construction of a class project — of an online class I signed up for back in 2010. All part of the “complete your UFOs in 2013” decision I made early this year. This online class was taught by… Read More Class for Cloning Clothing

There’s an additional title to this post:  Parenting a Parent and the Unfinished Blog Post. I began writing this with a scheduled publish date for today, but due to life interruptions caused by my dear mother’s health issues particular to her advanced age, the actual projects did not get finished. So here is a question for social media… Read More Magazine Mania: Do You Sew Projects Featured in Sewing Mags?

Dear readers, I can’t help it. Refashions somehow took over my sewing mojo in April and you get to see the results in May. Never fear. Pretty soon you’ll see some sewing items made with new fabric.  Meanwhile, so goes another re-fashion…. Just what made this blouse so stuffy and old looking? Forget that it IS an… Read More Stuffy Shirt, Cool Blouse, Peter Pan

Did they love their jobs? Or did they hate sewing machines (if they owned one)? More than 600 factory workers of Bangladesh who sewed to make a meager living, lost their lives while working in dangerous working conditions in April 2013.  Their work satisfied the most urgent need of modern folks to wear of-the-moment clothing which may or may not… Read More I’m Feeling the Sewing Connection

Among the sewing enthusiast community, we all know that maintaining a fabric stash (the uncouth call it a “hoard”) is a given. But what about the finished items?  Do you find yourself hanging on to your sewn items even if they’re no longer used? What does Marisa do? That would be Marisa of the 365 dresses, writer of… Read More Breaking Up is Hard to do With Home Sewn Items OR What Would Marisa Do?

Hi there, I’m back with the rest of my cut up cardigan to share the making of a second scarf. To recap, I had sliced up the cardigan into as many 6 inch wide lengths as the cardigan would yield. The swirly scarf used up some of the lengths plus a considerable portion of the… Read More Earth Week Re-Fashion continued. Cardi to Scarf 2

As history records everyday lives of Americans & Europeans during the second World War, the spirit of Make Do and Mend was the prevalent vibe among women, regarding their clothing and fashion choices.  The same spirit prevails in 2013 but it is called Remake and Recycle; and it’s not due to wartime necessity, but due to an eco-conscious… Read More Earth Week Re-Fashion