Nido

My friend Shannon Roesch sent out an email this morning about a new fabric and yarn shop that her friend Phiona opened up just two days ago. It’s call Nido and it's located at 209 College Street.  I was running a few errands during lunch and found myself right around the corner from her store. So, I popped in. She’s made such a beautiful space! There are lots of fun fabrics, sewing books and patterns by Amy Butler. There are six sewing machines set up (just beyond the sparkly chandeliers) in the store that students will use when classes begin in November. I don’t know how to knit but, all of that colorful yarn made me want to learn so I can makes some fun scarves this winter. This store really got me excited to make something! I wanted to hold every bolt of fabric up to my waist so see what a simple A-line skirt (that might be the only pattern I can work with on my own just now) might look like. I guess I should focus on finishing the sewing project I’ve already started and then maybe, more practice. If you’re crafty, you should definitely check out this store!

Sewing Project: Phase II

Yesterday morning, I went over to Allison's to start work on Phase II of my sewing project. I'm learning that making something like this is no small task. The first item on the agenda was cutting out the pieces for the lining. Here it is put together in it's (almost) final form. There were a few missteps along the way but, AB didn't let me get too far off course. There are some mistakes that are helpful to make so you can learn. Sometimes, you sew it up and then rip it out. In my case, I had to do this about 4 times on one seam! I was ready to compromise the pattern. AB wasn't having that. She said, "This is how you learn" and took the two pieces I had just sewn and ripped them apart. I said, "Nooo!" and laughed it off.

She had the perfect cure for my sewing frustrations. Mimosas!

It's getting there! 

Here is the cut out that tripped me up earlier in the process. I have a new appreciation for these small details. They are what makes a piece look special once it's done. So, don't skip them.

AB and I will meet up one more time to finish this piece. The next step is finishing the top and bottom, and then adding the zipper. Thanks again AB...so much fun!

Sewing Project!

Last week I came across a new clothing website. Acrimony. They sell a beautiful collection of pieces created by a number of different designers. I fell in love with a few items on their site but, unfortunately, the price tag on most of them is hefty. Sigh. There was one piece in particular that I kept going back to. I’ve been looking for a sewing project to work on with the guidance of my highly skilled clothing designer friend, Alison Bannister. I sent a picture of the piece from Acrimony off to Alison to see if it was feasible for me to tackle. That’s the wrong question to ask Alison because in my eyes she can make just about anything. She responded with, “On a scale of 1-10 this is about a 7 in terms of difficulty but, I’m always up for a challenge!” 

Yesterday, I walked over to her place at 11:30am. We opened up the picture of the selected piece: a zip back bustier with slightly padded bust and some boning for shape. Alison had already pulled 3 patterns from her archives that she felt could start us down the right path. Together, we selected one and I started cutting. I have to be honest, I had NO idea what I had gotten myself  into with this piece. But, Alison knew exactly what we needed to do to get to the finish line. So, Max made us morning mojitos and we got started! 
First, I made a “dummy” piece. This involved cutting the pattern out of muslin (in our case some other fabric that we had a lot of) and sewing it together so you can do a fitting. Then, we drew right on the fabric to create a new pattern. Although I did most of the cutting, pinning, sewing and measuring myself, Alison was in the driver’s seat when it came to drawing up a new pattern, deciding where to cut, etc. Once the lines were drawn onto the dummy piece we took it off, cut it up, true’d it up so the new patterns lines were symmetrical and cut out a new pattern adding a 5/8th seam allowance on the perimeter of each piece. HOLY CRAP that was a lot of cutting! Eventually, we visited Alison’s “trunk of junk” to pick out some fabric. It’s pretty much a gold mine in there so, I think the trunk might need a new name. I found the perfect fabrics for this piece with Alison’s assistance, located the grain line on the fabric and started pinning/cutting. By the time all of that was finished...it was 4:30pm and I was exhausted in the best kind of way. I looked over at Alison who had taken a break from the dress she was making to write some things down. This way, we can remember “the plan” when we revisit the project. Next, I have to buy a yard of black cotton fabric for the liner (which will require all of the same shapes be cut out and sewn together again-the 3rd time, EEK) and a zipper. I am game. I love this process! No wonder the piece on line cost $286. It should for the amount of work it takes to make. 

Alison, thanks for all of your guidance! See you again soon. XO.