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Two New Patterns for Pleaters!
First, there is the Crescent Pleat Bolero on the left, a one-pattern-piece puzzle that seems self-explanatory but somehow isn't -- a mystery! There is a CB seam and a seam across the back shoulders which extends down the sleeves. The goal, when pleating this way, is to align the pattern so the pleats go down both the sleeves and the body. For this one, the hems may be cut on an interesting selvedge.
Then, on the right is another one-pattern-piece design, the Lapel Pleat Coat, which is cut on a 2-way fold of 4 layers; the only 2 seams run up the side seams and down the sleeves. Again, the piece is folded so the pleats run vertically on both sleeves and body.
Both designs are quickly finished by a narrow rolled serged finish which may be done before or, for a lettuce effect, after pleating. In both samples,100% polyester was used; actually, both are done from glimmery window sheer panels. Since poly is a thermoplastic fiber -- meaning heat-settable, the pleats are permanent and maybe washed and packed forever without losing a one.
You pleat them with a stove pipe from the hardware store ($10), some string and an electric teapot -- BIG VOILA! Check the video.
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 The Draping BookDraping, the Art and Craftsmanship of Fashion Design,
by Annette Duberg and Rix van der Tol
The best book ever. By sheer luck we beat the port strike with an airlift of a couple hundred books from the Netherlands so we have inventory. In case you've been mining in Peru or something, this is the book that climbed to $800-900 on Amazon when it suddenly went out of print -- shock -- but now it's back at $60 -- Joy! |
Design Outside the Lines Retreat ~
The Perfect Summer Dress
Ashland. Oregon, May 31-June 4th, 2015
At last, the two Ericsons are getting together -- Diane and I (related only by our love of the craft) will do a week on 'The Piece' we all live in for months every year, the summer dress. Spaces are going quick and there will be a waiting list. I, for one, have been collecting ideas for years -- finally, a time to see them come to life! Check Diane's website for all the details.
And, if you're around Ashland from March 18 to 22, we're planning a sneak preview of some sort, since I'll be up there to visit, so check her site for that in the next few weeks -- it's in the planning stage. She has a fabulous new space that needs to be inaugurated!
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 | | Charles James genius! |
The Brooklyn Comes to San Francisco
High Style: The Brooklyn Costume Collection
March 14 -- July 9, 2015, Legion of Honor, Special Exhibition Galleries
Before there was the Costume Institute, there was The Brooklyn -- a museum for sure but the original depository of all of the best couture of the 20th C. from those NYC ladies. The Museum transferred many things to the Met and some hit the road -- so the Bay Area finally gets its turn. It may be time for a Tour!
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Rags Lives!!
Rags Magazine, 1970's Counterculture and Fashion
For everyone who was there then, you just won't believe it -- a website with whole issues that you can read. There were only 13 issues but they broke ALL the rules. Fashion students everywhere, do not miss May 1971 about going to F.I.T. at the time -- and now too.
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 Out There Is the title of Deb Webster's Ebay book auction site and I am overdue on giving her a plug. She has original vintage sewing, pattern design and fashion design books by all the greats and always delivers the real thing with wonderful illustrations that we can't resist -- and is terrific to do business with -- I like her lifestyle too. She's from Whidbey Island, WA, and shuts down in the spring to tend her orchards. Get on her mailing list  and she'll send you a notice of what's going up so you can join the rush to beat the rush. She's watching the Oscars this week but more coming soon.
Jilly Be Joyful
This a great site for sewing mysteries with Jilly as the intrepid sleuth -- great photos, details, good at fabric choices and a lot of fun -- plus, she gets it, meaning my patterns! Thank you, thank you! She has blogged about the CB Spiral Blouse and the CB Bolero so if you want some insight, there you go. |
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Where's It Going?
 | | Diana, elegant and interesting |
Wish I knew but I finally gave up on Vogue Magazine after a billion years of devotion and this business which always needs ideas. Vogue is now 99% ads; the photography is about anything else but clothes; the theatrics are too much and I miss the reality and practicality referenced by Diana Vreeland, a previous editor of Vogue, when she said: "Vogue always did stand for people's lives. I mean, a new dress doesn't get you anywhere; it's the life you're living in the dress, and the sort of life you had lived before, and what you will do in it later." Plus, every little nothing didn't start at $1,500 -- I could actually save up for something I saw before it went out and she meant real people, not celebrities.
It's time for a magazine called Renaissance that's instructional and transformative yet realistic, something that does for women what Vogue used to do. It showed me how to think about dressing, taught me that elegance and intellect were related, that non-verbal communication was 70% of the game, let me know why fashion was changing and gave me an achievable dream, not surreal fantasies. Look for that, it's possible!
Sandy
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