Clothing cavalcade

Before I begin the post, I wanted to answer a couple of comments that I wasn't able to return personally.

Jill asked:
I love the monk's bag! Did you follow a pattern, or is it one of those things you just whip up?

Well Jill, first, thank you! Like I said, I love it! I kind of followed a photo of a monk's bag in one of my Japanese bag books, and took the dimensions of the straps, but everything else I made on my own. If anyone is interested in a tutorial (even one person!) I'd happily post one. It's an easy quick bag.

Kelly asked:
Hey, is that the same CK duvet that Carrie Bradshaw has on SATC?

What good eyes you have, Kelly! It is the same duvet. I bought it years and years ago, then I saw the same one on SATC. Isn't it the same old story, the bloggers create the trends and Hollywood copies them! But seriously, this duvet has really held up over the years - I really love the Calvin Klein linens (even though they can be expensive).

Onto the post! This spring and summer, instead of buying my clothes, I've decided to make them. Well, I'll still need to buy things like t-shirts and unmentionables, but here's a start.


Pattern - McCall 'sM5313 View A
Fabric - Amy Butler Slate Morning Glory, 2 yards
The idea behind this jumper was to create something that could have come from Anthropolgie, but it looks more like something from Urban Outfitters. Even though it makes me look four years old, it's a comfy dress that was easy to make. However, the pattern was a little more confusing than it needed to be, and there was a lack of detail that was lacking (e.g. topstiching around the top and straps) that I added myself.


Pattern - Simplicity 4589 View A
Fabric - Cotton Voile from Michael Levine Fabric, One yard
This is another one of those patterns I would never have bought if I didn't see it make on Nikki-Shell's blog. It's a cute simple pattern, a little boxy, but very versatile.

The fabric is from one of my favorite stores in the fashion district downtown, Michael Levine. It can be hit or miss, but they sometimes have great bargains, like this fabric, $2 a yard.


Pattern - Simplicity 4086, View F
Fabric - Re-form Pears from Superbuzzy, 2 yards
This is a home decorating fabric that was perfect for a skirt. The pears ran across both selvedges, so I still have a strip of pears that I can use for a bag or something else. Although I love the skirt, I still have issues with the sizing of skirt patterns. I like to wear my skirts low on my waist, so I made a size 14, but it was still a little high. Who are these women with skinny skinny waists who can wear size 8? I don't think they exist.


Pattern - McCall's M5042, View A
Fabric - Amy Butler Sage Lacework, 2 yards
I'm going to say this up front - I hated making this dress, from beginning to end. It turned out ok in the end, but the pain of making it has prevented me from objectively seeing it. Does that make sense? To me, it's a blur of seam ripping, seam ripping, and more seam ripping.

While I was making this dress, I realized that I'm not only high waisted, but thick waisted. So I wanted to find a pattern that was had a higher waist with a similar feeling. The problems occured when I decided to make the lining (which really didn't need it) and cutting the wide skirt, because it didn't fit onto my pre-shrunk fabric. A sidenote - I think Amy Butler's fabrics from her Lotus line are just fantastic. I know that everybody's using them, but I think they are still original enough to make a unique piece of clothing.

Anyways, I'm not going to bore you with even more details, but I'm glad it's done. How do you celebrate the completion of a dress?

Pizza with the family! This one was with olive oil, basil, garlic, romano and burrata cheeses... yummy...