Hello, friends! We just learned, last week, that I’ll be headed to Vicenza, Italy, to exhibit at the Abilmente Fair next weekend! I’m very excited, especially since I’ve never been to Italy and have heard that Vicenza is the most beautiful city there. (With apologies to all those other beautiful Italian cities–I mean, how does one choose?) In any case, I hope to have a little time to explore when I’m not at the show. Any suggestions for places I must go and restaurants that can’t be missed? I’d love your recommendations. It looks like Teatro Olimpico, below, needs to be on my short list.
At the show itself I’ll be sewing and chatting and generally hanging out, so if you go I really hope you’ll stop and introduce yourself. I’ll bring a small collection of patterns to sell and some other goodies to give away, and I’ll be sewing with my new Woodland Clearing fabrics so you can see them in person before they are available in stores.
What else? I’m going to try to finish my Gallery Dress in time to wear it to the show, but since we didn’t bring any samples along to Spain, I’m also trying to sew a few things to display. It’s going to be a few wild days of flying pins until I leave on Wednesday! Wish me luck. Sewing is slow going these days until the delivery of my tools arrives.
In the meantime, here are a few things I wanted to share with you.
Pinterest Links
While in Vicenza, I hope to find a fabric store or two, and I’ll be looking for fabric to make a skirt like this one. I’m dreaming of a wool or silk/wool blend, and I’ll use the Lisette B6182 A-line skirt pattern, maybe without the center pleat. The addition of a half-tie belt like this is a must and would be so easy to do. I love this length.
I’ll also be looking for fabric for my upcoming Lisette pajama pattern! It will be included in the next Butterick catalog (winter collection, due in a couple of weeks). Many of you have requested a pajama patterns over the years, and I’m very pleased with this one. I’ll give you a complete introduction soon, but in preparation I’m thinking about fabrics. I really like this trend of wearing the pajama top (in fancy fabrics, of course) as a shirt. Done well, it’s really cute and not too sloppy or lazy looking. Silk pajamas? With piping? Um, yes please!
This photo reminds me of the Playtime Dress, which would be so cute in plaid, and especially tartan, for fall. I think I included a Kaufman tartan in our equipment shipment (we had to ship my dress forms and sewing machines, a few books, and our big computer monitor for editing photos), which should be arriving any day now. Who’s with me on this sewing project?
Is this not the most adorable sewing box?
I forget where I found this photos, but it’s such a clever and unusual way of finishing edges and seam allowances: use a bias binding applied to the outside of the garment so the edges are emphasized and become an essential design element. I think it would be fun to sew the Carousel Dress this way.
Weekend Reading (and Watching)
- Video: If you see someone walking around with a bean sprout sticking out of their head, now you’ll know why.
- I really enjoyed this interview with Aaron Sorkin, but I especially liked this question and answer, which made me laugh out loud:
Q: You’ve said you would fit in well in the 1940s. Do you long for that era’s more firmly delineated cultural roles? Less moral ambiguity?
A: Honest to God, what I meant was that men wore hats. - Video: A real penguin with a penguin backpack? This totally made my day. Wouldn’t it be fun to send him one of the penguin backpacks from my book?
- I linked to this article on Tuesday, but it’s worth linking again. Why your next clothing purchase should be expensive, and how that purchase will cause you to buy less and to buy better.
Monday is a holiday in the U.S. and in Spain. What are your plans for the weekend? Whatever they are, I hope you have a wonderful time.