weekend links

Hello friends!

I hope you had a lovely Easter holiday. It’s great to be back “home” again after our travels. S commented as we were driving back to Madrid that it really does feel like home now. The first few trips we took felt a little strange to return to a different city and call it home, but if you’ve ever moved you’ll know that feeling well.

Anyway, I’ve been meaning to tell you about a couple of website improvements we’ve made recently. I think you might find them to be useful.

First, we recently added a “Learn to Sew” page (see the link at the top of the website on the right) that includes some of our most useful website content for the new sewist. If you’re just getting starting with sewing, or if you know someone who is, this might be a good resource for guidance and common questions. We’ll continue to add to it over time, so if you have questions send them our way.

We’ve also added a feature that makes it easier to find blog posts and tutorials related to specific patterns. If you head over to the shop and view the page for any particular pattern, you can click on the “blog posts” tab to see all blog posts that apply to that particular style. For example, here’s a link directly to that tab on the new Classic Shirt pattern page. You can see all the posts and tutorials I’ve written including the introductory posts, styling inspiration and fabric ideas, how to add a machine bartack, how to add a hem gusset, etc. (Hey, I just noticed that if you click on the “discussion” tab under that pattern you can also see all forum discussions for that style, too. Todd must have slipped that one it when I wasn’t looking. Neat!)

In other news, next week we’ll be announcing dates for an upcoming Classic Shirt sew-along, so stay tuned and start gathering your materials for that! (By the way, do you also know that you can find all our past sew-alongs under the “sew alongs” tab on the main page of the blog?)

In the meantime, this weekend I’ll be getting started sewing two chulapas, the traditional dress for Madrid, for the quickly-approaching San Ildefonso Day. So there will be lots of polka dots in my life for the next few weeks. I’m sewing for S and her best friend. Should be fun! I’ll be using the Building Block Dress book, so if you’re interested in following along keep an eye on my personal Instagram account. Here are some great examples of the chulapa from our local dance store, Maty, where we buy all S’s flamenco supplies.

Pinterest Picks

Building Block Dress book, lengthened Butterfly Blouse to a dress length.

A couple of nice details to admire. I may need to incorporate that sleeve placket into a Maritime Knit Top one of these days. Also, those scallops (below, right) are basically a horizontal tuck with a scalloped edge. So easy to do, especially with the Building Block Dress.

Weekend projects with boxes?

I’m thinking about a longer linen/cotton chambray SoHo Skirt for summer. The midi (below, left) is a tricky length for me, but I might aim for something just below the knee. Also, we were talking about women dressing their age as we get older. Here’s a lovely example of a woman with style.

Weekend Links

• Oddly mesmerizing.
• I had no idea that the whole Pantone color system developed from bird classification. Did you?
• A friend and I have been discussing how many of these fashion exhibits we can manage to squeeze into our travel plans this year. I’m optimistically hoping to catch four, maybe five. Will you see any of them?
• At Marimekko the future and the past are closely related.
• New York’s Easter parade is a crazy tradition full of wonderful fashion and over-the-top hats, as proven in these previously unpublished photos by Bill Cunningham.
• Here’s a great defense of the ugly sports uniforms of our youth. And they were ugly!

OK, I’ll see you next week right here with all sorts of fun stuff, including my spring core wardrobe, a new Ask Me column, and another favorite Liesl + Co. pattern. Have a great weekend!