weekend links

Hello friends!

It’s a stressful time, isn’t it? Here in Madrid, the schools are all closed and we’re being asked to stay home as much as possible. S’s teachers are doing a good job of sending a steady stream of homework to aid in this endeavor (!), and we are assuming that the city will soon be on lock-down to slow the growth of the virus. I hope you are doing everything you can to stay home as well. After all, there is always plenty of sewing to do, right?

Our spring photo shoot is being delayed a bit because of the virus and because Todd (who is also our photographer) broke his arm the other day, but the patterns are ready to go just as soon as we can gather our models.

In the meantime, I have a few links and photos to share with you.

Pinterest Picks

The photo below, left, makes me really want to sew a navy linen Saint-Germain Wrap Dress. And the photo on the right reminds me of our Terrace Dress, which works great in linen!

For some reason, I’m liking little girls and tiered ruffles these days. You could make both of these styles with our Building Block Dress.

Weekend Reading

• First things first: do you subscribe to the New York Times’ fashion newsletter, Open Thread? Vanessa Friedman sends out her newsletter every Friday. It’s free, and I just love it. At the end of each newsletter, she answers a reader’s fashion question. That alone makes the newsletter worthwhile, but it’s also a great way to keep up on the industry, the headlines, etc.
• As an early birthday gift to myself this year, I signed up for a one-year subscription to Lupa, a Spanish-learning app that makes use of one of my favorite podcasts, Radio Ambulante. It’s a fantastic way to improve your Spanish listening comprehension, and I highly recommend it. (I’ve been using it for a couple of months now and I’m noticing a marked improvement of my audio comprehension, which is especially noticeable to me since we have people from many different Latin American countries at our church.) Also, the podcast stories are fabulous.
• Speaking of improving language skills, a couple of years ago I tried a few months of French lessons with Frantastique and loved it. The same company has just released lessons in Spanish and German as well, and they’re so fun! Try it, especially if you’re stuck at home for a few weeks.
• Fair Isle seems like a very cozy, colorful place.
• Here’s a very sweet, thoughtful piece on the inner life of handbags.
• If you’ve stocked up your pantry to wait out the virus, here are some excellent suggestions for using what you’ve stored. (Pro tip: if your area hasn’t shut down already, do your stocking up early so you can avoid the run on toilet paper, pasta, etc.!)
• I was a technical/athletic clothing designer before I started this company, so I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for technical gear. Here’s a nice piece about why functional jackets can be more appealing than fashion.

Ok, have a great weekend. And hurry back next week, because we have a really special dress to show you, in addition to a few other sewing projects I think you’ll like. Stay healthy, and remember to check on your elderly or infirm neighbors to make sure they have what they need!