Manic Pop

  So I recently finally sat down to look through this little book I have. It's about a magazine size and I think my mom sent it to me a while ago. I originally thought it was just a sewing how-to manual (which it kind of is) but it has some awesome full-color photos! The publishing date is 1969 and is right around the time period of much of my design inspiration. My favorite decade range encompasses about 1965 to 1975 and 1969 is almost smack-dab in the middle!  This magazine is perfect for a beginning sewer as it shows you how to measure yourself, body types/shapes, fit & fabric, helpful hints/tricks and illustrated step-by-steps. I'm not sure of it's availability anymore, but I am always on the hunt at thrift stores for how-to sewing books, craft books, interiors from 1965-75. There are many to find!   In this post, I thought I would share some pages from this for design and sewing inspiration!  This book actua...

The sewing room has been quite out of season lately as it's super-warm upstairs so apologies for the lack of updates, but that's why. (I've also been working on some art and have some Holga photos developed with some more new ones on the way so those are things to look forward to!) Meanwhile, I cooked up an idea about how to use almost ALL of my scrap fabric from the past 8 years I've lived in Chicago. This fabric has traveled with me to different apartments - some have been part of projects from my first year in fashion design school, some are fabrics I've inherited (thanks Mom), fabrics I rescued from thrift stores, or leftover fabric from recent projects. I hereby present my Mix n Match dress! This idea is so simple, it really isn't an idea at all.... but you get what I'm doing. The idea is to have a super-simple design block with an array of variations. Most designers do this anyway - save patterns of a few basic design blocks then manipulate ...

While not a vintage craft or sewing pattern, I wanted to share my excitement of discovering these books at a recent trip to Chicago's MCA. I always enjoy checking out the gift shop and one of these amazing books was on the shelf. Apparently, they were only in Japanese up until not too long ago. Nice to have an English edition to follow along to! These books are full of insane pattern-making how-tos! I recommend these for an experienced pattern maker as they can be a bit complicated even for someone trained in pattern making like me. My favorite teacher in college was Japanese as well - someone I learned a TON from. She worked for Issey Miyake for a bit and gave me an appreciation for the complexity (or simplicity) of making sewing patterns. I believe she considered fashion design "soft sculpture" in a way and that changed a lot for me once I looked at it that way. To this day, I get pretty excited about seeing and working with sewing patterns. Fashion design ...