Manic Pop

As I mentioned, I'm really getting into knitwear again as of late. Here are 3 great knitwear patterns from 2 different books I have - both from the early 70s. Download the images to zoom in and follow along to make your own! Lace shell tank top pattern, colorblock sweater pattern, and a knitting on the diagonal sweater pattern.  On the diagonal.  Lacy pullover. Colorblock sweater. Enjoy!

Have you ever sewn something that gave you SO much unnecessary grief? I have, and it was this dress. The patterns I made in about 3 hours on July 5th and though the hand-printing was tedious, it was fun. Of all things, the stupid zipper tripped me up! This is how you learn the hard way to hand-baste the zipper into the dress. (Extra work, but it's worth it!) So I hand-dyed this fabric from 2 yards of plain white fabric - assuming it may have been a poly-cotton blend. Who knows what the hell you're buying at that fabric store (2121 W. 21st St. in Chicago). At first, I was worried at it not picking up the Rit dye since it's made primarily for cotton, but it dyed just fine.  Home-dyeing is soooo easy! I just throw it in a pot with water and boil away. It's funny to think that this dress started from nothing - just a thought, a sketch, and a Photoshop manipulation. Here is the original Photoshop edit: This was created by throwing in this photo o...

I'm finally back! And with a new look...!  I'm so excited that it's finally fall-ish weather! I've had this dress in my closet now for about a month or so. Me and Max went to a garage sale right down the street and I bought this dress from a sweet old Polish lady who said her American name was "Harriet". She talked to us for about half an hour and said that this dress used to be her daughter's. I absolutely love polyester dresses! (I know - I'm weird.)  I think I bought it from her for about $2. I am a complete sucker for retro shirt dresses.  I think it's funny how I also have a thing for anything orange. Perhaps because it reminds me of my favorite time of year?   Even though this haircut is about a month old, it's new to everyone on here. About 2 1/2 years ago my hair was black and bob-ish. I don't know what happened - why did it get so long? Why was it my natural color when it was almost always black for 4 years prior? ...

   Today's retro installment comes from a book I found at a garage sale about 2-3 weeks ago by Mechanix Illustrated's How To Do It Encyclopedia. This sweet old Polish woman named Harriet was telling me all about her life and talking about her husband right in front of me ("He's ok, but eh! What the hell?" she said with a Polish accent coming through.) She also told me to "use your brain" when thinking about kids in the future, who you pick as a husband, etc. Hilarious but perhaps sound advice from a seemingly near-90 year old woman.  I'm assuming these were her husband's books he no longer cares about. They only had 2 of them and this one is Volume 14, "Sa through Sw", printed in 1961. I also got an awesome 60s polyester dress from her which she says was her daughter's (that will make an appearance soon enough!), a bag, and some curtains which fit perfectly in a window here. I...

So a few weeks ago I made patterns for a dress I was going to dye with a few Rit dyes (a garment dye, which is dyeing the garment AFTER it's made versus dyeing the fabric before making the item.) The dress was going to be watercolor-like hues, but on the bus one day, I got an idea for a print that does not yet exist ... or would be super-hard to find. Solution? Make your own fabric stamps! Prior to that, I had read a post on The Pineneedle Collective, Annika's blog about DIY stamps and decided it was time to play with some again. I had made some stamps in high school using an eraser and then again in college in my surface design class. The stamp I made in college had almost a plaid-like effect when stamped. I first drew out my design in my sketchbook - 2 different sizes of clouds and then some wavy lines for underneath the clouds and a layering effect. Then I transferred it onto a sheet of foam for the stamp part. (A sheet of foam is around 89 cents at most craft st...

I am totally in love with the idea of this rug! But anyone who knows me shouldn't be surprised as I like stripes, vintage, and anything remotely psychedelic looking.  The squares can be kept separate for rearranging or sewn together for a full rug. Be forewarned: these rugs take quite a long time to hook, so do this only if you have lots of free time. Or, I guess if you want to be working on it for years - whatever.  On the contrary, these knots don't take too long to learn - mostly just muscle memory. You only need to buy a rug hook (which is still sold in most kits in craft stores) as well as the pre-cut yarn. In recent years, I find this proves to be slightly difficult as rug-hooking is a dying art, but you may be able to come across these yarn pieces online.   Of course, the fun part is that you can do whatever colors you want. I like this little chart that explains the reasons why you would pick each colorway - a little color theory ...

  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...