And we have a winner

Congratulations, DHB! You're the proud new owner of the Bishop sewing book. Shoot me an email (my address is on the right) with you mailing address.

Additions to my library

This past Saturday I met a friend and headed to the Friends of Seattle Public Library book sale. It's a huge sale that happens twice a year, most of the books are donated by library patrons and some of them are books the library no longer wants. Everything is $1.

I made a beeline for the "domestic arts" section - the last time I was at this sale I found some great sewing books and this time was no different. Many vintage sewing books are real gems; Threads editor Nicole Smith just wrote a post about this very topic.


I found Jan Bones' Lingerie Secrets; that alone was worth the trip as it seems to be out of print, used copies are selling for around $35 online right now. And I got a Palmer/Pletsch book on tailoring, a Don McCunn book on patternmaking, and Fashion Sewing by the Bishop Method.


I also picked up The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, but this is the 1959 edition and I already have the 1966 edition. So I'm giving this one away! Leave a comment in this post and I'll draw a name on Saturday morning. (Edited to add: I'll ship anywhere, to the Antipodes and beyond!) Even if you already think you know it all, you can test your knowledge with the quizzes at the end of the book. Unfortunately I don't see an answer key anywhere. Must be in the teachers' edition...


This was in the "domestic arts" section too - Rescue Your Nails by Ji Baek, the founder of Rescue Beauty, a group of Manhattan nail salons and nail polish products, neither of which I've tried actually. My recent discovery of a few nail polish blogs has reignited my love affair with polish (a love affair that I know I share with Shannon and Cidell, among others) and I am learning a lot from this book.

Drumroll, please

The Random Number Generator told me that Sue in Australia will be the lucky recipient of the Patrones magazine! She is part of the BWOF sisterhood, so I'm thrilled to be sending another awesome pattern magazine her way. Sue, my email address is in the right sidebar, please write me with your mailing address.

There was an impressive range of answers to my query, "what's on your must-sew list this season?" I thought I might spot a trend, but it seems there's quite an assortment of coats, dresses, pants, and tops in our futures!

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I went to the first of my two "patternmaking 101" classes on Monday. The instructor worked at a local sportswear manufacturer, so she spoke a bit about pattern development "in the industry". She showed us how to mark patterns, how to walk a pattern, how to move darts (very cool!), and how to add a yoke, facings, or a buttonband using a bodice shell pattern that she provided.

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I'm sharing this just because my adrenaline is still pumping about it... The semi-short version: I'm standing downtown today around 6pm waiting for my bus to go home, iPhone in hand and earbuds in listening to music. A teenage boy walks up to me, swipes the phone out of my hand and takes off running. I chase after him, screaming at the top of my lungs "Stop him! Stop him! Stop him!" while everyone stands there and watches like we are filming a movie or something. A Good Samaritan, no, an Awesome Samaritan, named Neil joins the chase, and after about 4 blocks he gets my phone back, right as the police intercept. The kid gets arrested, I get my phone back, and Neil gets thanked profusely by me while the police write up the report.

What's on your must-sew list this season?

Somehow this summer I managed to snag some amazing coat fabrics; these two here are my favorites. One the left is a star-pattern quilted coating by Anna Sui. It was a total impulse purchase from Emma One Sock. I'm searching my BWOF back issues for an appropriate pattern. On the right is a plaid wool coating by Burberry; I got it at Denver Fabrics for a mere $7/yard! I believe it's the same fabric as this double breasted "topper" available at Nordstrom for $1300. So a new fall coat is definitely on my Fall 2008 must-sew list.

What's on your must-sew list this season? Let me know by leaving a comment in this post; on Thursday, September 25 I'll draw one of the names to receive this latest issue of Patrones that I picked up in Spain:



Patrones Extra issue 272 is full of patterns to kick-start your fall sewing, or with a fabric substitution they could easily be adapted for the spring/summer wardrobes that those of you in the southern hemisphere are now planning.

Nice, yeah? So go ahead and leave a comment. I'll ship this anywhere in the world. Good luck and happy sewing!

And the winner is...

Lovely is the winner of The Collection in the book giveaway! Check out her new-ish sewing blog; she is making the popular Simplicity 3631, I'm looking forward to seeing her version.

There were 46 people who entered the giveaway (and 2 people who commented but did not want to participate). This is the result of the random integer generator (I'm not sure how to save it as an image, and Blogger reformats it all when I copy and paste...):

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:40
Timestamp: 2007-10-22 03:11:08 UTC



Thank you to everyone who left a comment! It was nice to hear from many of you for the first time. Oh, and the best thing is that I have discovered more really great blogs to follow!

Book review & giveaway!

Remember a while back when I mentioned The Collection, a fictional tale of a seamstress in Chanel's atelier? Well, since then I received a copy of the book from Simon & Schuster in exchange for a review. Given the number of other reviews that have been popping up on blogs recently, I'd say I'm not the only one who was approached!

Well I can honestly say that my daily bus commute has been pure pleasure, thanks to this novel.

You may already be familiar with the general storyline: Isabelle is a provincial girl with a natural passion for sewing, fitting, and apparel design. Thanks to a stroke of luck, she ends up working on rue Cambon in Gabrielle Chanel's atelier. The story that ensues could easily be turned into a movie, it includes elements of deception, egoism, passion, yearning, and jealousy.

While reading this novel I learned about:

- The organization & promotion of staff in the couture workrooms
- Garment development - from idea, to toile, to final masterpiece - in a couture house
- Fashion publicity of the time, which largely depended on celebrities wearing gowns to various parties and events, with the goal of having photographs of the garments showing up in newspapers (much like today's Academy Awards, etc)
- Style theft - cheap copies of unique, desirable garments - was as much of a problem then as now

Oh, and I will never look at a vintage Vogue Paris Original pattern by Jean Patou the same again..!

Bottom line: Reading this book is the next best thing to actually sewing.

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And now for the giveaway!

Simon & Schuster was so generous in providing me a copy of this book, I want to pass along that love by giving it to one of my readers! Here are the details:

If you'd like a chance to win this book, leave a comment for me under this post anytime between now and Sunday, October 21 at 8:00 pm (20:00) PST (US west coast).

I will assign each entrant a sequential number based on the order in which the comments are received, i.e. 1, 2, 3, etc. On Sunday evening, I will use the random number generator to choose a number/winner. I'll announce who the lucky person is that evening.

International readers are welcome to participate! I'll gladly ship the book anywhere in the world.

(There are some faint marks on the outside of the book due to it being shuffled all over the city in my bag for 2 weeks. However, the dust jacket has been sitting on my nightstand the whole time and is in pristine condition...)