what did you do the night before halloween?

the ladies of crispy bikinis {sue and cristina}

snuck away from cbhq for a couple of hours to go see

the neighbourhood at hollywood palladium last night ❤

ultimate blast the speakers, let your hair down

and sing your heart out kind of music!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM KARL LAGERFELD

Hello everyone and Happy Halloween(ish)! As those of you who saw my Halloween posts last year know, I am crazy for this holiday. I would say it was my Christmas, if Christmas wasn't also my Christmas. Montreal takes getting dressed up in ridiculous costumes VERY seriously and there is nothing I love more than being crammed in a tiny bar with giant cactuses, Walter Whites and Party Robots.

I'm still recovering from the weekend (so much dancing -  I'm starting to feel my age) but I thought I'd share my costume with you this year. I debated for a few weeks about what I should be. I didn't have the energy to do a repeat of last year's epic monthlong costume-making extravaganza and was aiming for something thriftable, low budget and with minimal sewing.

In serious contention was Anne of Green Gables (I just thought such a sweet and wholesome costume would look HILARIOUS next to a sexy nurse/cat/dinosaur), Stevie Nicks & Lindsey Buckingham OR Lucille & Buster Bluth (both kiboshed because my Lindsey/Buster didn't feel like going out), Jerry Blank, Little Edie from Grey Gardens or.... Karl Lagerfeld.

It ended up deciding itself as I already had most of the components and also... I love this weirdo. Such a polarizing, iconoclastic figure, he exemplifies all that is sort of wrong and kind of fabulous about the fashion industry. He's an icon. And icons make very good Halloween costumes. (Please check out the documentary Lagerfeld Confidential. The man is an enigma wrapped in a tuxedo wrapped in a sound bite).

"I'm very down to earth. Just not this earth".

I call it "Karl Dragerfeld".

I already had a black jacket with a tailcoat, skinny black pants and black ankle boots. I picked up a high-collared blouse (SCORE!) at a thrift store and got the crucifex, fingerless gloves and sunglasses at a costume place and the dollar store. I made a cravat out of some drapey black fabric from my stash. All told I think I spent $25. 

I teased my hair into a dandy ponytail and coated it with some pretty heinous white spray. It didn't look 100% white but I didn't feel like buying a wig. I did a crazy smoky eye (wearing sunglasses at night, while very Cory Hart,  is not very condusive to conversation) and a nude lip. Threw on a military overcoat and a gold fan and just tried to look as stern, starved and fierce as possible.

Unfortunately I didn't get that many photos. Here is one of me and my friend Mike dressed up as Alien/James Franco from Spring Breakers (he actually got his hair cornrowed!!!!)

It was a very fun night, until some crazy person stole my dollar store glasses, but I managed to dance it off. Washing all the white out of my hair was another matter entirely!

What are you dressing up as this year?

More Simplicity S-Series Patterns!

Hello lovely readers. Before I get started on some serious homework this weekend, I wanted to show you what I have in my sewing room right now!

As most of you know, I collect a particular line of vintage sewing patterns created by Simplicity in the 1930's, which I call the S-Series. There were maybe 23 different patterns made in this line (I'm still trying to place the exact year and number) and as of today, I now have 20 of them, including the two loveliest that I've been looking for the longest!
Below are Simplicity S605 and S612, two of the most beautiful sewing patterns I have ever seen.

Sadly both are missing a couple of pieces so I'm still hunting for complete copies...

I want to extend a very warm thank you to those of you who have emailed me to let me know about patterns up for sale that I might not have seen yet. I owe most of my success in finding these patterns to you, my dear readers!

I owe my particular success in finding the above to two different Etsy pattern sellers who were kind enough to contact me and offer me incredibly fair prices for their patterns. It's pretty common knowledge how badly I wanted these patterns and neither of them took advantage of my weekeness, so thank you!
These pattern sellers are Amy of Vienna's Grace and Mary Beth of Retro Monkeys. Both of these ladies have incredibly beautiful vintage patterns in very reasonable prices so I recommend checking them out if you're in a pattern buying mood.

I also added two others to my collection, Simplicity S619: a darling baby romper pattern, and S609; a beautiful nightgown pattern with pretty gathering details at the bodice.

So what's the plan? What am I going to do with these lovely patterns once I have them all? Why, sew them, of course! Granted I'll have to find some small children to dress in the few children's patterns included with this line... but I'll worry about that later...

For now, I have homework which involves me drafting half a dozen bodice patterns in various princess seam variations and since it's going to take for bloody ever, I must get to it.

Happy weekend!

Introducing a new Depew and a Sponsor Shout-out!

Hello lovely readers!
I wanted to tell you why it's been quiet the last few days on A Few Threads  Loose. After recovering from the flu last week, my husband and I were reading the morning paper over coffee when we noticed an ad for German Shepherd puppies. Puppies! We've been wanting one for quite a while now and we've finally settled enough into our new home to seriously consider it. Minutes later we were in the car (enthusiastic much?) and on our way to nearby Salinas where we met and fell in love with a great little pup!
My dear readers, I present Butters "Spaghetti Pants" Depew!

Please pardon the pile of boxes. Some things are just safer in boxes than they are laying around my yet-to-be organized studio.

Butters is 2 months old and runs around my house like a fully grown shark (mouth wide open, teeth at the ready) with floppy legs and too-big paws.

Within hours of bringing him home he was playing very enthusiastically with Vinny-the-cat, and within 2 days they became best buds, practically inseparable. When Butters goes to bed in his kennel, we have to pry the cat out so he's not stuck in there all night!

Best buds, playing 'bop the puppy'.

So naturally anyone who has brought home a new puppy or new baby knows that I haven't been sleeping that much, or getting much homework done, or even been working on any new projects... My days have mostly been composed of giving Butters constant attention when he's awake, either feeding him, making sure he's chewing on previously approved items, or letting him out every hour for potty breaks. When he sleeps, I either sleep with him (I'm pretty run down), catch up on cleaning, or work on the homework that's been piling up. But we're getting better this week, sleeping a bit longer and almost set in the potty training department (thank goodness!).

But enough about the giant bags under my eyes and the chew marks in my slippers, I also wanted to introduce you to a new sponsor!

Meet Phonograph Fashions! Kate, the talented proprietress of this great little custom made clothing shop, finds her inspiration in the styles of the early 20th century to create a wonderful 1920's-esque line of clothing.
In her about page, Kate says:

"Some of my designs are taken from the pages of antique sewing books, and some are based on illustrations or old photographs. Every garment is created entirely by me and is usually one-of-a-kind."
So what has Kate been inspired to make lately? How about lovely blouses in gorgeous colors that practically channel Daisy Buchanan...

1920's Inspired Blouse - Image courtesy of Phonograph fashions.

Or better yet, a dress that could be worn to the next Gatsby party, make the perfect 1920's flapper costume, or be worn to the office...

1920's Inspired Lace Dress - Image courtesy of Phonograph fashions.

Sigh... most of you know I have a soft spot for the 1920's so I congratulate Kate on making some gorgeous garments for those of us who either cant sew, or are much too busy chasing after puppies to try...

SEQUIN S.O.S.

Hi pals. Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Today, despite my crippling hangover (I am too old to be cajoled into doing shots of Jamieson, groan), I decided to jumpstart my sewjo by working on a muslin for a sequin dress I want to wear to my friends wedding in November.

I have a scant 2 yards of this GORGEOUS bronze chevron sequin jersey I received at a meetup swap. I am super apprehensive about sewing with sequins so I would like to make a very simple mini dress with minimal seams and darts to minimise the amount of sequins I will have to carefully remove at all the sewing lines.

Coincidentally, I had a neon chevron stretch cotton in my stash so I used that today to test a simple shift pattern. I am having major gaping issues at the back as you can see below. Anyone have any suggestion for how I can fix this? It is a common fitting issue for me - normally I just pinch off the excess at the zipper but I can't do that if I want to match my print. I'm sure this is an easy pattern adjustment I should be making all the time but I don't know what it is. Thoughts?

That fitting issue aside, now that I have the shift made I'm wondering if it's the right choice. I want something simple since the sequins are so crazy, but I'm also considering making a trapeze/tent dress instead. Here are the two options:

Option #1

A 60's shift with short sleeves and the sequins running horizontally. The pattern pieces are slim enough that I can squeeze them all in on the crossgrain. It would look something like this:

Option #2 is a modified version of this tent dress I made a few years back. It's basically a swingy a-line with no darts. I wear this dress frequently and find it really flattering despite the fact that it has almost no shape. I would eliminate the pockets, yolk seam and mock turtleneck. Here is the dress again:

Because the pattern pieces are quite wide, my only option is to run the chevrons vertically. It would look like something like this:

What do you think? Shift dress with chevrons running horizontally or tent dress with chevrons running vertically? Maybe you have an even better pattern suggestion. The sequined fabric is quite stretchy so I could also do a slimmer fitting t-shirt style dress, but I kind of liked the idea of a looser fitting 60's silhouette. I gratefully welcome your thoughts.

Now I'm going to go collapse on the couch with my tea.

#wcw // nothing compares to crispy bikinis girls

it's #womancrushwednesday

share which crispy bikinis girls you're crushing on

by mentioning @crispybikinis and using hashtag #crispybikinisgirls

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AUTUMNAL SEWJO & A BROCADE MINI

Oy. What is it about the change from summer to fall that just makes me want to binge eat sweet potatoes and curl up under an afghan and do NOTHING at all? The same sewjo downer happened this time last year and I'm worried it will become some kind of dreaded annual tradition. Like my pap exam or the day we are forced to set the clocks back and lose an extra, precious hour of sun.

I'm sure it has something to do with all the cake I have on my list. It is rather hard to get excited about making pants. This evening I was about to cut out the muslin for my Simplicity Perfect fit trousers but got terribly depressed thinking about the many changes I will have to do to make them the skinny cigarette pants of my dreams. Muslins are not really the energy boost I need for my sewing batteries, I fear.

Last week I worked on a white cotton sateen Sewaholic Cordova jacket that really didn't match the vision i had in my head, and it is hanging in my studio sans lining, giving me the UFO stink-eye. So I'm thinking I may listen to myself and just take a breather for the next few weeks. Catch up on Game of Thrones and knit and not make beat myself up for feeling uninspired. I do have a rather big backlog of items to shoot and share, so hopefully things will at least perk up on the blog front.

Take this brocade mini for example....

I scored this precioussss  metallic brocade yardage during my 2012 trip to NY and knew from the start it was destined to be made into the Rachel Comey mini from Vogue 1247. Those of you who also follow the magic of Carolyn have likely drooled over her many, many versions of this pattern. It is really one of the most beautifully designed skirts patterns I've encountered. Some clever seaming and construction result in inline pockets along the hip seam. The slightly a-line shape is perfect for a mini. And quite the mini it is.... I did the smallest 1/2" hem I could squeeze out and I still found it borderline immodest. One has to be careful picking things up (bend at the knees Heather, not at the waist!) but that is thankfully aided by wearing black tights.

I only had 2 yds of 35" wide fabric so couldn't really bother with print matching. I think in a pattern this busy it's not the end of the world.

I *may* have bungled the waistband in the back... and I'm not sure how I feel about my lapped zipper. I was out of invisible zips and thought I would try working on my technique, but I think this garment would have been much better served with something less obvious.

The fabric felt quite stiff when I bought it but softened substantially when I washed it. I was nervous about it being too drapey, so underlined it with cotton batiste and serged all my seams. It got a lot of wear at the end of the summer, including a long day fabric shopping in the Garment District when I was back again in NY in September (felt apropos to be wearing something I had made from my last trip there). Unfortunately the brocade gets snagged easily. As much as I love it, I'm not sure this lovely lady will stand the test of time.

I've put on a little weight in the last few months so while the size 12 fit perfectly initially, it is now a little lacking in the ease department. I made another one I will share shortly that I let out a little in the waist and it is much less likely to get unbuttoned when I am sitting at my desk, trying not to think about the cookies for sale in the cafe downstairs.

Back to sweet potatoes and afghans. Hope you beauties are enjoying the season change more than I. If anyone has any tips for getting out of this lazy funk that doesn't involve "exercising" or "cutting out sugar", I would be eternally grateful.

Make your Own... Rachel McAdams' Notebook Bathing Suit

Every once in a while, I get emails asking if I have any sewing patterns that would make a bathing suit like the one worn by Rachel McAdams in The Notebook. For those of you not familiar with the movie, it is cinematic perfection, and so are the clothes!

I always have the same answer  (YES!) and I finally decided that I would put together a post to share with you as well, in case you decide you'd like to look this 1940's beach chic too!

The bathing suit in question is this lovely but modest two-piece number below in rich red with a basket weave print at the top:

And her fella isn't too bad either...

And yes, I do have the perfect bathing suit pattern for it. It was so close that I went ahead and re-did the graphics to match!

Depew #1002 Bathing Suit Pattern

The bathing suit comes in both one and two piece versions with a shorts lining underneath.
Right now the pattern is only available in a 36" bust, but it also comes with a free copy of my pattern grading e-book so that you can easily re-size it if you need to.

But what about fabrics? Many 1940's bathing suits called for rayon jersey (Lycra not being around yet) and fabric.com has a pretty good selection to get a close copy, including their stretch rayon jersey knit in red.

But what about the print? You might have better luck shopping for fabric on Etsy. Here are a few great prints:

Vintage polyester print.

Dahlia cotton print.

Chevron Moda Print.

And last but not least, if you want to be decked out from head to toe, there's even a turban pattern that you can make from leftover scraps!

Depew #1014 Turban Pattern

Now if only I could get my husband to dress like Ryan Gosling did in the movie...

Oh wait, he does!

(My husband is in the Air Force)

Sigh... I'm a sucker for the uniform.

looks good to us ☺

#caughtincb

our good amiga kelly wearing her custom lynyrd skynyrd crispy bikinis suit

x

pacifico beer

x

laying out in the cabo sand

we can make any crispy bikinis style featuring pretty much

any band, musician, sports team, alcohol, etc your heart desires!

just eMail your request to order@crispybikinis.com

if you're interested in pricing + purchasing info ❤

just added: pre made inventory

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Adventures in Sewing... Part 5

Some of you might remember that I have a rather large collection of vintage sewing pattern flyers from companies like Butterick, Simplicity, McCall's and Vogue. They are great sources of information, good for researching patterns and styles from all sorts of eras.
Among my collection are several McCall Style News Booklets, some of which I have digitized in my Etsy shop. My favorite part about these is that in the late 1940's, many of them included little snippet articles with great sewing tips.

These little articles were usually a one page feature called "Adventures in Sewing" by Marian Corey, author of the 1951 "McCall's Complete Book of Dressmaking".

When I first started A Few Threads Loose, I shared a few of these in a series of posts and today I have finally found another to share!

 Today's Adventures in Dressmaking lesson comes from McCall Style News from June, 1948.

The lesson in question shows you how to face and stabilize scallops. This is a handy thing to know how to do and can be used for scallop hems, scallop trim closures, and other uniquely shaped facings.
Here is a close-up:

The dress being mentioned is McCall 7294, worn by the lovely lady in the middle of the picture below. Should you ever be lucky enough to find this pattern, you'll have a hand tutorial for the hardest part!

For those of you who want to add some decorative scallops to your current sewing projects, I have a  a most indispensable tool digitized to help you create your own, should you want one. This scallop ruler is so handy for adding scalloped edges to your sewing projects, and for re-drafting the scallops on a pattern that you've re-sized.

To make your own, you can just print it out on thick paper and cut, or print it on regular paper and paste it to thick construction paper.
Get the free Scallop Ruler PDF.

Check out these other great Adventures in Sewing posts:

• All About Saddle Stitching
• How to Enlarge a Pattern at the Bust
• About Marking Your Patterns