Button & Snap

Versatile silk blouse from V1350 dress pattern

It seems like whenever I tell someone I sew, they ask if I made the clothes I have on – does anyone else run into this as well? Of course, I always wish I could answer yes. Lately, I think about this question whenever I get dressed in the morning  – and try to always […]

I’m a certified tailor! Here’s my final project.

Last post, I showed you my design for the Night and Day dress but I’m still trying to get my mitts on a pattern, so that project is on hold for the moment.  This summer, I took my final exams for the bespoke women’s tailoring certification I’ve been working towards. The biggest part was practical […]

Smocked Night and Day Dress Contest Entry

Unless you’ve been sewing under a rock lately, rumors that blogger Gertie has released a new dress pattern have probably drifted past your ears. It has 72 different options (seriously!), which makes it quite the buy-in-bulk-and-save deal, but I hadn’t really considered getting it because I have a slew of untouched patterns at home. Until […]

Atomic criss-cross dress

I’ve been working on my pattern-making skills lately.  After drafting my own basic block – a plain fitted dress pattern used as the base for creating more complicated styles – I tried making a few of my own designs. This style was my favorite, so after trying it out in muslin, I made it into […]

Practice skirt for German tailoring exam (Part 1)

I’m still working through my apprenticeship as a tailor here in Germany. Partway through last fall, I was able to skip from the first year to the second year of the program. So, this April, I reached the halfway point of the (usually) three-year apprenticeship – which is marked by a big tailoring exam.

Apprenticed as a woman’s bespoke tailor and …tired

Hi there… remember me? It’s been forever since I last posted. I have been struggling to write the last few months. I worked so long on the same project, Marie Jokerette’s dress, that after a while, I couldn’t convince myself that anyone would be interested in continuing to hear about the same project. So even though […]

How I trimmed Jokerette’s skirt (and almost tore my hair out in frustration)

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Jokerette’s skirt is made from the same pattern I used for her petticoats – trimmed with a raggedy ruffle and striped puffs of silk. It’s made from an iridescent taffeta I had in my stash. Yay stashbusting! Iridescent fabric didn’t exist in the 18th century, but that’s a detail I’m willing to overlook for this costume.