Notes From Neptune

I write about people, places, and things.

WAF2016 #6: The Schoolhouse Tunic

I told you guys a I sewed a thing this past fall. And I really really did. Pattern is The Schoolhouse Tunic from Sew Liberated, fabric is some of the lovely gray-on-gray stripe brushed cotton from Moda’s Dapper Luke collection (that I got from the shop, of course). I cut a straight 12, like I did with my last SL pattern, the Clara Dress. The only change I made was.. Read More

WAS2016 Project #6: Butterick 5639 Dress

There are days in the summertime in New York (and I am certain other places as well) that it’s so hot and humid that you want to wear the absolute bare minimum of fabric that modesty dictates you must. This dress is meant for days like that. A crazy rayon challis I found on the remnant rack at P&S Fabrics (RIP, my first fabric store in the city), this material.. Read More

Breakfast Fish, Vikings, and the Very Purple Dress

Longtime readers of the blog and knowers of me will be familiar with Maggie. So once upon a time in her junior year of high school, Maggie went to Sweden as an exchange student. She stayed with a lovely family, and promptly fell in love with their son. As doomed adolescent romances tend to go, she left and they split, but she kept in touch with him and the rest.. Read More

Finished Object: Mesa Dress

From Colette’s Seamwork magazine, the Mesa Dress. Apt pairing of fabric and pattern? Methinks yes. Fabric is a rayon jersey I got from the same Craftsy sale as the tank dress from last summer. I’d had it earmarked for this specific pattern, and then (big shock) added this project to the Wardrobe Architect pile. It’s a simple shirtdress style, very comfy and good for wearing over leggings in the fall and winter… Read More

Finished Object: Spellbound Anna Dress

By Hand London’s ubiquitous Anna Dress, in the midi length with boat neck. I stitched it up in one of Cotton+Steel’s Spellbound prints, released for Halloween. I mean, it’s CROCHETED SPIDERWEBS, people. With spiders. SERIOUSLY. How could I not get this fabric? As you might infer from the witch hat perched atop it, I wore this for my Halloween costume to the store to hand out candy. But since I.. Read More

Finished Object: Clara Dress

Otherwise known as “The Octopod Dress.” I bought the fabric and notions for this at Brooklyn General right before I started working there (Cotton + Steel Mystery Food Cotton Lawn with brass buttons). It’s something of a joke that all the staff there purchased some of this fabric, so that the first bolt sold out before the customers even got to see it. 🙂 My plan was to make this.. Read More

Summer’s Last Gasp

It’s official, y’all. Summer’s over. But before it bit the dust, I managed to finish one last “summery” thing–this rayon jersey tank dress. Otherwise known as McCall’s 6347, this was an easy-peasy one to put together with the help of the lovely Veronica (my serger). I had to chop off quite a bit of length and width, as this is one of the patterns purchased before I really got into.. Read More

Finished Object: Mississippi Avenue #2

Yeah, I made another one. It’s just so comfy I couldn’t help it. Plus, dresses! I added some pockets, but other than that I worked this up exactly as directed by the pattern. I had this gingham in stash intended for another project, but as soon as I finished the blouse view, I reassigned it. I love this pattern. It’s simple, easy to wear, and quick. Perfect for summer. A.. Read More

Travels With Myself and Veronica

Whew! It’s been a busy couple months around here, what with the Husband-Dude injuring both his hands in a motorcycle accident, heading to New Mexico to make a movie, and starting New Awesome Job in earnest. Not to mention jaunts to the beach, the botanical garden, and exploring NYC’s forgotten borough, Staten Island. Things have been so busy, in fact, that I’m going to skip right over all of that and.. Read More

Sergin’

Several years ago, when cleaning out her Florida condo and consolidating her sewing machine armada, my Nanny Jo gave me a serger. Sergers, for those of you not intimately familiar with the sewing world and its many strange and terrible nuances, are used for overlocking. Overlocking is a very useful type of stitch for finishing raw edges of fabric so they don’t ravel; and, because it has a lot of.. Read More