Patterns & Planning

I thought it might be wise to take stock of my dress patterns. Surprisingly, I have quite a few! I'll admit, I did impulsively purchase a few this year when they were on crazy sale. But I also have a small collection of vintage patterns which I inherited. I don't normally like stashing, but patterns are small and my collection still fits in a shoebox so I'm not too worried about it.

Before I dive into showing you everything I've got to work with, I wanted to highlight a pretty exciting discovery. If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me post about my love of this little number, from Modcloth:

Well, I spotted this Butterick Retro reprint at the fabric store the other day. Pretty close, wouldn't you say?

I was pretty excited.

So, what else do I have to work with? First, there's the patterns I bought this year that I'm still pretty in love with:

Then, there's these, which kind of leave me kind of scratching my head about why I bought them. But hey, they might have some potential:

But the most exciting bunch is the inherited vintage. I actually originally had quite a few more, but I culled the collection a while ago. These are all in the 14-16-18 size range. Unfortunately, most of the ones I like best are 14-16 and my measurements indicate that I'm an 18 in vintage sizing (as opposed to a 16 by today's Big 4 standards). I'm not sure yet if it'll be possible for me to grade them up, but I'm sure I'll develop that skill sooner or later?

First, my very favourite. (Why, oh why does it have to be a size 14?):

And, all the rest:

(That last one is particularly awesome, isn't it?)

I think it's safe to say that it's unlikely I'll need to buy any more patterns this year! Especially if you consider that I also have to do the Lonsdale and the Bombshell dresses (for which I already have the fabric and everything).

I'm pretty excited to get going... right after I finish this skirt I'm working on. (More on that in a day or two!)

It's Official!

He's finally, legally Mr. Modiste ;)

Hopefully things will slowly return to normal around here over the next few weeks!

Score

In anticipation of my first skirt project, I ordered an invisible zipper foot for my sewing machine. It turns out that the place to go for Janome parts in Vancouver is actually the Pfaff store... I didn't realize they were affiliated! In any case, that's great for me because it's right on Granville, smack dab in the middle of my commute home. I was worried this foot would be expensive, but it only set me back twelve dollars. Win!

My assistant inspects the merchandise

A few doors down, there was a carpet store with a few going out of business sale signs in the window. Now, I'm not in the market for a carpet, but they had a rack of pashminas outside. Upon closer inspection of the goods (and the signage), I realized that this was something I've been seeking for a long time: REAL pashminas. Affordable ones. Clearance sale, twenty five dollars each, 60% pashmina and 30% silk. I almost bought a beautiful champagne-coloured one, but it had a very visible knot in it, so I went with this bright blue instead.

I've been looking for one of these ever since I stupidly elected not to buy one in the markets when I was in Hong Kong. I've regretted that ever since! If you're in Vancouver, a natural fibre junkie like me, and in the market for a genuine Pashmina, check out Caspian Carpets on Granville. There are quite a few pretty colours to choose from. (Probably not for long, though!)

In other news: Pendrell 2.0 is off to a smashing start. Sleeve alternations look very promising. Keep an eye out for finished photos in the next day or two!