The Archives
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08.26.08InkedI've cooled down a bit on my complicated garment sewing lately, partly because I don't really have anywhere to wear dress, etc, and partly because we're stuck in that weird time of year when I know it's not going to be warm much longer, but don't want to actually admit that I need fall clothes. But I did recently have the opportunity to wear a dress in good weather -- since my hairstylist recently had a lovely wedding on the rooftop of the Ecotrust building in Portland's Pearl District. It was motivation to get the Amy Butler "Lotus" dress that ...
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08.15.08Oh so pretty…It's settled. One of us is going to have to learn Japanese. Because all of the goodies that we keep finding at Kinokuniya are getting a bit out of control. This time, and innocent trip to Uwajimaya has resulted in quite the find -- The Pretty Bag Collection. I have such a weakness for bag-making, as you've probably noticed (it's funny, too, because I have only been making bags for a year or so). And this book has some really awesome projects. It's, like many of the Japanese sewing books, brokenn down into thematic sections, this time by fabric type: Silk ...
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07.24.08That was awesome!We had a real treat today---Rachel (aka Average Jane Crafter) and her wonderful hubby were here in Portland and Diane facilitated a fun get together this evening at Thatch, the super-cool tiki bar on northeast Broadway. Not only was the company fabulous, it's pretty awesome to feast on pupu platters and drinks with umbrella garnishes. We feel so lucky to be a part of such a fabulous creative community and even more fortunate that those connections can translate into "real life." Thanks, Diane, for bringing everyone together---this was definitely a major highlight in our year! Although we do think that Rachel needs ...
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07.21.08Crafting Across Cultures(Or why we love Uwajimaya.) Maybe it's because we both lived in the international dorm in college, went to grad school oversees, did a fair amount of international traveling (before the dollar tanked and it was actually affordable to travel) and possibly even because Josh has a degree in International Studies, but we are both really interested in books, magazines and publications about sewing and "making stuff" from around the globe. (We also are both compulsive consumers of books and magazines on all sorts of subjects, so this feeds multiple interests at once...) One of our favorite Portland grocery stores happens to ...
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07.18.08Shameless Self-PromotionPlease excuse the advertising, but we're having a garage sale this weekend! We live the in the Best Neighborhood in Portland---Concordia---(honestly, it's true, Mayor Potter gave us an award and everything) and each summer the whole neighborhood gets together and has a massive neighborhood-wide garage sale. It's crazy... This year there are likely to be around 100 families having sales. We've been de-cluttering, as has Sarah's mom, and have put together a pretty nice assortment of stuff. We thought you'd be especially interested in knowing that we're selling two Brother conventional sewing machines for $25 a pop. We promise the stuff is ...
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03.03.08Spring TrainingAs you may know, I love baseball and I especially love old school baseball uniforms and hats (oh yeah and jackets and sweaters and stir-ups, oh my). While I am happy for spring training to have started, I do feel a little distant from my favorite game. Another bad year for my Reds is definitely on the books, and goddamn, I am sick of steroids. With my newfound love of the Blazers, I don't need baseball to signal the new year. After working diligently to make Sarah's idea hats realties I decided to tackle making myself a baseball cap. Using the ...
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02.27.08Back PocketI recently had a moment of weakness and was once again tempted by HotPatterns' sewing patterns that promise high fashion and really long legs (if you've visit the HotPatterns site, you know what I mean). I'd had my eye on a couple of their patterns for a long while (pretty much since my original HotPatterns purchase last year) and finally decided that they're never going to have another sale, and I was going to have to pay full price (long-time readers will know that this is a rare occasion indeed). These were my two picks (great restraint, just two): The "Biker ...
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01.05.08Field Trip: Our Sewing HeritageToday we headed out on a field trip in search of a good deal on a Pendleton flannel shirt for Josh's grandpa's birthday. If you're not familiar, Pendleton is an Oregon company that's been around for ages. They weave their fabric here in the Northwest, and the garments used to be sewn here. It's very nice, quality wool that's so soft you can wear it directly against you skin. It's nice stuff, to say the least. Our first stop? The Woolen Mill Store out on McLaughlin Boulevard---they didn't have any shirts, but they had a giant warehouse annex of fabric next ...
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11.24.07Rip City Raglanfrom sarah the sewist People who know me, usually know at least this one thing about me---I am a tried and true, dyed-in-the-wool, unwavering Portland Trail Blazers basketball fan. It's a bit embarrassing, because I think that I'm a fairly interesting person with a variety of things that I do and am interested in, but I have actually had someone (my boss, which makes it even worse) introduce me to someone else like this, "I'd like to introduce you to Sarah. She's a huge Trail Blazers fan." No, this didn't make sense in the context of the conversation. So anyway, I've ...
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11.20.07A Sewer-Sewist Holiday Gift Guide, Part 2Part 2 of our Holiday Gift Guide... Miami Valley Pottery. This next one is a little tricky. Josh grew up with a guy named Nays (pronounced nace) who now runs a small pottery business near Dayton, Ohio. The thing is his website seems to be down and it is hard to get a look at the wonderful work that he does. Nonetheless, we strongly support his desire to bring hand made and wood fired pottery to people at production pottery prices. You can see we used one of his lovely pieces used to model the “Call of the Wild Hat” hat. ...
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07.27.07Back to the Rose City Textiles SaleColumbus Crew Major League Soccer team jersey fabric. White on white. Need we said more?
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07.26.07Sporty Fabric HaulIn our ongoing quest to identify and procure the perfect vintage-style baseball flannel (more on that later), we visited Rose City Textiles deep in the heart of Portland's Northwest Industrial District this weekend. We'd read that they sold fabrics mostly for active wear, and thought they may sell the perfect stretchy wool flannel. They didn't. But it was an experience nonetheless. We walked in, and were greeted with, "Are you here for the sale?" Looking at each other, "Uhhh, okay." We were led through the store (Sarah was momentarily distracted en route but some interesting-looking bamboo knit) to the back, which was an ...
recent posts
- Sewing Heritage: More Stitching Up Old Glory
- Train-Inspired Screen Print
- Sewing Heritage: Stitching Old Glory
- A Little Late to the Whole Apron Thing
- Wear a Dress Week & Another Amy Butler Lotus Dress
- Run With It
- Sewing Heritage: Women, Sewing & the WPA
