The tours were so much fun!

 See Instagram for details, but... in the meantime, here's some eye-candy...

There's so much more to see...

The perpetual shirt - rest in peace, Jerry Lewis

(8/21/17) RIP Jerry Lewis

*Updated 3/8/15*

and again... 6/3/16... and still wearin' the shirt 1/31/18

and still... 2/13/21

Note: *On the evening of May 20 of this year (2016), I laid out my perpetual shirt to wear on May 21st.  On May 21st, I got up, got dressed, and forgot to put it on... Now, it is labelled JUL 01 16, and I had to give it an alarm on my calendar, so I will remember this time! Ha!

A exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York takes this idea in a completely different, more conceptual, fascinating direction.

Originally posted 4/1/13

You may already know that I love humor in my clothing. (Not my photo - contact me if any problem.)

One particular piece I just made was inspired by Jerry Lewis.  He was rumored to have never worn a pair of socks more than once, and I was struck by the sheer impracticality and wastefulness of that choice.  Unless, of course, he had a sock endorsement deal, and a free lifetime supply of new socks, which could then be laundered and donated to charity monthly.  Then, that kinda cleans it up. Right?

Every now and then I get truly obsessed with a clothing-related idea, and, when that happens, I feel the need to talk it out. With anyone who will listen. So, I told some friends I was designing a "perpetual" shirt.  Every time I explained it, it generated at least 10 follow-up questions, most of them starting with "But... how would you..." or "Why would anyone ever..." No one really understood why this idea was important or funny to me.

But guess what...

When you make your own stuff, the only person who needs to like it or understand it is you.

So there.

I've learned by watching cartoons, that when people or animated characters get an idea, they often experience that moment beneath a single, illuminated light bulb. Well, not in this case.

My idea hit me like this...

This image in my head helped me sort out a way to make this work.  Look at my other blog for sewing info, if you care.

Okay, so yes, I know what today's date is, and no, this isn't an "April Fool" idea.  Really now, why would you even say that to me?

(*clearing throat) Moving on...

So, since they say a picture is worth a thousand words, here it is.

The "perpetual shirt". It only looks impractical... 

Cotton stretch fabric from NY Elegant. Why that store?  Because I am only making this shirt once, I want it to last a long time, and their quality and variety when it comes to fashion stretch fabrics is stellar.

Velcro by the yard from Daytona Trimming. Why that store?  Because I know they sell it by the yard, the prices are wonderfully reasonable, I find the store very easy to navigate, and getting quick, courteous assistance is easy there.

Silver fusible letters from Jonathan Embroidery.  Why that store?  I happened to notice just the letters I wanted when I wandered in for another reason recently.  Easy, and they had what I needed. For something as simple as letters, I'm well aware that there are other great choices in the district too, though.

Background fabric for letters from an unused fancy black table linen given to me by my son's occupational therapist some years ago, because she "knew I sewed, and could use anything"... how random is that? And, how true is that??? Ha!

And, hey, if that isn't true about Jerry Lewis, don't tell me.  It's far more fun to believe it.

Peaceful warrior jacket

You know how I always say fabric has no expiration date?  Well, thanks, to Kashi in particular .... and here's proof... FIVE YEARS LATER.  The beige for the jacket lining was some leftover from lining my cradle bag, years ago.  My zipper was purchased in a Botani zipper craze (resulting the jacket I posted about some time ago, if you follow that link)...  And that pink fabric - I know it was a remnant once, which tends to be a rare choice for me.... but from where???? I remember it rolled, and such a gentle shade, with a warm fuzzy glow about it... 

So... I just made a jacket for myself that is MEANT to be strewn about.  It requires no particular care,  and looks fine rumpled and simply thrown on. Comfortable as any jacket could be, it has five main features:

• A back slit
• An "absent" collar
• A flat bow
• a collapsible/removable hood
• Elbow crescent sleeve dart

May it stay with me forever. Or... just long enough for me to tire of it.

I made a friend.

I started with the idea of a mouth. Just randomly constructed a mouth, with the idea of creating a sock puppet that would pretty much be ALL MOUTH.

But that mouth took over.

And I made a friend. 

No pattern, no plan, just a puppet that TOLD me what to do, how to create her... It took a while. I kept thinking I was done, but that mouth wouldn't stop yappin'.  She is LOUD.  Even if I am the only one who could hear her.  Creative chaos ensued.

I MADE a friend.

It took a village.  Did I shop for items to make her?  No.  She was 100% scraps and stash. I credit Britex (San Fran), Daytona, Elliott Berman, Metro Textiles, Spandex House and New York Elegant for all the pieces of my sewing life it took to create her.

Turns out she loves an adventure.  She came with us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art this week, took a few pics, and then announced she was ready to go to her new home. 

She really found her place among the exhibits.

So, here's the deal.  Long ago, I made a quilt for my family.  The idea of the quilt was to create a loving place to snuggle when you feel tired, sad, sick, heartbroken, or just in need of a hug. 

'Bo is the continuation of that idea, BUT I made her to give to a friend and HER family, but specifically her daughter, who is just a sweet little 1 year old right now.  She may find her terrifying, but I know her mom has a good sense of humor, and that fear will fade in time. 'Bo can be the mouthpiece of the household.  She may even insist on it... Whatever you wanna say, you can let 'Bo say it for you.  She has no filter, and is not SHY.  I hope she enjoys her new home.  We'll miss her.

* Inspiration (Sassy Urban Friend referred to in the Bo Burnham song #Deep.  The jury is still out on whether this qualifies as fan art, since he is NOT a kid's comedian, but she is kinda named after him...)

Photo credits: my kids.

Leather: Whether friend or foe (faux!), you'll find what you love there!

It was a simple visit to a leather vendor I've visited before. I knew what to expect.

Or so I thought...

I stepped into the showroom of NAT Leathers, a beautifully organized and welcoming office and meeting space, with an exciting stocked shelved section in the rear room. I was warmly greeted by Nick, who was happy to show me the wonderful pieces his space had available.

As eye candy, I share these with you:

Metallic faux leather

If you could touch this, you would consider it "hand candy" as well.

Clearly, I had misunderstood the possibilities of the world of "faux" leather.  I remember as a teen, that faux leather was something to be made fun of.  Inferior in quality, look, performance, durability, and lifespan, it was considered a cheap imitation of a superior product.  It was for "posers".  But no longer.

NAT's product range includes high end faux leathers. "How do your faux choices compare to the real thing?" I asked.  Nick's answer? They perform as well, if not better, than real leather.

And when it comes to real leathers, there is so much beautiful product in this space, that you will just squeal with delight (as I did) when you see the range of weights, textures, finishes, colors, and softnesses (if  that's even a word).  It is a wonderful adventure.

A "polka dotted" optical illusion?

Sparkly "disco" leather!

Lots of textural excitement!

Beautiful colors to custom order...

So, what's all this leather for?  Accessories, clothing, shoes, home dec, upholstery, hospitality... you name it.  On trend, budget-friendly, and wonderfully curated color palettes.  Custom orders and bulk orders are welcome, as is the small quantity shopper.

N.A.T. Leathers 

248 West 35th Street Suite #505

New York, NY 10001

Call 212.643.1702 for an appointment to meet with one of the team, or to inquire about bulk pricing.

Did I find a few gems?  You bet I did!  Then I hightailed it to SIL for leather thread and leather needles, to Manhattan Wardrobe supply for glue, and to Daytona for a special trim.  I'm in creative heaven! 

I've spoken at length in the past about shopping for leather in the garment district, sewing with leather, and I have shown you some personal projects I've explored/made.  The tools and assistance you need are right there in the district to help get you going (think Botani, Lou Lou, Star Snaps), and, if you are motivated and brave enough, trust me, you can create what your heart desires. 

Vanity sizing... why?

So, this past weekend, I stopped into the J Crew store at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Lured in by the garments on display, and their "artisanal" look, I picked out a few pieces to try on, although I wan't really shopping.

Well, you should really see it online, first. Hanging grosgrain ribbon detail... Hmmm...

$128 - Really?

Interesting, sorta "homemade" look... Hmmmm...

Distressed jeans - fit perfectly, and felt like my own, naturally distressed jeans. Hmm...

It says it's "my size", but it definitely felt too big...

So I tried these things on, and found a few problems.   First off, the thread loops on ALL of the shirts were too small and delicate for the buttons (as in, LITERALLY can't get dressed by myself), and the sizes for the pants, although given by waist measurements, were clearly vanity-sized, as I had three inches of room to spare at the waist, on natural-waist-level pants marked for MY waist measurement.

When asked how things were going by the dressing room attendant, I told her these things, and she did let me know that these were very common issues,  so it certainly isn't news to them...

What these things did give me, though, were ideas for things I can certainly make for myself.  Between Mokuba, Daytona, and B&J, there's a lot I can do!

Channelling the 60's - 70's vibe.

I can't believe I'm saying this aloud...

I've always been STRONGLY anti-1960's and 70's clothing.  Not my aesthetic.  Not my time.  At all.  But now, I think...

Maybe this 70's thing that's happening in fashion isn't such a bad idea after all... (What?  Who said that?)

After all, looking at historical data  the 60's-70's seemed to be about the clothing, much more than exposing parts of the body occupying it. If this trend catches on in a meaningful way, you can make pretty bold statements with colors, shapes, trims, and fabrics without looking like a lunatic.  It might be time for some wild creativity!

1971 Spring/Summer - Elegance International Magazine - I love the idea of a coat dress for spring!

I love old copies of the Elegance International catalogue, which features sharp, oversized, fantastic National Geographic-style photography in exotic locations with beautiful scenery. Carefully adhered to each page, are small fabric swatches (suggested and actual fabric used) with prices, sewing pattern brand and number, with complete ordering information.  A very expensive endeavor for the publisher, to be sure, but a fantastic resource, even now, since many of the same vintage sewing patterns can still be found!

Of course we'll start gently.  You can find great fringe at M&J Trimming or Leather, Suede, Skins.
You can find some amazing trims at Daytona Trimming.
You can find great fabric for peasant shirts like this one at Fabrics and Fabrics.

And then, maybe you can even buy a VW bus... 

Of course, I'm kidding!

What happened to Woolworth's, Greenberg & Hammer, La Button Boutique, A&G, K Trimming, Art Max, So-Good Ribbons... and.... and

Once upon a time, in the garment district, there was:

Greenberg & Hammer: 

This place can't be duplicated.  An old Shop the Garment District post acknowledges the loss. Old fashioned business, knowledgeable staff, wonderful, and peerless products.  Winning product, sadly now unfindable - is great tailoring-weight interfacing.  Best current substitute vendor?  Try Steinlauf & Stoller

La Button Boutique: 

Wonderful button store, FULL of an amazing array of wonderful buttons.  Floor to ceiling, beautifully curated selection.  Best current substitutes?  Buttonology (for beautiful and eclectic), Pacific Trimming (great prices and variety), M&J (quality and uniqueness, if you don't mind the prices), and Daytona Trimming (if you simply enjoy the ride, and are open to whatever you find)

A&G Trimming and K Trimming:  

The jam-packed aisles of K Trimming won't be forgotten...

These places were unique in their offerings, much like Daytona Trimming is now. I assume it eventually just becomes a story of "when it's gone, it's gone"...

Woolworth's: 

The huge, multi-level Woolworth store location (on 34th Street) was once a great place to buy sewing notions.  Of course I was a child then, but I still have tools my mother bought there waaaay back when... A seam ripper, a tomato pin-cushion.... From a time when things were absolutely made to last!  Best modern alternative for similar products? Fashion Design Books near Fashion Institute of Technology.

Art Max Fabrics: 

One of my favorite early places to shop as a teen, I found the fabrics for my early Issey Miyake pattern experiments there! Loved every bit of shopping there...  Thinking back, I probably should have just had my allowance and early paychecks wired to them directly. Best modern alternative?  Rosen & Chadick

US Liberty Fabric: 

No pics, no links... just... nothin'. Poof! Washed silks and soft cottons with such beautiful prints, I just couldn't bear the beauty.  They moved upstairs to a less retail-friendly location, and seem to have faded away in the years since.  Best modern alternative?  Fabrics & Fabrics has some really awesome stuff...

So-Good Ribbons:  

Looks like this store has bid us adieu as well.  Best modern alternatives?  Mokuba (if you can ignore the price LEAP!) and Daytona Trimming.

Do you miss the district stores of yesteryear?  Come along on the Stroll Down Memory Lane Speakeasy!  Click the link for details!

About Friday's Speakeasy

Friday's weather was perfect, and the fabrics we saw were beautiful.  I find myself repeating this statement every time I lead a tour.  Yes, I bought some fabric of my own, and the others found equally beautiful things... Sigh...

I've mentioned this broken grid fabric from Fabrics & Fabrics and cottons from Rosen & Chadick before.
See the Facebook page for more info.

Beautiful cozy sweater knit from Metro Textiles.  Also mentioned today on the Facebook page.

Sought out a rhinestone zipper for one participant at Daytona Trimming.

Beautiful day, wonderful people, fun and delicious lunch!  I wish we could do it again tomorrow! Short post today, you'll understand why when you see my next update!

Until then, sew on, my friends!

This just melts me... (Brangelina)

Looks like they got hitched!

I know I'm not alone on this one, but I get all teary-eyed when I hear how the Jolie-Pitt kids participated in the design of the bride's ensemble. I love this crafty, heartfelt idea of a (still high-end designer) wedding ensemble, and I love them both dearly for doing something so personal so publicly.

Okay, forgetting all we know about their past romances and all the other tabloid noise, the beauty of having their children's drawings adorn her veil is just too much for my emotional creative side to take...

Over the years, I've been asked to make wedding dresses for mature brides, women with children, second (or later) marriages, and I can see from my custom sewing life that an overwhelming number of people are redefining and personalizing their experiences in beautiful ways.

Embroidery and printing are wonderful ways to add truly personal, custom touches to a gown. Do you have to know how?  Nope.  There are businesses in the garment district that will help you do it yourself. And you don't even need to be wealthy to do it.

Some ideas for you:

To create wonderfully personalized things, you can have flowers and buttonnieres made by Schmalberg, the train of a bridal gown printed by First2Print, custom embroidery and/or beading by New York Embroidery Studio.

I once sewed for a bride who adorned the back of her dress with a grandmother's antique button collection, and we added beautiful starched hand-crocheted flowers to dot the landscape of her airy gauze gown.

Fabric from Rosen & Chadick, beads and flower-making supplies from Daytona Trimming. 

The bride was married outdoors, in a beautifully green field...

The airy softness of this gown fit this bride's style and personality

I have also updated, repaired, refit, and redesigned old gowns from a bride's mother, a grandmother, or simply another era.  This always has a deep personal meaning for the bride, and evokes a sentimental feeling as she celebrates her marriage.

This bride bought a late 1800's dress at auction, and we updated it to fit her aesthetic.

I combined a Sri Lankan sari with the bride's  mother's 1960's gown for an American fairytale wedding. 

Petticoat (beneath skirt) from RK Bridal.

This next one is  a poor quality picture with a bigger story, which you can see here (on my old blog).

Lace from a mother's gown, applied to waist of new gown.

I truly enjoy it when brides walk down the aisle, bringing their hearts with them in their clothing.  It is my favorite way to participate in a bride's special day!

The idea of spats just thrills me.

My permanently out-of-sych fashion preferences lead me to believe that you will embrace this trend in about three years.  I'll just say it now, and you can store it for future use, okay?

For leather or alternative materials:

Leather, Suede, Skins (among others) or Mood or a host of other stores in the district...

For leather needles and appropriate thread: Manhattan Wardrobe supply among many others...

For leather cement: Manhattan Wardrobe Supply, Mood

For pattern paper or oaktag: Steinlauf & Stoller

Chalk for marking: Steinlauf & Stoller

Buttons: Buttonology, M&J or Pacific Trim

For covered buttons: (*clears throat and whispers... inaudibly)

For alternative closures, if you wanna get fancy: Star Snaps

For decorative flowers (leather and other kinds): Schmalberg Custom Fabric Flowers

Fashion Trims for edging, decorating, or lacing: Daytona

I'll be doing some for myself... Go ahead and hate them if you want... or love them like I do!!!  They're just for me, anyway!

Perpetual anything.... (Completely random thought...)

It only occurred to me last night (oddly enough, while driving), that my perpetual shirt idea need not be limited to the one shirt.  I can have a perpetual anything, as long as I make an appropriate patch for the item concerned.  

There will be a perpetual hoodie in my life this year.  

Now I'm moving into year two of wearing my shirt...

Based on history (as explained in my gambler's fallacy post), I guess it will be one more year before anyone else likes it!

Letters/numbers from Jonathan Embroidery, Velcro from Daytona Trimming.

Slightly wonky - it's been washed A LOT since!

Shopping in the Garment District on a Saturday...

Not sure why I haven't noticed, but the garment district is no longer the ghost town it once was on Saturdays.  For those of you who aren't available to shop during the week, there are still plenty of stores to choose from.  And the hours aren't even significantly reduced, like they once were!  Many are open between 10 and 5 with some variations on both opening and closing times, and a much less hustley-bustley experience, to boot!

We have the insanely predatory landlord situation to "thank" for this. As rents have increased, many of the shops now know that (to quote one of the fabric store owners) "If you're not open on Saturday, you are guaranteed not to do any business, no matter how little." As the stores are now far more retail friendly than they once were, we can also "thank" the ever-decreasing customer base. These stores are happy to have all the business they can handle!

Who is the Saturday shopper?  Anyone who doesn't have time on weekdays, anyone who prefers relative quiet, anyone who is happier to "discover" what she/he needs than to be on a very specific search, since looking for something very specific may be tougher on a Saturday, and, lastly, not an intense bargain hunter, since the least expensive stores tend to be closed on the weekend, too.

So, I went to the district this Saturday (yesterday), on what was mostly a quick research run, to find the right complement to a garment I need to finish for a client.  

By the way, this is my photo of what the weather looked/felt like in Central Park yesterday...

Could this just take your breath away, or what?

I went to Rosen & Chadick.  They open at 11AM on Saturdays now, by the way - a bit later than some of the others.

Here's what I found:

This is a wool you've gotta see/feel to believe. Visit it. Buy it. Love it.

A mind-blowing  Loro Piana perfectly white (rare) cashmere to blow you away, some printed silks and some cotton prints that were just magical. Just lovely.

Then I stopped into New York Elegant.  By the way, you may be interested to know that the owners of this store were once fabric converters in Korea.  They really know how to choose great fabric, and, if you don't already know, this store is just HUGE.  Here's the thing though.  They can carry a lot of inventory, and keep it for a long time. There are times when fabrics have been around for 15 years before they actually have their "moment", when they are sold.  That is the beautiful thing about having so much room.

Here are some cool things I found:

Corduroy... seriously!

Pretty acrylic somethin' or other - loved it!

Wool sateen in a glorious regal purple at NY Elegant

Now, NY Elegant is selling more supplies for non-professional workrooms, too.  Near the front counter, you can pick up large sheets of carbon paper, small rolls of pattern paper, thread, magazines, and some general notions, too.   


Where to next? Chic Fabrics, where I found a sparkly-grey stretch knit, that would make a perfect holiday season Saturday shirt in my life, and a grey faux leather that calls out to cover a holiday dessert cart, accented with silver and glass ornaments.

And finally, Daytona Trimming, where I saw this loopy trim (below), in warm colors, begging to accent a mantle.  Just gorgeous.

Where else should you go?  A Saturday itinerary could easily include Paron Fabrics, where I found this great coating fabric:

And you should just feel it.  This picture doesn't do it justice.

Yes, you want this.

Are there more stores?  Of course, there are!  As you probably already know, Mood is wide open on Saturday, as is Gray Lines Linen, B&J Fabrics, A.K. Corp, and many of the trim and notions stores you know and love.

So, there you have it.  Now the only day you will see tumbleweeds in the district is Sunday.