Readers, some updates -- it's been a while! While I haven't been blogging lately, I have most definitely been sewing and buying fabric -- more of the latter than the former but isn't that always the case?   Here are a few of my recent makes, all of which I've posted on my Instagram account (where I'm @peterlappin).  That's where am most active these days. Above is a button down dress shirt I made from a vintage berry-print shirting I found at the Chelsea Flea Market a few years back. Speaking of vintage fabric, I made this camp shirt using a gooseberry-print cotton, also from ..read more

Readers, the parka is finished and I feel very glamorous in it. As you know, I made my N3-B parka using the Japanese men's military coat pattern book by Ryuichiro Shimazaki (Bunka, 2013).  It's not difficult to find for sale online (Etsy and eBay are both good sources) though I purchased my copy at the Kinokuniya Japanese bookstore here in New York City.  You can also find it here. I recommend this book to non-Japanese speakers with caveats.  It's not a beginner's book.  It helps to have constructed coats before and also to have sewn some more basic projects using Japanes ..read more

  While I stayed pretty close to the original pattern when sewing my N3-B parka from my Japanese pattern book, I did make a few changes. Classic versions of the N3-B military parka always have a small zippered pocket with a few additional small pocket openings on the upper left sleeve.  I chose to leave these out since I didn't think I'd ever use them.  Do you ever use a tiny sleeve pocket? Notice in the above photos how the N3-B parka's pockets close with snaps.  I was afraid that snaps would require too much pulling on the fabric to get the pockets open. I made two chang ..read more

Readers, I purchased Ryuichiro Shimazaki's book of men's military coat patterns (above) back in 2014 and, while I would page through it from time to time, I never actually sewed with it -- until this year! In January I decided I'd give one of these patterns a try.  I don't remember how I came to this decision--I had already made my mind up that I wasn't going to make myself a new coat this winter.  So much for that decision.  I chose the classic N3-B parka, which is fully lined and interlined and has a deep, fur-trimmed hood. I won't lie: this is a complicated pattern, especi ..read more

Friends, I so enjoyed inventorying my outerwear a few weeks ago that I've decided to continue the process. Today, it's pants.  Included here are the roughly 25 pair of pants I currently own.  Ninety percent of them I made myself, but there are a few ready-to-wear pants here as well.  Similar to my outerwear wardrobe, some of these things I wear all the time, others almost never (for reasons I'll explain).  While I'm including short pants here, I'm not including flight suits/coveralls/jumpsuits or athletic gear like running shorts. Now, I don't know if this is a guy-thing ..read more

Friends, I found this wonderful double-faced Pendleton (or Pendleton-style) wool coating at It's A Material World (one of my favorite stores in the Garment District) last week, and I immediately thought I'd use it to make myself another peacoat using this vintage 1930's pattern I muslined a couple of years ago. The fit was right and the style is perfect.  The question is: Do I really need to sew myself more outerwear this winter?  The answer is undoubtedly no -- I do not NEED another coat.  Which made me want to take an inventory of all my coats and jackets (not including bla ..read more

Friends, another year has ended and it's time formally to bid it farewell. I'm confident that few of us were sorry to see 2020 go. While every year is different from every other, 2020 takes the cake.  Will 2021 bring relief from the tumult of a global pandemic, social and political turmoil, and economic despair?  We shall see. I am fortunate that nobody in my family got sick, though my brother is an ER doctor and hence on the front lines and my SIL also works in healthcare and has a lot of patient contact.  (They have both recently received the vaccine which is a good thing ..read more

Friends, the flight suit is finished and here I am wearing it! Did I mention in my last post that it shrank a few inches in the wash?  I ended up adding a 5" wide panel to the bottom of each leg so that I would have some extra length in case I want to tuck it into boots, wear it rolled up or just leave it long.  I'll share a few shots of the shorter version (which honestly doesn't look bad) and the lengthened version as well. Here's the shorter version.  It's fine but remember, the hem is unfinished, not turned up at all. And here's the lengthened version: I guess you can gu ..read more

Readers, my flight suit project has been extremely enjoyable but it has not been without its challenges. As I told you in my last post, I decided to make this on a whim -- I was inspired by someone I saw at the Chelsea Flea Market who looked terrific in a similar style.  I chose to make it in a stretch cotton twill (horizontal stretch only, i.e. along the weft).  If you ever decide to make this pattern, I recommend not choosing a stretch fabric: seams along the stretch (horizontal seams in this case) tend to end up wavy unless you're very careful.  I addressed this in two ways ..read more

  As my long-time readers may already know,  I've had very mixed results with one-piece garments.   I love the idea of the jumpsuit and I've sewn a couple, but the first one (below), made more than 10 years ago, looked too much like a space suit (and was too tight in the butt to be honest), and the second one, blue linen and made for the Mood Sewing Network in 2015, while more successful than my first attempt, didn't feel quite right either: it was too baggy. Still, I think McCalls 2054 (top pic), a cosplay flight suit pattern from 2016 (still in print I believe) may ..read more