Many years ago, my mother was given a sheepskin vest by a family friend. I remember Mum wearing it on camping trips when I was a child, although she doesn’t recall this. An exhaustive search through the family photo archive to back up my claim failed to bring up a single image. So who knows? The vest was high-hip length, of soft buttery brown suede on the outside and short sheepskin on the inside. It had brown binding around the neck and armholes, and (?) did up with toggles (not sure about that). At some point, Mum unpicked the vest as it was too big, but didn’t go any further. The pieces sat ..read more

This past week I’ve been busy sewing a coat version of the Optimatium dress. The Optimatium dress is a zero waste pattern which appeared in Tauko magazine last year, and is now a pdf pattern in extended sizes. The pattern is in my shop – please enjoy 25% off until June 26th. The sketch for the dress version. For the coat, I used some Japanese heavyweight (10.5oz) denim with a little bit of stretch, deadstock ex-Celine. I did red topstitching and made a belt with some red D-rings. It came out so well and I’m so thrilled with it. I don’t sew for a hobby anymore, but this ignited the little spar ..read more

A conversation with my tech editor last week, combined with the happenstance of surplus-to-requirements denim in the house, let to cutting out a denim Optimatium pattern on the weekend. The Optimatium dress is a zero waste pattern which appeared in Tauko magazine last year, and is now a pdf pattern in extended sizes. The pattern is in my shop – please enjoy 25% off until June 26th. The denim is Japanese heavyweight 10.5oz with a little bit of stretch. Apparently it’s ex-Celine deadstock (the one they used to make their $2000 jeans?). It’s a bit too thick and heavy to make a dress with, so I t ..read more

The Optimatium dress has proven to be more versatile that I’d thought. You know, a dress is often worn just on its own as, well, a dress. But once I got started putting it with other things, there were so many more possibilities. Like to make one? The pattern is 25% off in my shop until July 27th. Here’s some ways to wear it… 1. Scarf, hat and boots The belted scarf is a look I recall from the early 1990s (?) but sometimes I see women wearing it now. The bucket hat (low waste) is another new pattern, which also has 25% off at the moment. 2. Dress over trousers Worn over trousers, the dress i ..read more

The zero waste Optimatium dress is a pattern which appeared in Tauko magazine #9 in October last year. The copyright has since reverted to me, and it’s been re-graded to a bigger size range and formatted as pdf pattern. It’s now in my shop – please enjoy 25% off for the next month. Optimatium means conservative or the best in Latin, and the dress is both conservative in style and has a conservative use of fabric because it’s zero waste. The dress now comes in nineteen sizes, to fit a 86cm/34″ bust to a 178cm/70″. Re-grading this pattern took a long time – not because I’m inexperienced at gradi ..read more

Hello All, I have a new-ish pattern to present to you. The low-waste sunhat, which was available at the Making Zen Online Retreat last month, has had a mini makeover and is now a pdf pattern. It has a bucket hat brim option, a re-edited sew-a-long video, and a little tweak to the instructions for a superior finish. It’s in my shop now; please enjoy 25% off for the next month. The hat has an unusual construction, a self-lined crown, interior ribbon and topstitched brim. It comes in five sizes, to fit a 54cm/21¼” – 62cm/24½” head. It works well for striped fabrics where the stripes are random-i ..read more

A tidy-up ahead of visitors arriving (as you do) turned up a long-lost knitted beret. It had fallen down behind some things and was covered in dust. I’d forgotten I’d ever knitted it, as it was some years ago. The wool was superb; super soft, non-itchy baby merino. Unfortunately the moths had gotten to it before we did, and there were two big holes – one in the top and the other in the ribbing. I gave the beret a careful handwash which of course made the holes a bit bigger. After the wash I found there were many spots where the moths had chewed through one of the yarn’s plys but not through t ..read more

Me-Made-May is a wardrobe challenge to help improve your relationship with your handmade clothes. The aim is to intentionally wear your self-made items more and/or in different ways, and have fun at the same time. This was my eighth time. I’ve tried different ways of doing Me-Made-May in the past: a capsule collection each week; wearing only zero waste clothes; wearing going-out clothes mixed with at-home ones (bad idea); doing a wardrobe clear-out at the same time, and so on. This year is different as I’m housebound with Long Covid, and sartorial standards have slipped a bit as I have daytime ..read more

Regular readers of this blog may remember a post I did back in February, cataloguing the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) lying around the house. I decided to make the UFOs part of my Me-Made-May challenge, and pledged to finish three items during May. I’m happy to report that I’ve gone above and beyond, and have ticked off almost everything! I started with some easy victories, then, high on the euphoria of actually finishing something, quickly moved on to the others. 1. Pocket on peanut dress An easy start. I’ve had a single patch pocket for this dress, pressed and ready to go, lying around for the ..read more

Here are some beaut books I’ve been reading or (in the case of Dolls’ Clothes) rediscovered. They are all very different! Ametora – How Japan Saved American Style by W. David Marx (2015, Hatchette, updated with afterword 2023) I bought this book for Mr H to give me last Christmas, chosen on the strength of Well Dressed Dad‘s book review. Briefly, it’s a cultural history of American menswear fashion in Japan after WW2. Ametora means American Traditional. It’s very much a “reading” book, rather than a “looking at” book; it’s almost all text, with a small number of black and white illustrations ..read more