My name is Sarai, I live in Oakland, CA and love to make things.
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Hey folks, just a quick note to thank you AGAIN for the outpouring of support and responses to my call for sewing pattern testers!
As of now, I have plenty of volunteers (and then some!). I wish I could give patterns to all of you, but I have a limited number.
I am very much looking [...]
My first tutorial up at the new blog is about making a silk scarf out of 1/2 yard silk charmeuse. I love this green one I made. It has a hand rolled hem, which I just love. I think these would make very nice gifts as well.
The best thing is that the [...]
Hi everyone. I really couldn’t wait to share this with all of you. For many months, I have been working on designing a small collection of sewing patterns! They aren’t quite ready yet: the patterns are all designed and graded (and will be available in sizes 0-18), but I am still working [...]
Continue reading A new venture...
While down south with my family, I got not one, but two amazing bags of treasure. First, my mom gave me this incredible collection of vintage buttons she’d acquired. Some are celluloid, many seem to be on these lovely sample cards. I love the idea of using matching buttons in different sizes, [...]
For a while now, I’ve been hearing about some super secret button store which is stocked with all manner of vintage buttons. I never understood why it was a secret, because I’m sure such a tiny little business could use the support and customers!
Anyway, I finally found it. Exclusive Buttons in [...]
Lately, I’ve been working on designing a new dress. I’d love to get your thoughts.
This is the muslin, still needing some tweaks. It’s designed to be made in two coordinating fabrics, because I love two-tone anything. There are so many possibilities when you make things in two coordinating fabrics. The next [...]
I bought this odd 80s sun dress for a few bucks recently. I thought it was really dowdy in that sort of horrible laura ashley way, but at the same time, the bodice is really beautifully cut. It has a very fitted princess cut, elastic shirring in panels at the back, and I [...]
I’ve been meaning to post about these books forever: Pattern Magic Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, which I purchased from the always wonderful Kinokuniya in San Francisco.
I’ve been working a lot on pattern making lately, and I can’t tell you how inspiring these books are. They’re laid out like many other Japanese mooks, with [...]
Long ago, someone sent me this pattern for Folkwear #249, 1930s Day Dress. I bought the fabric, cut the pattern, and for one reason or another, it languished in my sewing box for many months after.
Well, I finally finished it, and it’s quite nice! I used a gorgeous blue toile cotton for the [...]
I have so many books I’ve acquired or discovered recently and want to share. I’m going to start with Vionnet by Betty Kirke, a fantastic book well worth the hefty cover price (mine came from the library, but I do plan to purchase it now).
If you don’t know of Madeleine Vionnet, she was a [...]
Continue reading Book Review: Madeleine Vionnet by Betty Kirke...