The Mint Needle

Guess who's the lucky recipient of Burdastyle's summer issue - Europe? Me! I was ecstatic when our friends came back from their trip to Greece saying they found something that I'd really like. Filled with complete patterns, I've been busy with this great magazine. Unlike our U.S. version, the magazine had many more 'dress' patterns. Two of my favorites are below! Obviously, there will be an instruction barrier that I'll have to figure out. But I have to admit, the drawings are pretty good and since I've pieced together some dresses, this definitely seems do-able! So excited to get started:) How cute is this mommy & me matching dress? Adorable! On another note.... A trip to our barn to find paint stripper for this piece of furniture turned into something else. For the curious, I'm thinking a turquoise for this baby! In a cabinet that holds old paint cans and some art supplies from my college days, I found a litt...

    Hey readers! Take a look at my super vintage find. I came across this 1947 seamstress guide to dress making and knew I had to have it. It's got everything and more than I pictured. The book starts off with an introduction that's based around the idea that 'now everyone can sew like the experts while at home'. The book goes through the basics, covering tools, sewing essentials, and the importance of pre-shrinking all garment fabric before working with it. It even touches on children's clothing and how to make those adorable raglan sleeve dresses or bishop dresses. I gotta mention...the most entertaining part was hearing the view point from that time. For example:   " Six school dresses and six pairs of undergarments are none too many for a little girl to begin a school year with."     " Many women exclaim regretfully when they see machine stitching on a baby's garment. But there are no regrets if one ta...

Hope you enjoy my new header pic as much as I do.  I took that photo in our craft room under a window where my big, plastic craft table fits.  Many of my photos have been taken right there due to the awesome natural light. Beautiful fabrics were all about the table and then.....hearts, they just had to fit in somewhere.  I do that sometimes.....leave fabric laying around and debate what to do with it. There are so many ideas, but not enough fabric so I have to choose wisely or it will end in regret. There are 3 things I must do this year and hopefully sometime soon. Number 1, make a really cute pair of hot pants with quilting fabric so I can look fashionable in the garden and obtain a suntan on my cheesy white legs when the weather's warm. I love the beautiful, bright materials I've been coming across and...it must have an elastic waist and lace trim;) Number 2, pull out those vintage patterns I've collected and st...