Erin McKean

I started this time with (again) the Seamwork Veronica, because it’s easy to make and to wear, and the panel version (for subscribers) is a perfect target for weirdnesses such as this: This particular dress is made out of (I think) four men’s shirts of varying gingham and stripe patterns Basically, I created a new pattern piece for the full center front panel (since it’s too hard to put buttons on the fold) and drew a line to mark the CF, which I could then line up over the center of the buttons in the shirt. Then it was just a matter of making sure I had seam allowance on the other side, too: Unless you already have a lot of old men’s shirts lying around, making a shirtdress out of shirts is not that much less expensive than buying yardage (at least not in SF, where a decent shirt at a thrift store will cost you $5-9, depending on condition and whether or not it’s on 50% off sale that day). It takes 4-5 L or XL shirts for one dress, and I try to limit myself to shirts that are unwearable as shirts when I can

A few weeks ago I was in SF’s Japantown and found that the grocery there (Nijiya Market) sells my favorite coffee-flavored candy, coffeebeat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I know we covered this above, but coffeebeat’s particular blend of coffee, chocolate, and a crunchy candy shell, plus the adorable packaging, puts coffeebeat at the top of the coffee-candy list. You might think it’s called “Pocket Coffee” because it’s convenient to keep in your pocket, but I suspect (from the taste) that the coffee in Pocket Coffee is actually brewed from pocket lint. I may have tried these French hard candies in junior high school (they look familiar and are supposedly available at Epcot (! ) which makes them exactly the kind of thing I would have purchased at 13) and these Simpkins coffee “travel sweets”, but I have no firm recollection of either, just that at one point I had a nice round tin with coffee candy in it, which I later used to hold my D&D dice.

Been busier than any number of busy things you could mention (the devil in a high wind; an English oven at Christmas; a bag of fleas) and so sewing has taken a backish seat, but I have managed to make a few more Seamwork Veronicas (the panel version for subscribers). Today I managed to take pictures of one of them that’s been in process for a couple weeks (this is actually a very quick pattern to sew, it takes a couple weeks if you only get ten minutes a day to sew in …). * added 2 inches to the center front and back skirt so that I could get more fullness * changed the pockets from the kangaroo kind to actual scoop pockets in the skirt side panels * omitted the center back seam in the bodice, skirt, and waistband and just cut everything on the fold * did a FBA (full butt adjustment) on the center back to keep the skirt from being shorter in the back than the front * shortened the bodice a bit to lessen the blousiness * finished the neck and sleeves with bias binding * changed the back channel elastic to elastic shirring (with this very nice Seamwork tutorial) As you may have already figured out, my topstitching is not what you would call precise, but I am calling it wabi-sabi and retiring from the ring.

Here’s a closer view of the fabric, plus a bit of the neckline finishing: I decided to do a contrast piping (just regular Wright’s) on the front pocket seam to make that seamline pop: Matching this seam is WAY WAY easier if you use Wonder tape and baste UP from just a few inches below the seam. I didn’t do a great job drafting the hem facing (it’s wobbly in parts) but with double-needle stitching and a non-ravelly fabric all I had to do was trim the excess, and everything turned out fine: Here’s the back center seam, where you can probably already see a tiny bit of pilling: