Nov 29, 2013

Peter's Post-Holiday Hodgepodge



Happy Day After Thanksgiving Day, readers!

Michael and I are currently recovering from the huge holiday meal we shared with my side of the family last night, while simultaneously gearing up for a second family gathering with his side of the family tomorrow.

I'm really not a holiday person but at least I have some fun clothes to wear.

After a long conversation with my sister-in-law, the social media maven, I recognize that it has been unfair of me to deprive you all of the opportunity to follow me on Twitter.  So now you can!  (See button at top right-hand corner)  I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with Twitter other than tweet links to this blog, but I'm open to suggestions.

In other news, now that I've demystified the Japanese coat pattern book (more or less), I'm considering purchasing Ryuichiro Shimazaki's Japanese shirt pattern book.  (You can read a short review of the book here.)



Even if the patterns themselves aren't earth-shatteringly original (which I doubt) I find the styling of these books very inspiring.  I'll probably pick up a copy at Kinokinoya, the Japanese book store near the Garment District.  I don't love the idea of shopping the day after Thanksgiving but I do find myself wanting to buy stuff, if only as a way to soothe holiday-related stress.  I'm even thinking -- it's terrible, I know -- of buying a vintage sewing machine on eBay.  If I do, you'll be the first to know, so stay tuned.

This has been a good month sewing-wise, so I will leave you with a few parting shots -- many never before seen! -- of my two November projects.













"What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"



Have a great day, everybody!

PS -- What's your take on Twitter?  (And if you use it, what kinds of things do you tweet about?)

32 comments:

  1. I love Twitter! I use it for my business - find it more conversational than Facebook. I have met "real" friends there - those who give me advice, cheer me on, listen to my problems...all across the world! Creating lists is very helpful. e.g., I have a sewing list, a list of my closest friends, fabric companies, etc.

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  2. I can;t live without twitter! Only my blog now suffers. :(

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  3. Love the photos of your makes, so handsome, so lovely!!!

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  4. I find Facebook very useful but as a blogger like yourself, I find Twitter absolutely pointless...my opinion of course and I'm hoping others will disagree with me!

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  5. Add on: Saying that, I know a couple of bloggers in the sewing blogosphere who use it as a platform for live discussion on "specific" topics. They make an appointment with their readers at a specific time and it does work! That format could certainly work with you Peter

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  6. You could always tweet when and where you are out fabric shopping and see if any readers start stalking you. Like a celebrity. I don't use it and never have. But I'm wary of signing up to things. Comment phobic.

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  7. I think it would be fun for little bursts of inspiration/frustration during shopping or in the throes of a project.

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  8. You hit it out of the park with both these sewing projects! I really love that coat and the fit is beyond fab. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Michael.

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  9. I mostly use twitter to follow news (especially in Egypt, it often picks up what's going on hours before what dear Mrs. Palin refers to - over and over again - as "the lamestream media" does), and to see what silly things famous people are saying.

    On that front, my great surprise has been that one of the brightest people I've enountered has been Morgan Fairchild - who knew she had a keen sociopolitical eye?

    It's also fun from time to time to live-Tweet with the crowd at #TCMParty when there's a really good picture on Turner Classics.

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  10. oh, Peter, Peter, Peter....you make me laugh. Thanks!

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  11. Great looking garments. I have twitter but don't use it very much. I tweet when I put something on instagram and maybe when I start a new project. My favorite social media is instagram.

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    1. I would do instagram but I don't own a smart phone -- just a stupid phone. ;)

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    2. I was about to say Instagram! I love it - it's visual and instant! I don't really see the draw of Twitter, but I think I will load it on my phone and test it out ... don't want to seem like a Luddite ...

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    3. Peter- I held onto my stupid phone until about a year ago- when I lost my stupid phone- (not sure it was the phone that was stupid at that point!) Decided it was time to upgrade to an android and I think it is the nicest thing I have done for myself in years! Afterall I wouldn't be reading your great blog if I hadn't done so.

      As for twitter... it sounds about as exciting and useful for me as an episode of Duck Dynasty (ugh!)

      However...perhaps I should check out instagram.

      After I figure out how to sign off on these blogs!

      Spookietoo/Tina

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  12. I only follow twitter to keep up with bloggers, vloggers, and public persons. I don't use it personally at all. I have barely ever tweeted, and don't wish to do so. I do like that one tweet can be set to show up on multiple platforms calling the follower to check out the new post or sale or issue of the day. I like the bloggers I follow who do this, as I tend to read/view them more often this way.

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  13. i'll just say it again: elegant. Cathy is sooooooo lucky. my mom had a dress similar except the second color was (close to) a midnight blue instead of the beautiful magenta. we had a photo of her wearing that dress, very very similar to Cathy's, with a beautiful black picture (?) hat, black gloves. Cathy's shawl is perfect but the gorgeous black hat with wide brim and the mid-length black gloves would be fabulous additions. Cathy is almost as beautiful as my Mom in that outfit… And, your waxed peacoat is wonderful and you look like you stepped off the pages of GQ in your hat, slacks, messenger bag/briefcase...

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  14. The coat looks incredible! One of these days I'll have to bite the bullet and try my hand at menswear..honestly, it seems so scary. I definitely think you should get the Japanese shirt book, only based on our recent trip to Japan. The men's shirts were well-tailored and full of really cool collar details!

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  15. Nice job on both projects! I think Cathy would look fab in some of the projects in the Japanese pattern books for women, such as "Pattern Magic" (though the patterns in those books are generally for tiny people).

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  16. What sewing machine is on your wish list, and what is the current count? I just gave my sister who is a sewing newbie one of my Rocketeers-503 so now I'm down to 4. I'm trying my hardest to resist the many 401's I see at Ebay, but my Lord it's hard!! LOL!!

    On another note I think you should join Twitter, although I only do Facebook once in a great while, I'm sure it will only broaden your reader base---go for it! A friend was telling me about Instagram and I'm going to check it out, I'm already at Pinterest. Peter you truly are a great source of sewing inspiration! I'm on my way to the store to get fabric for a couple of projects I have in mind. Oh, quick question......if someone asked you to make that coat for them what would you charge? I'm always underpricing the things I make, a bad habit that I'm beginning to overcome.

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  17. I think there are two ways you can use Twitter - active and lurking (from my old school days in the south!). Active is have it plugged in to your other social media - there truly are some folks who really only use twitter (cause of it's brevity), and you can pick them up this way.

    The other way is lurking. I actually have two accounts so I know which one is lurking and which is active. The lurking account is plugged into anything fashion, sewing or anything even close to that I can think of (keywords/phrases) and so when that feed comes in, I can click on it and poof, I'm getting gobs of info.

    As an aside, I also use Yoono (I'm on Firefox and they have a plug in.). It integrates with all my Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook (and pages) so that a little box in the lower corner pops up and shows the latest tweet/post/msg or whatever. I love it. Here's a screenshot.

    Whenever I need ideas I can open up the tool bar on the left and scroll through them, or it I just want it going in the background, the little box on the left will pop up. I love it! And so now I'm following you!!! ;)

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  18. The only thing I ever followed on Twitter was my college-aged niece. And then I only followed her to make sure she was still alive, despite all the college idiocy she participated in, and made public on Twitter. And it was an interesting view into the mind of a 19 year old. After about 18 months she wised up and made her Twitter feed private, which only means that several thousand "friends" can see what she does, not anyone who stumbles across her. My point (and I think I have one) is that, to me, twitter is pretty stupid. I always said if you can sum your life up on a bumper sticker, it doesn't say much about you. If you can sum yourself up in 42 characters (or whatever the limit it) I'm not sure what it says.

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  19. Hey, Peter! I'm follower #35! I resisted setting up a Twitter account, too, because I thought it was silly to try to convey anything in 140 characters. But I enjoy the small snippets of observation people share. (And they sometimes link a longer post with a + between them.) It's not for deep, thoughtful introspective essays, just off-the-cuff musings. I'm glad to follow you! Ellie

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  20. I don't have a twitter account, so my opinion about it doesn't count for a lot. But I wonder how people who follow all of these different things ever have time to do anything else. Still, since you are a blogger, I can see how it might be useful to you.

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  21. Great pea coat and I love the cap. I'm experimenting with flat caps and newsboys caps, so it's nice to see one well worn. Worn well, I guess I mean.

    On another note, the blog roll on the right of the screen jitters, moves constantly up and down by about 2 pixels. I wonder if others experience this, or it's just my laptop. If others see that, too, maybe you can change some settings.

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  22. Yeah! I'm follower 38! I am sure you will find ways of sharing photos of your wonderful creations. I can't wait!

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  23. I'm the wrong generation for Twitter but I do get you on the holiday stress. I had to hit a thrift store or two yesterday. Luckily it was half off.

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  24. I use Twitter as a private place to blog my life w/ a longtime friend instead of using a blog. It's far easier to spew out stream-of-consciousness, inane thoughts and post pics than to post on a blog. I follow weather alerts, celebs who are funny, and people who are leaders in my many hobbies. I never follow businesses and I don't need anyone to follow me.

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  25. We do a #FabricChat every Friday at 4pm EST, hosted by Leila - you should join in sometime (of course, now we're taking a break until the new year, but you can see the archived chats here:http://threedresses.org/fabric-chat/)

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  26. This is what comes to mind whenever I think about Facebook or Twitter or really any personal online presence

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7pYHN9iC9I

    It's a fascinating look into mind reading

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  27. Twitter is my sewing chat connection with other #sewcialists. Welcome - from the other side of the world too.

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  28. I never figured out how to use it, so I deleted my account pretty quickly. And to think, I used to design websites, so I consider myself to at least ONCE have been computer savvy.

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