Alabama Stitch & the Recycled T-shirt Aesthetic

Friends, sometimes while I'm working on an MPB post, I end up changing my original point of view as I'm writing. Today is a good example of that.

Last week I picked up a copy of Natalie Chanin's popular Alabama Stitch Book at the library.  I was curious.  Gretchen had waxed eloquent about Chanin's Alabama fashion line a while back, and a good sewing machine-collecting friend of mine (no names, please) told me she plans to attend an Alabama Stitch workshop this summer.

My Buttonhole Attachment Attachment

Readers, do you like vintage buttonholers?  I do! 

Peter opines on "Bill Cunningham New York"

This has been a somewhat heavy week topic-wise here at MPB, I recognize. 

Rather than plan, I just take my inspiration from whatever I happen to be doing or thinking at the moment and then, in roughly an hour or so, turn it into a blog post.  If my thoughts are sometimes scrambled or unclear,  I look to you, my readers -- many of whom have thought about these issues in far greater depth than I -- to contribute your wisdom in a comment, for which I am always grateful (and always read even if I don't often respond).  Anyway, I hope those who prefer lighter fare will bear with me for one more day.

"Exotic" Costume Patterns - YEA OR NAY?

Poor Yvonne DeCarlo.  Born Margaret Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia, her dark hair and smoldering good looks got her pegged as an "exotic" type in Hollywood and she spent most of her early career playing Persian princesses and scantily clad slave girls till she was saved from obscurity in the Sixties by The Munsters, not to mention being cast in Stephen Sondheim's Follies, where she introduced the classic show biz survivor's anthem, I'm Still Here.

"Sexy" Style -- Empowering or Degrading?

Readers, I want to discuss a topic that we probably won't resolve today.

It's the subject of women (primarily, though not exclusively) being pressured to present themselves as "sexy."  I'm not referring to bias-cut satin evening gowns on the red carpet or the cliched So-and-So Celebrity Reveals All come-on headline on the cover of Glamour.  I'm talking about the relentless marketing of styles and attitudes derived from porn and prostitution.  An adjective one often hears to describe this contemporary fashion/cultural phenomenon is "trashy," and to paraphrase former United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (in reference to pornography), we know it when we see it.

The Craigslist Sewing Machine Score!

Readers, I'm a nice guy.   Here's how nice:

On Saturday night, I saw the above listing on Craigslist for an "Antique Portable Singer Sewing Machine," only blocks from my apartment, and I immediately emailed the seller to express my interest.  You think I'm crazy, right?  Keep reading.

Try to Remember...the Nineties

Readers, you know you're getting old when someone asks "Remember the Nineties?" and you assume they mean the 1890's.

Just an Old Crank

Friends, I must ask your opinion about something (again).  What do you think of hand crank sewing machines and I'm not talking toys here.

A Penny Saved...

Readers, do you ever shop on Amazon?  I do, often.  One of the things that brings me back, time and again, beside the fact that they sell pretty much everything, is their $25 free shipping policy.  I fall for that EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Anatomy of an Ugly Pattern + Vogue winner!

Happy Monday, MPB readers.  Much to cover today so let's get to it.   First, the winner of the current (April/May 2012) issue of Vogue Patterns with my treadle article in it is...

Peter Visits the NYC Sewing Machine Museum!

Readers, forgive the somewhat misleading title of this post.  I didn't really visit the NYC Sewing Machine Museum.  In fact, there is no NYC Sewing Machine Museum -- yet.

But I did go out to Queens yesterday to visit my friend Johanna, avid sewing machine collector and knitter.  (Since I rarely leave my neighborhood, this was like a trip overseas for most people; I even got to eat Greek food.)  If sewing machines and knitting sound like a mismatch, you're right, but what can you collect if you knit?  Needles?

Are you a "Fashion Person" + POLL!

So my brother and sister-in-law came over for dinner last week and I get into something of a -- I won't call it an argument, more like a debate -- with my sister-in-law, when she says that in her opinion, I'm a foodie.

Vogue Pattern Magazine GIVEAWAY!

OMG, friends, how did I forget to tell you?  I have an article in the current issue of Vogue Patterns!

Cinching and Padding

Friends, you don't need a degree in fashion history to know that what we choose to wear on our bodies expresses how we want to appear to others.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise to sophisticated MPB followers -- and really, is there any other kind? -- that if clothing's primary purpose is to keep us from freezing to death, its secondary purpose is to make the parts of our bodies we want to appear smaller, smaller, and the parts we want to look bigger, bigger.  Can we agree on this?

Oscar Night NEWSFLASH: The Peplum is BACK!

First, friends, let me just say that I haven't watched the Oscars, otherwise known as The Academy Awards, in more than a decade.  I don't care anymore, now that the big stars are gone, plus I never go to the movies anyway.  It's that simple.

What I do do, however, is follow Oscars fashion, which requires no more investment than a minute and a half on one of those brain-dead sites like the Yahoo.com homepage the following morning.  Add a few sewing/fashion blogs and your research is done.