Vintage Fashion Expo

Today's haul from the Vintage Fashion Expo in SF. No actual garments were purchased, although a $45 mink stole tried really hard to come home with me.

Simplicity 2588, the second!

I swear, I love piping so darn much! I'll be buried in a piped coffin if it's up to me. Anyway, here's the next incarnation of my favorite dress pattern.
And how does it feel to successfully install my first invisible zipper?

Oh yeah! Like I'm a rock star!!
I've been avoiding these things for SO DARN LONG, but they are so super easy that now I'm embarrassed I waited so long! There are so many easy tutorials online, I encourage you to give it a shot.

Somewhere on my camera is a photo of how the pattern on the back perfectly matches up on either side of the zipper, I'll have to dig it up because I'm just so proud I could pop.

Simplicity 2588, the first

Words cannot express how much I adore this dress. I had to make myself take it off to hem it, because I was wearing it like this:

Please ignore my messy sewing studio! I love seeing photos of those pristine work spaces in magazine spreads, where every tool is daintily hung on its own hook and thread is arranged by Pantone shading, but in MY studio the sh#t is everywhere because it's getting USED, people!
One more shot of this dress, actually on, with my dog photo-bombing in the background:

Bad-Ass Pants, While You Wait

What's that you say? Your leather pants are dated, with the slightly too-wide cut below the knee? Well, let me just take care of that for you.

Sha - BOOM! Leather skinny jeans, here we come!
I pulled out the lining, took in a bit from the inseam, and tapered from the knee down by adding these fun grommets, before putting the lining back. When you're doing a show in a fire arts studio where everything is meant to burn, leather pants are a safety requirement. These are for the director, my friend Mark. The leather pants were a leftover costume piece from an earlier production of Don Giovanni that he inherited, and they just needed some taking in and bringing up to date.

Goodbye leather trenchcoat...

...and hello new handbag! I've been wanting to do this for ages, since I never wear this coat anymore and the leather was too good to just give away.

You can still see the trenchcoaty double-breastedness, which is now the closure. I used the belt as the shoulder strap, and incorporated the existing front pockets which run on the seam (you can kind of see them below the buttoned flap). I topstitched some nice folds to give it structure, and lined it in a cute paisley coated cotton I had lying around from a failed attempt at lunchboxes.

Machine Time

More photos to come soon, but we had some great reviews for Machine: A Fire Opera at The Crucible:

 And who could resist these zombie workers of the apocalypse?!

Best yet was our imprisoned Celtic goddess, Brigid, with her soldered EL wire wig, silk corset and custom made crown:

More fun and crazy hi-jinks backstage:

 

It was such a pleasure to costume this show and to work with such amazing people! I'm glad it had such a long run so that many folks could experience Jean-Francois's amazing set and hear the top-notch orchestra and these phenomenal singers.

Great Dickens!

Yeah, we are total geeks. I make my family dress up for the Great Dickens Christmas Fair every year. My older daughter refused to be photographed with us ( did I mention that I force them?) but here's the rest of us in our period finery.

We have such a good time, especially when we remember to sneak our period-appropriate flask in with us!

Here we are with friends Marie Plette, Mark Streshinsky, and various children who attached themselves to us in hopes of a free lunch.