Book Review: The End of Fashion by Teri Agins

I read "The End of Fashion" so you don't have to.  If you have it on your to-read you should probably take it off.  I found it mildly interesting as a piece of fashion history, but it was hard to get through.  Agins covers, among other things, Paris as the center of the fashion universe, the story of designer/movie star synergy, and the (temporary) reprieve Marshall Field's bought itself as a strictly high-end merchandiser.

I had to google "Hilfiger Vintage" to find this.

Writing in 1998 or so (the book was published in 1999), Agins argues that fashion is dead.  Forever.  When you read the book you remember why this would be easy to believe:  this was the height of Tommy Hilfiger Hegemony, as covered in a chapter of the book.  Those hideous oversized color-blocked sweatshirts were all over the damn place.  Less facetiously, there was also the perpetual issue of couture being a huge money-loser, and fashion people making very bad business people (the chapter on Donna Karan is a great illustration of this principle).

However, the title has more to do with timing than absolute truth.  This quote encapsulates the era Agins recounts:  "Glamorous as they are, fashion shows are fairly low-voltage to the general public, who will probably never see a tape of an Armani runway show." (p 152).  Thank you for that prediction, Professor Trelawney.

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Agins was writing in the dead zone between the easing of American economic protectionism that began to allow cheap clothes from Asia to flood the market (the Multi-Fiber Arrangement was phased out by 2005) and the rise of the fashion blogger.  In those dead zone years, fashion was pretty grim.  Think of those heinous jeans the 90210 crowd wore(and don't miss this horrendous pair on Shannen Doherty).
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With the rise of the Internet, the top-down model Agins writes about no longer became the only paradigm.  Designers, department stores, and fashion magazines have by no means lost their influence on fashion (as evidenced by the awesome "cerulean" monologue in The Devil Wears Prada).  But what used to be "street fashion," which certainly had some influence in the past--though mainly as it was coopted by movie costume designers and the fashion industry--became fashion blogging, and far surpassed the IRL version in terms of influence.

As fashion became democratized, couture became no longer the stuffy province of the ultra-rich old money and ordinary people could get excited about and participate in fashion in a way that has not been possible at any other time in history.  Someone with a strong point of view could go from being a random teenager in the midwest to seated in the front row at a runway show (or so we like to imagine).

In addition, business people started to take over the business end of fashion.  Whether LVMH's ownership of a huge swathe of the luxury fashion brands is a good or a bad thing, it has meant that fashion houses have managed to stay afloat and continue to offer couture eye candy.

Of course, nothing is static.  The new fashion hegemony seems to be that fashion bloggers are sponsored and branded and all strive to be sponsored by (and feature) the same clothes, so there is less of a richness of fashion point-of-view and the designers/marketers are back on top in deciding the Next Big Thing.  However, I'm not going to go as far as Teri Agins and predict the end of fashion.  Humans will always have a keen interest in adorning themselves, regardless of how low the trough seems to have dipped.

Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion

I finished Overdressed (link goes to Goodreads; the cover photo above is linked to Amazon) over the weekend.  The author explores various angles of our addiction to cheap clothes:  the poor quality of clothing, the enormous waste generated by throwaway items and the (lack of) secondary market for used clothing, the loss of American (and most first world) textile jobs and production capacity, and the pressure on third-world garment-makers to keep worker wages as low as possible.  It was a good complement to Deluxe:  How Luxury Lost its Luster (and actually cites Deluxe).  

By the end of the book, the author is a convert to "slow clothing" over fast fashion:  fewer good quality pieces produced by well-paid workers in the U.S.  She even learns to sew.  She thinks if we could all just realize how poorly made fast fashion is, we'd all see the light on good-quality, more expensive clothing (which can end up with a *lower* cost per wear than fast fashion).

But I think she misses the major point to fast fashion.  She admits that she is not a fashionista herself; she's not a trend chaser and doesn't enjoy shopping.  She also lives in Brooklyn, New York, where there are thousands of options that aren't Target, Old Navy, Wal Mart, and other retail behemoths.  

So she can be forgiven for not realizing the essential problem:  Fast fashion isn't about clothing or fashion.  Fast fashion is about shopping.  That sounds like a tautology, but hear me out.

 The thing is, for a large majority of people in this country, there is nothing to do but go shopping. Literally.

I am very fortunate to live in DC and I can go for a bike ride, visit a museum, run, hike, or just walk around--NOT to stores, though I sometimes feel like I am "wasting" my time if I don't have a destination, i.e., a store, i.e., something to buy--very easily and without a car (well, the hiking part requires a car). However I moved from places where (a) you had to have a car to get anywhere, so you had to have a destination, and (b) the only anywhere to go was a mall or shopping center. Even with all DC's rich resources, it took me years to break the habit of going shopping most weekends. It is our primary leisure activity, other than watching TV.

Convincing people to buy fewer but better clothes has almost nothing to do with money. It has to do with entertainment.  

Sculpture from Artomatic 2012

Where my parents live, there are virtually no sidewalks and no bike lanes.  So when teenagers who can't yet drive want to meet up with their friends, it needs to be a central location and they must be driven there by parents.  And the only central location is the mall.  So you beg your parents to take you to the mall, where you spend hours shopping.  Now, as a teen I didn't have enough money to actually buy anything on most visits.  But it creates this idea that the place you go for fun is the mall.

Then when you can actually drive, it doesn't occur to you to go to museums (which are an hour's drive away and have high admission charges).  And there is no hiking within a reasonable drive because it is suburbia as far as the eye can see.   No, when you get your license it's so exciting because now you can drive yourself to the mall.  What started out as a central destination convenient for parents to drop you and teens to meet up, becomes the destination.  The only one.


At some point you get out of school and have more money but fewer people to hang out with all the time.  So you start going shopping by yourself.  Sure, you try to arrange to do it with friends when you can, but if you can't find anyone to go with you, what are you going to do, not shop?  What else is there to do?  It's considered weird to go to a movie by yourself, or to eat in a restaurant by yourself.  But if you need to get out of the house by yourself, it's not weird to go shopping alone.

That's when the buying really starts.  Because if you're shopping by yourself, it's not socializing disguised as shopping.  It's just shopping.  And if you don't buy something while you're out shopping, then what's the point?  It's like it never happened at all. 

Sculpture Detail

To feel like something happened in your life, you need to have a bag and a receipt and something to cut the tags off of.  It feels like you were being productive.


I am not pretending I am above it all here!  I love clothes.  And I am definitely still in the "productivity" mind set.  I prefer to sew a new item every week.  That is not any different than buying a new item every week, though my items are generally better quality than what you'd find at Forever 21 and their ilk.  

When I put a lot of work into one project, like my Seersucker Social dress, it drives me crazy to be working on it week after week.  I could have made so many other things!  Never mind whether I need them or not and whether they fit in my closet.  The slow pace of acquisition kills me with those projects.  And we all know how much fabric I buy (but I've not bought any for over three months now, which is very exciting).


I don't know what it would take to get people to go for a bike ride or to picnic in a park for fun and a way to get out of the house instead of going shopping, but it would require a huge, huge, HUGE cultural shift, infrastructure changes to offer entertainment alternatives to the mall, and a reconfiguring of the idea of "productive" away from having something tangible to show for your weekend.

In my current job we have a staff meeting every Monday.  The staff is pretty small so at the end of the meeting if we have a little time we all go around the table and give a little synopsis of our weekend.  When I started I was joking with some of the longer term staff members that I was going to have to start planning more exciting weekends so I'd have something interesting to recount.  

It was kind of a joke but kind of not.  If everyone had to give a report on their weekend every Monday morning, would we want to be able to say more than "I went shopping and got a great deal!"?  Or is that really enough?

There is a discussion of this book on Pattern Review.

Stashoholism Confessional and Book Recommendation

So, I've been feeling a little out of control on fabric buying lately.  I decided that I would not buy any fabric during Lent.  It's not that long, and heaven knows I don't need more fabric, or at least no need would arise in 6 weeks.

I blame Cidell for this.  She sent me a tweet from Fabric Mart about it receiving a shipment of Dry Flex knit.  You know I've been looking for good quality knits for months.  They had it in peacock, one of my favorite colors.  I tried my mantra, "There will always be more fabric."  (My other mantra:  "Buying more fabric keeps me from projects I love.")  But in fact, this kind of fabric is not easy to find and definitely not at that price, and Fabric Mart's stock was quite limited.

Because it has flat rate shipping, it is just economically foolish to buy only one piece of fabric from Fabric Mart.  Right?  (OK, fine, I know that the best "bargain" is spending no money at all.)  But they were also having a 20% off sale.  (There will always be more fabric.)

At any rate, the knit print was so cheap I couldn't pass it up, and it turned out to be really lovely in person.  The print is high end-looking, if that makes sense, and the light parts are light gray rather than white.

The dupioni will be great for a silk shell, of which I don't have enough.

The purple silk was on deep discount as there was only one yard left and it was just so pretty I had to give it a home.  It will be a lovely airy blouse.

Oh right, and the dry flex knit is AWESOME.  Very high quality, thick, good recovery.  It could even be used as a bottom-weight for yoga pants.  I ordered 3 yards and will be glad to have this available in my stash for years.

I have to say, I'm not sorry and I would do it again.  But from now on I really will endeavor to keep my Lenten pledge.

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Enjoying sewing does not mean that you enjoy fashion, and enjoying fashion does not mean you have any interest in the business of fashion.  But if you have an interest in the business of fashion (or , I would argue, business *or* fashion), you must read this fascinating book. 

It explores how luxury brands--couture houses such as Dior and Chanel, custom luggage makers such as Louis Vuitton and Hermes--went from tiny purveyors of wildly expensive goods to the very wealthy to aspirational and then to attainable by the middle class. Chapters cover the consolidation of luxury brands (LVMH being the behemoth), vertical integration of the supply and distribution chain, the development of smaller items such as perfume to drive revenue and brand recognition, the explosive rise in the market for luxury goods (or luxury-branded goods, at any rate) outside Europe and the United States, counterfeiting (chilling), and the move from fashion into "lifestyle."

I may not be making it sounds interesting, but trust me, it is *riveting.*

It's not perfect, of course, and I identified two negatives.

The first is not Thomas's fault: the book just happened to be published on the cusp of the Great Recession. So the tone that takes continued, free-for-all growth for granted is a bit quaint and the data is dated. In addition, one of the big stories of the Great Recession has been the stability of luxury brands. They are not recession-proof, but have not contracted to the same degree as other industries, from what I've read (the Wall Street Journal does an excellent job covering the business of fashion). It would have been interesting to read about that in the book.

The second is totally Thomas's fault, and is evident in the book's subtitle, "How Luxury Lost Its Luster." A more fitting subtitle would have been "The Democratization of Luxury" or "How Luxury Became Big Business." But there is a tone throughout that indicates Thomas's great regret is that "true" luxury disappeared before she could join the luxury class.  The last chapter is devoted to reassuring the reader that the rich still have ways to spend lots of money on things that ordinary people cannot obtain, such as $800 made-to-measure bras (to which I say, eat your heart out over Sigrid's gorgeous bras!!!!).

There is a link to my Goodreads shelf on the right hand sidebar.  Please send me a friend request if you join!  

Worn Fashion Journal and Stashoholism Confessional

I found Worn Fashion Journal through a mention in the blog Of Another Fashion. Of Another Fashion is a project to collect images of women of color throughout history to illustrate their participation in fashion. It is a great project and the images are always fantastic. I highly recommend checking it out, and submitting photos if you have any that fit into the project.

I was thinking of the magazine as "Worn Magazine," but it turns out that there is *another* fashion magazine called Worn Magazine and it is about Washington DC! I'm going to have to dig deeper into that one.



I was drawn to Worn because I saw it had an article on flight attendant uniforms. I enjoyed making and wearing my retro air hostess Halloween costume two years ago, though it was not any kind of historically accurate, and was interested in the topic. The article includes interviews with women who were flight attendants during the 60s and 70s as well an exploration of the larger cultural role and perception of flight attendants. And of course, information on the uniforms. I enjoyed the article.


The magazine includes many other interesting articles, such as this one by a textile conservationist on the techniques used in her work for museums. Other articles include a discussion on choosing vintage eyeglasses, a history of the perfume "Jicky," several book reviews, and a discussion about the characteristics of tweed.

There is also an editorial fashion spread, though I have to say it didn't do much for me. It is rather geared toward the university crowd with layer upon crazy layer of texture, embellishment, and Inuit inspired fashion. It is not anything that can be remotely adapted to a working woman's wardrobe. But this is more of an academic journal than a lookbook, so the fashion spread is almost irrelevant.

Worn is a Canadian magazine but accepts subscribers in the US for $18 + $8 shipping ($20 shipping outside US and Canada). The magazine comes out twice a year, and a subscription is for two years (so four issues).

I am not a magazine subscriber because I am not good at getting rid of magazines--the only other magazine I get is BurdaStyle. But I found a friend who will let me pass the issues along to her so I'm safe!

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I was feeling so smug about my fabric buying! I went to G Street Fabrics last weekend for Fashion Sewing Club. The topic, fortuitously, was rainwear. The instructor had found some vinyl on the $2.97/yd table and pulled it out for us. I want to have two helmet covers as I have two helmets (one for work and one for home) and am just about out of Gore Tex so I bought the vinyl.

I also had to check out the silk novelty $6.97/yd table, especially as there was a 25% off sale going. I found this very interesting textured, bonded silk. The outside is a blue-gray with a bumpy texture and the back side is black cotton (I think, I can't separate the two layers to do separate burn tests). It's fairly substantial without a lot of drape and I think it may be home dec. I immediately envisioned a trench-style jacket. The silk would make it warm but still relatively lightweight. I am not *quite* sold on such a dark-colored coat--not my style!--but I can see it being great for Fall, and light colored coats do show dirt awfully quickly. As I have no immediate plans to sew this up and I have plenty of wools for jackets in my stash I'm not sure this purchase was justified. I am going to have to recommit to mindfulness.

Stylish Cloche Japanese Hat Making Book Project and Review

I ordered Stylish Cloche from Amazon.jp after seeing the project made by Diary of Matter Hatter and falling in love with it. I did a google search, but didn't find it anywhere. I should have done a little bit more research; although the book was a reasonable $18 the shipping was $35 so the total cost was over $50. I see that it is now available on Etsy for $28 with $10.50 shipping, which is a little bit cheaper.

There are some pattern books for which I might be willing to pay $50, but when I received the book I realized it has just three crowns and three brims, and one of the crowns is a top-hat style crown and I already have several serviceable patterns in that style. The options are stylish and (judging from this one) well drafted, but had I known there were so few patterns I don't think I would have ordered it. Oh well, it's only money. Although there are limited options, the fashion photography in the book showing many different versions and combinations is beautiful and inspiring, as you can see in this image.

The patterns come in three sizes:
S 56 cm (approx 22 inches)
M 57.5 cm (approx 22 1/2 inches)
L 59 cm (approx 23 1/4 inches)

Seam allowances are included appear to vary somewhat depending on the piece (they are marked in the construction diagrams), but it is generally 6 mm, approximately 1/4 inch. The text is Japanese but the numerals are Arabic and the instructional diagrams are extremely clear and detailed. There is no real language barrier to using this book, which is quite a feat on the part of the technical illustrators! Hats off to them, if you'll pardon the pun.

My head is actually 21.5 inches rather than 22, but with the small seam allowances I figured I'd just sew them a little bigger if need be. However, those tiny seam allowances turned out to be a problem in my relatively thick fabric, and in fact the hat turned out too small, which is so annoying! It spent several weeks on my hat block stretching, but the stretching didn't really take. Sad. The upside is there is no chance of it getting blown off in the wind; the downside is the large welt it leaves on my forehead. In the future, I will plan to trace the pattern and then strip out the allotted seam allowances and add back my own, larger SA (I prefer 1/2 inch). Although seam allowances aren't marked on the pattern in the traditional Western manner (a dashed line along the entire perimeter), they are marked with little lines topped with a circle at various points so it shouldn't be *too* difficult.

For this project I used Crown M and Brim B in size small. I used wool tweed left over from making this pencil skirt. Actually, I cut out and made the hat at the same time, and there was pretty much nothing left of the fabric, which I thought was quite a coup.

The pieces fit together well and create a pleasing line. The crown does seem to be a smidge too tall for my head, but that may be because it is too small to properly pull down all the way.

I lined it with some of the Vera Wang Silk/Rayon blend (it's great for hat-lining, thick and slippery), and finished off with a ribbon.

Because it's too small I haven't gotten a ton of wear out of it--there is a small window of weather in which you can wear (1) a wool hat but (2) it doesn't cover your ears--but it was a promising foray into the book and I can correct the size issue on the next one. All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Book Reviews, Movie Review, and I've Been A Bad Bad Girl

I'm hoping if I hide the massive fabric infusion at the end of the post it will mitigate the damage.

Several months ago I checked out Jackie: The Clothes of Camelot by Jay Mulvaney from the library based on Cindy of Colour by Numbers' recommendation. It is a great book! It is a bit of a hagiography, more Franklin Mint than trenchant political history, but that is exactly what I'm looking for in a book about the fashion of a public figure. I just want to read about what they wore, not their larger historical significance (for instance, the book skimmed right over the issues of infidelity and unhappiness in Jackie and Jack's marriage).

It is full of lovely pictures, mostly black and white but color when they are available. It's organized chronologically and by type of clothing (evening, daywear, casual sportswear). There is just the right balance of text and photos--adequate description and information on the designers and Jackie's personal taste without getting too much about the author or the story and not enough about the clothes. Although it is neither high literature nor high art, I think this is a superb piece of fashion history.




Love the day dress on the left; it's similar in style to the Butterick 5209 retro reissue I made last year. And check out the muscle definition in her legs--I thought they didn't believe in exercise back then and just stayed skinny by smoking and not eating? The Grecian evening gown is just gorgeous.


The girls on Wardrobe Refashion are in love with Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin. Amazingly, the DCPL had a copy so I checked it out.

I'm glad I borrowed it from the library rather than purchasing, because the Hipster Cowboy aesthetic is sooooo not my own. I deliberately put the words in order with Hipster first and Cowboy second; although Chanin has returned home to Alabama the look is pure Brooklyn (where she lived while developing her style).

The idea is to use old t-shirts as the raw material for all the projects in the book, which is kind of cool (but, again, not my thing). The first section contains useful and well-written information on sewing basics; all the sewing is done by hand so there's nothing on using a machine. After the preliminaries come the projects. There are a good number of projects and the book includes patterns for a skirt (loose fitting, A line) and corset-style t-shirt refashion. I found it a little frustrating on behalf of beginners that she doesn't make clear the corset thingy is corset style, not an actual corset; it has no structure and being made of a t-shirt won't do anything corset-y or foundation-y. But that's a small quibble.

The book also includes extensive information on applique, reverse applique, beading, and stenciling. I admire the look of the reverse applique projects, but cannot picture incorporating it into my garments. Even though my style is Retro Fantasy, and you'd think the "fantasy" element would include room for lots of embellishment, I am very wary of embellishment. It doesn't come naturally to me and can so easily cross the line into Crafty Crazy, Dated, Dowdy, and just plain Hideous so I usually just leave it alone.

I like the tactile nature of the book, if that's the proper way to describe it. It includes a cardboard stencil (in addition to some additional stencil line art printed on the pages that you are to enlarge on a copy machine and create your own stencil from); two paper patterns at the end; and a postcard to bead.







Although the clothes didn't do much for me, I did love the chrysanthemum fabric flower project. As with the rest of the book, I don't think I'd make these flowers; I have pretty much zero interest in non-functional decorative objects. But I will keep the idea in the back of my mind should I ever need to create decorations for a shower or party for someone else. As mentioned, I found the beading and reverse applique projects inspiring. The skirt on the right definitely does not look Dated, Dowdy, or Hideous and if it's Crafty Crazy it's in a sweet way, but I just don't know that I could ever get there. Asymmetry is ridiculously hard for me, and looking as though I've casually scattered an assortment of beads on a skirt would in truth be an arduous, laborious mental process (leaving aside the physical work of it!).

I only snapped a few photos from each book so as not to go beyond "fair use" and violate the authors' copyrights, but all images from both books are here

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A friend wanted to see The Young Victoria for her birthday and I was all over that! The costumes did not disappoint; they were sumptuous and breathtaking. It was annoying that there was so much black, but I can't blame the filmmakers for the mourning rituals of the time period. The menswear was just as lovely as the women's clothing. Tall, skinny plaid pants are sexy! I didn't know anything about Queen Victoria other than having a vague idea of her as a prude (based on the colloquial use of the adjective "Victorian"). It was well done and extremely interesting. I highly recommend giving this movie a view; I might even say to see it in the theatre so the costumes have maximum effect.

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And now we come to the confessional portion of this post. Based on a seriously enabling post on the PR message board, I ordered a lot of the Vera Wang closeout fabric on fabric.com. It was $1.95 yard, and with free shipping and discount codes it was really too good to pass up! Well, that is what I tell myself. In truth, There Will Always Be More Fabric.

Clockwise from left in the photo above, we'll start with the silk/rayon satin. I couldn't get a photo that looks anything like the actual colors but they are beautiful. The fabric is a heavy satin with a beautiful soft finish. Unfortunately, I have already ruined the purple. :( People had posted that the finish of the fabric "crackled" in the wash. I started with the emerald and put it as flat as I could into a bathtub with a few inches of warm water and some mild shampoo and mushed it around, not crinkling it up to the best of my ability. Then I hung it to dry. In the morning it was softer but the smell of the sizing washing out in the tub had been heinous. It seemed very toxic. So I threw it in the wash. It survived with only a few stretch marks. Then I got cocky with the purple. I filled the washer and let the fabric soak for 20 minutes, thinking it would dissolve the sizing and the surface would be ok. I was wrong. It looks like it is covered with dirty chalk marks. I will try over-dying and see what happens. Otherwise I have a lot of pajamas in my future. Actually, I bought these fabrics thinking to use them for linings and it will still be great for lining coats--I love the heavier weight and the satin slide is perfect to pull over clothes. I've not touched the olive yet. It's my favorite color and I don't want to ruin the surface of it.

I ordered the rayon satin the next photo for linings as well, and it is really nice! I didn't happen to have any light colored lining so I tossed it in the cart and am glad I did. Next to that is fuschia silk chiffon. Yes, I know I swore off silk chiffon but the color! It is gorgeous! The fabric! It is soft! I recently made the high-necked version of McCall 5708 in silk/cotton and love it. I think this fabric would be sensational in that pattern, with an underlined body and sheer sleeves.

Continuing around the clock we have a polyester/spandex print. I expected this to be a jersey, probably because I didn't read closely enough, but it's more like a cross between a stretch and a woven. I have two ideas for patterns, the current version of the classic DVF wrap dress, which I've made before, Vogue 8379 or Vogue 8593 with the interesting pleated neckline. I ordered four yards of this fabric and by laying out both patterns at once and with some judicious cutting I might be able to get both dresses out of it, the wrap dress with 3/4 sleeves, collar, and cuffs and the pleat neck dress sleeveless. Also, can I give a big annoyed raspberry in the direction of Butterick/McCall/Vogue for their website redesign that has broken three years worth of links in my blog archives and creates web addresses that are no longer intuitive like Simplicity did? What was wrong with a web address like
"http://www.mccallpattern.com/item/M6723.htm"
for McCall 6723? Why do we have to add a bunch more crap to it?



Now we come to the wools. I got fuschia flannel, off-white boucle, lightweight wool/silk/cotton suiting, stretch black suiting, and brick-colored melton.

I was hoping for more of a hot pink in the fuschia flannel and was initially disappointed in this purple fabric, but it is definitely growing on me. I will start with a skirt and see where we go from there.

The boucle is very lightweight and has a square texture almost like a thermal waffle weave. I have been craving a winter-white coat for several years now but not done it because it will get so dirty so fast. Although the price of fabric for a coat pales in comparison to the amount of work, maybe I will just bite the bullet and do it. I will likely felt the fabric first, though. Right now it is drapey enough for a dress and won't hold structure. Will test that out.

The wool/silk/cotton was a surprise; I bought it for interlining (the cotton content isn't ideal for interlining, but wool and silk are both so warm I figured it would be ok). But the sheen and hand on this fabric are gorgeous. The problem is, I cannot wear this color. It is the same color as me. I would look naked in it, and not in a good way. It would make a beautiful dress, though; I'm thinking particularly of the cowl-drape version of Vogue 8413. Maybe I will experiment with dyeing. I will likely lose the sheen and the herringbone pattern, but I really can't wear that color. Really.

Next is the stretch wool "suiting." This is super lightweight. I would never consider it for pants, for instance, and I really don't see how it would work as a jacket. I ordered three yards of it thinking that you always need a black skirt in the current shape and so I'd just stock up and be done with it for the next 6 years or so (assuming a skirt lasts two seasons). But I don't know that this fabric will work as a structured pencil skirt, for instance, which is what I'm looking for now. It is nice fabric and has a great stretch, but it's not what I hoped for.

Last is the brick-colored melton. I ordered it hoping that it would coordinate with my favorite Carol Collection plaid. I love the idea of making the plaid into the Burda 01-2009-114 jacket with the bias strips around the edges and then a skirt in the rust color. Although really, who am I kidding? Although I make the occasional coat, I neither make nor wear jackets. Ever. Alas, the brick does not match the rust in the plaid; seeing them together I realize I would need something more on the burgundy spectrum than the rust spectrum to match the plaid.

However, the brick fabric is really nice and after your comments on orange I was thinking I should have ordered enough for a coat! I got 2 yards, which wouldn't get me much of anywhere. Also, the color edges toward 70s orange (the color is closer to in the wool composite picture above than the photo with the plaid); it's not a pure, bright orange. I will think of what to do with it. I could still make a skirt, but then it occurred to me that I would really have nothing to wear with it. I wear cools, jewel tones, and blacks, and pretty much never wear browns or warms. I'd hate to have a one-trick pony skirt with only one top made especially to match it, creating an outfit that in truth I would likely never wear. Although I do need to justify the purchase of some brown boots. But the fabric is so nice that I'm not ready to let go of it.

So, um, 46 yards. It took me three days to carry all 24 pounds of fabric home from work (my commute is about a mile and a half on foot, and uphill of course). That's almost half of what I sew in a year. Bad.

To atone for this in some manner, I did some stash cleaning last night and culled out an approximately equal weight of fabric (didn't measure the yardage). So Laura, is DC Threads still looking for fabric donations?

Book Reviews

When I got my serger I checked some books out of the library, as I don't have much experience with them. The library doesn't have a very comprehensive collection of sewing books (more's the pity), but there were a couple that were promising.

I was a big fan of The Complete Serger Handbook by Chris James. The instructions were clear and useful, and she is a woman after my own heart, the slapdash sergist if you will. She illustrated concepts with several different models of serger, and gave detailed instructions on stitch width, length, and tension for various techniques. I am almost tempted to actually *gasp* buy this book. The amazon listing is for a paperback, which wouldn't be as useful; the one in the library was hardback spiral bound.

I didn't find Creative Serging by Nancy Bednar and Anne van der Kley as useful, mostly because they are writing for top-end machine owners and were most delighted in the coverstitch function. My machine doesn't have coverstitch so at least 80% of the projects and instructions were inapplicable to me. However, their section on flatlocking added a bit to what Chris James had said and it made a little more sense to me.

I also checked out Second-Time Cool: The Art of Chopping Up a Sweater by Anna-Stina Linden Ivarsson, Katarina Brieditis, and Katarina Evans. Some of the projects are a little too cool for me (it was in the Young Adult section, and the YA librarian looked at me a little suspiciously when I entered his section), but it gives good information in an easily understandable way. There were a few really clever things, like their method for making yarn buttons, and lots of inspiring pictures. They also tied their work to what's on the runway, which I appreciated. I went to the thrift store on Friday before I went to Ikea and got a bunch of wool sweaters and am enjoying playing around with them.