PGM half scale dress form

Meet Alice...I needed her to help me practice with making patterns and so far she's been a great investment!

I looked at numerous options of half scale dress forms and really wanted the Wolf and Bunka brands, but the PGM was the right one for me budget wise.

A Wolf dress form at the Alexander Wang studios

Bunka brand

Maybe in the future I can upgrade to the Wolf brand when the time comes for a regular professional dress form.  But for now, I'm just totally inspired by these replications of dresses by one of the earliest architects of clothing of the late 19th century, Madeleine Vionnet- who was known to use half scale forms.  Hopefully in time I can reproduce these amazing designs.

The pictures below were found on Threads Magazine (with the exception of the first photo on the left, which is from Nicola Sowter).  

DG Expo

I've been a very busy girl lately.

In the midst of gathering sewing supplies, and educating myself with pattern making, sewing, and fashion sketch books, I managed to attend the DG fabric Expo earlier this year and sit in on a couple seminars on upcoming advances in textiles, which was a real eye opener.  Think the integration of fabric and medicine used to treat hospital patients or clothes as simple as a regular shirt that can monitor you heart rate, blood pressure, and more (which puts other, ahem, well-known monitoring devices to shame).

I can't wait to attend the Fall expo and hopefully get the chance to attend more seminars.

Serena & Lily Design Shop

I just got this in my inbox today and I'm so excited Serena & Lily are opening a design shop in San Francisco on Sacramento Street, tomorrow!

And the best part is Serena and Lily will be at the shop from 2 to 5 pm.

I've always loved their products- from their pastel-colored rugs to their ethnic-inspired furniture.  Just recently I was in search of a basket to hold my fabrics and muslins and decided to go with their Senegalese basket.  I was going to keep it in my room by my work desk but it was too beautiful to hide away!  So right now it's in my living room and fits perfectly right next to my ikat / chevron pillows and geometric bench, which without a doubt will prompt guests to take a peek inside!

The Senegalese basket from Serena & Lily