I found an 80s western shirt pattern in Reno, and decided to try it out.  Let me tell you pearl snaps are NOT EASY to attach by hand, ha.  The first one is made from some Cuba 'souvenir' fabric, and the second is the back of the Gun Club album Fire of Love, which I got fabric printed of. 



I tried to put darts in the grey one, but it just is hanging kinda weird.  Anything to fix that?  The fabric is a 50/50 cottonpoly sheet, so it's pretty thin.

Fantastic looking dresses! I really like the pattern on the second dress.

Ps) what is the tattoo peaking out on your arm?  

thanks yall!  the tattoo is an old singer sewing machine!  you can see it a little better in this pic:

Started putting hoods on some of my dresses....just made these two out of some old sheets.  I'm sooo into the colors of the first striped one!  Think it's probably going to go straight into my closet, ha!  I didn't realize how EASY hoods are - I just found a pattern from an old 60's beach cover-up and lined it.  And what's better than a dress with a hood?  (well, a dress with pockets, but besides that!)

Started making a new style...with different fabrics on the front, side, and back bodice, so I can get even crazier with mixing patterns!  

1. Vintage Cat tea towel with striped sides and floral back.





2. Vintage Lakeside Tea Towel with floral sides and striped back




What do y'all think? Any favorites?


3. Vintage Americana Print with striped sides

Last time I went to Portland, I went to the Bins and found this 80's tablecloth for probably 90 cents!  It's a really good burnt orange color with that 80s/90s tribal fish type print on it.  I used to hate this stuff, but it's grown on me over the years.  I love the whole 80's does 50's style that David Lynch used in Twin Peaks (and lots of his movies), so I tried to make a pattern from a 50's dress I have...it turned out super small in the bust (LAME!) but it's ok because it fit one of my friends perfect so I gave it to her.





practice makes perfect, right?
What do you guys think about the lace at the waist?

So I've been wanting to make a motorcycle jacket for SO long...I finally bought some black denim when the fabric store was having their 40% off sale.  Instead of keeping it classic, I used a Guatemalan tapestry to face the collar and patch the back.






I made the pattern from a 1960s motorcycle jacket I have...it's unlined, so it wasn't too hard.  Still gotta work out some issues with the sleeves, but next I'm thinking of using velvet floral tapestry as the facing. 
What do you guys think?

Here's a custom order I did for one of my friends that I wanted to show you guys.  She loves everything Egyptian, and she had this silk scarf that she wanted me to use for a dress.  It also has the zodiac signs on it, which kills two awesome birds with one stone.  Anyways, I made a sweetheart top, velvet ribbon straps, and added a band of egyptian hieroglyphic fabric at the bottom.  There's a good tip - making skirts two-tone by adding a band of fabric at the bottom and giving it extra length.  The bodice is based off an 80's prom pattern, sans boning.  If you guys have any other questions, comments, criticism, words of wisdom, etc. etc. let me know!

One of my most favoritest dresses I've ever made.  Kinda like Exene from X meets rockabilly.  Black cotton top, vintage 60s floral cotton skirt, 50s plaid cotton pockets, and tea dyed lace appliques on the bodice.  Oh, and the straps are black velvet and vintage lace with covered buttons on the back.  I'll always regret letting go of this one!







any thoughtssss?

Another integral part of kitsch - the black velvet painting.  Whether it be Elvis (i hope!), Jesus, a sad hobo clown, or a howling wolf, black velvet paintings rule.  So when I found this landscape velvet painting, I knew it had to become a dress.  Paired with 1970s silver metallic lurex!  It's my first cocktail dress in a while, what do you guys think?

if you've ever seen twin peaks (the greatest tv show ever made), you'll immediately know what this dress is all about...black and white zigzag fabric and red velvet to mimic the floor and curtains of the black lodge...
Here's the black lodge:

Here's the dress:




Question:  Do you know where to find more zigzag fabric like this?  I'd like to make more but I don't know how to find it...