A Sewist's Field Trip: Lacis ( Berkley CA)

Hoop skirts in a variety of styles
can be bought at Lacis.

Both a museum and a store, Lacis in Berkley is a mecca for local and not so local San Francisco Bay Area sewists. I went there recently to buy spiral steel bones for my bustier project. I'll be going back as soon as time permits to enjoy the other trappings of this lovely establishment. They include antique and modern lace, delicious old yellowed batiste Edwardian garments, and all kinds of specialty needlework tidbits, both for sale and on display.

This is the place you'd go if you want to create a beautiful wedding

gown, especially one with an antique or retro vibe. Or maybe you want to make your own lace, take up tatting, start a hand embroidery project, sew a bustier or corset, engage in millinery, or take up smocking. A lot of costumers shop here. While figuring out what sizes of bones I needed for my bustier, I had a long conversation with a long time costumer with lots of corset-making expertise.  He told me that the way my teacher suggested we sew our bustiers is all wrong. After all that's not the way he does it. I listened politely, because you never know what you'll learn. Mostly what I learned is there are a lot of ideas about working with bones and that there are more than one type of bone you may try. You do what works for you and you start somewhere.

Maybe you've got an exciting new textile arts project coming up, or maybe you just want to take in all the deliciousness that is Lacis. Next time you're in the area it's worth the trip. (it's across the street from the Ashby BART station). 

And, hey let me know if you want to meet up there!* 

A field trip to Lacis is the kind of thing that keeps me...

Enchanted by Sewing

*Email me at EnchantedBySewing AT gmail DOT com 

Tit forTatting... Embellishing my Buttercup Purse

I love this way this bag looks
with my new yellow tee shirt
The combination inspires me to get a camisole sewn
for this tee sooner rather than later.

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Do you Love Butter? In Praise of the Buttercup Purse

In case English isn't your first language, or you just never encountered the expression before, tit for tat refers to payback. For example, if you used my new sewing scissors to cut out paper, I might borrow your hammer to pound the pavement and leave it out in the rain. I'd never do that of course, just saying....

I don't know of any actual connection between my piece of tatting and that idiomatic phrase.

Yes, hooray! I finished my new bluebird buttercup purse. In Do you Love Butter? In Praise of the Buttercup Purse, I  had a lot of fun blogging about the buttercup game (as played by my mother when she was a little girl) that this pattern brings to mind. 

What do I especially like about my new bag?
1) Simple quilting, batting and crinoline interfacing gives it real substance and the potential to hold up to what I put in her.
2) An excuse to embellish a covered button with a bluebird's face. Isn't that a darling closure?
3) The opportunity to make use of eight inches of vintage tatting that I bought at last weeks De Anza Flea Market. I'm pretty sure that's a world's record for me when it comes to speed at which I used a newly acquired embellishment.

Closeup of bag, tatting
and covered button

I also love the way this bag goes with this sheer yellow tee shirt I finished a few weeks back. Unfortunately I can't wear them out together until I get a camisole sewn to go under the tee, as it's quite sheer.