Vogue, you shouldn't have. But I'm glad you did.

A year or so ago, I swore off envelope patterns. I figured I could get whatever I wanted from my Burda description or my existing stash. But I don't think I can resist these...

This one, Anna Sui's V1153, looks so fun and breezy. I have the perfect gauze in my stash for it.


I love this blouse, Rachel Comey V1170. I love shirts with twist and knot details, and this is no exception.


This one, Guy Laroche V1155, is for the lifestyle I don't have. One day, I'll have a grown up job and will get to wear this. I think it'll be great in this crisp linen that's floundering in my stash...

Haiti and my 2010 resolutions

I haven't sewn anything since last month (I made a dress for NYE that I haven't had a chance to photograph yet) and one of my 2010 resolutions is not to buy any fabric if I haven't been sewing. My other 2010 resolutions include sewing a work appropriate wardrobe because I aspire to have a grown-up job by the end of the year, and training for my third marathon. My goal in this marathon is to finish without crying like a little girl and (hopefully) qualify for the Boston marathon. Between traveling every week and marathon training there's been no time for sewing.

That doesn't mean that I don't want to buy fabric! Buying fabric is my favorite consolation for not having time to sew. Fantasizing about the things I could sew is almost as good as actually sewing them. Or not, because my self consolation adds up to a formidable stash that I've had to move over state lines. After you move 6 boxes (each large enough to fit a cocker spaniel... or two) of unsewn fabric, you realize how silly it is to indulge your hording tendencies.

So in the perfect trifecta of giving and guilt learned from Catholic schooling (I shouldn't spend money on something I don't need whereas someone else could do with that money), 2010 resolution (no fabric if I'm not sewing), I decided to donate what I would have spent on fabric to the Haitian relief effort. If you are like minded I urge you to donate some money to Partners in Health's Stand with Haiti Campaign. Partners in Health is a Boston-based charity that has done a lot of work with Haiti for 25 years.

From the Partners in Health website:

Partners In Health staff in Boston and Haiti are working to collect as much information as possible about the conditions on the ground, the relief efforts taking shape, and all relevant logistics issues in order to respond efficiently and effectively to the most urgent needs in the field. At the moment, PIH’s Chief Medical Officer is on her way to Haiti, where she will meet with Zanmi Lasante leadership and head physicians, who are already working to ensure PIH’s coordinated relief efforts leveraging the skills of more than 120 doctors and nearly 500 nurses and nursing assistants who work at Zanmi Lasante’s sites.

If you click on the Stand With Haiti banner below, you will be connected to the campaign's donation page.