Sense & Sensibility offers new hand drafted patterns for historical garments and so much more. There are pictures of garments made with the patterns, sewing tips for the patterns (check out the recommended reading), great links, a wonderful library of vintage images from 1795 to 1959, and message boards. For the best of all take a look at the Diary of a Dress, documenting the building of a gown from concept to wedding pictures; and all of the fabulous documentation and photos in The "Titanic" Project. [This post is also over at Sew Wrong.]

Squibnocket is starting up a new online knitting magazine!

I love this idea from Daily Candy - throw a prom party. You can pick a prom theme, and have a theme within a theme. They even recommend Plum Party for decorations.

household tips from marlys! how to safely and gently discourage ants from sticking around

some links I've been gathering

sewing and costuming
• jenny la fleur
• sense & sensibility
• that sinking feeling
• the costume gallery quilting
• denyse schmidt
• nancy crow
• carol taylor the rest
• tiny envelope
• sowear

links via erica mulherin, caterina, and anita rowland

crafty bitch has up a resources page for knitters and craft supplies, including a list of NYC yarn shops

Darn! I recently ordered the mini pencan because it was "cuter" than the new pencam mega - but now I find that the mega has macro focus (up close), which I use a lot. Of course, I didn't read the product description close enough to figure that out the first time around. I'll get the mega instead, but I adore how teeny the mini pen cam is! It even comes with a lanyard so you can wear it as jewelry. Sigh. update: the mini has the little macro focus ring as well, see the comments for more than you wanted to know

I made, er, attempted the Phish Food cupcakes in an ice cream cone last night, see this post for reference and link to the recipe on Glitter. They looked fine most of the way through baking but fell rather dramatically by the time the timer was done. I took some pictures of what they looked like when the were cooling. And the parts we taste tested were good, but very crunchy like cookies. I used regular Phish Food ice cream and white cake mix. What went wrong? I suppose I should ask what exactly I was to expect as well. Last time I was frosting cupcakes, Scott mentioned something about Dream Whip frosting. I had never heard of this stuff, but I tried it last night and it's fun! I made the regular whipped Dream Whip stuff (it's a desert topping kind of like Cool Whip but not cold), and the frosting mixed with a package of instant pudding (makes a fluffy, shiny cake frosting) last night. While I can't say it's the most appealing thing, it apparently fits the Not Quite As Good As My Mother Used To Make But Still Appreciated category. I wonder how I got through an entire childhood in the Midwest without encountering Dream Whip.