My Sewing Space

It's that time of year again. My oldest daughter needs shorts and tops! A few months ago I emptied a box of clothes that I had in storage. They were clothes that I wore after having babies, before I was back to my usual size. I don't need them anymore, so some were donated and some were converted into clothes for my daughter. Both t-shirt and shorts made from two old tops. The picot elastic from stash was a good match. Two more tops cut up and re-purposed here. I used fold-over elastic around the neck and sleeve hems. The striped fabric is so stretchy that I had to staystitch the neck edge before applying the elastic. Then it had just the right amount of stretch to get the elastic on. After it was applied, I removed the staystitching (it's probably not actually staystitching then, is it?) And, then a different style top also made from an old top of mine. This is Ottobre 3-2012-17, a knit top with ruffled sleeves. Those sleeve ruffles are gathered wit...

My youngest daughter turned three yesterday. So hard to believe. I mentioned in this post how she only likes to wear dresses, skirts, jumpers and nightgowns. So, I made her another dress (because I thought she would like another and because I thought I would like fewer tantrums when there are not any clean dresses in her drawer). Both the dress and the leggings are from Ottobre 1/2010. The bubble sleeves are unique and the pleats on the leggings are a nice detail. In order for the outfit to be a surprise, I did all of the work while my daughter was sleeping and I was nervous about how or if it would fit. The leggings are a little looser than I would prefer, but they are a good length. The pleats don't match up well because I was in a great big hurry to finish them. The dress turned out to be a pretty good fit. I used size 98 and added 0.5" in length to both the bodice and the skirt. The neckline is gathered with an elastic casing. It looked too loose when I was making i...

A couple of days ago I was talking to The Preacher and telling him that I had a lot of things to sew (M and S have both asked for more for their shops and the art sale is the beginning of November). Then I said, "But first, I need to make the little man a couple more long-sleeved T-shirts." To which The Preacher said, "Maybe you should just go buy the T-shirts. You've got a lot to do." Um, hello? Are you new around here? We don't really "just go buy" clothes. Especially T-shirts. Please. I wanted to use a pattern from the Spring 2010 Ottobre issue that I purchased. Since I'm not so familiar with Ottobre , I took more than the usual number of measurements of my son. He did not enjoy this. After I got the shoulder seams sewn and the neckband on, I asked him to try it on to see if it was going to fit. He came over reluctantly and said, "Why do you need to measure me AND have me try it on? I thought you did all the measuring so that i...

Four weeks ago, I started running. Those of you who know me might find this surprising.  But, believe me when I tell you that you are no more surprised than I am.  I've tried being a runner before and never liked it.  I'd even get to the point where I could do it without it being painful and I still didn't like it, so I never stuck with it.  For some crazy reason, right now I'm loving it.  I don't understand it at all, but I'm not fighting it. My initial goal was to run three miles in 30 minutes and I'm just about there. Everything about it feels good. NOW everything about it feels good because I fixed the problem of having nothing suitable to wear while running. I learned early on that sleeves feel like they are in my way and I don't like them.  I also learned that shorts that ride up are no good. (But, really they only ride up for the first half of the run - after that I'm sweaty enough that they stick in place.  Lovely). Since I was really on...

After a few weeks of sewing only window treatments for someone else, it feels good to be back to sewing other things.  Of course, being the beginning of summer, most of those "other things" are going to be clothes for my kids. I used Kwik Sew 3169 for this top.  I've used it before ( here and here ). This knit is not very stretchy, so it worked well for a pattern drafted for wovens. Elastic pinching you under the arms is really unpleasant and I wanted to avoid that. I may have over-reacted to that concern and the elastic around the upper arm could be tighter, but it doesn't look terrible. The next top is from a pattern I haven't used before - Burda 9549. I guess there are some changes happening with the Burda site(s) - I don't fully understand, but I know that I'm not able to find a link to the pattern right now.  Bummer, because it is a pretty cute pattern. I did add length to the top and tapered it at the waist a bit.  If I made it straight from th...

Thanks for all the comments about my sweater !  I'm still so happy about it.  I usually like everything to be put away as much as possible, but I've intentionally left it out so I can admire it.  :) But, in order to wear it, I needed a lightweight long-sleeved shirt to keep me from being too itchy in the wool.  So even though I have other things in the works, that jumped to the front of the line.  I pretty much made it while the kiddos watched Sesame Street this morning. Not terribly exciting, but it fulfills its purpose beautifully.  I'm not sure exactly what the fabric is.  It's super stretchy like a rib knit, but looks more like interlock.  And I'm not sure about the fiber content, either.  It feels like some sort of blend - very soft and smooth.  The color is difficult to discern from the photo, but it's a heathered oatmeal sort of color (somewhere between off-white and tan).  I'm pretty sure I bought it at Metro Texti...

After seeing this shirt, my daughter told me that it wasn't really a good idea to wear short sleeves in the fall and winter.  I explained that I made it to be worn under a cardigan.  Then she said she thought the color was really pretty.  So, I think everything's going to be okay now. Last fall she had a long-sleeve T-shirt to wear under a hoodie and she hardly ever wore it because it was so frustating for her when she was getting dressing.  And after the long sleeves that were too short , short sleeves looked good to me! The fabric is left over from a top I made for myself a couple of years ago.  It's an interlock knit and looks more purple in real life.  The pattern is Kwik Sew 2918 , modified to have a gathered and bound neck.   That pile on my desk is getting smaller....

I've made this top before , so I thought this would be a no-brainer. It was still quite simple, but different fabrics behave differently as this top reminded me. I made view E but left off the sleeves. I finished the armholes by turning under 5/8" and stitching it with a double needle. Just like the first version, I pulled the top layer over at the armhole by 3/4" to prevent gaping. This worked really well on the first version, but on this one it seemed to make the lower layer ripple. I'm wondering if making the same change to the lower layer would prevent this. I must have stretched out the neckband while I was putting it on. Much of the time, the top stays away from my body at the CF like I'm hiding some sort of bony prominence under there. My other top from this pattern doesn't do this at all. Isn't that a nice farmer's tan I've got going on my arms? Clearly, I needed another sleeveless top in my wardrobe. Actually, I'm hoping that a g...