My Sewing Space

This shirt was the last of my summer sewing. Like most summers, there are many things left on my "want-to-make" list, but summer is a short season here and consistently my least productive time of year for sewing. After this shirt, I did make a few back to school things for my kids, so fall sewing has already begun.  I’m really happy with this shirt, but nothing was surprising about it. I knew I liked the fabric and used my tried-and-true shirt pattern. This fabric has been in my stash for a few years. I bought it on deep discount at an end of season sale. I like that it has the tie-dye feel without being overly hippie-ish. It is a lightweight cotton (lawn, perhaps?) with a stable weave and soft feel. It was lovely to work with. Unlike the fabric for this shirt , which felt a little bulky, this  worked wonderfully for the collar, plackets, etc. I continue to tweak my collar making methods. For this one I combined Tasia’s tutorial (bleached muslin, glue ...

I made this shirt back in early spring. My wardrobe needed something fresh and I really just wanted to make a shirt. It's nice to end up with a lovely product, but when it comes to shirtmaking, I really just love the process. The original pattern is Burda 04/2010 #114 , but I've used it multiple times and made several changes. The gingham is not really the ideal weight for a classic shirt. It's more like quilting cotton - not real fine and a little spongy. It is nice quality and was pleasant to work with, but the bulk was a little frustrating at some parts of the process. I added some bright yellow-green accents to the shirt. The color isn't accurate in any of these pictures. I had both yardage and bias tape in the exact same color. That was a surprise to me (I guess I really like that color…) but I made use of both of them. I did consider binding the hem with the tape so that it showed on the outside of the shirt, but decided against it. The ot...

Since moving back to the US, I've done some experimenting with ordering fabric online. I had only dabbled with it while living in Canada because of shipping costs, duty charges and the nuisance of return shipping. As expected, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Some purchases are better than expected and some are disappointing. The corduroy for these pants was the former and the chambray for this shirt was the latter. The chambray is nice fabric, it's just different than what I had envisioned. I went ahead with it anyway. This shirt is for my son and is the partner piece for these pants. I like how the shirt looks with the sleeves rolled up. He will have none of that. The pattern is just a classic collared button-down shirt from Ottobre (6/2012 #37). I like the two-piece collar, the lined yoke, and the properly scaled front pocket. Breast pockets that are "off" (to my eye, anyway) in size, scale, or placement really bug me. I used a plaid shirting for co...

I wanted to make a silk top to go with my faux leather leggings , but I'm still a bit intimidated by silk (both the sewing it and the living in/laundering it). I'm hoping to get over that (through practice!) when I have better options for sourcing than I do now. So, for now I chose a high quality poly-blend fabric with a silky feel in a print and color that I liked. I started with my TNT shirt pattern ( Burda 04/2010 #114 - also seen here and here ) and modified it by adding length, chest pockets and flaps, and a center front placket. The pockets are the same as I used on my denim shirt . I followed instructions from the book, Shirtmaking for the center placket. I wish I had made it a little longer. The black fabric was harder to work with than the blue - lighter, slipperier and very resistant to pressing. At the beginning of this project, I knew that perfection was going to be the enemy. I didn't want to fight the project the whole way only to end up hating it i...

Okay, plaid shirts aren't really something new to me. I wore plaid shirts all the time in high school (hello, 90's!). But, that was awhile ago and there hasn't been one in my closet for many, many years. I made most of those shirts I wore in high school and I am happy to say that my shirt-making skills have come a loooong way since then! This shirt marks the fifth time I've used Burda 04/2010 #114 (only two other version are blogged: here and here ). Having the fit issues all worked out means I can just pull out the pattern and start cutting. I love that. In this case, I spent some time matching plaids and made some minor detail changes. Chest pocket: Undercollar and inner collar stand cut from chambray: Sleeve placket and inner cuff also from chambray: Bias-cut yoke (inner yoke is chambray): I have to say I'm a bit flummoxed about the plaid on the sleeves. I'm pretty sure I thought to match them to the bodice, but now I'm not sure w...

Hey, thanks for the lovely comments about my coat. I was down and out with a stomach bug for three days this week and your kind thoughts were a very welcome bright spot! Three years ago I made a shirt for The Preacher . At the time I wasn't sure that it was a success, but he really liked it and continues to wear it often and really appreciate it. Decent quality shirting fabrics are really hard to come by locally so I don't do a lot of sewing for him. Okay, that's just an excuse. I bought a nice piece of shirting cotton in NY with him in mind more than 18 months ago and didn't do anything with it until now. It was The Preacher's birthday at the beginning of November, so I did some stealthy sewing and worked on this without him knowing. The sewing was stealthy, I guess, but the idea of this shirt wasn't really. He knew about the fabric when I bought it and had talked about making it a couple of times. I had tried to talk him into a trimmer fit and I thought...

A denim shirt has been on my wish list for awhile. The ones I've seen and have liked online are too expensive for me right now, and the ones I've tried on in stores haven't fit all that well. It seemed that the answer would be to make one, but I wasn't hopeful about finding the type of denim that I wanted. It couldn't turn out like a jacket - I definitely wanted a shirt. On the next visit to Fabricland, I saw this lightweight denim that would work well for a shirt, but it was more than $20/meter - more than I was willing to pay. I waited until it was significantly marked down before I purchased it. For the pattern, I used Burda 04/2010 #114 , the same as I used here (and for another shirt that I have yet to blog about). I wanted breast pockets with flaps and borrowed the ones from New Look 6704 . The insides of the cuffs, the undercollar, the inner collar band, and the underside of the pocket flaps are all cut from a blue and white stripe fabric. ...

Another winner from Ottobre! Not much to say about it - I'll mostly let the pictures do the talking. I like the unique pockets, but I was using a plaid fabric and thought it might be a bit much so I left them off. My original plan was to substitute a single traditional pocket, but I completely forgot about it until I saw these pictures. I messed up something with the front bands when I was tracing or cutting out the pattern. I'm still not sure what I did or didn't do. The markings and instructions were confusing to me. I ended up sewing on bands to make it work. The little sleeve tabs are a nice detail. On this inset you can see that the "solid" orange is actually a yellow/orange crossweave. There was just a small piece in my stash from many years ago and was a great match for the plaid. And, of course, the "silly shot" (featuring tattoos)...

I don't wear many blouses or shirts made from woven fabrics. For comfort and ease of fitting and wear, I generally prefer knits. But, there is one traditional button-up shirt in my closet that I do like and wear regularly. This shirt came off the clearance rack at Kohl's about 7 years and 10 pounds ago. It no longer looks good on a hanger or on me and needs a replacement. The reason I liked this particular shirt is because it didn't restrict my arm movement or pull across my back when I would reach for something. The armholes were cut quite high and the sleeves were pretty slim. The style was pretty classic and casual - yoke, collar and stand, bust darts in the front, vertical darts in the back, placket and cuffs. Since the fit wasn't so great anymore, I couldn't just use the original as a pattern. Instead, I looked for a similar pattern and figured I would just need to do a lot of tweaking. Burda 04/2010 #114 was my pattern of choice. It doesn't have back ...

One of my goals for 2009 was to make a great white shirt.  I haven't tackled that yet, but I think I'm going to consider this shirt the first step in that process.  This pattern was in the running for "the" shirt and I think I like how it turned out. This fabric is from NY - Metro Textiles.  It seems to be high quality, but was pretty lightweight and it wrinkles really easily.  It also presses well and feels nice on. Some details: The collar: The sleeve placket and cuff: Bias-cut lower bodice: (resizing the pics makes the stripes all wonky) I added a seam at the center back to make the chevron pattern balanced: This shirt feels more like spring than fall to me, so I think I'll put it away and it will be a nice surprise after the long winter.  Besides, I don't really have anything to wear with it now. I'll be entering this in the fair in the "Ladies Blouse" category. Next up:  doll clothes (?)

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments on my last post.  I really appreciate it.  The online sewing community is fantastic.  I'm glad to be a part of it. This scene in my backyard made me smile today.  I liked the combination of the bright flowers in the quilt on the clothesline and the crop of real flowers (zinnias) in the garden below it, both in the sunshine. I made this quilt just over five years ago while I was waiting for my daughter to be born.  Two weeks before my due date I was restless and anxious and needed something to focus on.  I nearly finished this before she was born.  Now it sits on her bed.  It is throw or lap sized, so it works as an extra blanket for her. My shirt is coming along.  I'm using McCalls 5522 .  It feels like it is slow going, but I'm closer to the end than the beginning.