My Sewing Space

S asked me to make four unique baby bibs for her shop. She sent me in a certain direction with some ideas and here are the results: I roughly copied a bib I had on hand, modifying the corners/curves a bit. S initially asked for a bib that said "They put my cape on backwards" but text is difficult for me to do since I don't have an embroidery machine. The superhero-ish one is my attempt at a similar sentiment. Fruity bibs heavily inspired by these . If I make the strawberry one again, I think I'll make the leaves a little bigger.

More pillows  for S's shop... Cupcakes: Flowers: Ruched rose pattern here . The velveteen one is basically two yo-yo's. The larger one has some gathering stitches sewn in the center. (prestuffed) Instructions for this type of flower are all over the internet, so it's hard to know who to credit. This one is the most thorough. I didn't use any glue on mine and the backing is entirely different. And more owls (the first order sold out very quickly): If you are interested, more pictures can be found here .

Back in the fall, I read this post from Ali and was so inspired to do exactly what she did - copy a pair of pants that I knew I liked and would wear more of. I got the book she used, Patternmaking for a Perfect Fit , from the library and set to work on a pair of well-loved trouser jeans from Gap. The process outlined in the book is good  - I'd recommend it (I've since purchased the book). I started this project in November, so I honestly don't remember a lot of the details. The only thing I do remember is that it is really important to start with the grainline and get that spot on. I didn't do that initially and I had pant legs that twisted around like a barber pole. It's a difficult part to just eyeball. The front of the first muslin was good, but the back was a disaster. I made some adjustments and cut new back pieces. After I had the main pieces how I wanted them, I made a second muslin to test out all the small pieces that I was drafting based on measuremen...

The annual silent auction fundraiser for the school my children attend is coming up. This year my contribution is a couple of pillows. The first one has patchwork on one side and a floral pattern on the other: The other has roses and background stitching on one side and plaid on the other: I prepped these fronts and backs and then decided that I really wanted them to have invisible zipper closures, but I had not done that for a pillow before. To practice the technique, I made these pillows for our living room couch. Putting in the invisible zip is pretty simple, especially if you've done it in a garment. Since I was in pillow-making mode, I also made three pillows for my bedroom to coordinate with this quilt . The first - tucks sewn down in alternating directions: The second - textural interest created by partially sewing tucks in a grid (seen in a Threads article): The kids like to poke fingers in the grid intersections and manipulate th...

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 really like a lot of Ottobre's patterns for boys. They have creative and interesting details. But sometimes those details look overwhelming to me - multiple zippered pockets, many small parts to trace and piece, extra seams to topstitch, etc. I like those sorts of things, but I'm not always convinced that the extra effort is worth it for a garment that is quickly outgrown. A couple of weeks ago I squashed my doubts and made a pair of pants for my son from Ottobre 1-2011-29. The No Kung Fu (?!) pants are described as "outerwear pants," but I'm not entirely sure what that means. The directions don't call for insulation, lining, or waterproofing. The suggested fabric is "outerwear fabric" - not so sure about that, either. So why did I choose this pattern over some others? The knee patches, my friends. My boy blows out the knees on his pants with astonishing speed. I'm hoping these knee patches slow down the wearing out just a bit. Since I was...

When I started thinking about spring dresses for my girls, I wanted to buy new fabric. I had seen some inspiring pictures online and in catalogs and I wanted to copy some of those ideas. But, I'm trying to sew from stash as much as possible and truthfully, sometimes limiting the choices makes the process more creative and satisfying. So, for my firstborn, here's what I came up with: Maybe you recognize the stripes from the T-shirt photo ? This used up the last of it (and I'm glad to see it gone!). The red twill was given to me by someone else who was destashing. Same with the navy used for the piping and the red (metal!) invisible zipper. Very economical! I did purchase the pattern - New Look 6018 . The measurements given on the pattern envelope and tissue are dependable, but I'm not as pleased with the fit/shape as I was with my other daughter's dress . Of course, it's a very different style, so comparing them maybe isn't so fair. Have I ever menti...