My Sewing Space

More spring kids' clothes! It sure has been nice having these clothes done and ready for the warm weather. Beautiful new clothes that are ready to go make warm, sunny days all that much nicer. These two pieces are for my older daughter. I modified Jalie 2908 slightly for these cuffed capris - straightened and shortened the legs and curved the waistband. Sadly, I don't have a picture of them on my daughter, but they fit great. The fabric is pretty lightweight and stretchy. It looks like denim, but my daughter finds these more comfortable than regular denim would be. These were actually a pretty quick project. The fabric was easy to work with and I just used regular thread and a standard straight stitch for the topstitching. I'm happy with how all the details came out. The insides are PINK! Pink fly guard, pocket bags, and waistband binding. I really like the flower print on the fabric also - a little abstract and stylized, but still feminine and fun. It...

When I pulled out the Jalie pattern I used for my daughter's jeans , I noticed Jalie 2911 and the relaxed, cozy look of it really appealed to me. I had a length of lightweight cotton fleece that I thought would be a good match for this. The view with the hood looked particularly cozy to me, but I didn't have enough fabric for that. The instructions for applying the shawl collar are good, but those inset corners require some precision. You really want to hit them bang-on the first time. Which is not what I did. Ripping out stitches in this dark, fuzzy fabric was no treat. I was able to get the corners in well, but I was left with a little hole in the corner. A few discreet hand stitches closed it up. The pucker shows up pretty well in the picture, but I don't think it is as noticeable in real life. I added cuffs with thumb holes to up the warm-and-cozy factor. I think the holes ended up a little too small, but I haven't actually worn it yet to say for su...

On a recent trip to the Salvation Army Thrift Store, I picked up a white linen skirt with a black print and some beading near the bottom. I thought it was cute and a good fit, but I didn't have a top to wear with it. To remedy that, I pulled out some black mystery knit fabric from the stash and Jalie 2788 . The fabric is very soft and drape-y, but also pretty thin, so sewing it wasn't always easy.  The neckline, in particular, doesn't look all that great.  I used clear elastic to stabilize it and I always have a difficult time getting that serged on neatly. I had the same problem with this version . This was a total rush job and looks like it on close inspection. I wanted to wear it out for dinner with the Preacher and finished it about an hour before I had to pick up the babysitter. So, I guess I was successful, but the top isn't as nice as I would really like it to be. It's been awhile since I had a serious beat-the-clock sewing session and it'll probabl...

I'm realizing that I need to wear more layers.  I'm often cold and end up putting on a hoodie or fleece jacket over my other clothes.  This isn't so bad except that the end result doesn't always look that great.  So, instead, I should plan for layers and start out the day dressing that way.  Here's my first attempt at this plan. I picked up this brown sweater knit recently at Fabricland.  It was very inexpensive and the label said it was a wool/poly blend.  The stretch is pretty minimal and it has a soft hand, but is a little irritating next to my skin. Time for a haircut!  It's looking very...uh...asymmetrical here. I've used Jalie 2449 before both for me and my daughter, but never in a sweater knit.  I used a size bigger than I needed according to the measurment chart and cut 1/2" seam allowances.  I think I should have gone up an additional size because of the minimal stretch.  The neckband in the pattern d...

I get so excited when I try something new and love it. Such is the case with this pattern. I've never sewn underwear before. Now that I've tried it, I sense serious addiction potential. Jalie 2568 has had some really positive reviews at PatternReview.com and I've been very pleased with all the other Jalie patterns I've used, so I thought I'd start here. The pattern includes a hipster and bikini in both high or low waisted styles, a brazilian hipster made from wide stretch lace and a camisole. I've been playing around with this pattern for awhile now. I'd make a pair and then wear them, evaluate, wash them, evaluate, make a change or two and start over. I did this with both the hipster and the bikini pattern. I'd gotten them both to a point where I was happy with them and today I made five pair, assembly-line style - three hipsters and two bikinis. After reading about Dawn's experience with this pattern, I followed her example and did not finish the ...

Look what the mailman brought me yesterday! More Jalie patterns ( 2561 , 2911 , 2568 , 2908 ). I'm hoping to try making some things I've never sewn before - jeans and underwear. Should be an adventure! I got a good start on the spring jacket last night. My uncertainty about the sleeves was solved when I realized I wouldn't have enough fabric to make them full-length. Sometimes it's good to be forced to try something different. I'm hoping to get more work done on it this afternoon.

I love the fit of this top. I’ve made it before with short, puff sleeves for summer. So, other than the sleeves, I had this all traced off and ready to go. From absolute start (pulling the fabric out of a box) to finish, this took less than four hours. I did change the back a bit. The pattern piece for the back is scooped out at the neck and has two ties. I wasn’t so sure about that, so I just raised the back neckline to a height I thought looked reasonable. The fabric is really stretchy and rather slippery. I was pretty frustrated with it at a couple of points in the process. The neckline was troublesome. But, the 4-way stretch makes it comfortable to wear. However, it won’t be warm. I think I’ll probably wear this with a sweater over it. Covering up a few of the dots might not be so bad. The twist on the front of the top looks more complicated than it is. The picture above is what it looks like before assembly. The short part on the upper right is the shoulder seam, the...