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 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...

A plain black skirt. So basic, yet I didn't have one. I needed to change that. After making these pants (which are refinished and wonderful to wear, BTW) I had just enough fabric left to eek out a simple skirt. Given the fabric constraints, I didn't have a lot of options for styles or details, but I wanted to create a little interest somehow. I started with McCall's 3830 , a pattern that I've used many times before and have tweaked to fit me. For this version, I sliced and manipulated the pattern to add a yoke at the top and a seam down the skirt's center front. The back darts are incorporated into the yoke piece. The additional seams are accented with topstitching on each side. I used the triple straight stitch so that it would be more noticeable on the black fabric. The addition of the seams and stitching is nice, but the really interesting part of the skirt is the lining (also leftover from these pants ). The facing pieces are sewn on top of th...

Most of the summer clothes I've sewn for myself in the last couple of years have been dresses and skirts. I wear dresses and skirts more than shorts or pants, so that's been working out well, but there are times where shorts really are a better choice. And I don't know about you, but I find it even harder to locate shorts worth buying than pants. So, my delight with the success of these pants was compounded when I realized that the pattern would also work really well for shorts. When I made my son these pants , I was really impressed with the fabric and almost regretted not saving it for myself (but I'm trying hard not to do that "saving the fabric" thing). Turns out, the remaining remnant was enough for a pair of shorts for me. The stretch twill has a really nice brushed surface and from my son's pants I know that it washes and wears well. I did some triple topstitching on these also, just like his pants. Other than here on the front pockets, it ...