My Sewing Space

While it took me awhile to get on board with the stylish sweatshirt trend, I’m really liking it now. The key to making it work for me is using a fabric that isn’t bulky or sweatshirt-like. When I saw a sheer white sweater knit on the clearance rack at Jo-Ann Fabrics,  I thought it would make a nice pairing with McCall's 6992 for spring. There isn't a lot to say about the pattern. It's a very easy style to sew up. Several options are included in the pattern, making it easy to include several versions in your wardrobe without feeling like they're all the same. Not that that matters to me - I use the same patterns over and over again even if they do all look the same. But I know not everyone gets excited about that. Necessary alterations were blissfully minimal. I added an inch of length, but I don't think I really needed it with this fabric. In something less stretchy, it would have been important. For the bottom band, I disregarded the pattern piece and cu...

About three years ago I bought a simple black half-zip pullover fleece top. With some embarrassment, I'll say that I wore that top out. I prefer to feel "dressed" most days and stay away from yoga pants and sweatshirts. But, on the days when I knew I'd be staying home or on lazy Sunday afternoons, I was always reaching for that top. It needed a replacement. In considering a replacement, I hoped to move up a bit from the poly fleece. Cotton fleece? Sweatshirting? Sweater knit? I didn't find a great alternative in the fabric store here and the cost of shipping and duty makes me hesitant to order online. Since the fleece had worked before, that's what I stuck with. The other top was worn out and was exactly what I wanted, so I just cut it apart and made a pattern from it. The zipper was the right length, so I ripped that out of the old top and reused it. I like the side panels. The top is not very fitted, but I think the side panels still provide a f...

At the end of the summer, my family went on a lovely vacation through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. These are beautiful states and we enjoyed experiencing them and learning more about them. New Hampshire's state motto is "Live free or die." That wasn't news to me, but it was interesting to see it stated so many places. It feels a bit edgy and unique to me. After reflecting on it a bit, it reminded me of this quote from Robert Louis Stevenson that I really like: To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive. After making that connection, I decided I wanted a T-shirt with the motto on it. I like graphic T-shirts, but usually feel torn about them - sure that's a nice bird/flower/bike/whatever on the shirt, but shouldn't it mean something? Maybe that's too much thinking about a T-shirt, but here I saw my chance to have a graphic tee and have it be meaningful. The ...

I'm not really a pattern hoarder. I'm more likely to be tempted by the potential held in a new piece of fabric than a new pattern. Also, I don't have access to the $0.99 sales here and that is a natural deterrent. But, sometimes I see a new and different pattern that I really want and I make the purchase without a definite plan for it on the horizon. So it was with the Nina Cardigan from Style Arc . Given the currency conversion and the shipping costs, it generally isn't prudent for me to be making impulse purchases from small independent Australian businesses. This pattern was expensive. But, I do like to support the small independent businesses and I also wanted to try out their patterns since they get good reviews. Was it worth it? I think so. I used a lightweight burnout jersey in a grey-blue color that I really like. The pattern suggests leaving the front  edge/neckline and hem raw or "babylocking" them. My fabric curled like crazy along any raw ...

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...

No new fabric until after Christmas. That's my goal. I love accomplishing a goal. To make it happen I'm cutting out several things at once and then sewing them up. Some of this first batch were things that were necessary for my daughter's wardrobe ( this and that ) and then others are fabrics that I bought for a certain purpose but aren't very exciting to sew, so they have been pushed waaaaay down on the list. First, is this fleece pullover for my older daughter. I bought this fleece as a remnant when the Fabricland in town closed. Each season I like to make sure each of the kids has at least one of these extra layer type garments. My older daughter has been lacking one for awhile now. Ottobre to the rescue. I'm counting on those wrinkles coming out in the wash! This is the "New Generation sweatshirt" (#38) from the 1/2010 issue. I wasn't hopeful about finding a matching zipper and didn't want to buy one, so I went with one that I had and made...

Thank you for the lovely comments about the quilt top! The quilting is complete now too, but I don't have pictures to post yet. It was a really good experience using the long arm machine and I'm so happy with how it turned out. Finishing the binding might take awhile as I don't find that quite so exciting. In the meantime, I have a few projects sewn that I haven't blogged and will try to get caught up with them. The first two things were actually sewn several weeks ago. They are the first pieces of fabric from my NY trip that I cut into. While I really liked this plaid fabric, I didn't buy very much of it. When I decided I wanted to sew it up, I was hoping to make a paneled pencil skirt with the center panel being cut on the bias. However, when I tried to fit all the pattern pieces on the fabric, it was impossible to make it work. In the end, I made just a plain skirt using McCall's 3830 . I guess I'm not unhappy with it, but not as excited about it as ...

Another new style for me… The fabric is a bamboo jersey that I think works pretty well for this design – very soft and drapey. I would have guessed that I wouldn’t have liked all that fabric between my arms and my body, but I didn’t really notice it. Before cutting the fabric, I added 2” in length to the sleeves and 1.5” in length to the bodice front and back. While  putting the top together, the only sizing change I made was to decrease the circumference of the cuffs by 1.5”. They were much too big for my wrists and slid down over my hands, looking very sloppy. I wasn’t all that impressed with the neckline of the top. I bound it instead of applying a neckband like the pattern suggests, but I’m still not very excited about how it sits on me. It shifts around and I feel like I need to readjust it too much. When I wore it with a scarf, it didn’t bother me. The skirt in the picture at the top is also a recent make, but I’ll have more to say about that later.

I’ve been interested in trying some silhouettes and styles that I don’t currently have in my wardrobe. I’m not a big risk-taker by nature and I really value my sewing time, so I generally stick to fabrics and patterns that I’m pretty certain I’ll like. It is starting to feel like everything I wear is pretty much the same, just in different colors. Much of the time I’m okay with that because I only keep clothes that I really like, but I’ve been wanting something different lately. For this tunic, I combined two patterns: Kwik Sew 2856 and New Look 6731 . I used the neckline and raglan sleeve seams from the Kwik Sew pattern. I used this pattern before for a sweater and remember really liking the neckline (the sweater didn’t stay in my closet for long – I loved how the fabric looked, but despite pre-shrinking, it kept getting shorter and wider). The length and style of sleeves came from the New Look pattern as did the bodice length. After checking the pattern tissue against my ...

I made this top before I made the swimming suit , but was hoping to make a skirt to go with it before I posted it. Now I see that it just isn't going to happen. I suppose there is always next summer. The pattern is my well-loved Butterick 3344 and I made this same version in white earlier this summer. I didn't like the bias-cut of the white one and the back facing keeps flipping out, so I changed both of those things. There is plenty of stretch with it cut on the straight grain rather than the bias. The back of the neck opening is finished with bias tape. The arm holes are finished the same way. This fabric has been in my stash for a few years.  I purchased it as a remnant, so there wasn't much of it to work with. I'm not sure what the fiber content is, but it is a jersey and the stripes are created with a burn-out pattern. I underlined the brown fabric with an ivory knit fabric that I'm also unsure of the fiber content, but it was also a remnant about th...

I've decided that I'm going to give myself this week to keep sewing for summer and then I'm going to hang it up and move on to fall.  There is no way that I'm going to get to all 14 of the things I want to - oh, wait!  Make that 12, since I finished these two items yesterday.... The skirt is my third edition of Burda 02/2010 #104. (The other two are here and here ). I added a center front opening with tack buttons and buttonholes. I didn't want the bulk of a CF waistband closure, so I left the waistband the same with a zipper at the center back. The buttonholes are fully functional, but I can't use them to get in and out of the skirt. For the top, I used Jalie 2804 . I liked the sleeveless version, but knew that the ends of those shoulder ties would always feel like flies crawling on my arms to me, so I left them off. I cut the top two sizes larger than what my measurement suggested on the pattern envelope because I really didn't want to it be too tig...

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...

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...

For awhile now I've wanted to try freezer paper stencils with fabric paint. A few weeks ago I got myself to Michael's to pick up the paint. I did that before deciding on a stencil pattern or getting freezer paper, so when I saw a package of sticky stencils for fabric embellishing purposes I easily talked myself into buying the stencils rather than making them. I made a new T-shirt for each of my older kids. There is a possibility that I'll make one for my younger daughter yet, but it would be to assuage my guilt rather than make her feel good - she doesn't really care (yet) that I don't make much for her. For my son's shirt I used navy blue cotton jersey that has been in my stash for a loooong time and Kwik Sew 2918 . My daughter's shirt is made with leftovers of this shirt of mine and Burda 9549, just like this shirt . I didn't get any decent close-ups because my son is constantly in motion. Most of the pictures I took are some variation of this...

Every region has its own idioms. One of the interesting things about living in several different places is hearing and coming to understand these phrases and expressions that aren't perfectly clear to non-natives.  Where we live currently, people "pop over." As in, "Could the kids and I pop over for a play date?" or "Why don't you pop over for tea sometime next week?" I haven't yet gotten up the nerve to invite anyone to pop over for popovers, but maybe someday I will. When I saw the Oliver + S Popover Sundress on BurdaStyle , I couldn't resist downloading and making it. It would be perfect for my daughter to pop over her head and be looking cute when someone does pop over for popovers! It's a free download, available in sizes 2-8.  The front is exactly the same as the back, so there aren't all that many pieces of paper to tape together.  The instructions are good - something I was glad to see since I just ordered two Oliver + ...

I was so happy with the clothes I made in yesterday's post that I immediately used the same two patterns again. This skirt is the only piece of animal print clothing I've had as far as I can remember. Generally, they just aren't something I'm drawn to - my look isn't particularly dramatic.  However, this zebra print really appealed to me when I saw it in the home dec department. The inexpensive price increased the appeal. I like that it is brown and ivory instead of black and white. This skirt isn't going to get a lot of wearing time. I do really like it, but the fabric isn't going to stand up to a lot of wearing and washing.  I've worn it twice and already there is some seam slippage along the center back. I guess usually home dec fabrics should be used for home decorating and not wearing. The top is Butterick 3344 again. I made this version (View B, no sleeves) before (pre-blog) and found that the armholes and the gathers were up too high on ...