Completed projects.
Sewing with plaid is certainly an adventure. I have never made anything with plaid, never been a fan of it at least until last week. Now I can’t wait to start sewing another plaid project! As with many of us, we’re getting ready for fall and winter sewing. That means for me going through my stash of fabric and patterns and putting together a plan. … Continue reading Sewing With Plaid
Few items in your closet are as versatile as a circle skirt. See how easy it is to take this one garment and make it work all year long. It’s easy to add colder weather accessories such as tights and scarves to bring your skirt into winter. Of course, a great neutral will take any core wardrobe piece through multiple seasons. This circle skirt with … Continue reading 9 Ways To Style a Circle Skirt For Year Round Wear
Every year I make Vintage Vogue 8645. This year I made it in linen with a muslin lining. The linen is fine but the muslin is a heavier version. Not the kind you use for samples. I also placed the pockets a wee bit too far down. I think the dress will be good for cooler seasons like fall and spring. I forgot to lengthen … Continue reading Vintage Vogue 8645
I bought fabric for my birthday back in April of 2020 (7 years ago, right?)and fell in love with it but had no solid plan. After many weeks of going through patterns, I felt Vogue 8893 would best showcase it. The fabric is from Elfriede’s Fine Fabrics in Boulder, CO. It’s an Italian silk/cotton blend and as you can imagine is pretty darn dreamy to … Continue reading Vintage Vogue 8893 Maxi Dress
I have made 3 maxi dresses during the COVID-19 shutdown, pandemic, hellscape whatever you want to call it. Let’s check out the Amelia Dress from Bella Sunshine Designs. Fabric is from JoAnn’s which I loved so much. This is a great pattern if you’re in need of a maxi dress. It takes a lot of yardage (3 yards for a size 8) and be sure … Continue reading Bella Sunshine Amelia Dress – Maxi Version
I bought the Lois dress pattern from Tessuti, geez has it been two years ago? Yes, yes it has. Finally made this up in summer of 2019. And, I gotta say I have words. I love this look and silhouette. I have narrow shoulders so a dropped shoulder I think is attractive on me and balances my shoulders and hips out. The green and black … Continue reading The Lois Dress from Tessuti Patterns
This dress pattern is probably my all-time favorite. I’ve sewn it up 4 times. It’s out-of-print but you can find it online still. It’s super easy and could easily be drafted. I could make one for every day of the week. It looks great in prints and solids. This version I made using a navy green fabric of mysterious content. I bought this at a … Continue reading Vogue 8645 My Favorite Summer Dress
I’ve had this vintage fabric for a while, four yards of a poly blend. It’s very light and airy and I love the colors. I bought it at an antique flea market about 2 years ago. Obviously fabric like this I made sure I would make something that I would get a lot of wear out of. I initially wanted a full circle skirt but in order to save precious yardage I opted for a 3/4 circle skirt, using only about 2 yards.
I flat lined the skirt in a fun purple and Hong Kong finished the one and only seam. I hemmed it all up with navy blue purchased binding giving the skirt a bit of flare. An invisible zip completes this perfect summer skirt.
For as much as I love vintage sewing, I’m even surprised that I only recently attended my first ‘costume’/historical ball. It’s held twice a year; once in summer and again in the winter. I bought my tickets back in January and that was about the time I started thinking about what I was going to make. I think I bought about 20 yards of different … Continue reading Vintage Pattern Review – Advanced 4826
Finished my McCalls 7253 skirt awhile back. Finally wore it at a my mom’s birthday dinner. Gotta say I love it! Love the box pleats, love the fabric I picked out from Colorado Fabrics, love it all. Certainly a keeper.
A few things: Continue reading “Finished McCalls 7253”
The dress represents for me my overall madness for sewing. Madness in a good way and sometimes in a “black heart I stab at thee” madness. That kind of craziness that comes over you and you drive yourself mad trying to figure it out and you’re just stuck in this endless insanity. Usually I have the good sense to bail, but this one, ah, she was different….
I bought this pattern back in the 90’s and have always been a big fan of the shirt waist dress. Very popular in the 40’s and 50’s and every other year or so we see it back in various styles. Michael Kors had something along these lines for Spring 2015. All very lady like and really, hands down my favorite look. I think the style of dress is dress at it’s best.
If you like to look through vintage sewing patterns from the 40’s you’ll see this style in many incarnations, some housework casual others lunch with the ladies chic. There are hundreds of patterns new and old that have a similar look. But, for whatever reason, I HAD to have this one work. There are a few I have worked on with varying results but always longed for my white whale of a dress: Style 2708. Continue reading “Style 2708: My Moby Dick Of A Dress”
I’ve been looking for a pattern for a small hipster or cross-body bag that could securely hold my phone, a credit card, some cash and maybe something else like a camera or some ladies’ accoutrements, shall we say. Most hipster or cross-body bags I’ve seen have been too big or without many secure pockets, but this Zip & Clip bag I found on Craftsy is just perfect! The pattern is by Lisa Amundsen whose website is aroundthebobbin.com. Continue reading “Zip and Clip Bag – A Perfect Bag for a Night Out”
My quest for structured bags continues! This week I made Sara Larson’s Crimson and Clover Train Cases. This cute pattern comes in 3 sizes. I made a medium and a small bag, omitting the interior pockets. Continue reading “Crimson and Clover Train Cases”
Early this January, Heather of Closet Case Files sent out her latest pattern to a group of pattern testers along with a fabulous description of how she wanted to make a pajama pattern she could wear working from home and feel like a sophisticated business woman, or something you could make in silk and look like Katharine Hepburn… I mean, look: The pant + long … Continue reading Carolyn Pajamas and Shoddy JoAnn’s Flannel
I’ve finally been successful in breaking my sewing slump! I did it with Kwik Sew 3766, a “Kwik Start, Learn-to-Sew” top pattern. The pattern description reads: “Close fitting pull-over tops have self fabric neckbands. View A has a round neckline and full length sleeves. View B has a scoop neckline and short sleeves. Tops are very easy to sew and have special easy-to-follow sewing instructions.” I made the size medium because Kwik Sew, unlike most other commercial sewing patterns, fits true to size. Continue reading “Kwik Sew 3766, A Pattern Review”
Like Kitty, I’ve been in a sewing slump for the last month. For me the only way out of a slump is to make something I really love, which is a dumb thing to say because I don’t start any project with the intention of hating it. If I was smart I would have picked an easy win, like a pattern I already know fits made out of a fabric I’m really into… but I never sew with that much intention. After abandoning a couple other projects I won’t even name (okay, Burda top I was in love with from the November issue… you let me down big time) this Vogue pattern literally fell out of my closet. It’s a Rebecca Taylor designer pattern and the cover photo was great. If I thought harder about it, I would not have picked a Vogue designer pattern during a slump considering the number of fitting issues they always seem to bring about. (Kitty laughed when I told her I was working on a Vogue designer.) But… I think my slump is over! Continue reading “Vogue 1367 – Rebecca Taylor Blouse in JCrew Rayon Twill”
For my third sewing slump buster attempt I chose Kwik Sew 3567. I knew I would love this top! Its contrasting side panels and close fit are flattering for my body type – the close fit makes the most of my small bust and the contrasting side panels lengthen and optically slim my short torso. I was sure this pattern would be successful for me. I searched my fabric stash for two coordinating knits and I made sure to pick STRETCH knits this time! Okay, so what could possibly go wrong? Continue reading “Kwik Sew 3567, A Pattern Review”
Originally I was quite excited about Jane’s “I Saw It In Threads Magazine” challenge idea. However, the January challenge proved quite difficult for me! As soon as the theme was announced I flipped through my stack of Threads, purchased from a public library out-of-date magazine sale years ago. With my love of all things vintage, I thought it wouldn’t matter that the projects within were not au courant. I assumed it’d be a no-brainer for me to find a project for the challenge, but no such luck. I did see several interesting ideas while perusing my outdated issues, but for one reason or another, I ended up scrapping all of those possibilities as unworkable. Continue reading “Kitty’s January Threads Challenge”
This month’s challenge was to try something from a Threads Magazine. The challenge I found was “Material Mix” from January 2013. I was already planning on trying to knock off my favorite ready-to-wear skirt purchased from Costco a few years ago, so I thought I’d try and make it in two fabrics and duplicate the kick pleat, also covered in the same issue. I started … Continue reading January Challenge – Threads Material Mix
For several weeks I’ve been in a terrible sewing slump. My sewing mojo’s been MIA and every project I’ve attempted has turned out badly. So I decided to make some quick and easy winter tops to try to turn the tide. I looked through my pattern stash and pulled out the top patterns that struck me as the easiest to sew. Continue reading “McCall’s 6796, A Pattern Review”
Clearly I cannot resist a new bag pattern that catches my fancy! Kitty recently made a couple renditions of Kwik Sew 4093 (bag B) that I loved for its size and patchwork potential. Kitty entered her wool tote in a Pattern Review contest and wrote about it here. It looks great in black, grey, and red. Continue reading “Mo Bags – Kwik Sew 4093 and The Lucy Tote Bag”
I love Anthropologie. I am a total sucker for their stylish content marketing, I fall hook line and sinker. Well, not exactly. I have gone to their brick and mortar stores to look at the quality of their garments and frankly, not impressed. On average an Anthropologie dress can cost from 120-348.00, basic Made In China ‘stuff’. So, what is an Anthropologie lovin’ woman to do? Hack it together herself.
In the 2014 fall/winter catalog there are many dresses I would love to have and so I shall by making them myself.
My first hack is this one. And, for some reason it is no longer on their website. It is made of rayon jersey, 3/4 sleeves, scoop neck in a soft grey with a black contrasting fabric and gathers at the waist. Full price was listed at 148.00. Fabric is listed as ‘imported’. Unless it’s from Italy or other more ‘luxurious’ places I’m thinking ‘imported’ generally means China.
Here is my hack and how I put it together. Continue reading “Anthropologie Hack – How to sew an Anthropologie dress using sewing patterns”
I found these two great patterns on Craftsy for the Tooly and the Bionic Needle Organizer. For any given project, I use only a small subset of the many tools I have. The Tooly is perfect for keeping only those items I’m using right now nearby. And the Bionic Needle Organizer is a great way to keep a stash of sewing needles handy and to keep track of whatever needle you have in the machine. It may be past Christmas, but these make great gifts for yourself or your sewing friends any time of the year. Continue reading “Gifts for Sewers – Tooly and Bionic Needle Organizer”
I love refashioning! There’s just something so satisfying about taking an unwearable garment and making it cute and wearable. And of course I’m super thrifty, so making something from nothing is a kick for me. In 2014 I had a lot of fun with refashioning, so I’ll definitely be doing more of it in 2015. It was hard for me to pick just 3 favorite … Continue reading 2014, My 3 Favorite Refashions And My 3 Least Favorite Garments
2014 was a banner year for me as far as completing sewing projects. One of the reasons I wanted to be part of a sewing blog was that I knew it would compel me to finish the projects I start. In the past I’ve been much more adept at starting than finishing my sewing projects. Having to post photos on DenverSews has kept me focused on the end result, although I will … Continue reading 2014, My 3 Favorite Garments And My 3 Favorite Crafts!
I love vintage sewing patterns! I was way too excited for this challenge. I had planned on finishing my vintage cape, but I’m a bit off on that one. I found this pattern at the ASG Denver Fabric sale back in September. I love the loose styles of the 70’s and that whole Studio 54 vibe that I never did experience but it sure did … Continue reading Vintage Sewing Challenge – Jill’s Vogue 9428 Skirt Pattern
My daughter has a large collection of Care Bears, purchased in the early 2000s by her mother. I love these little bears, but thought some were a little far removed from the original collection of Care Bears from the 80s: Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Grumpy Bear, Love-a-lot Bear, Tenderheart Bear, and Wish Bear. I mean, really, who is “Share Bear” or “Harmony Bear”? These must be the politically-correct cousins. Anyway, I always thought Grumpy Bear was underrepresented. I’m generally a happy person, but sometimes I’m just masking a melancholy undercurrent of holiday anxiety. Anyway, a vintage challenge is a fabulous opportunity to finally make that Grumpy Bear pattern I purchased on eBay a few years ago (Butterick 6228). And if you don’t believe it’s vintage, try and decipher this copyright year: MCMLXXXIII. Continue reading “December Challenge: A Vintage Grumpy Care Bear”
The DenverSews Sewing Challenge for this week is “Vintage”. I asked the DenverSews bloggers to use either a vintage pattern, a new vintage-style pattern, vintage fabric, (or both), or to interpret vintage in their own way. As a lover of all things vintage, I’ve been looking forward to this challenge and to seeing what my sewing friends have created! Continue reading “The Vintage Sewing Challenge!”
This was a quick and easy make – Jalie 3248. I bought the pattern probably a year ago already and left it lying around because I didn’t have the perfect reversible fabric in my stash to inspire me to sew it up. A couple weeks ago I was at JoAnn’s (just to get zippers… you know how that goes) and picked up this neat fabric. It’s a gold and black variegated knit that has some kind of gold lame finish applied to one side. (I *think* this is the fabric – it was part of the Gilded Age collection still in stores.) When I saw it I thought of my Jalie pattern instantly. Continue reading “Jalie 3248 – Gold Drop Pocket Sweater”
Christmas is probably the only holiday I get excited to do some sewing for. This year I had ambitions to finish a Christmas-themed quilt called “First Snow” from Quilters Newsletter Magazine. I got all of the houses done, but did not make a single tree. Oh well, there’s always next year! Continue reading “A Little Christmas Sewing”
I fell hard for the Eagle jacket from Vanessa Pouzet. I saw the photo on Instagram and knew I had to make it. I bought the pattern from vanessapouzet.com for around 6.00 US dollars. It is an e-Pattern. I know nothing about Vanessa Pouzet, her training etc, but she has some very lovely patterns available. Check her out and you’ll be downloading today.
Check out her photo spread of it. IT’S BELLE!
Copying the pattern Continue reading “Vanessa Pouzet – Eagle Veste – A Review”
I consistently use PatternReview.com to check out new sewing patterns and read tips on construction before sewing garments. But the site has numerous features I’ve never fully utilized. Of those, the most intriguing to me are the sewing contests, but I’ve never managed to get any of my projects finished in time to meet the contest entry deadlines. About a week ago I discovered the Pattern Review Handbag Contest. It was running through November 30th and entries had to be sewn between November 1st and November 30th. … Continue reading The Pattern Review Handbag Contest
This was a HARD challenge for me because I’ve never had much interest in decorative stitches. My previous machine had maybe 12 different stitches, just the basics really. The newer machine I bought a couple years ago has something like 300 stitches but since I’ve never needed them before, I haven’t touched them. I usually start any kind of challenge by flipping through a potential project list I keep with inspiration photos to see if anything jumps out at me and I stumbled on this photo with a note: “Anything with fagoting”
Continue reading “November Challenge – Papercut Clover Dress with Fagoting”
For our second group challenge Lynne chose our theme: “use a sewing machine stitch you’ve never used before”. I decided to try a quilting stitch. I’ve sewn patchwork quilt tops before, but I’ve always had my patchwork quilted by others – I’ve never done my own quilting.
Continue reading “What I Made for Lynne’s Challenge – Kwik Sew 0188”
My first foray into building my core wardrobe is a long sleeve tee using the SBCC Tonic 2 Tee pattern.
I can only think of two items that I’ve done using a knit and one of those was a complete nightmare. This time I’m going in ready for success powered by sewing blogs.
Melly Sews suggests using the lightning aka wobble aka stretch stitch on knits so the seams can maintain the fabrics stretchable quality. Lladybird uses a walking foot so both layers of your knit feed through evenly. The Tiramisu Circus has a nice post on stabilizers for knits. Continue reading “November Challenge: Stretch Stitch on the Tonic 2 Tee”
Every machine I’ve ever owned had stitches on it that I’d never used. The challenge this month was to try using some of those mystery stitches on something, anything. Continue reading “November Challenge – New Machine Stitches”
Well I failed on my “I’m not buying any new sewing books” pledge. I’d previously vowed not to purchase any more sewing books until I made a project from each of the books I already own. Oops! I recently bought a LOT of new-to-me sewing titles. My favorite is “ReSew – turn thrift-store finds into fabulous designs” by Jenny Wilding Cardon. This book includes 20 easy-enough-for-beginners refashioning projects using thrift store finds. Easy, thrift-stores and sewing? Those are 3 of my favorite things, so this book is perfect for me! Continue reading “3 Shirts to Dress Refashion”
This make is a month old already and was just meant to be a wearable muslin, but I wore it to the last ASG meeting and Kitty talked me into posting it. It was a muslin I made up to test the kimono pattern I used for the silk kimono from the October challenge. The pattern is Simplicity 1318 but I pieced it together to remove the center back and sleeve seams. Continue reading “Simplicity 1318 – Leopard Print Kimono”
I just attended the annual Quilt-A-Fair in Longmont, Colorado and discovered this new type of cross stitch from Mill Hill that uses beads! I used to love doing counted cross stitch but it just takes so long to finish a project that I gave up on the hobby. But these new kits from Mill Hill are sewn on perforated paper. It’s a little like plastic canvas, but it is flat so it is much easier to sew on. And they also mix beads and traditional cross stitch for a shiny, dimensional effect. I love it! Continue reading “iPad Assisted Cross Stitch”
Kwik Sew patterns are a favorite of mine. One of my first successful garments was made from a Kwik Sew pattern, and that success, after a string of failures with other pattern lines, inspired me to keep sewing. So during a recent Kwik Sew sale I stocked up on seven of their new 2014 patterns. Kwik Sew doesn’t go on sale as often, and isn’t as deeply discounted, as McCall’s, Simplicity, and Butterick, so … Continue reading Kwik Sew 4093 – A Patchwork Purse
My husband and I belong to the Mile High Hook and Ladder club in Colorado. Their website is a little out of date, sadly, but you can find them on Facebook here. It’s for owners and lovers of antique fire trucks. They have a lovely 3-color logo that I thought would be perfect for a little exercise for my own personal amusement. Continue reading “Logos, Applique, Rhinestones and a ScanNCut”
For our first group sewing challenge at DenverSews, Jamie challenged us to use a fabric we’d been holding on to for a long time. Wow, I had so much leeway with this challenge! Almost all of my fabric has been in my stash for a very long time. In order to narrow the field, I focused on making sure the fabric I chose was something I was absolutely terrified to use. For me that meant choosing an expensive fabric which also had sentimental value. Most of my fabric stash consists of cheap thrift store fabrics, and I’m not afraid to use those – if I mess up with thrift store fabric, it can easily be replaced. Continue reading “October Sewing Challenge – New Look 6036”
I was quite excited about the first sewing challenge and knew straight away what I was going to make. But, then I became paralyzed with fear in actually cutting it. I thought I should have a few options as back up in case my fears got the best of me.
First off I have an apron that I made from fabric that my mom recently gave me from the 70’s or 60’s. I remember this fabric well. My mom made my older sister a dress with a Humpty Dumpty appliqué on it as well as a matching purse. I remember getting the purse later (most likely I just took it). I didn’t have much left and I thought an apron was perfect. This apron I will use, and every time I’ll think of my mom and sister in her Humpty Dumpty dress.
Continue reading “October Sewing Challenge – Jill’s Results Burda 8155 and more”
When Jamie threw down the gauntlet to use a fabric you’ve been hanging onto a longtime, I knew this was the push I needed to finish/redo my failed attempt with Cynthia Rowley’s Simplicity 2406. Continue reading “October Sewing Challenge – Jane’s Results: McCalls 6346”
I purchased a little piece of leather suede from Colorado Fabrics a few years ago with the intention of trying to make something out of it someday. That day finally came with Jamie’s challenge! I decided to try two things: general sewing and machine embroidery with suede. Continue reading “October’s Sewing Challenge – Suede”
I love making small things! Lately I’ve wanted to make a mini quilt. I have Carol Doak’s book Easy Paper Pieced Miniatures from 1998. She sells the pre-printed foundation pieces for each quilt from the book on her website here and they’re currently on sale. So I purchased two, one for the Scrap Stars and one for My Little Town. Each quilt is 12.5″ x 12.5″ when finished, so they’re pretty tiny! Continue reading “Some Small Things – iPad Stands and Mini Quilt”
Volunteering certainly has its perks. Meeting people and making new friends while helping out in my community makes volunteering an enjoyable experience for me. But getting things for free doesn’t hurt either! Last week during my volunteer shift at the Humane Society Thrift & Gift store, my friend Sally noticed that one of the donated blouses had stained sleeves. Sally handed me the top and said “Here, we can’t sell this, but you could cut the sleeves off”. Yup, Sally knows me so well! Since the blouse was from Chico’s, my size, perfect except for the bleached sleeves, and in a color I love, I took it home for refashioning. Continue reading “Chico’s Blouse Refashion”
About a week ago while looking for Jo-Ann Fabric coupons on line, I stumbled across the Jo-Ann Fabric “Sew Your Style” contest on facebook. I was intrigued, so I read the contest rules. The challenge was to sew a garment using quilt (instead of fashion) fabric. Having recently read about a similar challenge on “Diary of A Sewing Fanatic”, one of my favorite blogs, I knew this endeavor might be difficult. But since I own lots of quilt fabric (even though I haven’t done patchwork in years), and I’m actively working at reducing the size of my fabric stash, I was highly motivated to attempt the challenge. Continue reading “Jo-Ann Fabric “Sew Your Style” Contest”
Quite some time ago Lynne and I (Kitty) split two different fabrics between us. The fabric Lynne shared with me became a top for each of us. The results of that fabric challenge can be found here. Now it’s time for the second shared fabric swap results to be revealed! The fabric I split with Lynne was a more difficult one to work with than her lovely floral knit. Mine was a bold print … Continue reading Shared Fabric Sewing Challenge #2
The Fabric Mart Fabricistas are currently running their second Fashion Sewing Contest! They’ve included a “play along” flickr page where the sewing public can post photos of their sew-along entries. I decided to give it a whirl! Continue reading “Copying My Favorite Ready To Wear Garment”
Denver Sewing Collective 