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”
I bought the Sew Sturdy Travel Organizers Craftsy class last August! I love trying to make structured bags and I just couldn’t resist something that looked like a suitcase. But I was dismayed that I needed some specialty items that I didn’t already have: Soft and Stable foam stabilizer and some very very long purse zippers. Sometimes it’s a little off-putting to find that the instructor is selling more than just her pattern. In this case, Annie Unrein (the instructor and pattern author), is also encouraging us to buy her “By Annie Soft and Stable” foam stabilizer and long purse zippers. Neither of these two items are specifically mentioned in the “materials” list on Craftsy. This was annoying enough to me that I gave up on this class. Continue reading “March Challenge – UFO: Everything In Its Place Bag”
Last week I was involved in three great sewing related activities through the Denver Sewing Collective.
Thursday was great to see new and familiar faces, we didn’t have anything planned this month for the Denver Sewing Collective but the weather was nice and spring was in the air. I actually can’t even remember what project I brought or what I did. Hmm.
First off I went with Marni to Colorado Fabrics for no better reason than it was a Saturday and on the way to the ASG Denver meeting. Bought these gems. The white is a crepe rayon. No idea yet what I’ll do but it’s going to be good.
The winner of the Jasper Sweater/Dress pattern giveaway is… (drumroll please) Grace L.! I’ll be contacting you via email to get the pattern to you. Continue reading Jasper Giveaway Winner
This is the recently released Jasper Sweater by Paprika Patterns. (Full disclosure: I received a copy for free in exchange for an honest review.) I made it up in a rayon double knit from JoAnn’s. The pattern calls for a stable heavy weight knit (sweatshirt fabric, basically) but this is a little bit stretchier than recommended because of the high rayon content. I made View A – the pattern also has versions for a longer dress version and a turtleneck instead of the hood. Continue reading “Jasper Sweater Review + A Giveaway!”
I’ve been meaning to do this little test for awhile. It’s simple: take a drawing of an applique shape and scan it on the ScanNCut for fabric cutting and scan it on the Dream Machine to create an applique embroidery file. Will the fabric piece and the embroidery design be the same size? If this experiment works, then I don’t need to use any additional software to create cut files and embroidery files for my applique. Continue reading “A Little Applique Test with ScanNCut and Dream Machine”
After looking through all the half finished projects in my sewing space, the theme for the March challenge was clear to me… UFOs! (That’s Un-Finished Objects.) So, dust off something you’ve had lying around for way too long and make it work! I don’t know about you, but I’ve got WAY too many options for this one! Who else is in? As always, anyone is welcome … Continue reading March Challenge Announcement
Here it is, my sewing room with no apologies. Click on any image for a better look if you care too! This is the one place in the whole universe that is all mine, or as Virginia Woolf would have said a room of my own. The day I took these photos I was finishing up a blitzkrieg of sewing. Working on bodices, sleeves, silkies and … Continue reading Jill Shows Her Sewing Room Challenge
When the February challenge was announced as “show us your sewing room”, I snorted at the “room” bit. My sewing room is a 4×4 foot corner of my small apartment attached to the kitchen. I was trying to figure out how to take a panoramic picture to fit it all in, but… don’t need to, it all fit in one shot! Here’s a diagram I’m calling The Anatomy of a Tiny Sewing Space:
Continue reading “February Challenge: My Tiny Sewing Corner”
This month’s challenge was to show off our sewing spaces! For awhile, I was sewing in our unfinished master bath on a card table, but then my husband built me this cute 8′ x 12′ sewing hut in our backyard. What started out as a fairly empty sewing space has quickly become completely filled floor to ceiling with sewing stuff. Here’s a peek! Continue reading “February Challenge: Sewing Space Reveal”
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
One of our Sewing Collective members, Sylvia, has been sewing up a storm lately! In response to our January Threads Challenge, she completed a dress she was inspired to make from the July 2012 edition. If you may recall, Sylvia asked me many months ago to digitize the rose that Jennifer Stern had drawn for her machine embroidered embellishment. I wrote about that process here. You never know what becomes of these requests, so I was astonished when she told me she had finished the dress! Continue reading “Sylvia’s Threads Challenge and Bionic Gear Bag”
You may recall that I once tried cut out a rather intricate monogram of the letter K on the ScanNCut using marine vinyl (see here). It didn’t go so well because the marine vinyl just wouldn’t stay stuck to the cutting mat. I’ve decided to revisit that monogram to showcase how you can make some really intricate appliques with the help of a ScanNCut. Along the way, we’ll end up doing a little Dream Machine trouble-shooting. Continue reading “Intricate Applique Made Possible by Stitch Artist and a ScanNCut”
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”
No, I’ve never read “Fifty Shades of Grey”, and I don’t plan on seeing the movie when it opens in theaters on Valentine’s Day. But I’ve been asked so many times if I’ve read the book that the title stuck in my mind when I decided to refashion several pieces of grey clothing. Perhaps because of my thrifty ways, I really enjoy refashioning clothing I no longer wear into something I will wear. And as a contributor to the Refashion Co-op blog, … Continue reading Fifty Shades of Grey Refashion (Minus Forty Seven)
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”
I can hear the groans from here: Show my sewing room, are you crazy?! Whether you’re lucky enough to have an actual room of your own or you can only sew on the kitchen counter at certain times of the night we should hold our creative spaces near and dear. This challenge is a safe place to show and tell the good, the bad and the ugly about … Continue reading Denver Sews Challenge – February 2015 – Show your sewing room!
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 challenge made me realize I need to get a physical subscription to Threads! I converted all my subscriptions to digital some time ago (except Burda, duh) to try and cut down on paper clutter. But after waiting 20 minutes on my iPad for EACH issue to re-download, and then having them all mysteriously disappear the next day so I had to wait for them to download AGAIN… I’ve had it with the digital subscription. Anywho… the thing that caught my eye was this tiny tip on the bottom of a page in the October/November 2014 issue:
Continue reading “January Challenge – Quick Bias Binding Tip from Threads”
Originally posted on The magical effects of thinking:
New pencil skirt Since I make a lot of skirts I’ve decided to up the ante and start adding in couture techniques or different elements to keep my skills moving forward. On this pencil skirt from Burda 8155 I used a couture waistband technique from Susan Khalje which is featured in the latest issue of Threads magazine (March 2013). The short… Continue reading Thread’s Magazine January Challenge – Easy couture technique for waistbands
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”
I worked in theater and costumes BM (before marriage) and one of my favorite jobs was at the Pacific Northwest Ballet Company in Seattle, WA. I loved being back stage watching the ballerinas dance and hearing their shoes strike the stage. I was enthralled with the dancers during warm up and, completely entranced as I watch them dance en pointe. I worked up in the … Continue reading Making tutu’s for professional ballet companies and other behind the scene peeks
The January edition of Burda magazine is always a low point because they devote a section to costumes for Carnival – a holiday in Germany where you dress up like Halloween, I guess? This month there was also a maternity wear section with a bunch of dresses that didn’t really interest me, so double disappointment. There were still a few good patterns to be had though… Continue reading “Burda January 2015 Review (International Edition)”
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 purchased Embrilliance Essentials not long ago for the sole purpose of creating cut files for my Brother ScanNCut (for appliques). It works beautifully for such purposes and I talked about it here. Lucky for me, Embrilliance recently released a reasonably priced digitizing package as well called Stitch Artist. It works on both the Mac and the PC and comes, for the moment, in Level 1 and Level 2. I have been hoping to find an embroidery design package that is relatively easy and convenient to use so my husband can make all of the patches he’s ever dreamed of making. To this end, I purchased Level 2 and gave it a run-through. (For this review, I am using version 1.137 on a Mac running OS X 10.9.5, but as of today, there is a new version 1.138.) Continue reading “A Look at Embrilliance Stitch Artist Level 2”
We have a fantastic challenge in store for January 2015 at DenverSews! It’s the “I Saw It In Threads Magazine” challenge! The challenge, sewing a project from Threads Magazine, was the brainchild of fellow blogger Jane. Unfortunately, Jane is stepping down as a blogger for DenverSews so I (Kitty) am announcing her idea for our January challenge. I want to thank Jane for her contributions to DenverSews and also express how grateful I am to … Continue reading The “I Saw It In Threads Magazine” Challenge!
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
This challenge gave me a much needed excuse to do something I’ve never done before – sew up a vintage pattern. I had a grand total of 3 vintage patterns in my collection that I’ve actually paid money for (and a few more that people gave me), so I pulled out those. Are you sensing a common theme in these 3 patterns?
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”
This month’s issue of Burda was a bit of a let-down for me. Generally the December issue has some fun party dresses and fancy tops, but the dresses this month bored me and the tops were mostly oversized and shapeless. There were a handful of items I liked though and the plus size section was great so it’s still worth the subscription price to me. My first pick is this 70’s style A-line skirt with a front pleat and decorative tabs on the side. I’d make the tabs from leather and perhaps add some buckles or other hardware to snazz it up a bit. Fantastic styling for once – this whole look is really in right now. I was just at DSW and there were two full rows of black knee high boots so they must be having a moment right now. My only complaint is that I really wish Burda gave us the pattern for that top too! Continue reading “Burda December 2014 Review (International Edition)”
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
I made a bunch of test swatches before sewing up the fagoted dress I posted on Friday, so I thought I’d share a tutorial with you… The first step was to sew a line of the stitch I wanted on some stabilized fabric. (I just put paper behind my fabric here – this is just to keep the stitch from bunching up and giving you a wrong measurement.) Get out a ruler and measure how wide you want the gap between your fabrics to be. In this case, I measured between the points of the ‘>’ shapes and got 1/8″. Continue reading “Tutorial – Fagoting by Machine”
If you struggle with pants fitting and you have a rather flat behind, this pattern might be for you! Thanks to Jamie, I found out about and ordered this new pattern from Style Arc: the Flat Bottom Flo. You are forced to choose one pattern size when you order. My measurements fell in-between sizes. After asking Style Arc which pattern to order, I ordered the larger size. Continue reading “Style Arc Flat-Bottom Flo Review”
Thanks Lynne, for a wonderful November challenge. It motivated us to explore stitches on our sewing machines that we’d never tried before! Most of us have sewing machines with so many stitches we’ve never even tested them all. Your November challenge was the perfect opportunity to start expanding our knowledge of our sewing machines amazing capabilities! Now that we’ve gotten a good start on exploring our future possibilities with our sewing machines, it’s time to honor the past. So our December challenge is VINTAGE! The interpretation of … Continue reading The December Sewing Challenge!
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”
I have had my machine for 11 years I have NEVER used one machine stitch other that the basic zig zag, straight, stretch and so on. I didn’t really have a project in mind for this challenge so I just stitched out a little sample of what these stitches actually looked like. Here they are. They are quite thin and the one design, it’s a … Continue reading Jill’s November Challenge – Built-in Machine Stitches
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”
Denver Sewing Collective 