Jeez, I made this in spring last year and forgot to show you! I attended the Pattern Review Weekend in Portland, Oregon — about 100 sewing fanatics met up to chat, learn, go fabric shopping, and have fun. There was a themed sewing contest and since Portland is known as an ideal place to grow roses (you can visit their International Rose Test Garden), the … Continue reading A Rosy Outfit for the City of Roses
I can’t think of a more appropriate project to sew just a few days before Christmas! This is Burda’s onesie pyjamas (12/2016 #103). As soon as I saw their photo, I realized I had the perfect heather grey knit fabric that had been sitting in my stash for 2 years. I seem to recall that this knit was labeled Marc Jacobs or some such thing … Continue reading Perfect PJs
I can’t seem to finish sewing anything! I’ve got all kinds of gorgeous fabric, all kinds of great patterns, and all kinds of excitement…and yet, I can’t close the deal. I haven’t finished sewing anything since December. I’ve got sewing block! Exhibit A: This faux fur jacket has been cut, partially sewn, and hanging around our dining room like a vagrant muppet hoping for a … Continue reading Is There a Pill for This??
Fresh off the high of getting a boat load of likes from my Facebook friends on my recent plaid coat, I seem to have gotten myself onto a coat roll. This is from Burda Style Magazine’s “Easy” issue, Fall/Winter 2015. This is a pretty straightforward coat to sew, but it’s still a coat — with all the requisite wrestling with thick layers of coat fabric … Continue reading The Booby Trapped Coat
Two firsts on this one: sewing my first coat, and first time sewing with plaid. I love a hobby that always has some small new challenge to try. And when you meet the challenge, you get to wear a stylish new coat! Who doesn’t love that? I wasn’t sure this coat was meant to be, until this post from McCalls popped into my inbox a … Continue reading My New Plaid Coat!
Back for more Burda! With Birdies! But first, does this happen to you?— Bad kitties! Ok, back to the blouse. The bird fabric is a chiffon I bought at Designer Fabrics. (I know the birds-on-all-the-clothes trend has been around an awfully long time but I still catch my breath when I see bird-patterned fabric. Or real birds, for that matter; I’m a bit of a … Continue reading A Little Birdie Told Me to Sew this Top
As I began cutting the fabric for these culottes, I knew I was either going to really hate the end result or really love it. My sewing projects lately have been leaps of faith: slightly strange patterns that I wouldn’t normally think I’d wear (yeah, culottes) and often paired with pretty bold fabric choices. (See my satin jogging pants as recent proof.) So it could … Continue reading Whole Lotta Cool Culottes
Still questioning the validity of satin ‘joggers’, although feeling pretty propped by all the encouraging comments on their debut post. Thanks for weighing in! Commenter Barbara J had a valid point when she wondered whether dressing them up with high heels was, y’know, a bit twee… ….so I thought I’d try styling them more casually, pairing them with a plain heather gray T-shirt and metallic … Continue reading K, What About This?
Alright, they’re not quite Hammer Pants per se, but these are definitely way outside of my usual trouser universe. The question is: should I wear them? I’m not sure what madness gripped my brain when I saw Burda’s “jogging pants in floral sequin fabric” and thought, “Good Idea!” — because, no. No. Nooooo. And then I saw this pretty satin fabric and thought “Jogging Pants!”, … Continue reading Look Who’s Wearing Hammer Pants
I’m pleased to report that this top survived multiple reduction surgeries to emerge in wearable form! Thank goodness, because I just love this floral-and-roman-ruins fabric. It started off as Burda’s Keyhole Batwing Blouse (05/2015 #111) but you’ll notice my version doesn’t really look anything like it, starting with the fact that there’s no keyhole anywhere to be found. Burda’s version is incredibly long. My first … Continue reading Fiddling with Size While Rome Burns…or Falls to Ruin, or…um…Something Like That
Frivolous At Last 