Hello, friends! No 2016 roundups or 2017 plans from me, although this is my first post of the new year. There's so much crap going on in the world that it's still sometimes difficult to focus on seemingly inconsequential things like sewing and knitting when you want to tear your hair out at the madness of it all. But when those things bring you great joy and pleasure and ease stress, to help balance out other things or ... Read more »
Sewing
Western-inspired Ginger jeans
Something like 3 months ago, I finished making a pair of jeans. When we went on a vacation to northern Wisconsin in October, we took photos of them. Finally today, I'm sharing them. Let's have a little sewing, shall we? These are my third pair of Ginger jeans. I sewed them immediately after sewing Mel's Morgan jeans and my Safran jeans, and by the end of all that I was totally jean-ed out. I'd been saving some Cone ... Read more »
Prepping for my Clare coat project
I have a lot of creative things floating around both in my head and in my hands lately. Behind-the-scenes, I'm working on my next knitting pattern release. Not-behind-the-scenes, I have lots of things on my list. Too many. Ugh! But right now, one of the main ones is the Closet Case Patterns Clare coat! I went gaga for it the second Heather released it around this time last year. For Christmas, my mom and step-dad ... Read more »
Black cats on parade!
Happy Halloween, my friends! There's a couple of holidays for which I'm interested in sewing, and Halloween is one of them! (It's a short list: the other is obviously Christmas.) Last year, I was in London meeting up with sewing friends on Halloween and sewed myself a theme-y blouse for the occasion. I used the same pattern as my recent Bye Bye Birdie blouse, and this year, I've used the pattern again! What can ... Read more »
Plaid flannel tie-front topper
Before Mel and I went up to northern Wisconsin for a short vacation earlier this month, I had grand plans for vacation sewing (as you do), but only got a couple of items finished. The first I'm sharing is this flannel topper! I found this great Simplicity pattern from 1949 at an antique mall for just a couple of dollars! I bought it purely for the tie-front topper. I thought it would be great sewn up in a cozy plaid ... Read more »
Bye Bye Birdie blouse
What's blue and tan with birdcages all over? My blouse! And it's another Vintage Pledge item! Sometimes, I really love the terms used to describe various elements of a garment in vintage sewing patterns. Today's treat was Butterick 6223, a pattern from the 1950s, featuring a "small rising collar" for the view I sewed. It's a perfect description—says exactly what it is! This is actually a blouse I've sewn up twice ... Read more »