Happy birthday to meeeee!! In keeping with the tradition that I started for myself three years ago, I've sewn a dress for my birthday. It's my birthday cowgirl dress, featuring a Western novelty print and a sweetheart neckline, modeled in our Southwestern themed den! The pattern is Butterick B5748, a reproduction of their vintage pattern from 1960: I've had this pattern for ages but only got the impetus ... Read more »
Sewing
For the love of checks
Aloha! I have a new dress to show off today! And technically a new cardigan too, but I'll save that for another post as I plan to yammer on a bit about this dress. ;) This dress has two things that make it special to me: first, some super dedicated pattern matching that I'm proud of, and second, a muslin that led me to a fantastic "aha!" fitting moment that will forever change how I approach a certain fitting issue ... Read more »
Bring on spring dress
Want a bright and floral dress that screams "Bring on spring!" at the top of its lungs? Well I've got one for you! I'm back with way more about the dress I sewed from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book. (And psst, two days left for the giveaway.) As I explained in my review, the bodice of this dress is from the book. It's been so much fun reading everyone's excitement in the entry comments, and suffice it to say the majority ... Read more »
Review + giveaway: Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book (and a peek at the dress I made from the book)
Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book to review on my blog, along with a giveaway at the end of this post! This is Gretchen Hirsch's third book, which was just released last week. You may also be familiar with the "Gertie" name from her blog, her line of patterns with Butterick, or fabric with JoAnn Fabric (man, sooo many cute prints in her spring line). Anyway, ... Read more »
Sewing with Doctor Who
Today's outfit is just full of fun separates! I love trying out new patterns, and sewing things that are more in the 'on occasion' variety. For example right now I'm finishing up a collared vintage dress, and it's coming out great, I had an extremely crucial fitting "aha" moment in the muslin, but I don't wear dresses with collars that often, even though this has a great one, and the back of the neck collar was ... Read more »
Setting myself up for success
Recently, I bought something and then returned it: a coverstitch machine. I don't feel like writing up a long blog post about why I returned it... so instead I'm writing a long blog post about something tangentially related to it, ha ha. The short story is that I felt mine was probably a lemon. It was a Janome 900CPX and lots of people love theirs... and many people (experienced sewers) think they have duds, or they ... Read more »