You know me. If I love to sew and wear something, I typically want multiple versions. I love repeating tried-and-true favorite patterns! And the Charm Pattern Hepburn top of one of them. Inspired by a recent batch sewing marathon (corduroy pants!), I decided to kick things up a notch, and I've just finished sewing three Hepburn tops at a time. A trifecta of tops, for my 100th YouTube video. (I KNOW!) Head over to my ... Read more »
sewing with knits
Sewing knits: vintage style turtleneck sweater
Late last year, I blogged about a 1950s jumper dress that I sewed and I still really love that dress. It's the perfect thing to layer over a turtleneck when it's chilly. And it's only early early spring, so it's definitely still chilly! All it needed was some quick sewing knits projects. Which... I didn't do. But frankly, continuing to wear that dress a lot (and planning a similar one soon) meant I no longer had an ... Read more »
I just needed a sweatshirt
Do you ever just drop everything you're working on to sew a quickie project? I almost never do. But I did recently, and can understand why people do it sometimes! In the middle of my latest jeans project I suddenly had the urge to try out a pattern I've been thinking about non-stop since finishing my Carbeth pullover. The cropped shirt in Butterick 7557, from around 1956. Meant to be more of a sweater, or a ... Read more »
Slash-neck winner
Before fall hit here, Jennifer Lauren (of Jennifer Lauren Handmade) contacted me about her latest pattern release, the Gable top, a cute 1950s-inspired tee with a slash neck. Little did she know, but it was the exact same type of top I was hoping to try and backwards architect from my favorite Vivien of Holloway slash neck tops, as I hadn't found a similar sewing pattern out there yet. She wondered if I'd be interested in ... 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 »