Last night, my husband was out of town so I dashed off to the Sewing Arts Center to put the finishing touches on my button down shirt. I started this project last year when I was gearing up for my pattern drafting classes. It occurred to me that I had never sewn a proper shirt with a collar stand and everything, and I thought it would be a good warm up for drafting. (It was.) Unfortunately, I got to the 85% complete mark and never had a chance to finish.
For all of you people out there taking pictures of clothes you’ve sewn while you are wearing them, I have to give you some serious credit. I call these photos “An Hour of My Life I Can’t Really Justify.” However, I am on a bit of a roll this week, so I didn’t want to wait.
The pattern is from Qwik Sew (3555) and sews up nicely. Next time, I think I would add a pleat in the back where the back joins the yoke and lengthen the shirt and the sleeves just a tad. But all in all, I’m pretty happy with it. There are more reviews of this pattern here. I can’t really comment on the quality of the pattern instructions, because I had a teacher on hand showing me shortcuts and handy little tricks. (For those of you who are local and want to sew garments, I can’t say enough good things about Russell’s classes.)
Ok, that’s all I’ve got for the week. I’m spent. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I’m feeling that great “finishing what I started” energy, so I hope to carry that with me on into the weekend. Take care!
There are certain materials over in the “dangerous areas” of the fabric store that I am drawn to like a moth to flame. You know the ones. These are the fabrics that Mom warned us about when we were first learning to sew — stuff that is sheer or shiny or slippery or sparkly or sequined. Lately, I have been crossing those lines left and right. I find that most of the time, with the right needle and thread combination, things go just fine. However, I have still been a bit scared of sequins which is a shame, since there are lots of sequined bags and pillows and things I’d like to make.
I found this iridescent sequin trim at M&J Trimming and decided it was time to put this fear to rest. (A quick word of warning: M&J Trimming has a lot of great stuff that can be hard to pass up, so head over there at your own risk. It’s easy to drop $30+ on ribbons.) The sequins I purchased are square shaped, and the trim isn’t stretchy like a lot of sequin trims tend to be. I’m hoping the binding on the edge of the trim will make it easier to attach. I took it with me to the store to buy some coordinating linen, and the lady at the cutting counter didn’t want to give it back.
Any sequin-sewing veterans out there? I will report back with what I learn. Who wants to take the sequin-sewing plunge with me?
Hi there and happy Friday, everyone! Thanks for all of the great suggestions on recipe sites from the last post. I am looking forward to going through them this weekend for a few new gems. Before I sign off, I could use one extra favor. (I know – I’m getting a little greedy this week.)
I am working on some new content for the blog, and I would love your input on this one question:do you use a sewing machine?
There are quite a few of you who I know the answer on this already. (Jane and Emily? Yes. My Dad? Not so much.) However, there are plenty of people who stop by and I haven’t met yet – so hopefully this will be an easy, anonymous way for you to let me know. As always, I treasure your input!
This is my first time using a survey so fingers crossed this actually works. If for some reason you have trouble entering your answer, feel free to leave a comment instead. And if there is something you’d like to see more of here, I’d love to hear that, too.
I have a confession to make. The first dozen times my husband asked me to set up the sewing machine so he could hem his jeans, I stalled. I thought this was going to be a disaster.
I should have known better. Of course he can sew.
The added bonus? He now appreciates the fancy sewing machine. “This sews so much better than the handy stitch.” Yes, yes it does. So it’s not wrong for me to give him a stack of my pants to hem, is it? I’d hate for such talent to go to waste.
I hope you know that I wouldn’t dare post a Christmas project 3 days before Christmas unless it was really, really quick and simple. However, I absolutely promise – this one is both. If you’re short a Christmas stocking — or even if you have a whole family of stockings you need to make, these go together so smoothly I think you will still have time to bake Santa some cookies.
My friend, Russel Scott Conte, who teaches several of the classes I’ve been taking has a genius method for sewing up Christmas stockings. The stocking requires only one seam (two if you decide to go crazy and top-stitch the cuff). Russell has a really nice video tutorial of this project up on his web-site. Even if you don’t want to make the stocking, you might want to go watch the video anyway. When you see how this stocking goes together, I know it will inspire you. Plus, how cool are his glasses?
I'm Kelly Lee-Creel, a fabric and craft designer in Los Angeles. You can learn more about my little corner of the web right here. I love hearing from you, so feel free to send me a note.
