Hey friends! As we navigate the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, I know a lot of us are encouraged if not mandated to #staythefuckhome to slow down the spread of the virus and help flatten the curve. Which means lots of time for sewing – yay, silver lining – but not a lot of options for being social or getting help in the form of classes and workshops. I know I personally have had to cancel / reschedule 2 workshops so far and anticipate many more will meet the same fate (peep my workshops page for updates), which in addition to the loss of income is just a total bummer! I’m bummed!
While it is unfortunately not possible at this time for me to offer online workshops (logistically, I just can’t swing it – although I will continue to look into it so that may change in the future!), I do think one-on-one lessons can be managed via video platform. So, starting now – I am happy to announce that I am offering Virtual Private Sewing Lessons! Yay!
All information (including a FAQ because everyone loves a good FAQ) is on the Virtual Private Sewing Lessons page of my blog, but a quick rundown of how this works:
You will sign up for preferred lesson via the PayPal link ($18 for 30 minutes, $30 for 60 minutes, $45 for 90 minutes).
After payment has been completed, click the RETURN TO MERCHANT link to be redirected to my Calendly page to select your preferred time and date (availability is from 11a – 6p CST Monday -Saturday, although I can be flexible if your time zone does not work with these. Send me an email!).
To complete your request, you will be asked to tell me a little bit about what you would like to cover during the lesson – this will allow me time to do any necessary prep work so that we can go straight into the good stuff during your session! You can also email me pictures / confusing instructions, ask questions – whatever gets us best prepared!
Lessons will be held via Google Hangouts (which is free to use on your phone, tablet, or computer.
Since this is a new technological territory for me (let’s be real, there are gonna be some hiccups!), for a limited time I am offering these lessons at a discount of 40% off my standard hourly teaching rate. I know a lot of us are looking at an uncertain future in terms of the economy + our jobs, so I hope that these lower rates will also allow more people to take advantage of this new platform and strengthen their sewing knowledge!
So what can be covered in a Virtual Private Sewing Lesson? Well – just about anything, I reckon! Here are some ideas to get the juices going:
Deciphering confusing sewing instructions
Real-time demos for specific techniques
Help with fitting (I’m not sure how well this will work since I tend to fit very hands-on, but I am willing to try and see what happens!)
Basic clothing alterations
Flat pattern adjustments
General sewing advice (such as fabric and pattern recommendations, finishing techniques for certain projects, advice for handling tricky fabrics, troubleshooting)
Or we can just chat because chatting is fun!
Selfishly, I am also hoping this will allow me to be more social while still maintaining my self-isolation – so perhaps that will be the same for you! Shit is stressful enough right now without having to deal with long bouts of loneliness, amirite?
I have some new projects and tutorials that I’d like to share on this blog, so stay tuned for those! In the meantime, please check out my Virtual Private Sewing Lessons page if you are interested in booking at session with me! Share it with your friends! I think we could all use a little creative distraction right now 🙂
Stay safe, stay healthy, wash your hands, and STAY THE FUCK HOME! Love y’all!
As I mentioned in my last post, I have a few workshops already lined up for the first few months of 2018 😀 I was hoping to include my sample jeans in this post, but I’ll be completely honest with you – this post ended up WAY longer than I was anticipating, so I am going to split my FO into a separate post. For this entry, I just want to talk about my upcoming workshops!
If you follow my Instagram, you may have noticed the madness when I decided to sew 11 pairs of jeans in mid-December. If that’s not crazy enough for ya, I finished all 11 pairs in LESS THAN A WEEK. Yea!! There’s a reason why my sewing industry friends call me Speedy 🙂
You’re also probably wondering why I made 11 pairs of jeans in the first place? Especially after announcing over and over that I have plenty of pants and I don’t actually need more (I’m gonna keep making pants anyway, sorry!). These jeans are actually samples for my upcoming Jeans Workshops!
When I first started teaching sewing back in 2014, the first place to bring me in was Workroom Social in Brooklyn, NY. There are a lot of reasons why I love working at Workroom Social and have continued to teach there over the years. Jennifer is incredibly brilliant businesswoman and teacher, plus we work super well together. One of the things she does in her workshops that I thought was SO CLEVER is to have all the sizes of the pattern made up in advance of the weekend, so that students can try the samples on. This helps them not only choose the correct size to start, but also gives the ability to do basic fitting adjustments without the need to make a muslin. I have always loved this idea and I think it’s one of many things that really sets Workroom Social apart from other sewing workshops.
Toward the end of 2017, I started thinking about what kinds of workshops I wanted to offer in 2018. I have gotten a lot of requests to bring my jeans workshops to other cities, but I was lacking the samples (I realize you can totally offer this workshop without the samples, but y’all – once I’d tried it, I didn’t want to do anything else haha). After some internal debate – as well as a few conversations with Jennifer about my plans (I wanted her blessing before I did anything – I am not in the business of stepping on anyone’s toes here, y’all) – I decided to bite the bullet and make up my own batch of Ginger Jeans samples. This ended up working out perfectly because Workroom Social is moving toward offering a different pattern for future jeans classes (something that is a bit more size-inclusive than the Ginger because, as I’m sure you know, there are plenty of people who fall outside the max size range in that pattern), so I can continue to offer workshops that feature this specific pattern without being in competition with other workshops that I teach.
Having already worked with these samples for the past couple of years, I had some ideas on how I wanted to improve my own set when it came time to make them: – Fabric: Hey, here’s a surprise for you – I didn’t use Cone Mills Denim to make my samples. I know this denim is the holy grail for sewing jeans – and for good reason, it’s a really wonderful fabric! However, it can sometimes be difficult for the average home sewist to source, and somewhat cost prohibitive depending on where you source it from (especially when you consider that you first pair of jeans may end as a wearable muslin). This was fine at Workroom Social because they were able to obtain rolls of the denim to provide to students as a kit, but y’all – I live in a small 2 bedroom house with limited storage, and I travel for my workshops. I ain’t about to buy stock in heavy-ass denim and schlep that shit around in a suitcase lol. Furthermore, Cone Mills just closed its White Oak plant at the end of 2017, which could potentially make the denim even harder to source in the future (or they move production offshore, or someone buys the plant to continue operating it – who knows? But I don’t want to bank on “maybe.”). So, with all that in mind – I wanted to make my samples out of a fabric that was easier for the average home sewist to obtain. – Washed vs Unwashed: Plain and simple, denim feels and fits differently when it’s washed. It is softer and has more stretch. I wanted my samples to be out of washed denim, to better mimic what the finished pair would feel like. – Familiarity with all sizes: Ok, this was NOT something I anticipated up front, but in hindsight this was a nice perk! Sewing every single size gave me a very hand-on experience with how they differ and how each one fits together. I don’t know if there is another person (other than Heather herself, obviously!) who has literally sewn every size in this pattern – but I have! Everything from fitting the pattern pieces on the fabric, to how the notches match up, even the differences in size grade. It was a surprisingly enlightening experience for me. As much as I’ve sewn this pattern up before and taught this class soo many times, y’all. I KNOW this pattern now. Like in a really creepy way almost haha.
So anyway, here are the details on my new samples:
– The denim I used is Robert Kaufman Super Stretch denim! At 8.6 oz, it’s on the lighter weight side – but in my experience, a lot of people actually prefer this over heavier denim (especially for very fitted jeans like the Gingers) – it makes for a more comfortable pair of pants that feel almost like leggings. Of course, using a heavier denim and/or one with less stretch is as easy as adjusting your seam allowances to accommodate, but this particular fabric is a great starting point. The fabric costs around $15/yard and is super accessible – most fabric stores carry Robert Kaufman! And as someone who has long used Robert Kaufman fabrics, I love their quality and the company has been so easy to work with. I’m pretty excited about this!
– The denim is washed one time, to remove the sizing and soften everything up. I was hoping this would also remove the indigo bleed, but it only did so a bit – it looks like 2-3 washes is the magic number (based on my personal sample pair). I love my students but idk y’all, I wasn’t about to sit and wash 30 yards of denim multiple times. You hands will be slightly tinted blue. Don’t wear white underwear and bring hand sanitizer lol.
– Each sample is sewn using the key pieces necessary for fit – front and back legs, yoke, full fly (zipper, shield, etc), and waistband. There are no pockets, no seam finishes (or hems), and there is only topstitching where necessary for fit. Furthermore, the waistband is uninterfaced, except where the button would go – this is what I prefer in my jeans, and it gives students the chance to see what that feels like when they try on the pair, so they can decide for themselves whether they want to interface their waistbands. Personally, I find it way more comfortable! I also left off the buttons – students simply pin the waistband shut when they try on the sample.
– The pattern is the Ginger Jeans pattern from Closet Case Patterns, available in sizes 0-20. My samples are View B, the high-waisted, skinny leg version.
– As a fun side note, each pair of jeans has a different colored zipper. I knew that giant box of 75+ vintage zippers in weird colors that I bought at the flea market AGES ago would eventually come in handy! 😉
To get everything sewn up in a timely fashion, I had to set things in stages. Due to the number of pairs and them all being different sizes (in all the same fabric, no less), I was unable to batch sew these like one would in production. I literally sewed each pair one at a time. I found that the fastest way to do this was to cut everything first (again, individually) and batch all the pieces together with the size clearly marked. Then, starting with the largest size and working my way down – I sewed each pair of jeans from start to finish. For fun, I timed myself – the first pair took 52 minutes, but by the time I sewed that last pair I was actually down to 32 minutes!
And then I got really into it and a little time-lapse video of myself sewing one of the pairs of jeans. Because I am a huge nerd.
I also totally broke my sewing machine during this process. At some point, I sewed over a zipper (a nylon zipper, I might add) and hit it at juuuust the right angle that it snapped the needle and everything went completely haywire. I had somehow managed to completely jack up the timing – my needle was hitting the needle threader on it’s way up, and not picking up the bobbin thread. I am lucky that we have an incredible sewing machine dealer + repairshop in the area, so I brought it to him and he was able to get everything fixed and back to normal by the next morning! I can’t even tell y’all how much I love my dealer – highly recommend them if you are in Nashville and shopping for a Bernina!
Ok one last nerdy thing! Doing the same sewing process over and over (and over and over) actually gave me some wonderful insight for finishing the waistband! In the past, I (and probably most of y’all) have attached it the waistband from the right side, then turned the facing (inside) to the inside and pinned it, then topstitched from the outside. This is unnecessarily fussy and I don’t know about you, but I always end up with a little section of facing that didn’t get stitched down. Jennifer had mentioned a few times in the past to flip and attach the facing first, then topstitch from the outside – which I’ve done before with other garments when it’s in the round, but I couldn’t get a clean finish right at the zipper opening. Well, y’all – 11 pairs later, I’ve definitely got it down! So here’s a mini tutorial:
Assemble your waistband as normal (sew the waistband to the facing along the top and understitch one side), then press the seam allowance of the WAISTBAND (the side that is not understitched) under to the inside. I press about a scant less than the seam allowance – so a 5/8″ seam allowance gets pressed a little between 1/2″ and 5/8″ (this allows the waistband to fully cover your stitching). Sew the facing to the top of your jeans, with the right side of the facing against the inside of the pants, like so. It will look totally wrong at this point. Trust.
Now fold the short ends of your waistband in half, with right sides facing, and the connecting line of stitching (not the understitching) right along the top of the fold. Sew across the short end to close.
When you turn the ends right side out, the waistband should fall right into place, covering the seam allowances.
Then you just pin everything down and topstitch! Since the facing was already attached, you don’t have to worry about catching it in your topstitching 🙂 Here’s another hint – start at the center back, that way your backstitching gets covered by the belt loop.
So now I want to talk about my classes! Jeans Making has been pretty popular and I am excited to take this class ~on the road~ since I realize that not everyone can come up to NYC to take a sewing class (and also, I’m selfish and I like to travel haha). I have taught this class several times at Workroom Social, and learned a lot about teaching these workshops – what works, what doesn’t work, and what I might want to change for my own classes (very little- like I said, Jennifer is VERY good at what she does! There’s a reason why I keep working with her, she is amazing and the classes at Workroom Social are wonderful!).
The main thing that Workroom Social focuses on in their classes – and I focus on as well – is the overall experience of the class. Yes, you are there to learn and we want you to learn as much as you can and feel empowered by your knowledge! But even beyond that – we want you to have FUN in the class. Based on what my students tell me, this is not always the case – which kind of makes me sad, and also explains why there are lots of people who get scared off from sewing after a single class. I always strive to give my students the very best experience, and give them my full undivided attention during the entirety of the class. This is why I rarely have photos from classes (unless someone else took them), or post on social media during my classes – I’m not using my phone in class because I want to be 100% involved with my students. I am also a firm believer in that there is no “right” or “wrong” way to do something – you do whatever works! Sewing isn’t like baking, it’s like cooking – whatever gets you the result you want is the “right” way to do it. My classes are less about doing things perfectly and more about having a good time, learning a lot, and actually finishing your project. Then when you go home and make that next pair of jeans – that’s when you can work on the perfection side!
One other thing about my classes that may be a little different – I don’t try to keep students at the same pace the entire time. If that means I have to repeat myself 10 times during a class, that’s ok (seriously, you’re not going to fluster or bother me haha)! I realize that everyone learns differently and operates at various speeds, and I don’t want to punish half the class for being at a different speed. Faster students can blaze ahead and not be bored, and the slower students aren’t stressed about keeping up. I find this to be a very positive overall experience, both in terms of people actually learning shit and also keeping the vibes of the class high.
The only thing I changed with my solo jeans classes is the time involved. Classes at Workroom Social are 2 full days. While you can definitely finish a pair of jeans in that time – I’ve had classes wrap up as early as 3 hours before the end time before – it can also be a little rushed sometimes. Workroom Social also speeds things up by having the patterns pre-traced and cut, and also providing lunch in the studio. After some thinking, I realized the fitting/cutting portion was really the big roadblock here – so for my classes, I am moving that to its own half day. This makes my classes 2.5 days, but those extra hours make a big difference (plus it makes things a little easier if you’re traveling to take the class – you can fly in that morning). Students have 4 hours to try on the samples, choose their size, cut or trace their patterns, make basic fitting adjustments if needed, and then cut and mark their fabric! Next two days go straight into sewing, with a little extra time built in so it’s not as rushed – and you can chat! Or take a break! Finish early? Cool, I’ll do some demos or talk about what shit you want (jeans-related or not)! Or we can drink and hang out and celebrate! I don’t care, we are here to have fun!
Oh yeah, one last thing – if you fall outside the size range of the Ginger Jeans pattern, that is ok! The Ames Jeans pattern from Cashmerette is available in sizes 12-28 and for two different body types (apple or pear fit). While I do not have samples available in this pattern, you can absolutely use it to take my classes and get you a pair of jeans that fits YOU. In other news, I cannot tell you how excited I am that Jenny released this pattern. I may or may not have fangirled for like 2 weeks straight haha.
Ok I swear I’m wrapping up! Here are my upcoming classes through the beginning of May (you can also see these on my Classes Page 🙂 )
Jeans Making Sewing Intensive March 24th – 25th Workroom Social / Brooklyn, NY
Pfft y’all didn’t think I leaving Workroom Social, did you? THEY CAN NEVER GET RID OF ME 🙂 This 2 day workshop in beautiful Brooklyn is all about jean-making – rumor has it we will be sewing a custom Workroom Social jeans pattern in this class 🙂
Ginger Jeans Workshop April 27th – 29th SOLD OUTÂ // May 1st – 3rd Stitch Sew Shop / Alexandria, VA
Two dates for this one! Choose either Friday – Sunday (Update: The weekend is now sold out!) or Tuesday – Thursdsay (maaaaybe you are thinking about going to the Sheep and Wool Festival that weekend? ;)). This is another one of my 2.5 day workshops where we will make Ginger Jeans!
If you are a shop who would like to host me for a Jeans Workshop, please get in touch! I still have a little bit of availability for the second half of 2018 🙂 I am especially interested in teaching on the west coast or in the UK!
If you read this entire post and you’re still somehow still here – if we ever meet irl, I totally owe you a drink haha!
Ok, I’ll be back soon to discuss my jeans made with the Robert Kaufman fabric! Have a great day, everyone!
Guys, have y’all heard of the Cricut Maker? I was somewhat familiar with the Cricut, which I typically associated with general crafters and/or scrapbookers – not the sorts of crafts I personally do. Anyway, a few months ago, I was contacted by Cricut with an offer for the Maker. Not gonna lie, I was confused why they’d reach out, since I definitely don’t do paper crafts (or, I do occasionally, but not enough to necessitate a dedicated machine for it – and I definitely don’t blog about said paper crafts, so it seemed like a really weird fit). If you are confused, too, I recommend watching that intro video at the link, because it 100% changed my mind!
I still don’t know about the rest of the Cricuts, but let me tell you about the Maker! This machine is about the size of a small printer, and it can cut or draw on a variety of materials. I always associated them with just paper and vinyl – but you can also cut stuff like balsa wood and fabric, depending on what blade you use. The fabric part was what really got my attention, when I realized I could use it to cut out fiddly fabric pieces – such as a bra pattern. You don’t have to stabilize the fabric – it sticks to a special mat that feeds right into the machine. There is a free app that has hundreds of patterns and designs available for download – some are free, some cost money (charged to your iTunes account) – including a lot of options from Simplicity. I have been told that it is possible to upload your own cut maps – like the aforementioned bra pattern – but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. In the meantime, I wanted to play around with this machine and see what I could make! This is actually my second project with the Cricut Maker, but the first one I’m posting!
I got a bunch of the iron-on vinyl, which comes in a roll that you can cut to whatever design (or in my case, words) that you want! Then you simply iron it on, the same way you’d use the classic letters that you find in most craft stores (y’all are familiar with these, right? Man, I used to use the SHIT out of those back in high school haha. I had a tshirt that said “Go me” on the front and “Go me some more” on the back. Oh, high school.). I wanted to make my own funny tshirt, but it took me ages to think of a good text to write. I decided to make a running tank with the words “Running is stupid.” My dad had a similar tshirt that he wore to races, and I always thought it was hilarious. After my brother debuted his recent skate video, Skae3rdie Trying (which I’m linking bc y’all should watch that shit at least for his solo at the beginning lol), he had tshirts that said “Skateboarding is stupid,” and OF COURSE he gave me one. But I really wanted that running is stupid shirt, to wear when I go running (obviously), and I knew my mom would never give me dad’s- so that’s what I decided to make.
Setting up the machine is easy – it has wifi capabilities to connect to your phone or tablet, to download the patterns. There is also a USB port on the side for charging your device, which is handy! The machine has a tray at the top for holding a tablet (or phone); my only complaint is that the tray is very narrow and does not accommodate my iPad when it’s still in its case – I have to remove it. Minor complaint, but I did want to point that out.
For this project, I designed my text in the app, using my Skateboarding is stupid shirt to compare font and text size. Once I was happy with the design, I connected my tablet to the Maker via wifi and clicked through all the boxes to start cutting. The app makes this really user-friendly – it asks you the material (and in my case – reminds me to mirror so it irons on correctly), tells you what blade + mat to use, then you just load it up and go!
The machine has space to hold 1 blade and 1 pen simultaneously – you can use the pen to draw or write (with the machine), or you can stick in a fabric pen to mark your pieces as they get cut. The best part is how easy they are to change out – they just snap right in.
The mats have a sticky side, to hold whatever material is getting cut. There are different mats for different materials, but I just used the all-purpose one for cutting the vinyl. With fabric, there is a special mat – and it comes in both 12″x12″ or up to 12″x24″ (obviously you can only cut stuff as large as the mat, so the bigger fabric mat is nice to have!).
I loaded the mat into the machine and hit start. And that was it!
After cutting, I peeled all the negative space away from my letters. I then cut the letters apart so I could position them better on the shirt (I don’t know why there was that extra space in the second line, but whatever, I can manually fix that!). The letters remain on a clear sheet that is sticky, so you can position everything exactly how you like it and it won’t move while you’re fusing.
Then you fuse from both sides (I used a timer so I was sure it was getting enough heat) and peel the clear film off. Super easy!
Because I’m so extra, I couldn’t attach this to a standard RTW shirt… obviously, I had to make my own shirt, too. I cut my pattern pieces before fusing the vinyl, but waited to sew everything together until last. Having done a lot of stenciling (and using those vinyl letters as well) in the past, I know from experience that it can be hard to get everything straight and centered if you’re attaching to a garment that’s already made. And I didn’t want to deal with a bunch of yardage and then trying to cut with everyone centered, so I fused to my already cut pattern pieces.
Then it was just a matter of sewing up the tank!
A few details for the sewing part:
– I used black bamboo stretch jersey to make this – I love wearing bamboo when I exercise because it breathes so well, and it also doesn’t hold stink! I get my bamboo knit from Mood Fabrics and it’s fantastic stuff, well worth the price, and comes in a great selection of colors. There’s about 5% spandex blended in, which helps the knit keep its shape so it does not stretch out.
– The pattern I used is a mash-up of the Mission Maxi for the top, and the Plantain tshirt for the body. I wanted something fitted at the top and bust, but loose at the waist.
– I sewed the seams with my serger (just a standard 4 thread overlock, but next I want to experiment with flatlocking), and made binding strips out of the bamboo knit, which I attached using my coverstitch machine + binding attachment. This was my very first time using the binding attachment (I just bought the machine a couple of months ago, and no, I haven’t posted about it yet!), and LET ME SAY THAT WAS A STEEP LEARNING CURVE. It probably didn’t help that I used it on a wiggly knit instead of a nice stable cotton! But it was totally worth the headache and I’m so happy with how the binding looks.
I will write more about the coverstitch machine + attachment in depth in a future post (I’d like to use the thing more before I start acting like an authority on it, ha), but in the meantime – doesn’t the binding look nice! 🙂
All right, so that’s all for this shirt! I have more workout stuff that I need to sew up (I have a wonderful assortment of gear for the warm months, but absolutely nothing for the winter – so I need to fix that!), so photos of me wearing it will come with that post I suppose! I gotta say, I cannot wait to wear this to the gym when I use the treadmill next, haha! My dad would totally be proud 🙂
I also used the Maker for a sewing project – stay tuned for that post!
Have you ever used the Cricut machines before? Are there other cool things they do that I’m missing out on?
** Note: Cricut generously sent me the Cricut Maker machine + a bunch of supplies at no cost to me, in exchange for writing about my experience. All opinions are my own! Also, FYI, this blog post contains affiliate links. Actually, it is littered with them. That is all!
Hey! Remember when I moved last year and promised I’d share photos of my new sewing room? Well, we’re almost a year overdue – but I’m finally making good on that promise! Truth be told, I kept putting off the ~big reveal~ because there was a never-ending list of things that I wanted to change about the space – first I wanted a new ironing board cover, then I needed new lights over said ironing board, then I thought I’d wait until I got new sewing tables… like I said, never-ending! I have since realized two things:
1. The list of changes is going to be never-ending. That’s the nature of decorating. Once you’re happy with one thing, you want to tweak something else. Ok, maybe you don’t decorate that way – but I do! Keeps me on my toes, keeps that DIY spirit alive or whatever.
2. I decided to move in June (more on that in a minute!), so I better document this room before it becomes a maze of boxes! Argh!
Anyway, better late that never! I always have a studio in every place that I live, and I like to document these snapshots of my life, so I wanted to include this one on the blog as well 🙂 If you’re interested in seeing my other sewing spaces from past homes, check out this tag 🙂
Here is what you see when you first walk in! It’s an average sized room (11′ x 12′, which isn’t super tiny – but it makes for a small studio, especially when you have a giant cutting table in the middle of it!), so it was hard to get good shots of everything, but I tried!
If you’ve followed my blog for a while and are familiar with my former sewing spaces, you probably noticed that this room is super white! In the past, I’ve always had lots of color on my walls – which I love, especially when it’s turquoise! – but I ended up keeping this room white. The landlord and I had a bit of miscommunication about the painting – he agreed to paint it turquoise, I sent him swatches, he said he didn’t get the swatches, I agreed to just go with white (it was originally that horrible beige-y rental color that no one loves), figuring I’d repaint it myself if it bothered me. But I’ve really grown to love it, it’s so fresh and bright!
The view from the door to the sewing station. I love having a window at my sewing station, even if the bright light makes my photos look awful 🙂
One of the things that I wanted to change about this room – and will change in my next studio – is to exchange those two sewing cabinets in favor of a long worktable that I can roll back and forth at in my chair. I love my cabinets, but they aren’t practical with multiple machines (plus, I can’t use the knee lever with my Bernina! Boo!).
Starting next to the door, on the right-hand side of the room – is my desk (or as they love to say on MTV Cribs “where the magic happens”). Since I primarily work from home, it’s great to have a dedicated desk space where I can keep my computer and all my office and art supplies. I also blog from this desk, and sometimes it holds fabric + pattern overflow when I’m on a giant cutting binge 😉
Next to the desk is my ironing station – yes, with a new ironing board cover (finally haha!). The lights over the ironing board are suspended on a cord that plugs into a power strip below. These lights provide two purposes: one, to give me more working light (despite how bright these photos are, the corners of the room are actually quite dark, so it needs a lot of light to be comfortable to work in!), and two, to let me know when the iron is on! I use a gravity feed iron that does not have auto shut off, so I keep it plugged into a power strip with lights above it. When the lights are on, I know the iron is also on!
The shades over the lights are Joxtorp shades from Ikea. They are cheap little cardboard things that I just spray painted a different color. Nothing fancy, but better than a bare bulb! I used paper lanterns in the past, but I lost one of them during the move and figured it was time for a change anyway!
Over the ironing boards, I keep my rulers and cork boards – one for inspiration and general things that make me happy, and one to plot out future projects.
My sewing machines and serger are against the wall opposite the doorway, right by that beautiful window! All my thread is on racks on the wall (serger thread by the serger, sewing machine thread by the sewing machine), and notions in the shelf above my sewing machine. Plus, my dressform!
Continuing toward the right, this wall has a full-length mirror and a few shelves. The floor shelves hold my sewing books and yarn stash (yeah, it all fits in ONE BASKET woohoo), and the wall shelves have bra making supplies and zippers. And also fake plants along the top, cos green stuff is pretty stuff. I also keep a big roll of craft paper on top of the floor shelves.
Next to the shelves is where I keep my printer (FYI there is nothing fun in those drawers – it’s all products and samples that I send out for my other job haha).
Finally, at the end of the room – next to the door – is the closet. Since this closet is really big (like 7′ wide) and didn’t have doors, I just stuck my entire fabric stash in there, shelf and all! The shelf fit in perfectly with some extra space on the sides, plus there is storage along the top closet shelf for all my sewing patterns. My apologies for the bare shelves – I’d already started packing my fabric at this point, and I wasn’t about to unpack it for one photo! Just imagine that those shelves are full of lovely, colorful fabric 🙂 hah!
Since that shelf is about 5′ wide, there’s at least a foot of space on either end to store things. One end has my sewing machine cases and tracing paper (boring), but this end I stuck a tension rod so I can hang my working PDF patterns from! I can clip all the pieces and then hang them from the rod, and that way they don’t get folds before I have a chance to use them (PDF patterns that I’m not currently using are stored in a binder system – which I keep behind one of those doors in the big shelf).
Speaking of printing PDFs – I have started using a local printer to print copyshop versions, instead of cutting + taping a million pages together. My research in the past showed that places like Kinko’s charge about $10/page, which just crazy (especially if you are unfortunate enough to have a pattern with multiple pages!). I found a local printer who will print them for $2.18 per page, and holy shit y’all they are amazing. If you are in Nashville, check out CCAD Reprographics, seriously! If you’re not local, I think they will ship 😉
This is on that time wall space between the door and the closet. The hook is good for hanging WIPs (or stuff that I need to do some alterations or repairs on), and I found that postcard at my local yarn store, Haus of Yarn!
The cutting table takes up the space in the middle of the room. On one end, I have a bar where I store my cutting tools. The boxes in the cubes hold silk scraps, leather scraps, Papercut Patterns + Vogue patterns (since they don’t fit in the comic book boxes with the rest of my patterns), and my dyeing stuff.
The opposite end of the table has some drawers where I keep a bunch of tools and interfacing scraps, and the bins at the bottom hold swimsuit fabric and an enormous stash of zippers.
I love this cutting table! I “built” it out of two shelves and a tabletop – all stuff from Ikea – and put it on casters so I can easily roll it around if I need to (the casters also lock, so that shit will also stay put if I need it to). It’s a great size and height for cutting! For more information on how I built this, check out my former sewing room post.
What’s rad about this table, is that the middle is open and tall enough for me to roll this cart underneath, so I can easily pull it out when I need supplies (or shove it under the table when it’s in the way).
Hi!
So that’s my sewing room! I have really loved creating in this room – it’s such a lovely, bright space and it is really the perfect size for my needs. I’m going to miss this room (not to mention THAT CLOSET), but I’m so excited about my new place!
Oh, and more about that! I really love this apartment, and I have enjoyed living here this past year. However, one of my friends got me a great hook-up on an AMAZING house (seriously, look at how cute it is!), which I jumped at the opportunity. I am excited to have yard access again, a private driveway – and I’ll be walking distance to my part time gig at Craft South (not to mention, all the other cool stuff in that area!). The house was built in 1935, which means it is incredibly charming and has really really small closets 🙂 I am seriously SO sick of moving (just thinking about my to-do list is giving me anxiety), but I know it will be worth it! My new sewing room is going to be a hair smaller than this one – it measured around 11′ x 11′ – which means I need a bit of an overhaul on my organization / storage (for example – taking advantage of all those drawers!). I am up for the challenge, though! I love decorating new studios haha 🙂
Side note to my Nashville friends – if you are looking for an apartment, this one is available! Send me an email if you want more info 🙂
Hey everyone! One more OAL post for this year 🙂
This was my second year co-hosting the OAL with Andi Satterlund, and I think it’s safe to say that we both had a most excellent time! There was a great turnout of participants (61 outfits in the official Ravelry thread!) and I really enjoyed following along with everyone’s progress and lurking all those beautiful finished outfits! Thanks so much to everyone who joined in – whether you made a whole outfit, just sewed or knit one piece, or watched and cheered along from the sidelines. Y’all are the best! ♥
While making an outfit is a pretty sweet deal in itself, Andi & I wanted to draw out the fun even more by offering prizes to 4 random winners who posted completed outfits in the thread. This year, we doubled up and have two sponsors who have generously donated prizes, so I’d like to take a minute and acknowledge them! The first sponsor is Indie Stitches, who you might remember also donated prizes last year. Based in Australia, Indie Stitches sells both paper patterns and downloads, and offers selections from a huge plethora of indie designers, all of which are super good! Our other sponsor is The McCall Pattern Company, who owns and manages 3 of the famous Big 4 pattern companies (McCall’s, Vogue and Butterick, as well as Kwik Sew). I absolutely adore the McCall Pattern Company, even when I’m poking fun at them (and adore them even more for being basically the best sports ever about it!), so I’m pretty thrilled to have them on as a sponsor for OAL2015!
Both Indie Stitches and The McCall Pattern Company have offered to donate one pattern to each of the 4 winners. The winners will also get two patterns of their choosing from the Untangling Knots shop. So you will get to keep on making outfits! Yay!
Now for the winners! These were pulled from the official Ravelry thread and drawn by random number generator.
Can you believe that this is Kari’s second sewing project?? That dress fits beautifully and I just love the fabric! Also loving the idea of a black Vianne – that’s definitely a sweater you can wear with anything 🙂
I love the colors in Ann Marie’s outfit! That orange Vianne is especially beautiful with all the subtle color gradation. The addition of a waistband on the dress is a really nice touch!
Another first-timer here – this is Angela’s first cardigan! I think it turned out awesome and, again, love that orange! The colors of her cardigan & dress remind me of sherbert 🙂 Yum!
Love everything about Jeri’s outfit, but ESPECIALLY that little lacy top! Ahh!! I never realized how much I needed a lace-knit crop top until right this second. It looks great on Jeri, both with and without the dress. The whole outfit looks so cool and comfortable, perfect for summer!
Congratulations, OAL winners! Expect some emails to get those prizes out 🙂 I’m so happy to wrap up another successful OAL, and even happier to have a few new knitting and sewing patterns to add to my never-ending queue! Starting with that lace crop top. haha!
Thanks again to everyone who participated! Thanks to Andi for hosting along with me this second year, and big thanks to our sponsors Indie Stitches & The McCall Pattern Company for the great prizes! If you’d like to see more OAL garments, check out the official Ravelry thread, as well as the hashtag #OAL2015 on Twitter & Instagram 🙂
“Why do you sew?” This is the question that I get asked on a near daily basis – evenly distributed between curious blog comments, emails, face-to-face introductions, and random strangers who compliment something handmade that I happen to be wearing. Obviously, I am happy to talk about sewing until I start seeing eyes glaze over (oh, who am I kidding, I’m not gonna let that stop me one bit), but it’s not really something I’ve ever discussed at large on this blog. Since I’m currently in this weird blogging purgatory where I have finished projects but can’t take photos due to the current torrential downpours going on right now, let’s talk about it! And have some new sewing room sneaky-peeks while we’re at it 😀
As some of you may know, I learned how to sew through self-teaching. I’ve been around sewing my entire life – my mom made a lot of curtains, stuffed bunnies, and Easter dresses throughout my childhood, and I even had my own little sewing kit that I’d use to fashion Barbie-sized clothing and quilts. I started using her sewing machine when I was around 13 or 14, as someone on my favorite AOL message board (haha YEP) mentioned that they would sew up the sides of their band shirts to make them fit better. MIND. BLOWN. I used sewing strictly for alterations for a few years, and it wasn’t until I was 20 that I started trying to use sewing patterns. I learned everything – from threading the machine, to deciphering the pattern jargon, to learning new techniques – from books and the occasional internet research (I didn’t have internet in my house 10 years ago, so most of my early knowledge came from reading the Vogue Sewing Book cover to cover, like a freaking novel). That was back before blogging really took off, before sew-alongs were a thing, before I even knew that there was a site like Pattern Review and definitely during a time when we gave indie pattern companies a wary side-eye because we weren’t sure if they were to be trusted.
When I started sewing, I never had any intentions of eventually having a 100% me-made wardrobe. I never imagined that sewing would ever earn me any sort of income, not outside the random $10-$15 for an occasional pants-hem. I never really thought about it while it was happening – it was just, oh, great, a new hobby to immerse myself in! I did eventually start selling the clothing that I was making, as a way to offset some of my costs and give myself the go-ahead to sew up looks and fabrics that I’d never personally wear. That lasted for a few years, and it was pretty fun! I ultimately closed down the line because it was taking up too much of my selfish sewing time (NO RAGRETS).
I’ve been perfecting my craft for nearly 10 years at this point (I don’t count those early days pre-20 because, honestly, the only action my sewing machine got was nipping in the side seams of whatever random band shirt I’d bought the night before. Seriously. Soooo many band shirts), which is kind of crazy to me! I’ve had a lot of hobbies in the past, but this one has definitely stuck around the longest, and turned into an actual passion as opposed to something I do every few weeks so I have something to chat about at parties.
So, with all that being said – I give you my top 5 reasons (in no particular order) as to why I sew.
REASON #1: Mood-Altering Abilities
I love sewing because it’s a good mood-changer for almost any situation I encounter. If I’m bored, it’s entertaining. If I’m feeling stressed, it’s relaxing. If I’m angry, it calms me down. Everything about the entire process – from planning, to cutting, to prepping, to stitching, to finishing – makes me feel drastically better than I did before the project started. Truth, if I go too long without getting some creative release taken care of (such as those couple weeks during our recent move), I start getting angsty and upset. Sewing just makes me feel really good, which is more than I can say about other hobbies. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t peel myself off the couch after an afternoon of TV binge-watching and think, “Man. That was a productive day.” And hey, since sewing is considered entertainment – it’s REALLY easy to justify spending money on it 🙂 Ha!
REASON #2: Problem Solving
I am a problem-solver at heart. Give me a dilemma, and I’ll roll it around in my head for a few hours (or days) and try to come up with the most effective solution. I was one of those math nerds in high school who loved both Algebra AND Geometry. Figuring my way out of puzzle keeps my brain active and happy, and sewing is a really good way to incorporate that into my every day life. I love being presented with a challenge – whether it involves fitting, fabric, or finishing – and kicking that challenge right in its big, stupid ass. I’m not really a brain expert here or anything, but I like to think that exercising that part of my brain that solves problems and figures out puzzles makes me a better problem-solver overall, in all aspects of my day to day life. Whether or not that’s actually true, of course, is up for debate, but again – it makes me feel good. I like feeling good.
REASON #3: Level 10 Bartering // Income
When my sewing skills were still in their infancy, I learned a lot of what I know just from hacking away at alterations (first, my own, later, everyone else’s). I hemmed pants, I shortened bridesmaid dresses, I repaired couch pillows and cushions, I made custom curtains (fun fact: one time I made curtains for Emerson Hart. Those celebrities in Nashville, they’re everywhere!), I made dog clothes and Halloween costumes, and I also made about 100 flat-sheet sleeping sacks for a local hostel (you wanna know why I can sew in such a straight line? I had a LOT of practice making those sacks! ha!). I advertised on Craigslist and charged low rates, and made some decent money over the years. Not enough to quit my day job, obviously – but enough for a night out of drinking, or to pay for gas for the week, or to add to my savings for an upcoming trip. I was pretty poor during most of those 10 years – I was an irresponsible 20something with loads of credit card debt who spent way too much money on cigarettes and alcohol – and these random little alteration jobs kept me afloat when I needed it most. This is something I can always fall back on – and I still do, from time to time. When I was jobless during the last month of 2013, you best believe I was hawking the alterations like a crazy person. Not only was I able to cover my rent and bills – I also was able to tuck some money into savings. Yay!
I do pretty all right now with my current work, so I’m not dying for additional income right now – but I still using sewing as the bestest bartering tool. Like that one time when I had to take to small claims court that asshole who hit my car (AND THEN LIED ABOUT IT) – I bartered with my lawyer friend, who agreed to represent me in court in exchange for making him a Princess Peach dress for Halloween.
I cannot make this shit up. Again – sewing is the best bartering tool evarrr. I wouldn’t have been able to afford a lawyer otherwise, but I *can* afford my time! Also, I won the case. Mostly because it was total bullshit, but, I digress.
REASON #4: Makes Me A Better Consumer
Y’all. For as much as I’m a bleeding hippie about a whole myriad of aspects in my personal life, I used to be a really really terrible consumer. I spent way too much money (see above RE: credit card debt) and I treated most of what I bought as disposable. I didn’t have a lot of control in a lot of really important parts of my life (early 20s were a very dark time for me, to put it mildly), so I shopped. A lot. Sewing helped me get out of the funk in two ways – for one, it gave me something to be happy about and have control over (see reason #1) and it did a number on curbing the consumerism. Once you see how much effort goes into making a single piece of clothing – even a simple fucking tshirt – it becomes a bit mind-blowing to realize that there are stores selling that shit for as little as $2. How? I also started noticing just how crappy the quality is on a lot of the stuff we buy – awful fabrics, pieces cut off-grain, horrible seam finishes, bad fit – especially when you compare it to vintage pieces, or hell, even shit from 15 years ago. All that being said, I really drastically cut down on the amount of stuff I was buying – mostly because it seemed ridiculous to pay $$$ for something horribly made that I could do a better job of myself at home. Once I started getting picky about fit and realized that I was going to have to alter everything I bought, it made clothing shopping even less appealing. I gradually pulled back from buying new clothing over the years, and as of now, I’m rocking the almost-entirely handmade wardrobe.
Also, I read Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion when it was published, and it totally blew my mind. If you’re one of 3 people who hasn’t yet heard of this book, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. It will change your (shopping)life.
Sewing also played a part in getting that credit card debt finally paid off once and for all. I spent nearly an entire year living as shitty as possible and funneling the majority of my income into that stupid debt. When I say majority, I really mean it – I gave myself $20 per pay period (so, $40 a month) to spend on fun money after my bills were paid. Everything else went back into that looming debt. It obviously sucked and I’m definitely planning on not ever going through that again. Also – what can you do with $40 a month? That’s like 2 movies, or a month of REALLY shitty cable (or, for me – one night out at the bar). Lame! I sewed my way through my stash, and re-upped with monthly trips to our flea market (where $40 actually does go pretty far!). Instead of going out to the bar, I stayed home in my sewing room. Not only was I keeping myself entertained, I was also contributing to my wardrobe (because, again: $40 a month.). I made additional income from alterations, which I also dumped right into that debt. I was able to pay that shit off about a month earlier than I had anticipated, and I’ve been debt-free ever since! Yay!
REASON #5: Complete Wardrobe Control
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that this is why the majority of us sew – it gives us complete control of our wardrobe! It’s pretty awesome to be able to choose what you wear based on what you want, and not what’s just available in stores. It’s mind-blowing to be able to finish a garment and know that it is going to fit you just the way you like, without needing a bunch of alterations. And don’t even get me started on the merits of having control over the fabric – how many of us have used novelty bedsheets or ridiculous quilting cotton to make a crazy dress?
I started sewing specifically for the wardrobe control – beginning with those band tshirts, and making my flares into skinny jeans (because I couldn’t find them in stores, because it was 1999 and everyone worshiped The Flare). I started using patterns because I wanted cotton sundresses made out of ~quirky~ fabrics (mostly those novelty bedsheets, of course). I used vintage patterns because I wanted a vintage wardrobe without paying a hefty price for my pieces. I continued sewing and honing my craft because I want clothes that fit my body and are made of natural fibers, in colors and patterns that I like (versus whatever is available at Express this season). I want clothing with special details and one-of-a-kind designs. I am inspired by the clothing I see- from designers on the runway, to costume design in movies and television, to rando people walking in front of me on the sidewalk – and I recreate it in ways that work for my wardrobe and lifestyle. While I do occasionally complain about how there are RTW fabrics that I never see available for the home sewer, that’s a pretty small drop in the bucket compared to the choices we DO have over the typical clothing consumer. Sewing isn’t exactly known for saving you money these days (I mean, unless you’re ripping off really expensive designer shit), but it certainly puts you in charge of wearing what you want, which to me is worth far more than saving a little bit of cash. I always think back on those skinny jeans that I wore when I was 14, surrounded by a sea of flares, and it feels pretty good to know that I don’t have to put myself at the mercy of whatever is currently in style. I wear what I want, and I give no fucks.
So that’s the story of why I sew – in a nutshell, it makes me happy! I like being happy 🙂 Now tell me – why do you sew? What gets your little (sewing)motor going? Do you aspire to the eventual 100% handmade wardrobe, or are you content just pushing out the occasional fiber art because it makes you feel good? Time to get our chat on!
SUP Y’ALL. I’m back from my awesome trip to London and Paris, and just trying to settle in/catch up on everything I missed while I was gone (spoiler: most of it is shitty non-blog things, like renewing my car tags and shopping for new health insurance. BORING! Why did I let this all happen in December. Why.). I will have a round-up post covering my trip at, well, some point, but for now the blog will probably continue to be a little quiet while I spend the rest of my week trying to be an adult. I’m hoping I’ll be back to posting next week – so thanks for hanging in there while I sort things out. In the meantime, I wanted to talk about some cool shit that’s happening in the sewing world – in the IN-PERSON sewing world, that is! – in 2015! Some of which involves meeee 🙂
First up – Bramaking!
Y’all know, Madalynne, right? The cool sewing and bra making blog. Maddie and I have been online friends for a few years now – we met through our blogs, and we keep up through our blogs (ok, well, and through emails too. Love ya, Maddie!) – and it’s been so neat to watch her sewing, blogging, and lingerie really flourish into the beautiful thing that it is now. Big emphasis on the bras – homegirl makes some of the prettiest bras I ever did see. And now she’s decided to finally take the leap into teaching and passing on those skills to those of us who are dying to learn them too.
Bramaking with Madalynne is a full day intensive class that will teach you how to make a full band, underwired bra. The price includes the pattern and all supplies, as well as lunches and snacks. You can read all the juicy details in Madalynne’s post here, as well as sign up through the New Old Fashioned (better hurry, tho, bc there’s only space for 8 people!). After hearing all you Canadians brag about the bra making classes you take (yes, I’m onto you. And I’m jealous of you.), finally us Americans get a piece of that action! And we don’t even have to eat Maddie’s brains to steal her knowledge – she’s going to give it to us! Notice I said “us” – because I’m going to the class as well! Yesss!! An excuse to visit Philly (which I’ve never been before! Pittsburgh, however… no. Let’s not talk about my short stint in Pittsburgh, woof.), some hang time with Madalynne, and making fancy underwear? Fuck yes, count me in. So yeah – let’s make bras together, y’all!
Next up – Pants Making!
Ok, I already talked about about this before, so sorry to sit here and repeat myself. But I do think it bears repeating 🙂 This March 21-22, I’m returning to Brooklyn, NY, to teach another round of the Weekend Pants-Making Intensive at WORKROOM SOCIAL. I am really really excited about this one; I love teaching, I love making pants, and I love teaching people how to make pants! We are going to have an amazing time, I can already feel it!
WORKROOM SOCIAL classes are fabulous because they include 2 days of intense pants-making (for us, that means basic pants-fitting, learning how to sew the front fly, pockets, and waistband, as well as little sewing tips and tricks for increasing your speed and accuracy), catered lunch and snacks, use of all machines and tools in the studio, aaaand you’ll probably get a really good ab workout because we will be laughing at LOT! This shit is gonna be so much fun! Check out the details of the class on their website, and you can also read about the class I taught while I was there in August. The space will fill up fast, so get your registration in before the class sells out!
Next on the agenda – Sewing Retreat! (aka make whatever the hell you want!)
Ughhh, you guys, this one is REALLY exciting to me. I hope you can feel the excitement radiating from my computer screen to yours, because I’ve been bouncing all over the walls while planning this. On September 24-27, I will be flying up to Portland, ME, to host a 4 day weekend sewing retreat at A Gathering of Stitches. One thing that’s always been a bit of a gamble with project-specific classes is that some people just plain aren’t interested in the project that the class is centered around. It’s hard to satisfy everyone with those – there’s always someone who doesn’t like the pattern, or maybe their skill level doesn’t quite jive with what the class requires (or it’s beyond the class!), or maybe they want to learn something else entirely. I’ve always loved the idea of doing a sewing retreat where people pick their own projects – bonus if it’s located in a gorgeous area that can double as a mini-vacation (or continue into a vacation after the retreat ends) – but I’m also kinda the worst planner ever (this should not be a secret at this point, ha!). Samantha contacted me a few months ago and asked if I’d like to teach at A Gathering of Stitches, and an open-project retreat was the first thing that came out of my mouth. She was immediately on board with the idea, and we’ve been in cahoots about it ever since. And now I finally get to announce it! Yay!
This retreat will take place up in gorgeous (so I’m told 😉 ) Portland, Maine. We chose the September date because it’s supposed to be very beautiful during that time of year. For 4 days, I will work with a small group of people on WHATEVER projects they so desire (kind of like Susan Khalje’s Couture Sewing School, except, you know, NOT couture 😉 ). Want to work on fine tuning your fit so you can really nail that TNT pattern? Want to make a coat? What about pants? Do you just want to hang out and sew with other awesome people who are also sewing and know that you have a teacher on hand for any last-minute oh-shit-I’ve-made-a-huge-mistake situations? I GOT YOU. This is *your* retreat, and you can spend it however you like! We’ll also be doing catered lunches every day, a big awesome meal at a local farm on the last night, and evenings are always free for you to go out and explore the area and maybe even whoop it up 🙂 Alsoooo, just FYI, but NYC is only a 50 minute plane ride away… if that sways ya 😉 (it swayed me!) (we could always hit up the Garment District after the retreat… you know, because reasons.)
You can find out more information about the retreat here. It does cover tuition, studio space + equipment (and of course, you are welcome to bring your own if that’s your thing!), plus a few meals, but lodging is not included (I’m told that prices are pretty reasonable in that area tho, and Samantha has a nice list of accommodations should you need help finding one!). I will be in touch with everyone prior to the retreat so we can discuss your project and goals, to ensure that you get the BEST experience during the retreat. There are limited spots for this retreat and we expect it to fill up fast, so register early! We are gonna have an AMAZING time, y’all!
Finally – Camping!
Have y’all heard about Camp WORKROOM SOCIAL? This is a 4 day camp with 2 days of intense sewing – at an actual summer camp in upstate NY! Jennifer has really killed it with this one – there are 5 classes to choose from (Bra making, pattern drafting, jeans making, fitting, and dressmaking), lodging, meals and shuttle service are provided. Oh, and pretty much all the instructors and camp counselors (YES THERE ARE COUNSELORS!) are some of my favoritest people ever! Camp WORKROOM SOCIAL is going to be amazing! Unfortunately, I won’t be making this one – I already committed to an epic vacation with my BFF over the summer (we’re going to Peru! For two weeks! Ahhh!), so my travel money is already spoken for 🙂 However, I think camp sounds amaaaazing and y’all should definitely get on it. Yes.
So those are some of my (and hopefully your!) upcoming plans for 2015! Really excited for all these classes and retreats – not to mention a few more excuses to travel 🙂 Anyone else going to these workshops and retreats? What are you most excited about?
Well, here’s the thing. I want this dang Ralph Rucci coat for my very own – and I want to make it. After chatting with The McCall Pattern Company – and realizing that a lot of y’all are hankering for your own Ralph Rucci Dream Coat – we’ve decided to partner up together and host a sewalong for Vogue 1419! LET’S ALL MAKE FANCY DESIGNER COATS, Y’ALL!
The sewalong officially kicks off on 9/29, which gives you plenty of time to buy your pattern and begin sourcing fabrics. Don’t worry – the first couple of weeks will be nice and slow, with tips on fabric selection (and yes, I’m working on snagging y’all a sweet discount!), muslin-making, and prepping all your pieces so we can dive straight into sewing in mid-October. We will finish our coats on 11/10, with a finished coat parade on 11/17. The sewalong posts will alternate weekly between here and on The McCall Pattern Blog, so make sure you’re following both!
Keep in mind that while this is a coat pattern – it’s not a traditional tailored coat, so there will be no scary pad stitching or lining (although I will be underlining my version, so we’ll have some tips on that as well 🙂 ). While I wouldn’t recommend this pattern to a true beginner, I think a super adventurous/advanced beginner could probably swing this – just make a muslin, take your time and aim for accuracy! We’ll be photographing every step, which will make construction easier (and of course, the posts will be up indefinitely if you decide that you need to revisit your couture coat dreams at a later date 🙂 ). The McCall Pattern Company has lots of interior shots of the coat in this Pinterest board if you want to see more of the deets. It’s a really beautiful coat that lends itself to lots of fun customization!
Here’s the full schedule of events: 9/22/2014 Social media: official hashtags, Flickr group, Pinterest board & blog badges 9/29/2014 Selecting your fabric 10/6/2014 Making your muslin 10/13/2014 Prep week: cutting your fabric; marking your pattern pieces; underlining (if applicable); creating bias binding; reinforcing and staystitching (Steps 1-3 and step 35) 10/20/2014 Attaching the gusset, binding, belt & side seams (steps 4-22) 10/27/2014 Sewing the sleeves & back (steps 23-50) 11/3/2014 Assembling the pockets (steps 51-63) 11/10/2014 Finishing: Facing, button holes, buttons, and hem (steps 64-86) 11/17/2014 Parade of coats
I know that sounds like a lot of work for each week, but keep in mind that most of the steps involved are instructing you to sew bias binding. Those of us who have made unlined bias bound coats before know that once you get into a groove, it’s not so bad 🙂 Plus, I don’t want this to drag on forever! I want to take my coat to London, dangit! 🙂
Ready to join in the coat-making fun? AWESOME! Don’t forget to buy your pattern – there’s a sale going on right now through 9/19, yay! – and make sure to follow The McCall Pattern Blog if you’re not already doing so. Next week, we’ll have all the official badges and hashtags so you can pretty up your blogs 🙂
In the meantime… who’s in? What’s your dream Ralph Rucci coat look like? I’m currently manhandling some of the most gorgeous red wool coatings, can’t wait to make this baby up! 🙂
I am SO LATE to this freaking party – but better late than never, right? 🙂
Behold – it’s an Emery Dress! Sent to me by the lovely Christine Haynes, I was anxious to try out this pattern for myself (have you seen these popping up all over the internet? Everyone’s versions are AMAZING! Some of my favorites – Miss Crayola Creepy, SewTell, The Nerdy Seamstress, By Gum, By Golly!, ShanniLoves, Sew I Thought… ok, I’ll stop now, but you get the idea!). This little lady regularly gets rave reviews on the fit, construction, and overall look, and I think it’s pretty well-deserved.
So, my experience with Emery didn’t go quite as smoothly as everyone else’s – this was the dress that sucked me down the SIX MUSLIN SPIRAL OF DOOM, but once I got that out of the way, the rest of the construction came together easily. Even matching up the plaid was easy, since there aren’t a lot of pieces to contend with (although I totally done goofed mine up… more on that in a minute).
I’ll start with the muslin experience. Since figuring out that I have big back-gaping issues (and since that’s not really something that can be easily tweaked after the pattern pieces have been cut out of the fabric), I always always make a muslin, at least for just the bodice. My muslin for this dress turned out perfect in the front – darts in the correct place, ending at the correct points, perfectly fitting at all key points, yay! – but the back stuck straight out between my shoulder blades. I tried my usual adjustment, and instead of working – it actually made things worse! Thus, I started the muslin spiral: I played with moving around the slash line, I tried adding different amounts, I tried altering the center back seam and I tried adding fucking gigantic darts at the neckline. Those last two attempts were really really awful, by the way – if you tweak the back neckline too hard, you’ll end up throwing off the balance of the front neckline so it pooches out all weird. NOT a good look!
Of course, by the time I realized I couldn’t crack this pattern, I was also 5 muslins in and feeling stubborn enough to refuse giving up. Not to mention, I was getting super desperate and pissy because everyone else seemed to have NO problems whatsoever with fitting this pattern. Look at everyone’s backs – they fit perfectly. This was starting to make me feel like I had a freak body or some shit.
So how did I fix this mystery back pattern? After combing through my fit books and googling everything I could think of, I ended up landing on the narrow back adjustment (this shows something similar to what I did, although I pulled mine from Fit For Real People so it’s slightly different). That did the trick! No gape! I feel like a fitting PRO, y’all!
I think it’s really important to point out that just because *I* had some fitting issues with the back bodice, that doesn’t mean that you should be scared to try this pattern! Like I said, pretty much every other version I’ve seen praises how well it fits straight out of the envelope. Everyone’s body is shaped differently, and it makes me real cringy when I read that someone recommends against a pattern because they had a bad fit experience (unless it’s just a bad fit across the board – which happens, but it’s rare!). Your (or my!) fit experience =/= everyone else’s fit experience, so just keep that in mind! Ok, soapbox rant over!
Anyway, this dress was super simple to whip up after I figured all the fitting shit out. Cutting was a beast; not only did I choose a large scale, unbalanced plaid as my fabric – I only had about 1 3/4 yards, which meant I had to be VERY careful with my layout. Happily, I was able to match up the side seams on the bodice… but check out that skirt seam. I was concentrating so hard on matching up the plaid lines, that I didn’t think to match up the GIANT BLOCKS OF COLOR. Which means the plaid doesn’t match at all on the skirt. Oops! Learn from my mistakes, people 🙂
Because I barely had any fabric, I had to cut some corners on other parts of the dress. I originally wanted to make the collar in the same plaid fabric – but I couldn’t get the pieces to mirror each other, and it looked really stupid on my dressform, so I used my lining fabric (originally cut to be the underside of the collar) on top instead. I think it actually really works this way – makes the dress a little less twee. My lining fabric is the same silky delicious purple cotton batiste that I used with my Victoria Blazer, and I used every single last bit of those scraps!
I also used the batiste for the pockets, because, again, fabric restraints 🙂
I think the biggest/most visible changes I made are the lack of sleeves and the shortened hemline. I cut a good 4″ off this hemline – it really helped with conserving fabric, plus, I just don’t like knee-length hemlines on me! – and then folded up a 2″ hem allowance. I didn’t make any bodice changes to account for the lack of sleeves, I just… didn’t add them! Ha! I waffled with the idea of using plaid bias to close the arm holes, but I ran of of plaid… so the arm holes are just slip-stitched closed. Nothing fancy here!
I’ll admit, when I finally stuck the zipper in this dress and stood in front of the mirror, I thought it looked really unflattering on me! Listen, I am not the type of person to pretend like I think I’m fat (I know I’m not, and I’m not going to fish for compliments either), but something about that gathered skirt + plaid really made me look wider than I am. Even Landon, who never ever sees unflattering things the same way I do, noticed it. I kind of assumed so since I don’t think gathered skirts are very flattering on my shape, but again – everyone else’s Emery’s were soooo cute and flattering! Ugh, Lauren!
I really think adding the belt helps – it separates the bodice from the gathered skirt, which visually makes me look smaller in the waist. Of course, now that I’m looking at these pictures, it looks totally fine! I think it’s one of those things that just looks better in pictures than it does in real life 🙂
That being said, I totally plan on living in this dress all summer. The plaid cotton is lightweight and comfortable, it’s super cute, and I just really love it! Although I’ll probably keep the belt; mostly because that vertical line isn’t matched perfectly (due to the gathers) and it’s making me feel twitchy 😉
(psst, aren’t my earrings so perfect for this dress? I just got them from ChatterBlossom, gahhh, she always has the best stuff!)
This pattern is labeled as an Intermediate, but know that the instructions are very very thorough and super hand-holdy, so I think a confident beginner could easily tackle this shit. Christine also has an extremely detailed Emery Sewalong on her blog with lots and lots of pictures, in case you get stuck. But seriously – you can do this!
If you’re lovin on Emery but haven’t made the jump to purchase, keep an eye on this space – I have a copy to give away later this week!
Also, check it out:
SPRING IS HAPPENING RIGHT HERE IN MY YARD HOLY SHIT.
Here’s a lovely, floaty warm-weather dress, just in time for another massive cold front! Ha! 🙂
Haha! In all seriousness, let’s welcome the newest member of the By Hand London family – Miss Flora!
Flora is a lovely dress with two bodice options and pleated circle skirt with a straight or hi-lo hem (or, as I like to call it, mullet-hem). I’ve dubbed this a floaty warm-weather dress because that’s specifically what my version is made for, but I imagine this could make a pretty sweet cold-weather dress, too, sewn up in the right fabric (preferably with some kind of crazy awesome contrast lining in the skirt, so it peeks out behind your legs and ooooh!).
My version is the the dipped hem skirt with mock wrap bodice. Man, I love me a good wrap bodice, mock or not.
I did have to make a few changes to get a good fit on the pattern, but nothing that runs outside my ordinary alterations. Let’s get them all out in a pretty list. I started with the size 2/6:
– 3/8″ rounded back adjustment + 5/8″ darts at the upper back
– Lowered the shoulder seams 1″ – also lowered the vertical waist darts 1″ (I also should have lowered those horizontal bust darts too, looking at all the wrinkles on mah side boobs. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20 blah blah)
– 3/8″ tuck out of the front neckline to keep it from gaping
The rounded back adjustment is a new thing for me – I’ve noticed on a lot of my old handmades, there is a weird gaping at the upper back, right under the nape of my neck. It looks STUPID AS SHIT. Apparently I have a ~rounded upper back~ or a Dowager’s Hump, which yes, sounds even worse. I am pretty certain this is in relation to a change in posture, which means I need to start doing yoga or something. Lord.
You know what, though? My upper back no longer has ANY gaping, at least not in this dress! Fuck yeah!
The rest of the dress came together without any additional alterations – even the skirt length is as-printed on the pattern. I know some people really hate this type of hem – that was me, for a long time, and still to some extent (on the really bad ones, YOU KNOW WHICH ONES I’M TALKING ABOUT), but I reeeeally love it on this dress. Combined with the circle skirt, it kind of makes me feel like a princess, without feeling like I look over-the-top. Does that make sense?
It should be noted that, since the back side of the fabric show behind your legs due to the hem line, you probably want to make sure that it doesn’t look totally hiddy. My fabric isn’t super gorgeous on the wrong side, but it’s passable. It looks fine.
Check out that hem sweep! Woohoo!!
I finished the skirt seams with a simple french seam – I think that just looks prettiest on exposed seams like the backside of a mullet skirt. The hem is just a tiny rolled hem, but wouldn’t it be pretty with a strip of lace so it show on the back? Yes, yes it would. Just be forwarned that this hem is looooong and goes on into forever, so if you handsew… you’ll be handsewing into forever, too.
Same with my Georgia dress, I stabilized the neck edges with twill tape to keep it from gaping. I really cannot recommend this step enough when it comes to necklines that have a tendency to droop and gape open – it pulls everything slightly in, and keeps it secure. I can move around all I want and there is no gaping! Yes!
At this point, I kind of feel like it’s my personal life mission to eliminate the gape.
This cotton voile fabric is equal parts weird and amazing, isn’t it? I picked it up from Mood Fabrics with this dress specifically in mind (I also grabbed this navy linen with View A in mind, but floaty won out. And now, the more I look at it, the more that linen might want to be a skirt. Thoughts?).
The Flora was designed to be made up in most any fabric (check out the other versions on the BHL blog if you don’t believe me… as a side note, MAN I am jealous of that cleavage! Dang! Haha!), so I chose to go on the lighter side – lightweight, floaty, almost see-through, you know the drill. What’s interesting about this fabric is that it has all the qualities on voile, with an extra kick of giant embroidered dots scattered everywhere. The dots are slightly thicker than the voile (not, super duper thick like you’d think when you think embroidery… more like the equivalent of a couple extra layers of the voile in thickness), but they don’t affect the drape of this fabric. Also, they’re cotton, so they didn’t do anything crazy when I hit them with my iron. Win!
One more shot of the upper back, bc I’m so proud of myself 🙂 Just a note – in most of these pictures, I’m wearing a strapless bra with my dress. You can see my black bra strap in this picture; that’s cos this came from the set I snapped and sent to BHL after I tested the pattern (just… be thankful I retook them, that’s all I have to say about that!). Anyway, my point is, the straps of the dress are not bra-friendly without a little bit of tweaking. You’ll either need to make bra strap carriers to hold the straps in, or go strapless.
I underlined my bodice in a lightweight cotton batiste, so the inside feels soft and breatheable and delicious. Also, no slippery lining fabric, yay!
And, of course, there’s a hot pink zip in there because why not?
Can’t wait for it to warm up out here so I can wear this bad boy out and about. I’m SO dying to get out of the house and just spend a day lounging around the park on a blanket, eating snoballs. God. Summer, won’t ya hurry up already??
cover to cover, like a freaking novel). That was back before blogging really took off, before sew-alongs were a thing, before I even knew that there was a site like 
when it was published, and it totally blew my mind. If you’re one of 3 people who hasn’t yet heard of this book, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy. It will change your (shopping)life.
LLADYBIRD 