Category: Making

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Picking through The 100

 

Since I’m thinking about wardrobe improvement these days, I checked out The One Hundred: A Guide to the Pieces Every Stylish Woman Must Own. Coletterie had recently posted about this book, asking about what 100 pieces would be in readers’ personal essential collections. First off, what’s with the word “stylish”? Every person has a “style” – maybe it’s trendy or sloppy instead of classy or elegant, but it’s still a style. How did “stylish” come to mean “style worth copying”? Why is “stylish” associated with looking as though you have nothing better to do than drink cocktails and inspire people …

quilts

The Blocks of March

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It’s Block of the Month round-up time! First up, the block for the Blogger’s BOM. It’s really February’s block, but since new blocks are announced late in the month, I just make them the following month. This block looks like February, what with the pink/red/purple thing. I guess I wasn’t thinking things through all the way when I picked out the solids for this block. Mostly I wanted to be sure that I wasn’t leaning too hard on the yellow, orange, and green I’d used in the last two blocks. I started with blue instead of the pink, but it …

sewing

Not for me

 

This one is Ian’s. And it’s not black! This is a shirt of firsts. It’s my first plaid. I’m absurdly pleased with myself for how closely I got the stripes to line up. The hardest part was more the fault of the fabric than the plaid. This is a rather loosely woven flannel, with a tendency to wobble. So the stripes may line up, but they aren’t totally straight. It’s the first time I did anything more to finish off an edge beyond zig-zagging it. I flat-felled just about everything, making it the first time I paid as much attention …

quilts, sewing

My notes from the Sewing Expo

 

I’d heard about the Sewing and Stitchery Expo before, but this was the first year I went to check it out (thanks, Kelly!). This is a very long post that I’m writing mostly for me, so that I can remember all the cool stuff I saw! The Sewing Expo is huge, two buildings at the fairgrounds with fashion shows, classes, demos, and a floor full of booths selling fabric, patterns, tools, books, sewing machines and more. If I don’t get this stuff down, it’ll end up in the pile of Things I’ve Forgotten. You can read it if you’re into …

Seasons, sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Further experiments in knits

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Remember this top? The one I made in a knits class with unshrunk fabric? I sent it off to my sister (who reports that it works fine for her) and I’ve finally got around to trying again. Ta-da! I pre-washed the fabric this time and happily the finished shirt still has lovely long sleeves. I’m not 100% sure I’ve got the fit right, but at least this one is wearable. The armscye might not be totally right and there might be too much fabric in the back. It’s hard to tell when I’m twisting around in front of a mirror …

quilts

Procrastination and Serendipity

Does this ever happen to anyone else? I mean, I’ve got a stack of works in progress and Caitlyn is fast out-growing several things in her closet and I’m part way through a shirt for Ian. But did I work on any of those with my fragmented available time? Nope. I went and started something else. Sure, it was the project that was most appealing, most likely to make me happy. But gee whiz, probably not the wisest course. Oh well. I started with this: And a week later, I finished with this: Just so you know, seams that are …