Category: sewing

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 …

sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Everyone needs a Plan

 

I have a closet of clothes that are either showing their age or don’t fit me well. It’s already known that shopping and I are not friends. I thought I’d written up a more recent rant than this one or this one. The short version: I’m tall, I’m reasonably narrow, I tend toward classic/minimalist style with a touch of romantic/bohemian, I’m excessively practical. End result: very little ready-to-wear clothing actually fits me and I’m endlessly frustrated by poor quality and trends that assume I have nothing to do except look pretty. My clothing should not require special handling (no regular …

Introspection, sewing, Wardrobe Improvement Project

Appearances Matter (news only to me)

I’m a freelancing, work-from-home techie mom, a crafter, and a gardener with small-scale urban homesteading tendencies. I cook, I clean, I do a lot of laundry. I’ll usually make the first attempt at various home maintenance tasks. I tend three gardens: the ornamental front yard, the edible backyard, the p-patch plot down the street. I can spend a large part of my day at my desk with my computer or at my other desk with my sewing machine. Most days, the farthest I travel is all the way across the street to the mailbox. When I travel further, I’m usually …

sewing

Useful, but possibly Ugly

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Sometimes, when people find out I sew, they gift me with the remnants of their abandoned fabric stash, or perhaps one they have inherited. This can be a fun way to get new-to-me fabric – for free! Sometimes, I get some wonderful stuff this way, like the most of the fabric I used for the candy bags for Christmas last year. Other times, I get fabric that, shall we say, doesn’t thrill me quite as much: I’ve carried these fabrics around for more than a decade. I’m pretty sure I’ve never liked them. Especially that yellow apple print. Shudder. But …

Caitlyn, Seasons, sewing

One last gift post

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I know everyone has moved on to new projects (new year, new goals, new determination!), but I’m still wrapping up/catching up. I’ve got one last gift post and then I can move on to the Things I Didn’t Do Because I Was Making Caramels post(s). By that time that’s done, perhaps I’ll have a post for Something New Made in January. Maybe. Anyway,now that we’ve had our last holiday gift exchange, I can share this: Because you can’t give caramels to kids who don’t have teeth yet. I’d love to say that I came up with the idea for this …

in the kitchen, Seasons, sewing

Making the Tradition Mine

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I sort of fell off the Internet there for the second part of December. Wanna know why? After last year’s first attempt was deemed a success by my candy-making grandfather, and with his candy-making tools in hand (omg! marble slab ftw!), I picked up the family Christmas candy tradition. I’ve always thought that someone should carry on Grandpa’s candy making; if it’s me, I get to claim the extras. I guess there’s an ulterior motive for everything. Grandpa made caramels for years. I remember there were a few years when I was a teenager (I think) when he made all …