Author Archives: Jan

About Jan

Musician and geek and Juris Doctor; lover of fine art and fine craft; mother and grandmother and significant other and friend. Passionate about sewing.

More Little Gifts

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At this time of year, I’m always looking for [quick] cute little gifts for holiday party hostesses and (even more importantly) my grandchildren’s teachers. Shortly after starting to work at a quilt shop, someone showed me the microwave bowl mat. Brilliant! You know how the microwave dings and you grab your soup bowl and then cry out in pain because it’s so hot that it burns your fingertips? Some brilliant crafter figured out a solution. I’ve read ten or fifteen tutorials, and the one by Lisa Lewis Koster was the one I liked the best. (I’ve removed the link to … Continue reading →

Thrill for Twill

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We have some bolts of fabric at work that have been around for a few years. The shoppers who come in somehow don’t envisage these fabrics as quilts or bags or any other sewn item. So they sit. I’ve been making it my mission to get all of these fabrics photographed (or find the pic online, although for older fabrics, that’s not an easy task), and make them available to potential online purchasers. In a sentence: what a shopper cannot see does not get sold. When I arrived at the store on Monday, eight bolts of Moda cotton twill were … Continue reading →

A Gift For a Gift

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Somewhere in my past I learned the charming custom of never sending a plate or bowl home empty after a friend has gifted you with food. But I don’t cook, so sending home a plate of some delicious food is not really a choice in my world. But sending home some cute little sewn accessory is! We had dinner out with our travel pals Mike and Marilyn a couple of weeks ago, then went back to their home for delicious homemade birthday desserts for Mike. The leftovers came home with us, and I’ve been eyeing that plate for two weeks—need … Continue reading →

Stolen Moments

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I’m a sucker for early-morning shopping from my inbox. Once my stash is full, I have to consciously tell myself, “Don’t look. Don’t look.” While on vacation, I looked at a Fabric Mart sale email and fell for this black and white “tie-dye” stripe. And I’m glad I did. This rayon/lycra blend knit is soft and super comfortable. I love the lime green version of Katherine Tilton’s Vogue 8710 that I made in June, but I don’t think it goes with anything but white pants. Summer. In Northeast Ohio, summer is long gone. Additionally, I made the green top with … Continue reading →

A Labor of Duty

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Most of my sewing, when I’m not the intended recipient, is a labor of love. My most recent experience didn’t follow that tradition. The store owner approached me with three bolts of fabric and a pattern for a little girl’s dress and asked me to make it for a store sample. I was complimented. To my mind, that meant she liked the work I had done on the (much disliked by me) Amy Butler skirt and skirt overlay I had completed a few weeks ago. Now, I love to sew. Obviously. One could not turn out the number of garments … Continue reading →

Eating Serger Pie

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You’ve heard of eating Humble Pie, or of eating one’s words, right? Well, after this weekend’s sewing, I’m eating Serger Pie. Way back in, oh, 1998, I bought a serger. Honestly, in retrospect I don’t know why I bought it. The magazines I was reading and the classes I was taking at the time all talked about sergers and the beautiful work they allow the home sewist to produce. So I thought I needed one. I bought the Bernina 1100DA, took the guide classes offered by the dealer in Vienna, Virginia, and then tucked it into a cupboard. I moved … Continue reading →

Favorite Travel Jacket

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Doesn’t everyone have a favorite travel garment? This is mine. Every time I wear it, I receive compliments. It’s the Nikko jacket from The Sewing Workshop. The fabric is a home dec linen that I found at a store near the university in Tucson. From my googling, I believe the store no longer exists. I can picture it and about where it was, but can no longer remember the name of the street. I lived in Tucson from 2000-2008—eight years. I’ve now been gone from there for six years. I’ve forgotten many of the places, but still remember all the … Continue reading →

And How Do You Feel About That?

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I’m currently having my first experience with on-demand sewing. The Bernina store owner came to me one afternoon about three weeks ago, carrying a pattern and three bolts of fabric. She said, “Why don’t you make this skirt and overskirt (referred to in the pattern as an ‘apron overlay’) so we can display it at the store to help sell some of these patterns.” I’m not going to try to convince you that I have a definite style. My style is all over the place! But if you look at my Pinterest boards or if you’ve read a lot of … Continue reading →