Author Archives: Jan

Six Months. This fabric has been waiting for six months, since I captured it from the fabric department at the Karstadt department store in Frankfurt, Germany, last November. It was similar in print and hand to the “Poster City” rayon/lycra print I got from Emma One Sock last year. The new fabric has waited patiently through the brutal winter we just endured. And now its time has come. I’ve been pondering pattern choice for this fabric periodically over the six months. I thought I wanted a simple top because of the busy-ness of the pattern. However, after making a Butterick … Continue reading →

I’m participating in #mmmay14, but I’ve been posting daily photos on Facebook rather than posting them here.

My goal over the next few months is to destash—by sewing the pieces I love and getting rid of the ones that make me wonder what I was thinking. I picked up this piece of hemp/organic cotton knit from EmmaOneSock last September. It’s been lying on top of a box ever since, calling to me every time I walk into my sewing room. I had thought I wanted to make Grainline Studio’s Hemlock Tee. So cute, so easy, so comfortable. But when I started pawing through my patterns, I realized I wanted to make another of Katherine Tilton’s Butterick 5961. … Continue reading →

I’m participating in Me-Made-May ’14. What is it, you ask? Me-Made-May’14 (MMM’14 for short) is a challenge designed to encourage people who sew/knit/crochet/refashion/upcycle garments for themselves to actually wear and love them. The me-made and self-stitched challenges have been taking place for over four years now and they work on both a personal and community level. The participants decide the specifics of their own challenge pledge, so that the month is appropriate and challenging for them …. A very common pledge is for a participant to aim to wear one self-stitched or refashioned garment each day for the duration of … Continue reading →

I posted earlier today about a piece of fabric I purchased from MarcyTilton.com that just wasn’t my color. It was then designated for a dear friend, and constructed with her in mind. This is my first review of View A/B. My previous garment from this pattern was View C/D. Pattern Description: Pullover top has neckline and pocket variations, seam detail, and shaped hemine. A: slightly draped neck and pocket bands. Pattern Sizing: XSmall to XXLarge. I cut a Medium. Because this was for a long, lean woman who plans to wear it with leggings, I cut the body 2″ longer. … Continue reading →

Three tests gone bad very good for someone else, not me. Test #1: A new-to-me designer and indie pattern maker, MariaDenmark. Open the website, sign up for her newsletter, and you receive a free downloadable pattern for her Kirsten Kimono Tee. Maria’s tagline is “for clothes you wear every day.” A downloadable pattern, if you’ve never used one, is a PDF file you download, print on regular 8.5″x11″ copy paper, then tape together along printed lines. Some have only one or two sizes; some have all sizes. I grabbed a remnant of the Gorgeous poly/rayon/lycra knit that I used for … Continue reading →

My almost-39yo son’s first-ever vocal recital (with me as his accompanist!) mandated I make a new dress. I saw and purchased Butterick 5523 about nine months ago—when I noticed the pattern, it struck me as a classic style that would be flattering to my figure. As I posted recently, I had a very stressful week leading up to this weekend of performances. I grabbed bits of time wherever possible, and then ran up against a brick wall when I realized I had basted one set of pleats in backwards and sewed the wrong side of one skirt piece to the … Continue reading →