Author Archives: Jan

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 →

About two months ago my son suggested we do a recital together. He is a “mercenary Episcopalian,” the paid singer/soloist at a nearby Episcopal church. He agreed to do this recital as part of their Sunday afternoon concert series, and the offering to be taken would benefit the church’s music program. Unfortunately, the only date open coincided with the final performance in the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus’s four-concert series of the Mozart Requiem. (It also ended up coinciding with the launch of a new website for Kent State, for which Tyler had much responsibility. Can you say “stress”?) Concert week … Continue reading →

A month ago I bought StyleArc Patterns’ Sunny Top. To me it looked cute, easy, and chic. At the time the pattern arrived, we were still knee-deep in snow, and a sweater knit I had bought from Gorgeous Fabrics several years ago was begging to be released from my stash. I could picture it as Sunny, paired with dark brown leggings as the perfect excuse for a pair of brown low-heeled booties. Last week I was able to carve a couple of hours out of campaign work and sewed up Sunny in my brown and rust sweater knit. Easy. Quick. … Continue reading →