Category Archives: Garment Sewing

Not Ready for Vacation!

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I’ve been trying to finish up some UFOs (UnFinished Objects). This top, from Vogue 8912, was started before our January vacation to Mexico, but it just didn’t reach completion before the plane took off. So I mulled it over for a couple of months before finishing it a week or so ago. Here’s the review: Pattern Description: From the envelope – Very loose-fitting top has neck and front bands, pockets, slightly shaped front hemline, and narrow hem. A: uneven hemline (wrong side shows), and purchased bias tape finishes armholes. B: fold-back cuffs. Semi-fitted shorts or tapered pants have elastic waist, … Continue reading →

In Search of the Perfect Fit

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So, we’ve been eating a little differently around here. The Jazzman is on the elliptical every day for 45 minutes or so, and he’s lost pounds—pounds, I tell you! I’ve lost ounces. But there have been enough ounces so far that I’ve had to buy new bras. The new measurement was 2″ smaller in circumference, but (of course!) a larger cup size. Last October, my SIL-Equivalent in Columbus showed me a t-shirt she had made in a class at a local fabric store. The pattern is the Renfrew t-shirt from indie pattern designer Sewaholic. I loved Barb’s version. She chose … Continue reading →

Will It or Won’t It?

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(Fit, that is.) About a month before the beginning of my ill-fated “career” at the Bernina store in Boardman, OH, I visited the second store Joyce owns, located in Twinsburg, OH. She had told me of picking up some fashion fabrics at the recent quilt market from the back of a truck in the parking lot and I had to see what she had bought. One piece caught my eye. It was several shades of gray, along with black and white, and was covered with words. It appeared to be a polyester, which I tend to shun, but had a … Continue reading →

A Tank That Won’t See the Light of Day

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I bought a kit from Craftsy with Meg McElwee’s “Tank + Maxi” pattern and enough Robert Kauffman cotton jersey to make a tank and a maxi. I thought it would be nice to have a maxi tank dress to take with me to Mexico next week. It was a PDF pattern, so I printed and taped and traced, then cut and sewed. Size Large, true to the pattern with the exception of adding 2″ to the length. Easy. Nice. Professional finishes. Not right!!! If you’re busty, you know that ripples across your bustline are a no-no. So, the first place … Continue reading →

Vacation = Must Sew

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As I write this post, it’s 32° outside and the snow is falling. We’re slated to accumulate about three inches today. So why am I sewing summer clothes and wearing sandals? Because next week is vacation in Mexico—yippee!! For me, vacation has always meant new clothes. I don’t know why. And when I have drawers full of perfectly suitable clothes, I always feel I need something new. Okay, truth: I want something new. Everytime Marcy Tilton and Katherine Tilton design new garment patterns for Vogue and Butterick, I snatch them up. I had picked up Katherine’s Butterick 6101 the moment … Continue reading →

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

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It took the winter of 2014/15 a little while to set it, but it’s here now. Boy, is it here. The temperature for much of yesterday was right around 0°, with wind chill temps in the minus-teens. Tomorrow the wind chill temp is supposed to drop to about -24°. One does not go outside without gloves, even just to take the bag of used kitty litter to the garbage can! (TMI? Sorry!) At the Bernina/quilt store where I work worked until noon today, we’ve had two shelves of Shannon Cuddle just lingering on the shelves. Shoppers would come in and … Continue reading →

Fail/Pass

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Back in 2012, I made one of Marcy Tilton’s jackets, Vogue 8709. I dipped into my stash and pulled out a rayon woven in rust and black, and found an old silk/cotton woven for cuffs and collar. A lot of work went into this top, and when it was done, it cried to live in someone else’s closet. Last summer our friend, Diane, invited it to live in her closet. When we arrived for “orphan’s dinner” at their home on Thanksgiving, she was wearing it and both she and the top looked very happy. Isn’t it nice when a fail … 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 →