As you are with family these coming weeks, don’t miss the chance to ‘shop’ unworn garments as ‘fabric’ for a new life. Especially when my parents passed, I latched onto some of their garments and then made them ‘new’ with UP-Cycle Sewing. These are some of my most treasured garments. Many I have already shared about in depth at older posts here at my blog, so I’ll add some pics of a few of them with links to the full posts below. ALSO – as you travel, pick up T-Shirts or even Knit PJ Pants featuring your favorite TEAM, ‘seeing’ them as portions of a new top or jacket. The orange collar on thi ..read more

Honestly, I’m not sure when this vintage quilt top made its way into my ‘stash’, but it recently surfaced saying “Make me into something new!” In the middle of the picture below you see the quilt top, and other pieces I found to make my “Three-some” with which I like to create. A piece of yarn-dyed chambray from my stash, and a sleeveless seersucker jumpsuit. Again – I have no idea where that jumpsuit came from, but somewhere along the line, perhaps at a thrift store, I ‘saw’ it as a striped fabric and added it to my GREY Stash Box. STARTING WITH… Here’s a larger photo of just the vintage qui ..read more

Sew…what are hats made of? Beaver! Learn about the hat-making process as Londa interviews Mike Moore, a hat-maker located in Covington, TN. Weird-looking sewing machines and many other machines are part of the process. Hat-Making is just one more art that I pray continues to get taught and practiced here in the USA. This grandpa is counting on his 13-year-old granddaughter to carry on. Learn more at the Slide Show at his website: https://www.buckaroohatters.com/about-hats/process The post Londa Interviews a Hat-Maker appeared first on Londa's Files ..read more

What a delightful surprise we had when we last visited the kids & grandkids up in IN, when we met our host family through the Candle in the Window Christian hospitality network! Not only were this couple delightful Christian people, but I was delighted to find Mrs. Kate to be an avid and self-driven quilter. I knew the minute I walked up to the front door that likely a fellow seamstress lived within. Mrs. Kate showed me more of her original idea (and OF COURSE, she has different versions for different seasons). As I recall, there were hooks and loops at the upper edge, and then the velcro ..read more

I generally run a mile-a-minute, but I’ve concluded that God needed to slow me down…. These days, I find myself with my right shoulder broken in 2 places, and the top crushed as a result of getting my feet tangled up in orange construction fencing laying on the ground at a concert we attended our 49th Anniversary Weekend. It goes without saying that I am right-handed. While I’m grateful no surgery is indicated, a 6-8 week healing time likely followed by physical therapy for a frozen shoulder is a VERY side-lining lesson for this gal. My summer calendar included time in my flower garden each m ..read more

I bought these 3 lovely shirting fabrics on a trip to the Memphis area with some friends. I knew I wanted to ‘mix & play’ with them on a Big Shirt but just hadn’t gotten around to it. In the next photo, you can see the pattern cover of the pattern I basically used: Vogue 1784. The right front has an interesting tuck/pleat in it – but I changed that out to a seam for my fabric play. I also divided the sleeves up and changed the grain of the upper part to bias for wearing comfort. A few other changes along the way I made, PLUS I’ll share here some faults with the pattern so that if you are i ..read more

I’m all set for our Memorial Day gathering. Hop over to my Blog Post for a complete step-by-step for this top that combines my 18-year-old Red/White/Blue USA shirt with a shirt that was a real favorite of my late Daddy’s. I share how I utilize portions of the red shirt creatively in my new top, and why I put what where… https://www.londas-sewing.com/post/up-cycled-patriotic-top The post Up-Cycle Patriotic Top appeared first on Londa's Files ..read more

Below is a pic of just the beginning of my recent Vintage Patterns post at my NEW Blog. Read it all at this link: https://www.londas-sewing.com/post/stretch-sew-patterns-more-vintage-sewing-pattern-products The post Vintage Patterns: Stretch & Sew History + More appeared first on Londa's Files ..read more

It was fun to design and transform T-shirts that I collected from back during my travel/teaching around the country into this long, lightweight ‘coat’. I finally got around to this enjoyable task at a sewing retreat with my sister in TX. I find that I enjoy wearing it as I travel, as I can pretty much ‘wad’ it up and throw it into a Tote for when I need it. I’m sharing it with the hopes that this project might inspire you to collect T-s as you start traveling again this summer season! For more pictures and details on my construction and design, check out the complete post at my NEW Blog at th ..read more

Shortening a gown with a 3 layer flowing skirt is no quick, easy task! As I worked on this for my niece recently, I quickly realized that there would be a LOT of learning that I could offer, so I paused frequently to take some videos and then edited them all together into this 24′ video. I share the following: * How to pin/mark the hem in the first place * How to adequately support the weight and volume of so much skirt as you work * How to set your serger for a rolled hem – and why I prefer a 2 thread rolled hem over a 3 thread rolled hem * How to mark – work out the length of each layer, sta ..read more