It's spooky season! Halloween is right around the corner. Personally I love dressing up in costumes, and costumed parties were popular in the olden times too!  In the 19th century, costume parties were popular for Halloween, New Year's Eve, or any time! What's interesting is seeing how the costumes of the day still reflected the fashionable sihouette of the time. Check out the fashion plates of "fancy dress," the Victorian term for dress-up costumes. In the 1920s, Halloween's popularity boomed, and we have lots of pictures to show us what kinds of costumes folks were wearing! See even ..read more

Hey folks, it's Elizabeth here, and I'm so excited about this fun fact! Today we're talking about making pleats. Specifically, the math and logic of pleats. Let’s begin with basic pleat structure. If you’ve never made pleats before, here’s a quick tutorial. If you are working from a pattern, you’ll often see a marking of a solid line with an arrow connecting it to a dotted line (top right picture). To make the pleat, fold and pick up the fabric on the solid line and bring it to meet the dotted line. There’s your basic pleat, or knife pleat. Sometimes you’ll just baste across the top o ..read more

Every Tuesday we share projects from Treadle Yard Goods employees (a.k.a. The Treadlettes) and our customers and fans! Michele made this cute Toaster Sweater from graphic print French Terry knit. The Toaster Sweater is our pattern of the month - it's 15% off through January! reg $ 24.95   Sale $ 21.20  Get it here ..read more

Every Tuesday we share projects from Treadle Yard Goods employees (a.k.a. The Treadlettes) and our customers and fans! Mary Klemp brought in this beautiful project in progress to share with us! She's hand embroidering this massive piece with gnomes, mushrooms, and mythical creatures. We were all stunned when she unrolled this in the store ..read more

Hi folks, it's me Elizabeth here, and today's Friday Fun Fact is more of a Friday Fun Opinion. Come along, let chat. A topic we’ve been discussing lately in class is process vs. product. Are you a process creator or a product creator? Let me explain. At one end of the spectrum is the process creator. A process creator sews (or knits, or paints, or chops logs, or whatever) purely for the enjoyment of doing it. The process of creating is itself enough to keep them engaged. The satisfaction of the doing is its own reward.  Process creators might still enjoy some tasks more or less than ot ..read more

Every Tuesday we share projects from Treadle Yard Goods employees (a.k.a. The Treadlettes) and our customers and fans! Laura made this cute pullover top from the Seamwork Samson pattern and plaid cotton flannel. This easy pattern is one of our Beginning Sewing class project options ..read more

We're back! And today we're talking about the fabric swirl. You’ve probably noticed the way I like to swirl the fabrics when I take photos for our shop and emails. It looks pretty to show the fabrics this way, but there are other, more practical reasons why I do this! The first reason is drape. A crisp fabric will stand up by itself, while a soft, draping fabric will fall in softer folds. Compare the crisp pink linen fabric above to the drapey green fabric below. Notice how the linen holds itself up, while the green fabric puddles. The next reason is to give you a better idea of what the fab ..read more

Every Tuesday we share projects from Treadle Yard Goods employees (a.k.a. The Treadlettes) and our customers and fans! Treadle student Rachael made this beautiful Christmas stocking with batik patchwork and free-motion quilting. A perfect addition to a handmade holiday!  ..read more

Every Tuesday we share projects from Treadle Yard Goods employees (a.k.a. The Treadlettes) and our customers and fans! Check out this cute outfit Char made in class! A whole ensemble of handmade! The top is the Melilot shirt from Deer and Doe, made in a speckled linen blend with vintage pink mother-of-pearl buttons. The pants are Sew Liberated Cosecha pants. Want to be featured on Treadle Make Tuesday? Send us a photo or tag us in your post and let us know ..read more

Every Tuesday we share projects from Treadle Yard Goods employees (a.k.a. The Treadlettes) and our customers and fans! A Treadle customer came in recently and shared these adorable little friends she sewed with our wool felt! They're based on characters from The Wind in the Willows, from the patterns in this charming book by Cynthia Treen.  ..read more