I first wrote those post more than five years ago while in the home stretch of my last pregnancy. It's been pretty popular, so I wanted to update it to be a little easier to understand. (To be clear, I am not currently pregnant!)Towards the end of my last pregnancy, I needed new tees but I didn't want to buy more maternity clothes, and I didn't want to buy a maternity sewing pattern. Turns ..read more

When I sewed this dress months ago, I was planning to wear it for Easter. Now the entire country of Colombia is quarantined through April 12 (Western Easter). We're all at home and not allowed to leave except to grocery shop (one person only) or walk a dog (20 minutes, one person only) or seek medical attention. Orthodox Easter is April 19 this year and I'm not optimistic that we'll be out of ..read more

I picked up Simplicity 8641 during a JoAnn's pattern sale that occurred when I was home last summer. I had no plans to sew it before we left Bogota; actually, I had planned to cut out a new pair of jeans the day that I ended up taking it out of my pattern box. And then it was just one of those things that came together perfectly. I had a perfect fabric for it in my stash, and a little bit of ..read more

How is it already March? We're moving in less than three months and I have so much to do! Busy-ness notwithstanding, I managed to sew a few things this month. I'm also trying to make some plans for what I would like to sew before I lose my machines for three months, or I am afraid I won't get anything done. I haven't finalized a list, but here are some ideas: A new pair of Liana Jeans using ..read more

So, at some point I will get back to posting full blog posts on this blog. Right now I am a little bit snowed under. And I guess we're also preparing for an international move in less than three months, so perhaps it will take a bit longer to recover. But for today, I'm over at the Oliver + S blog again, with a post about a velvet dress my daughter and I designed using the Building Block ..read more

I was drawn to the Liesl + Co. Gelato Blouse pattern as soon as it was released. The easy shape is casual, but put-together at the same time. Although the weather in Bogota is the same year-round, seeing people’s fall and winter clothes on Instagram put me in a cuddly frame of mind, and I got the idea to sew the blouse in flannel.   The flannel was long-stashed from Fabric Mart, originally ..read more

I'm sharing a tutorial for adding a turtleneck to any t-shirt pattern on the Oliver + S blog. If you're looking for the tutorial, click over there.  If you're interested in fitting details about this Liesl + Co. Metro Tee that I hacked into a turtleneck, keep reading. I'll link to the tutorial again at the bottom of the post. This particular turtleneck is made of rayon/lycra jersey I bought ..read more

January was a busy month. I can't believe that Christmas was just a few weeks ago - it seems like months and months have passed since January 7 (Orthodox Christmas). Then we had a health scare that put my husband in the hospital for 48 hours for testing. Everything is under control now, but that was a super-stressful weekend, and is the reason that I bought fabric this month. It was total ..read more

I bought the Birgitte Basic Tee pattern from Maria Denmark something like five years ago, but this is the first time I have sewn it. It's a basic scoop-neck t-shirt with a v-neck option and options for long and short sleeves and elbow-length bell sleeves. I am in need of knit tops, and I recently had a stress-induced shopping spree at the remnants shop in town (stay tuned for a post about that ..read more

I've been putting off this post because I've had a bit of a hard time making goals. For me, one of the most fun parts of sewing is indulging my whims. I've made some of my most beloved items by going off piste. So, in general, I don't like to make too many goals. Also, we'll be moving back to the U.S. sometime in mid-2020, so once again, I'll be without my machines for a few months. I ..read more