One of my favorite type of workshops is a choose your own focus workshop! The type where you choose the project and what things you want to focus on learning. In Sarah Veblen’s workshops this does not mean you are just “sewing”. Time is spent learning from the other participants and working on taking another step on the journey of exploration of design and construction.  This particular workshop was 3 days long and i knew exactly what I wanted to work on! In the fall and winter I worked on perfecting the fit of a new French jacket pattern. Sadly I have given away all but one of my ..read more

 Hello again!  Covid hit the household in late February which in turn kicked off my pancreatitis, anyone dealing with a chronic condition knows the challenges. We just do the very best we can! And then life happens and time passes and here we are in May with a big backlog of blogging! For lack of a better descriptor I am calling this my Blue Strappy Jacket. And I absolutely love it. It makes me happy to wear and fits wonderfully and I just had so much fun creating it. Pattern: The very base of the pattern (with many, many changes) is the shoulder princess seam jacket from Susan Kh ..read more

Just a quick post this week on a couple of finished t-shirts!  This project ended up being a little more involved at the start because I wanted to tweak the fit of my sleeve. Plus i needed to draft a new long sleeve. It is amazing to me that I am still trying to rebuild my wardrobe after losing all that weight last winter.  Here are 3 shirts and I decided to try out a new neckline. I love my got to scoop but thought I could use some variety. SO I picked up my design ruler and drafted this nice soft V neck. Loving it!! This t-shirt has gone through a ton of iterations over t ..read more

As I mentioned in my last blog posts, i had another set of comfy clothes cut out and ready to go. I wanted to sew the Mile End sweatshirt and Plateau joggers up in other fabrics because I wanted to see how they fit with different knits and play with some cool fabric. Let’s start with the fun one! The Mile End sweatshirt made up in this great novelty green knit that I purchased in NYC in 2017 from Elegant Fabrics on W 36th street. I made no fit changes at all. I really like the boxy slightly cropped silhouette of this top. The shape along with the details make it feel a little more modern and ..read more

I am back with part 2 on my mini cozy, comfy collection! This blog post I will tell you about the two tops that I made to go with the matching jogger and hoodie. Boat Neck Tee Easy Fit and Sew Tank The tank top is from Jen Stern and is the Easy fit and sew tank top, view A. This tank has a great size range from 2XS to 5XL Bust from 34” to 58” and hip from 36” to 60”.  The boat neck short sleeve tee is self drafted and the boat neck portion was developed from a Sarah Veblen zoom class on boat necks. Size range- just me! The Jen Stern tank is my TNT tank top pattern. I ..read more

Last weekend I had all to myself and decided to sew up a great cozy and comfy mini-collection. The winter in Chicago and the ongoing pandemic just has me crazy fun, comfortable and stylish lounge wear. Something soft and lovely against my skin as we just keep enduring this never ending time of being extra careful just gives me some extra good feels. I made 4 garments: Closet Core Plateau jogger, View A with the elasticized hem. Closet Core Mile End Sweatshirt, View C the hoodie. Jen Stern’s Easy fit and sew tank top (my TNT tank top pattern) Self Drafted boat neck top- design inspired fr ..read more

 Last week I had the enormous pleasure of going to Costa Rica for 5 nights. It was glorious!! Costa Rica is such a beautiful place and offers so many things. Granted, on this trip, all we did was stay at the resort except for one half day excursion. We just felt it was a safer thing to do during this crazy omnicron surge.  I The resort was beautiful and not even close to capacity so we had plenty of room to be spread out. We out outside every day for all meals except for 1 and spent so much time at the pool and the beach. It was such a welcome respite from Chicago’s nasty wint ..read more

 I ordered this fabric in the spring of 2021 and the pattern in the fall, specifically for a trip to Costa Rica that I am currently on! (Hopefully! This should post while I am there, all the Covid tests were negative and we are a go for the trip) This trip has been a long time coming. This trip was supposed to be at this time in 2021 and a celebration of my 50th Birthday and all the wonderful things in my life. I don’t need to explain to anyone why this trip never happened!  Thank you rona.  Skip to 2022, and omicron…. Ugh, I just trusted that we were all being safe and careful ..read more

 Welcome 2022!  Well, I made it through another year of craziness and pandemic and changes and well, just life! On top of that I feel good about it. Feel good about the place I am in physically and mentally even though things can be hard, they are also quite wonderful. I did not do so great at blogging in 2021. I wanted to, I really did but life was just so big last year with so many things that I needed to attend to and blogging got put to the side. A decision that I was totally okay with.  I did continue to sew and shared quite a few of my garments and creations on IG. As 2021 ..read more

I am so behind on blogging!!  This spring was spent on moving and setting up my new home and sewing space (see previous post for sewing space photos!) The later spring and early summer were spent on getting my knee fixed and sewing some clothes that actually fit and enjoying getting to see people again, even if it only lasted for a little while. I really made a decision to put blogging aside just for a little while. I have a feeling that with this new Delta variant that there will be plenty of time now to catch up on the solitary indoor activities… like blogging! Earlier this spring I ..read more