Did I need two pairs of purple pants?  Or any purple pants at all? Not really, But I had some purple fabric in my stash and decided to work out a new pants pattern, the Leisl + Co. Peckham pants. With a number of changes I'm fairly satisfied with how they turned out - although the elastic waistband which is a feature of this pattern is what I actually eliminated in my version.  Here are the Peckham trousers, the fabric is a stretch woven, I think it has about 1 or 2% stretch and the pattern does call for stretch woven.  Changes I made to this pattern: Raised the wa ..read more

Last year my friend Heather bought a top from Universal Standard which was really perfect for office wear and fit well.  I think it came in only two colors so she bought both.  One day she showed it to me and said she wished it came in other colors, and actually in different fabric. I took a look and said I thought I could make a pattern from the existing top - without taking it apart. So I did! Before I forget - we just scheduled a Garment Copy Class with Hello Stitch on Sat. April 13. I haven't done this class in a while and it was really popular back in the day so I'm glad we foun ..read more

What is it about making coats that is so satisfying? I think they are my favorite item to make but I'm starting to think I'm getting to coat maximum - or at least my closet is saying so.  But if they are all as nice as this one I will keep doing it.  This blog post is a look at the finished coat, for lots of fitting and construction details see my previous post here. I still can't get over how nicely the colors of these various remnant fabrics go together. In my previous post I have links to the blog posts of the previous projects that resulted in these remnants.  Photographing ..read more

Looking back I see that I haven't made a new coat for myself since April of 2021 so I feel a tiny bit justified in starting a new one. With the caveat that it is not often coat weather here and when cold it is likely rainy too so I will probably be wearing a rain jacket. But I was reorganizing my fabrics and realized that I had some sizable remnant pieces from other projects that gave me an idea to combine them in one coat. I am so glad I did as I just love how this turned out and thought it was time for a detailed blog post with some fitting details. Here's a look at the coat in progress (w ..read more

This January I am in a mood to upcycle or at least repurpose a lot of the fabric and garments that I have held onto but not used. I've had an idea to use old cashmere sweaters as fabric and recombine them into new items. Over the the last few years I've put a few of my old sweaters in this category as well as some new to me ones found at thrift shops. However for my first project of this type I actually purchased something and remade it - also using remnants from the stash.  I was in my local Savers thrift store before Christmas, looking for puzzles and happened to walk by the rack of m ..read more

Happy New Year!  At the end of 2023 I ended up with 2 different pieces of green wool due to a mixup and the wool crepe has become a dress for Heather (will blog soon). So I had a piece of another green wool that had a nice drape and seemed perfect for some pleated trousers. Which it was! It's not the first time I have used this pattern and I will probably use it again in the spring as I want some black or blue lightweight shorts. Also I'm teaching an online class starting on Tues. Jan 16 so I thought I would brush up on my trouser making.  The weather was really gloomy last week an ..read more

 Let's see if I remember how to do this blogging thing! Slight joke there but I have certainly been slow in my posting this year. A lot of other stuff going on and actually less sewing than usual. However I have been teaching a lot of classes and private students which has been great. Plus a trip to NY and teaching 2 classes over that weekend at Urban Sewciety in Westfield NJ. It was a great trip and of course I did some shopping so I will write about that soon plus my fall sewing plans. Meanwhile I did make one more blazer to add to my needless collection of too many blazers. But when I ..read more

Did I intend to have 2 months go by since I posted on the blog? No, I think I've just fallen out of the habit but I really wanted to share this pattern and the jackets I made for my friend Heather. Here is the most recent version, in a summer color and fabric.  This is the Auburn Blazer from Cashmerette Patterns. It's the first pattern I've sewn from this pattern company although I have been looking at them with great interest ever since they started. Below I will discuss some of my thoughts on this pattern.  It has princess seams front and back, plus side seams, 2-piece sleeves an ..read more

So much for my resolution to blog more frequently this year. I'm not sure where the time has gone but I have several completed sewing projects to share in the next month. After our incredibly rainy winter there has been a lot to do in the garden but coming on to June it's the time of year when everything is blooming and I can just sit back and enjoy it.  A few weeks back I was looking through my knit fabrics and found this stripe that I ordered some time back. It worked perfectly for this pattern, which was slightly deceptive as I thought it was color blocked but that turns out to be the ..read more

Finally it's time to show the finished coat. And well past time, as I finished it back in November so Heather could take it on a Thanksgiving trip to the east coast. We took some very quick photos on the day she picked it up so they are very casual but I like the autumn feel. Because around here we don't get all that much fall color - but do get plenty of leaves to sweep up.  Here are the previous posts for this coat construction if you are looking for sewing details:   First blog post and second blog post.  The fabric was from Britex in San Francisco, on that same shoppi ..read more