SewBaby News

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  We escaped the winter weather here in Illinois for a week in sunny and warm New Orleans.  If you haven't been, it is definitely worth a trip- delicious food, beautiful surroundings and great jazz!  We luckily avoided all of the airport delays that the news is reporting. But now we're back to the frozen tundra, and I'm happy to be sewing again! I'm still loving all of the knit tunic patterns in the new European pattern magazine- My Image !  We are expecting our second shipment of this pattern magazine to arrive any day now.  All of this upcoming shipment has sold out.  They were ordered back in early December, but with this crazy winter weather, things are taking a long time to get here from Europe.  I made M1011 from a plum wool jersey with a tiny gold grid when you see it up close.   Wool jerseys are hard to come by, but so much nicer to wear in the cold winter than cotton or poly knits- so grab them whenever you can find

Congratulations to Genevieve P!  She is the winner of the SewBaby News Giveaway prize.  This Giveaway is now closed.  Thanks to everyone who made such nice comments! The popular blog SewMamaSew is sponsoring a Giveaway Day!  We are participating and would like to offer a prize of 3 SewBaby patterns!  If you are new to us, we offer over 45 patterns for baby and children's clothing, accessories and toys.   Below is just a sample of what we offer. Please visit our webpage to see our complete selection, as well as our great selection of children's fabrics, snaps, and other unique children's patterns from independent designers. To enter, just leave a comment about which SewBaby brand pattern you would like to win the most.  (Please note that although we carry other brands, this giveaway is for our SewBaby brand patterns only.)  We will ship internationally, and the prize winner will be selected randomly on December 17th.  Make sure to leave a way for us to contact y

I received a very unusual fabric in my last FabricMart mystery bundle.  It looked like a black mesh sports fabric in one light, but if you turned it another way, you could see royal blue sequins. I wasn't sure what to call it, but I found this definition and thought it fit the fabric: "Iridescence is an optical phenomenon of surfaces in which hue changes in correspondence with the angle from which a surface is viewed." I wanted to make something for parties that myself and my daughters could all share, and I thought my daughters would like McCalls 6242 .  This is a real sleeper of a pattern, as you cannot tell from the cover photo how neat the construction is for the sleeves.   McCalls 6242 with Iridescent Knit Sleeve gusset from the inside. Sleeve gusset from the outside. The sleeves are two pieces and they have a hidden gusset underneath, so that you can wear the top without your bra showing under the arm.  I love this fea

I was anxious to try out the Colbert Jacket Style M1006 pattern from My Image magazine , and knew I wanted it to be black, after Dei at SewHotMommi blog wrote a post about every woman needing a LBJ (Little Black Jacket).  I had a pretty loosely-woven basket weave black wool in my stash that I could envision as a jacket. So excited to make this jacket, I didn't want to take the time to preshrink the fabric.  After cutting, I decided that ALL of the pieces needed to be interfaced, as the fabric didn't have the substance it needed by itself, and would just be a wrinkly mess without completely interfacing every piece. At this point, a little bell went off in my head.  "You better not use any steam to fuse this interfacing, as this wool is too loosely woven and is going to shrink like crazy."  So, I did "dry" fuse the interfacing, and could clearly see the interfacing bubbling where the fabric had already begun to shrink underneath it, even with no steam, ju

Lori V from the wonderful blog, Girls in the Garden , has a monthly podcast,  Sew Forth Now , where she talks about sewing news on the web, what she's sewing, and interviews people in the sewing world.   This month, she interviewed me! If you've not heard a podcast before, it is like a radio talk show that you can download to your computer or any type of MP3 player and listen to while you exercise or commute or even sew!  It's a neat idea, and if you'd like to listen to the episode with our interview about how I started SewBaby and the changes I've seen in the sewing business, you can find it here .  Thanks, Lori, for putting together these fun episodes!

Vogue 1198 pattern cover. If there was a Hall of Fame for patterns, I would be nominating Vogue 1198.  This is the pattern I used for my Leather Jacket which everyone loves, including my 17 year old daughter, who was constantly "borrowing" it.  We decided it was time for her to have her own Vogue 1198, but with winter in full force here, she decided to choose a wool.  I had about 10 options for her to choose from in my stash, not thinking that she would ever choose my favorite.  It was a blue-grey wool from Ralph Lauren- very high quality.  I had earmarked that one for ME.  But, what can I say- the girl has good taste.  She chose that one.  When I told her that I really didn't think she was "ready" for it, that she needed to be older and more responsible, and that I really wanted that one for myself, she said "But I REALLY want it, Mommy".  Oh well. Front view showing asymmetrical collar. How do I love thee, Vogue 1198?  Let me co

When I first got my sample copy of My Image magazine , I was anxious to try out some styles to see how the fit was.  I decided to try the designs for the Wrap Tunic and Vest.  I cut size 42 which is my standard European pattern size, and the fit was perfect. I used a printed poly knit for the wrap tunic and a brushed microfiber jersey for the vest.  These went together so easily.   I had them both made within an afternoon.  The wrap tunic is just 4 pieces- sleeve, back, right front and left front.  The vest is just 5 pieces- sleeve, back, pocket, front panel and back facing. I did find the translated instructions to leave a little bit to be desired as they use terms that aren't familiar to me, but these are pretty basic so that if you have some sewing experience, you can decipher them. Wrap Tunic alone This is the first wrap top that I've made that I haven't had trouble with gaposis in the front- it fits very nice and snug, and I didn't use

To celebrate the first snowflakes of the year, we're giving away one of our Zippy Bunting sample garments and a copy of  the pattern so you can make your own!  This sample will fit infants up to 18 months and is great for a boy or a girl! Here is what the designer, Heather Jamison says about this pattern:     I  first had the idea to make this pattern while making clothes for my daughters’ dolls.  The first one was a 12” doll and it turned out so cute that I soon enlarged the pattern for their larger dolls.  When our youngest daughter was about 7 months old, it was wintertime.  I found that it was a hard age to keep blankets on while going out.  That was when I decided to enlarge the pattern once more and make a bunting that would fit her.  We got many comments on her “coat” and how she looked so “warm and cozy”.      There are several things about the Zippy Bunting that I really like.  It is very easy to put on a baby since there aren’t any legs in it.  It is made wide

I bought this Vogue designer Alice + Olivia pattern for a top and leggings when it first came out- I think in August.  I thought it was cute, and made it up, but never really felt comfortable with the back godets or with wearing the top/vest as a top without another top underneath it.   I've been struggling with this one for a couple of months now!  About the time that I made it, there was a thread on Patternreview.com about "Tights are not Pants", with a plethora of venting about people wearing this type of legging without a top long enough to cover up the rear end area.  This pattern combination was definitely in the grey area.  If I was 20 years younger, I would have worn it, no problem, but to be on the safe side, I decided to remove the flaps in the back, and to not wear the leggings with the vest. This is the version of this pattern that I ended up with after a few modifications: What I really liked about the pattern was the curved lines in the back a

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  While my daughters and husband braved the Black Friday shopping crowds, I opted to stay in and sew!  I'm not much of a clothes shopper these days- just prefer to the challenge of making my own.  It has turned cold here in Illinois, down to 21 degrees this morning, so I wanted something warm.  I had 2-1/2 yards of this brushed microfiber knit in a pretty cranberry, that I thought would be fun for the upcoming holiday season.  I liked Vogue 1197 from Sandra Betzina for the long large cowled tunic version. Vogue 1197 cover I also like the short sleeve top in this pattern, but will have to save that for next summer.  The leggings are just one pattern piece, and I definitely will be giving them a try too. I like the huge drapey cowl collar.  But, I would be careful with the fabric choice.  My fabric is very thin, and I think that is good for this style.  This pattern is perfect for thin rayon jerseys.  I think that if yo

One of the Patternreview members, GlobalMom, picked up a new pattern magazine when she was in Germany, and got several copies to share.  I was lucky enough to get one of her copies.  I fell in love with it as soon as I got it. The magazine name is My Image , and it is from the Netherlands, but includes instructions in German, English, Dutch and French.  The format is similar to Burda, where you need to trace your design from a pattern map, but this map is much less dense, as there are fewer designs.  This issue has 16 designs- 11 of them are for women and 5 for girls.  What is really neat about this magazine though, is that they show each of the designs made up several times in lots of different fabric choices, so you can really get a good feel for what is possible for the design.  Their fabrics are gorgeous!  I can see making up every one of the 11 women's designs,and that is a whole lot more than I would ever make up from a Burda.  Usually, I can see myself making 2-3 thing

Ready for a day at Hogwarts. The Real Ginny Weasley Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 , premieres tonight! My youngest daughter is completely crazy for Harry Potter, and has gotten so crazy that she wants to be a Weasley- Ginny Weasley, to be specific, and go to Hogwarts School.  She's got the whole ginger haired, freckled look going on, and could be a dead ringer for the actress in the movie- if she only had the Hogwart's Uniform!! So, she ordered a sweater and tie in the Gryffindor House colors from an online site for an outrageous amount of money.  At first they sent her the Slytherin House colors, which just was a horrendous affront to her sensibilities, but they exchanged it at no charge, next day air.  They know you don't want to tick off Ginny Weasley! The price of this get-up was so high that they should have included a skirt and blouse, but they didn't.  We checked every major store for a pleated grey skirt, and just couldn't find any