SewBaby News

I've been really feeling the 70's vibe lately, and decided to continue with a suede skirt.  Not real suede though, but sueded scuba knit!  This is a huge improvement on real suede- very light weight, easy to sew and stretchy! For the sueded scuba skirt, I used view C of Vogue 9154. This pattern is normally designed for woven fabrics, with a zipper and faced yoke.  However, all I did to adapt it to the scuba knit was add 1-1/2" at the top, and make an elastic casing, eliminating the zipper and facing.  The pattern said it needed 2-5/8 yds, but I was able to fit it on more like 1-1/4 yds, so I have a good size piece left over. The suede finish is really luxurious.  Everyone that has felt it has gone "OOOHHHHhhhh!"   I got it from FabricMart, but they are sold out right now.  One really great thing about scuba knits is that they don't roll, and thus, you can leave them unhemmed.  Hems on knits are almost always a pain, and on a shaped hem lik

I came of age in the 70's, and the Peasant Dress style made popular by Laura Ashley and Gunne Sax are near and dear to my heart!  I knew that it would just be a matter of time until they came back, and recently McCalls patterns introduced a Laura Ashley design with 7242.  They say that you shouldn't wear a trend if you wore it the first time round, but I thought I'd give it a try, and see how I felt in one before abiding by that rule! The pattern has several different views, and I originally thought that I would make the short dress, but when I actually tried it on, it was screaming for the ruffle, so I added it at the last minute.  I didn't have quite enough fabric to make the full width of the ruffle, so mine is about 8", instead of 12" wide as the pattern is designed.  I also serge finished the ruffle hem instead of narrow hemming to save time and keep the ruffle as long as possible. I wanted to make it with a true 70's vibe whic

It's time to start stalking the mailbox because the newest issue of the Finnish pattern magazine Ottobre Woman is due to arrive any day now!  It looks to be a great issue by the photos.  Here are the line drawings for this issue:  I really like this skirt and pullover combo:   And this hooded cardigan is gorgeous!  A pretty knit wrap dress:  A luxe color blocked coat: And another knit cardigan/basic dress combo that is stunning in teal: Back to the title of this post!  Alice Hall of Abilene, Texas has compiled all of the line drawings from 2006-2016 into an index by specific garment type, sleeve length and even knit and non-knit.  Here's an example of the coat section, so if you want to make a coat, you can compare all of the styles available over the last decade!  And this is done for every category-tops,dresses, skirts, pants, etc. Isn't that cool?  Here is a link to Alice's Powerpoint file: Ottobre Woman 2016-201

I found this stunning striped silk jersey at Fashion Fabrics Club last month, and it has inspired me to start working on an early fall wardrobe capsule.  We have some friends who live in Sedona, Arizona, and this reminded me so much of the colors there, that I'm calling it my "Sedona Sunset" SWAP.  (SWAP stands for Sewing With A Plan.)  Not everything will be worn together, but it helps me set a general direction of where I want to go.  I love the planning process. I have 6 yards of it, which should be enough to get at least 2 pieces, maybe three out of it just by itself, so it is definitely my centerpiece.  However, it is a narrow width, as silk jerseys often are.   I know that I for certain want to make a wrap style dress out of it.  Hopefully, I'll have enough left over for a sleeveless top or straight skirt. I also had two sandwashed silks- a blue and a tomato red.  I've got about 5 yards of the blue, but just 2 of the red. Both will probably be tuni

One of my daughter's best friends, Wen, went to Rwanda a couple of years ago, and brought back several beautiful pieces of fabric to give to us.  My daughter said that I could have one of them, so I chose the most subdued piece of the bunch which was this one. I found the stickers interesting, and in researching African Wax Prints, I found that counterfeit fabrics are a problem, so that must be why it came with these markers. I had 3-1/2 yards of 44" wide fabric to work with.  It did have a very slight waxy coating on it, which washed off when I preshrunk it, but didn't effect the color in any way.  The remaining fabric was kind of a cross between a broadcloth and a canvas- lightweight, but crisp, with a slightly coarse texture. I hung it on the dress form for a while trying to envision it in another form.  I went to the manufacturer's website and was surprised to see that the fabric actually was made in China.  Here is an excerpt from their About Us page:

If I loved working out as much as I love sewing, I would probably be a marathon runner!  But alas, I do not, and even though working out is always on my to do list, it hasn't made it to the top of the list for a while.  I actually do like yoga and running, but I've had a foot issue plaguing me for several months that has dampened my enthusiasm quite a bit.  To try to get my mojo back for exercise, I decided to make myself some new workout clothes.  So, I ordered two Kwik Sew patterns during their last sale- 4163 and 4181. I had three pieces of nylon/lycra knits- one coral, one printed, and one black.  I had ordered 1-1/2 yds of the coral and the print, and just one yard of the black. Let's start with Kwik Sew 4163.  Although I loved the end results, I did find some problems with the pattern.  First of all- the shorts on the model look like a great length, right?  On me, they were obscenely short- like bathing suit short.  So, those were a wadder.  Fortunately, I had