SewBaby News

For the past few months, Fabric Mart has had the most gorgeous array of Michael Kors Wool Blend Coatings that I have ever seen!  During COVID stay at home time, I've been letting my gray grow out, and I thought that even though some of the delicious sounding shades like apricot and apple green would be beautiful, the heathered gray shade would be the most flattering to my gray hair and the most versatile for a winter coat.  And it was one of the coatings that listed Cashmere as one of the fiber components, so I was curious as to how that would feel.

    Hello everyone. This linen dress is the first thing that I made after my husband passed away 2 months ago.  At first, it was a real struggle- I kept putting things together the wrong way and having to rip it out and do it over again.  I probably shouldn't have chosen an asymmetrical design with fabric that looks the same on both sides for my first project!  But as I finished, I felt a real sense of accomplishment!  I have to say that creating something unique and special was just what I needed to feel a little like myself again.  I used three coordinating pieces of linen- a deep coffee colored brown, a milky cream, and an abstract print with whipped cream, cloves, and cinnamon it- thus, my cafe au lait dress!    Linen is so wonderful to work with.  You do need to accept that wrinkles will be part of the look though, which I am fine with.  For the pattern, I used Vogue 1694 which is a Marcy Tilton design and the fabric was from Fabric Mart Fabrics.   This is an inter

One month ago, I lost my husband, Noel, suddenly, to an aortic dissection. This picture is from our 33rd wedding anniversary, and I never dreamed that it would be our last- I anticipated spending another 30 years together. Noel was an amazing man- so smart, funny and caring. I couldn't have asked for a more supportive husband- he made me laugh everyday and I will miss those moments. Together we raised three incredible daughters and he influenced the lives of thousands of his students. Even though his time was cut way too short on this earth, he lived life to its fullest- https://www.morganmemorialhome.com/obituary/noel-brodsky/ Noel was a big part of this blog from behind the scenes.  For the past few years, he's been the main photographer.  He also maintained all of my sewing machines- which was a lot considering the classes that I taught and the afterschool club sewing machines as well.  He was always my biggest fan when it came to my sewing, an

Left- shortened top by 2-1/2" and repositioned tie.                                                Right- Original length One thing about blogging that I love, is photographing the clothes that I sew helps me to know how things REALLY look on my body.  Often, I'll think something looks great in the mirror, but then when I see the photos for the blog, it doesn't look nearly as great as I thought!  Sometimes it's fit, sometimes it's color, but in many cases, it's a matter of proportion.  The photo on the right is one that I took of a new top that I made.  I loved the color, got a good fit on the bust, which was exciting, but then, it just looked dowdy in the photos!   So, I thought about it, and the next morning, I got up, took 2-1/2" off the hem, took off the tie, and re-attached it so that it didn't wrap around the waist, but just tied at the front.  Then I paired it with a slightly longer skirt- and that is the photo on the left.  Isn't t

I am off work during the summer, so this is the perfect time for me to sew what I want to wear to work once school resumes.  I am being optimistic that we will eventually be able to work in a building with other people.  I realize that I am kind of putting the cart ahead of the donkey by making these items when I really am unsure when I will be able to wear them in a work setting.  But, I think the styles and colors will be just as good in 2021 or even 2022, if that's how things turn out.  I just have to make sure that I stay the same size- which is good incentive for me to not snack all day long!  Exercising has not been working out for me- I tore a quad muscle doing yoga at home, and once that healed, I hurt my back gardening.  So, I just decided it was safer to stay inside and sew!  So far, no sewing injuries this summer!  Sewing is my sport of choice and this month was my decathlon.

It's almost the 4th of July! Even though there will be no fireworks this year where we live due to Covid 19, I still made a dress that would be something that I would wear on a typical 4th of July.  This is a shirtdress using McCalls 7351 for my pattern and  stretch poplin with a border that reminds me of a string of firecrackers! I used View C hem, and View D sleeves to get this combination. This is what the fabric looked like before I cut into it.  It had a solid red border on both sides, and a slight stretch.  I was perplexed as to how to use the solid red in such a way that it would accent the main fabric,  and decided to have one solid band down the front, at the sleeve hems, and the other solid band on the sides of the handkerchief hems. This meant turning the grain of the skirt pieces horizontally.  Here it is on my dress form in progress.  I would have loved to have made the collar in the solid red too, but just didn't have enough of the red border left.

A few months ago, Fabric Mart had 50 meter spools of ribbon available for $2.50 and a bag of 30 beads for $1.  I don't usually sew with ribbon or beads, but on a whim, I bought a spool of ribbon in coral pink and a bag of beads.  I thought I would probably use them for my after school sewing club to make drawstring bags, but then Covid happened, and we haven't had a sewing club meeting since.  So, as I was walking by them multiple times a week, I started to get some ideas on how to use them in my own sewing! My first project was this handkerchief hem knit t-shirt from Vogue 8651.  This is an out of print pattern, but there are plenty of newer patterns with similar style lines.   I made View B out of a coral pink rayon knit. I decided to use the ribbon to make an attached necklace combined with some gold beads.  How I created this look was by taking three lengths of ribbon, and then spacing the gold beads on the ribbon until I had a pleasing arrangement.  To ho

Burda Plus isn't being produced in English anymore (I don't think- please correct me if I'm wrong), but I really love having all of the plus size patterns in one issue, so I ordered the French version from Burdastyle.fr.   It took a month to get here, and I am thrilled with it!  The dresses above are style #407- a Blouson Dress for knits.  I, like many, don't fit into a standard single size pattern, and with the Big 4 patterns, I have so many adjustments to do, that sometimes it's just too much trouble- especially if it's a simple design.  Typically, I have a full bust adjustment, rounded back adjustment, narrow shoulder adjustment, narrow chest adjustment, and length adjustments.  You would think that I was a terribly oddly shaped human being based on all of the adjustments I have to make to get a pattern to fit!   However, I can usually wear the Burda plus 44 without hardly any adjustments- maybe just narrowing the shoulders a bit and adding a little l