SewBaby News

Have you ever wondered where the word "notion" came from?  I looked it up, and found this: Notion- Word Origin and History for no tion   n. "miscellaneous articles," 1805, American English, from notion with the idea of "clever invention." This finally makes sense to me! Zippers, buttons, elastic- all fit the description of a clever invention!  Alas, all of these clever inventions can often add up to cost more than the fabric for a project, so that's why I usually choose notion-lite projects.  I bristle at the price of zippers these days- grrrr. But this particular jacket, the Wear Everyday Coat from the Spring/Summer Ottobre Woman issue , caught my eye, because of the notions.  The plain white coat, accented with bright yellow cord locks and contrasting zippers was something that I wanted to copy.  I had a really nice white synthetic knit with a fleece back in my stash- just enough for this jacket, with barely a scrap to s...

In my last post, I made a muslin of a pair of culottes from Hot Patterns Camera Ready Culottes pattern .  Since then, I've had a few weeks to wear them, observe people's reactions to them, and decide whether I wanted to cut into some good quality linen for another pair.  I did and here is my 2nd pair !   I used the same pattern again for this pair from the soft blue/grey/green windowpane linen at Fabri c Mart .  After wearing my test pair a few times, I definitely felt a little weird with the legs being so wide, and I disco vered that the waistband kept stretching out, and I was constantly pulling them up.   So, t his time I made two changes- I reduced each leg circumference by 6", and I used a grosgrain ribbon for the waist facing.  It's a great waistband finish if you want to reduce bulk and add stability.Here 's a photo of what this look s li ke: My top is made from Bright Mint Linen from Fabric Mart....

Have you caught culotte fever yet?   I wore culottes when I was a teenager and loved them.  But, I wasn't so sure that I could pull them off a second time around.  When I told my daughters that I was making culottes, I got some skeptical looks.  For the generation of skinny jeans, this has got to be a monumental leap of fashion acceptance. I made this pair using  Hot Patterns Camera-Ready Culottes pattern.  I'm also wearing the swing top that I just made from the Ottobre magazine last month.  The jacket is an unlined linen jacket made years ago before I started blogging and keeping track of such things.  Here you can see the back better with a tucked-in top: I looked at several patterns, but when I saw the line drawing for Hot Patterns version- the Camera Ready Culottes, I hit the buy button. I like Hot Patterns sizing.  It's about as close to ready to wear sizing as I've found.  I can make the same size that I w...

Can you believe it's the last day of March?  It's finally a balmy 63 degrees here in Illinois- shorts weather!   I was on Spring Break last week, and made my first pair of shorts this year and a couple of new knit tops from the latest Ottobre Woman  pattern magazine.  Here are the garments from the magazine:  And here are my versions:    I started with design #19, the Due Tone Long Sleeve Jersey top.  The fabric is a rayon/lycra striped jersey in lime and off white that I bought from Hancock Fabrics in their value fabrics section.  It's very soft and silky, and I love the wide stripe.  I've gotten some good deals from that section lately.  I think this was about $4/yd and this design takes 1-1/2 yards, so I spent about $6 for the fabric. I interfaced the pocket and used double needle stitching to finish the wide hem and neckband.  I think it turned out pretty nice! Next up was #17, the Faded Stripes Jer...