SewBaby News

When my daughter was going to Bangladesh last Fall, we looked all over for a pattern that would give us the look of the most common outfit that women wear there- a long tunic worn over pull on pants, with a coordinating scarf.  This is so common that they actually package 3 fabrics together and sell them as a set.  You then can take that set to a tailor and have them make it for you in your size. Wouldn't that be cool if we could do that here?  It wasn't expensive either.  I think she said it would be about $25 for all three pieces, and she did have two sets made for her there, and then brought one set home to make for herself.  The fabrics were similar to a rayon challis- but very, very thin and lightweight. Right after she left, Vogue came out with this pattern, Vogue 9159, that looked exactly like what we were looking for, except it was designed for knits!   I picked it up right away, but then she went to Madagascar, where their dress ...

To be honest, I have no idea what to wear in Madagascar, and this title may need to be changed to "what NOT to wear in Madagascar" in a few months.  We will have to wait and see.  My 22 year old daughter, Alyssa, left for the Peace Corps this week, and she will be stationed in Madagascar for the next 2 years and 3 months.  Yes, you read that right- TWO YEARS and three months!!! We are very proud of her for wanting to help make the world a better place, and for being fearless in doing so, but it will be a looooong time for Mama and Papa back home. Not knowing anything about Madagascar, the first step in figuring out what to pack was to figure out the weather and the cultural norms.  Madagascar is a very large island off the southeastern coast of Africa.  It's very, very unique in it's ecosystem, and has many species that are not found anywhere else in the world- most famously lemurs. Right now, it is experiencing it's rainy season, as you can see by t...

Hola amigos!  I've not posted anything for a while, and one reason was because I was out of the country, in beautiful Cancun, Mexico.  Before I left, I made a few things for the trip, including this dress, Vogue 1234.  This is a pattern by Sandra Betzina for the Today's Fit series.  It came out in 2011, and is still in print, which says something about it's popularity.  There have been numerous reviews for it on Patternreview.com, and they all looked wonderful.  But, I never felt that I had the right fabric to make my version until now. I used an ITY knit from Fabric Mart Fabrics that had a distinct stripe pattern.  I had to be careful in cutting this out, as the stretch of the fabric went across the stripes, which meant if I wanted it to stretch around my body, I had to place the fitted parts of the pattern with the stripes going vertically.  Here's the cover of the pattern, where they used a stripe too.  What is deceiving abou...

One of my fondest memories of the holidays as a child was decorating the Christmas tree with silver icicle strands.  Does anyone remember these?  I was reminded of them when I saw this metallic silver slinky fabric at Hancock fabrics spot the bolt table last year.  It was $2.89 a yard and I got 3 yards of it.  Slinky is what knits that are made of acetate are sometimes called, and the name fits it well.  The fabric just likes to slither away from you when you try to press it.  Thank goodness it doesn't wrinkle much! I don't want to give you the wrong impression- it wasn't that hard to sew with, but the pressing was really impossible. I've seen this kind of knit a lot in travel catalogs because of it's wrinkle resisting qualities.  It used to be very expensive to buy by the yard, but I don't see much of it around in the fabric shops these days.  Probably because it is just so slithery to work with!  Emma One Sock has some great tips for ...

This is my daughter, Ariana.  How old would you guess her to be?  I know she looks young, but she is actually 27.   And she still loves pajamas with feet. She's been asking me to make her a new pair for a while.  I've been putting the project on the back burner, and was in no hurry to do it.  So she made me an offer that I couldn't refuse.  "Mom- if I made a flourless chocolate cake, would you make me the pajamas now?" Who could pass up that offer? She wanted them to be made of natural fibers, not polyester.  So, we found some french terry in the SewBaby fabrics that was perfect- thick enough to be warm, but breathable so she won't get too hot. Finding a current pattern with feet that was designed for knits proved to be impossible.  There are several jumpsuit type pajama patterns, but none of them have feet.  And there is a Kwik Sew women's pattern with feet, but it was designed for woven fabrics.  She is petite, so I went ba...

It's been glorious weather here in Illinois.   We're in harvest season, and the field behind our house, (which I posted photos back in June when the corn was growing here ), has now been combined and all that is left is little stalks.  It's a whole different kind of beauty, and I love watching the field in all of the seasons.   I also love making clothes that reflect the time of year, and this dress is meant to do just that.  The burgundy, the muted green, the burnt orange- all remind me of the changing foliage.   The pattern is Butterick 6166 .  It's a knit dress with a faux wrap overlay and a drape across the waist. I like that you feel like it is a wrap, but you don't need to worry about the wind.  The fabric that I used is 100% cotton jersey from Hancock fabrics.  It has a horizontal stripe which you can see from the back.  I wasn't sure I wanted the horizontal stripe going all the way around, so I turned the overlay to ...