What's Up: Inspiration, New Heroines, Wool Fabric

I spent Thursday through Saturday at the Original Sewing & Quilts Expo in suburban Schaumburg.  I don't normally think of Schaumburg as a city of excitement, heros, inspiration, and knowledge (sorry, Schaumburg), but it was for me last week!

I had some trepidation approaching the conference.  The logo, website, and language definitely comes across as dated.  I spent a lot of time watching instructors on YouTube before choosing my classes and I certainly found people I wanted to learn from and people I wanted to avoid.  I heard from other sewists that it has become more quilt-oriented over the years (not my interest). I'm happy to say that I had a great time and learned a lot.  I'm not sure that I would attend again, at least not for all three days, but I think my money was well spent.

The way to approach this conference is to see it as a chance to get a surface understanding of what's out there in terms of instructors, patterns, and schools of thought on fitting and pattern alteration.  All of the instructors have DVD programs and/or longer workshops to will give you depth (at a cost).  I think I walked away with an idea of which program(s) I'd want to spend money on in the future to get that depth of knowledge.

It was also motivating to hang out with a bunch of sewists.  I don't consider myself a young person (I'm 42) but I was almost always the youngest person in the room.  So these ladies have been sewing and learning for decades.  I realized how much I have to learn, and want to learn.

And they have fun prize drawings at the end of every day and sometimes at the end of a class.  I won two $30 gift certificates for The Wool House, a Canadian fabric store specializing in wools and wool blends.  They don't have a website or online shop, so I'm not sure how you would find them.  But I purchased these lovely items with my gift certificates:

The top fabric is a wool/silk blend herringbone.  It has beautiful drape and is very soft and light.  I like the selvage edge and may save it for embellishing the hem of whatever I make.  The bottom fabric is a wool/linen blend - I just love the texture of it!  I've not decided yet what I'm going to make with it, but I'm leaning towards Silhouette Pattern's Sheath Dress using the solid color for Guffey seaming detail on the front and back princess seams.

Which brings me to my newfound heroines.  My two favorite instructors were Peggy Sagers (of Silhouette Patterns) and Cynthia Guffey.  They were very different in terms of teaching style and fitting philosophy, but I learned a lot from both of them.  And they've both enjoyed careers similar to the one I hope to eventually carve out for myself: dressmaking, designing, and teaching.  I'll go into more detail about both of them in later posts, but here are a couple of recommendations for my fellow sewists:

Peggy Sagers has a FREE online library of webcasts on a variety of topics.  I highly recommend these.  Peggy broadcasts live every other Monday night (the next webcast will be on sewing with silk) and you can find past webcasts here.  She is also a regular guest on the Channel 20 Program It's Sew Easy.  You can find videos of her on YouTube and in the It's Sew Easy archive.

Cynthia Guffey has a pattern line and a bunch of instructional sewing DVD's.  Her website is a bit sparse, but you'll find her patterns and DVD's there.  You'll find video clips of her on YouTube as well.

I did actually do a bit of sewing this week (finished off a couple of skirt orders that have been hanging around too long), but nothing all that show-worthy.  This week I'll be working on the muslin for Linda's dress and drafting skirt patterns for Bryn and Domenica.  And I hope to try a cowl neck adaption to my new Silhouettes t-shirt pattern!

What's Up: Bits 'n Bobs

Please remember that you can vote for my PoldaPop Flower Button Coat in the VintageModern Design Challenge through Thursday, March 22!  Click here to vote.


This week was a bit of a downer after last's week high level of productivity.  I had some small things to finish up but nothing all that exciting or showy.  And my energy level took a dive after all the late nights of the week before.  I love losing myself in intensity, but I generally have to pay for it at some point!

But I do have a few things to show.  I helped out the Maiden Street School of Irish Dance by finishing off six skirts for their St Patrick's Day show. 

Can't you just imagine a whole army of little girls marching in a St Patrick's Day parade with these?  They were going to pair them with black turtlenecks but I'm guessing they had to go for something lighter with our unseasonably warm weather.  I earned myself some free classes for Cora and the owner is now going to refer new students to me so that they can get a matching skirt made for performances, so my good deed has certainly been rewarded. In the middle of the project I had to run to Hancock's to get more of the binding they had chosen for the waistband.  This trip highlighted why I get so irritated with Hancock's.  They were all out of the item I needed (black blanket binding), and when I asked one of the clerks (one that I like - I certainly know who to go to and who to avoid) if they had more squirreled away somewhere.  She looked for me, and when she came up empty-handed explained, "We're always running out of the black."  SO WHY DON'T YOU UP YOUR ORDER??????????  I know their trick of not having much of something the moment there's a 50% off sale (see if you can find any neutral colored invisible zippers when zippers are on sale), but this was full price.  Humpf.

I got to re-visit Eileen's skirt from last summer as I needed to take it in a bit.  This is one of my favorite skirts:

I made this skirt with a combination of Valori Wells fabrics from her Wrenly collection.  And it came out the way it did as a happy accident.  Eileen wanted the vertical stripe fabric for the background ruffle. This was my first peplum style ruffle, and I didn't think about the fact that the stripe would become diagonal and then horizontal because of how the peplum is cut.  Luckily Eileen liked it this way!  One of the things that I love about sewing is how often a problem becomes a opportunity to be more creative. 


And now for my first experiment with knits.  I decided that I didn't have the right fabric for the dolman banded top and I was worried that the wrap top would ride up too much (Thursday's post) so I decided to make up my own style.  I used one of my existing jersey tops as a guide, shortened the length, lengthened the sleeves, added a looonnng tie, and ta-da:

I wore it to Devon's reading and got a lot of compliments (even before people knew that I had made it!) so I think it was a success.  I used a cotton interlock that I bought on clearance at fabric.com ages ago, so I wasn't worried if it didn't work out (I've got some jersey I paid $12/yard for but I'm saving that until I feel more confidenct).  I used interfacing on the shoulders and faced the neckline to give it a nice edge.  I used a rolled hem for the sleeves and hemline and while I kind of like the scallop-y edges, I need to figure out how NOT to do that, too.  I think I'll tweak it a bit more then put up a tutorial for it, for those of you who want to D-I-Y.

This week will be a little light project-wise.  I'm attending the Original Quilting and Sewing Expo in Schaumburg from Thursday through Saturday (thank goodness the girls have willing and doting grandparents) so I plan to finish up a few more leftovers then get my learnin' cap on.  I so hope I can bring home a batch of new skills and ideas!

Fabric Focus: Knits & Jerseys

I wrote my post about my upcoming experiment with jersey, and then received an email from one of my favorite online apparel fabric stores about a sale they are having this weekend:  15% off knit fabrics at GorgeousFabrics.com.  I think this is a good omen!

So good, in fact, that I think I'm going to gamble on this experiment going well and get some fabric for myself.  Even if experiment #1 doesn't work, I know I'll get there in the end and I should probably be ready with lots of cool fabric.  Right??

Here are three of my favorites:

Up a Lazy River Jersey - Greens/Orange/Yellow/Ivory

The Bold and The Beautiful Floral Jersey - Blues/Green/Purple/Black 

Paging Jackson Pollack Jersey - Black/White (she also has this in grey/white)

I've started a knit/jersey fabric board on Pinterest and I'll be adding fabric from GorgeousFabrics.com and other places as I continue ogling.  If you want to check out the sale on knit/jersey at GorgeousFabrics, just click here.  You only need 1-1.5 yards of fabric to make a great top, so you know I'll be stocking up!

Have a great weekend!

New Direction: Knits & Jerseys

I am feeling emboldened by my recent success with the Flower Button Coat.  You might even say that I am feeling brassy or fearless.  Whatever you call it, I'm ready for a new adventure.

Now that the coat is complete, I've been thinking about what I might do as my next personal project (the weekend is coming up, afterall!).  I want to do something a little less time-consuming this weekend, as I'm still recovering from the late nights of last weekend.  So the obvious choice is . . . knit/jersey fabric!

It is supposed to be easy to sew, but it involves learning more about the serger I received about nine months ago and have still only used to finish seams (a woeful under-utilization of this wonderful machine, I know, I know).  So I cracked open the book that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas 2011, Sew U Home Stretch by Wendy Mullin, and started reading.  I think I'm ready to dive in!

Now I have to decide on my first project.  Devon and I are going out (yes!!) this Sunday night as he is doing a reading at the Columbia College Story Week kick-off (he is reading a story about the time he was banned from ever returning to Canada - it's a good one) so I'd love to have something ready to wear for our outing.  I should probably start with a simple t-shirt, but I don't really want to wear that.  Instead, I've narrowed down my choices to one of these:

Ocean Blue Wrap Top

Dolman Style Top with Banded Bottom

So, Readers, which one would you go for??  Both patterns are generously offered free by their designers (just click on the title and it will take you there).

My goal is to work up to creating this jersey dress from Boden sometime later this summer:

Wish me luck on my new adventure!!

What's Up: New Dress for Jen, Finished Skirt, VintageModern Coat

UPDATE:  You can vote for my Flower Button Coat in the VintageModern Design Challenge through Thursday, March 22.  You can only vote once and you must register at the BurdaStyle website in order to do so.  You can find my entry here.  I'm project #11.  Thanks!!!!


For the moment, I feel like a powerhouse when it comes to completing projects.  This probably won't last long, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can!

The big project of the week was making my coat for the VintageModern Design Challenge hosted by Indygo Junction (patterns), BurdaStyle, Coats & Clark, and Singer.  This was big because it involved sewing a coat for the first time, and making style changes to the original pattern (collar, pockets & flaps, flower buttons, piping).  You can read about this project in more detail on my BurdaStyle page, but here's the completed coat:

I learned a lot from this project and I'm already planning what I'm going to do differently the next time I make it, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  Now keep your fingers crossed that I win the challenge!  I'll keep you posted on how I do.

My second completed project was a dress for Jen, who hosted the last skirt party.  I used Kay Whitt's Flirty Dress from Sew Serendipity.  I made the under bust band a bit wider (2.5 inches) than her pattern and added a tie to the back.  I love the fabric Jen chose - Joel Dewberry's Heirloom Tile Flourish in Green - and the dress looks great on her.  I'll try to get a photo with her in it when I drop it off later in the week, but here it is on a hanger:

And then I finally finished Melissa's bias trim denim skirt.  I had to re-do the waistband because I just didn't think the straight waistband was working.  A rectangular/straight waistband is theoretically supposed to work when the skirt sits at the high waist, but I haven't found this to be the case.  Or I should say, it works for my 4-year-old but not for anyone with a womanly shape.  So, ta-da, here it is!

I love the button Melissa's picked out from my collection.  It gives a masculine touch to an otherwise very pretty skirt.

That's it for last week (she says while flexing her sewing muscles).  This week will be a bit less exciting.  I need to finish a few odds and ends and I offered to help a local Irish Dance school finish off six skirts for their St Patrick's Day show.  I bartered with them so now Cora will get to take some Irish dance lessons!

Have a great week!