Liesl is taking this week off from writing her usual Friday Weekend Links post. But don’t fear. Our Liesl + Co. Advisors Circle member Erica is here again to fill up your tank with some good reading material for the weekend.
Hello, friends of Liesl. What a pleasure and honor to say hello to you again!
As an American now living in Canada, I’m still adjusting to a summer break for my children which is shorter than what I am used to from my own childhood in California. This year I set aside the fabric and had plans to make several summer outfits for my school-age children, but the nine weeks flew by too quickly. I only made School Bus and Field Trip Raglan t-shirts, a pair of Art Museum shorts for my eldest son (when he needed a pair of golf shorts and I couldn’t find one to purchase in his size), Girl on the Go and Hopscotch knit dresses for nieces, and I’m still working on a first day of school outfit for my daughter—only one more weekend left to finish it!
Have you started to think about Halloween costumes, yet? We’re not the most festive family on the block for this particular holiday, but I try to participate. It is always a compromise with my kids deciding between what can be homemade vs. store-bought vs. re-worn, or just plain foregone, as well as what would be practical for a potentially chilly and rainy night. To my disappointment, some of what I think have been my best ideas were not well received by my kids, so they never came to fruition. I still hold out hope that one year they might come around to a few previously vetoed ideas! The Building Block Dress Book can be so useful for costume dresses, but this is still the most memorable transformation I’ve seen from an O + S pattern:
And, who can forget this impressive one?
I’m looking forward to sewing with wool and wool-blends in the coming months. I’m planning to make an Extra-Sharp Pencil Skirt in a lightweight wool coating, and either a Recital Shirt or Gallery Tunic (or both, I hope!) from my favorite wool-cotton blends. I find this type of shirting fabric is lovely to work with and even more enjoyable to wear.
Pinterest Picks
Last fall I purchased half a cow with a neighbor from our local butcher. If only I could have as much success whittling down my fabric stash as I have my freezer stash of beef! We enjoyed the taste and quality of grass-fed beef all year long. But what should I do with a large bag of frozen suet fat? I’ve started to research homemade soap recipes. Who was the genius who figured out that combining fat and lye into a solid bar can clean stuff? These bars of homemade soap would be wonderful gifts.
This photo of a shoe popped into my e-mail inbox recently. It made me wonder if I like shirring more than I thought, and my head started swirling with visions of solid-colored tulle, underlining, and Lisette for Butterick B6598.
My tween daughter, too, would probably enjoy some gathers in her wardrobe. This would be a quick modification to a long-sleeve Field Trip Raglan t-shirt and a great use for a remnant panel of cotton lawn.
Weekend Reading
- Does anyone else have an overflowing container of plastic bags under the kitchen sink?
- Can we agree that regular, sustained devotion to sewing or any other kind of “making” might be a better idea than a mid-life crisis?
- For those with tightly scheduled lives, or those who like to pull in a passion project’s completion time, this might be an alternative to the slow and steady approach to a hobby.
- On color.
- A reminder that I can try harder to make better shopping choices for the people and places I might never encounter.
- Did you watch the TV series, The Great British Sewing Bee? One of the show’s judges recently launched a new clothing line. I applaud his efforts.
Fall (transitional weather) and the start of a new school year is undoubtedly my favorite time of year. I hope you are planning some wonderful sewing projects for the season. I am looking forward also to Liesl’s new fall patterns!