kahawa101

I haven’t made this dress. However when I’ve made a dress that needs some fine tuning, I turn it inside out, put it on the wearer and then pin like crazy making new darts, or wider side seams or raising shoulder seams – whatever the dress needs to make it fit better by using pins.
After the pinning process, mark those areas with wash out…[Read more]

Difficult to determine the exact type of fabric but you’ll find something that looks similar in the bridal section of a fabric store.
A quick search say’s the dress designer is Christopher Lawrence and he found a vintage cut-out fabric (the circles) that he lay over the dress top and the hem section is airbrushed in a pattern he calls hidden…[Read more]

The holiday season draws near
Hm, what to make for those I hold dear?

You’d never believe it, I swear  
But I’m sewing a bikini to wear
To swim at the pool
But I’m no bodies fool…
My shape will cause quite a scare!

The holiday season draws near

Jaimielaura: Yay! Congrats on your new toy!

Jaimielaura: I recently bought a Janome Coverpro 1000 CPX and love it. I’ve got several attachments to do elastic etc., but mostly only use it to do hems….which it does so professionally.
If you go to patternreview.com there is a section that reviews coverstitch machines so you can read what owners have to say.

With needle and thread in my hand
My plan is to sew something grand

It’s time for my favourite show
But to the sewing room I surely must go

A glamourous friend from LA
Shopped in London for fabric all day
She met, for High Tea
With Liesl and me

That’s me right now – far too many projects I am trying to get done before Christmas and some of them are going to have to wait – including the LTTS puppet theatre I had planned for my toddler. Oh well – I will get her something small for under the tree and sew it up after the holidays and she won’t even know ;-). I won’t be able to get away with…[Read more]

That’s me right now – far too many projects I am trying to get done before Christmas and some of them are going to have to wait – including the LTTS puppet theatre I had planned for my toddler. Oh well – I will get her something small for under the tree and sew it up after the holidays and she won’t even know ;-). I won’t be able to get away with…[Read more]

My sewing machine’s on the fritz
I want to smash it to bits

I printed it off and am checking off all the patterns I have (and the one I just picked up in the awesome holiday sale!) :-). I did notice that the forest path cape was labeled as the firefly jacket. But this is a great checklist, thanks Kim!

I’ve had great success with Snap Source products. Their Snapsetter is pretty much fool proof and their Snaps are good quality. Oliver + S sell a Snapsetter and snaps.

My sewing room is not very well-lit at all, even after my husband installed a ceiling light for me. I do most of my productive sewing either before 8am or after 10pm (yay for small kids haha!), and with the days growing shorter I was really struggling to see – I needed a solution badly! I got this type of lamp (this brand and style, not sure if…[Read more]

My sewing room is not very well-lit at all, even after my husband installed a ceiling light for me. I got this type of lamp (this brand and style, not sure if it’s this exact…[Read more]

My scissors are missing again!
The number I’ve lost equals ten!
If I ever find them
I’ll hogtie and bind them
To my Bernina that sits in the den.

side tracked too…

Theres an Aussie named Shelly that sews.
She makes all sorts of creative nice clothes.
She’s a cyclist too,
can mend an ewe and a shrew,
and is awfully clever with prose!

Next l…[Read more]

Vienna at Christmas sounds amazing! When we lived in Washington (state) we visited the Bavarian village of Leavenworth around Christmas, they had a small Christkringlemarkt (I’m sure I’m not spelling it correctly) and it was so much fun.

And I’d LOVE to go see the Nutcracker ballet! Perhaps when Ellie and Olivia are older, we’ll live somewhere…[Read more]

I made Ellie a hopscotch dress recently in a jersey knit. I made a 2T with 4T-length sleeves (sorry I haven’t made a smaller size yet). I found the 2T to have enough length in the body but the chest is a snug fit. The crossover bodice comes up fairly high so modesty/too much peeking out in front isn’t an issue. My biggest concern are the sleeves -…[Read more]

Up in Sacramento, the California State Railway does a Polar Express (like the book & movie) train ride attraction every year. Seats book up really fast – I sat at the computer waiting for 9am on the morning they opened sales to the general public, and was fortunate to get tickets. It’s set up to be just like the train ride in the book, down to…[Read more]