DIY Sewing, Uncategorized

My Quilted Dress with FreeSpirit Fabrics

The Background When I received my Fat Quarter Bundle of Valori Wells Murmur Fabrics by FreeSpirit Fabrics, I knew immediately what I was going to do with them (they were gifted to me). I had had a vision of a quilted dress for ages. This pack contained so many fun designs and colors that were perfect for doing some color-blocking, patch working, or quilting (whichever term you prefer--- essentially the same thing) on the Saraste Dress by Named Clothing. I chose...

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DIY Sewing, Fabric Painting and Design

My Zadie Jumpsuit in the new Spoonflower Petal Signature Cotton Fabric (review of both!)

When Spoonflower offered to let me have a couple yards of their new Petal Signature Cottonâ„¢ I jumped at the chance!! Hello! I love to sew up my prints, and most especially to be able to give good reviews and feedback to my followers! People are always asking my opinion on the various Spoonflower fabrics and I want to be truthful and honest, because they'll be sewing with my prints and I want them to have a good experience. So here goes. First, you should know...

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DIY Sewing, Fabric Painting and Design, Uncategorized

My Spoonflower Swimsuit Plus How to Add Lining and a Shelf-Bra to McCall’s m7417

Back in December, not long after I had won Sew Frosting with my Hand-Painted Dress, Spoonflower approached me with the idea of making that painted fabric design into a digital design. I had no idea how to do it, but I said YES. You can read more about how I did that over on the Spoonflower blog. What I want to tell you about over HERE, is what I did with that swim lycra along with McCall's M7417 to make my swimsuit dreams come true!

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DIY Sewing, Uncategorized

Gettin’ Fancy with Organza

This was from my Instagram Stories where I had everyone weigh in on which color to choose. The coral won! Up until this week I'd never sewn with organza. I barely knew what it was! I had seen a fabulous photo on this AMAZING Instagram feed and immediately knew it needed to be in my wardrobe. So I went to one of my favorite shops, Stylish Fabrics (their selection is huge!), and ordered it! I AM one of their bloggers, so I did...

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DIY Sewing, Uncategorized

SEW HAPPY COLOR!!

outtakes from my #sewhappycolor PINK AND RED WEEK video! go check it out here! ITS HERE!!! The fun month of exploring color is finally here! I dreamt this challenge up back in December as I was winding down my 7 weeks of #thehandmadehustle and thinking about what else I could contribute to the sewing community. I have a background in art, and also in teaching art, so I figured why not teach everyone about COLOR? I often see people sewing and wearing neutrals because they're easy...

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Color and Design, DIY Sewing

Patchwork Color-blocking is like Painting!

You all know I was first an artist before I became a sewist right? Until last year when I started sewing all my clothes, I made more paintings than clothes for myself (but pleeennnty for my kids). When I started sewing more, I wanted it to fill the same creative need as painting. I've done that in different ways in the past 6 months. Besides real paint on the fabric, or designing fabric digitally, I have enjoyed painting WITH fabric. That's right. I'm calling patchwork, quilting and color-blocking.... paint-with-fabric. That's what it feels like to me!...

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DIY Sewing, Uncategorized

Color Block Yo’ Sassy Pants!

Unfortunately those didn't line up the way I thought they might. I was going to laugh at my giant long-legged pant photo, but now we can just give it a courtesy laugh at this "almost funny" photo. You have hopefully read about the Philippa Pants that I blogged about earlier this week. This blog post uses that pant as the basis, but can be applied to ANY pants (though if you're doing a material with stretch just make sure to be careful they don't get wonky). I did...

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DIY Sewing, Uncategorized

The Long-Awaited Philippa Pants!!

When Anna started posting photos of a new, high-waisted non-stretch denim pants pattern, I about freaked. I immediately messaged her (okay maybe it was after she'd posted a couple times) and asked if she could please hurry up and get it to the masses because I NEEDED THOSE PANTS IN MY LIFE!! You probably know about the famous "Persephone Pants" she released last year that quickly became a cult favorite (is there such a thing in the sewing world? Because I think those pants fit the bill)....... But today I introduce you to Persephone's...

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DIY Sewing, Uncategorized

Kaste Dress Shirt Hack

I present to you my Kaste Dress shirt hack. The pattern is by Named Clothing from their book "Breaking the Pattern." First of all, I am obsessed with this shirt. I never make fancy sleeves or things that are overly feminine and flouncy. It just doesn't feel like me. When I saw this dress (below) though, I immediately bought the book because I needed to make THAT DRESS. Those dramatic sleeves were begging to be flapped and danced in!

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DIY Sewing, Uncategorized

Adding Detail to your Pants!

Ginger Jeans by Closet Case Patterns in Cone Mills Denim from Threadbare Fabrics So you've decided to make yourself some pants. Maybe you decided to use some fairly neutral-colored fabric. If you'd like to add some details that make them a bit more special, unique, or slightly more exciting, this is the post for you. When I am sewing something in a less "exciting" color I always think to myself, "How can I make these a little more special and have my signature hand?" or "How can I give...

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