Do you love to sew for your family members? I am especially happy to sew for my two daughters. Like their mother, each of my daughters has a unique style, and it is best to keep that in mind when planning to sew personalized gifts for them. Sew personalized gifts…
My daughter Anna, French tour guide extraordinaire, became engaged last winter. Everyone was so excited. When she visited the states in May, we set out to plan a lovely ensemble for the small city hall wedding the couple were planning. She wanted a lace top and pants that could be…
This week fabric collage is at the forefront of my brain. As we put the final touches on our Day of Creativity class Saturday with the Richmond/Charlottesville ASG, previous creative projects come to mind. Today we will look closely at the Our Lady of Guadalupe quilted Tabula Rasa Jacket (TRJ). …
In 2020, while confined to my house during the pandemic isolation, I decided to enter the Threads Challenge for members of Association of Sewing and Design Professionals. The theme was to design and make a garment or ensemble that reflected one of the Four Elements: Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. …
Some clothes are hard to part with. I feel that way about many of the handmade garments in my archive. This is especially true when the fabric is special. In that case, the garments are worth revisiting and restyling. Identify a garment that needs an update. To inspire me as…
Do you love of embellishments as much as I do? And there always seems to be new challenges and new ideas that capture my attention. It starts the planning juices flowing but sometimes a busy schedule interrupts the project and when it is revisited, the design idea moves in a…
The uninterrupted hemline of the Carpe Diem opens up some fun hemline design opportunities. A new linen top, designed and made as spring became summer, is an excellent example of creative energy moving a Carpe Diem hemline to the next level. Plan the Project It started with a stash search…
In the search for creative inspiration, it occasionally happens that a technique or idea propels you in a variety of different productive directions. Such is the case with the quilting technique sashing. I came across it in a quilting book called Maverick Quilts by Alethea Ballard. The subtitle is why…
Thanks to our friends at Classic Sewing Magazine, our wardrobes for summer have been replenished with some of the jacket/tops featured in the current issue. When I began planning the article, I ordered several pieces of cotton lawn from Farmhouse Fabrics and there was one remaining piece. The one remaining…
Over the last few weeks while Carrie has been working on her new summer wardrobe, I have been sewing pink Tabula Rasa Knit Tees. Seems I wore out most of my essential tees while living through isolation and was reminded of this every time I wanted to wear my beautiful…
