I have been on the road for Fit For Art most of the Fall and my wardrobe of Eureka! Pants has made it easy to pack in an efficient way. Here is a photo of my expanding line up of navy blue pants. I find navy to be an…
Category: Helpful Hints
ASDP Sewing Friends and Follies
We love to get together with sewing friends to learn, share, and of course shop. Each October we attend the National Education Conference of the Association of Sewing and Design Professionals (ASDP), a trade association I have belonged to for over 20 years. This year’s conference convened last weekend in…
Tabula Rasa Vests
I love to wear vests! I like them because they are comfortable and easy to move in, provide warmth, and add a lot of color, design, and pizzazz to an outfit. Of course the Tabula Rasa Jacket pattern makes a terrific vest. You may have seen several of my Tabula Rasa…
Where Do You Get Your Fabrics?
We lose track of the number of sewing friends who ask us this question; “Where did you get your beautiful fabrics?” While teaching and manning our booth at sewing expos the last two weekends we consistently replied, we buy fabric whenever and wherever we see it! Because of our fabric…
Geisha Jacket – The Appliqués
The foundation pieced Tabula Rasa Jacket I started on Labor Day features four appliqués cut from a Japanese scarf. Today we will look at the creation of these appliquéd sections as a follow up to the Sewing Play on Labor Day post about the jacket’s design and fabric placement. …
Interfacing—Now There Are Four
Fusible interfacing is such an important tool for sewers. I keep several different types in the studio and use them to provide support in most of my garments. Interfacing is particularly important when I am pushing the limits of a fabric. Here is a case in point. I made the above Tabula Rasa…
Sewing Play on Labor Day
As I am sure you know by now, I love to sew and I love to collect fabric. One of my collections has been on my “wish I had time to sew” list for several years. It is a group of deliciously drapey blue and taupe fabrics destined to become…
Fit for Art in the Press
Rae Cumbie is not one to toot her own horn, so in this post I am going to share the terrific articles and teaching videos Rae has produced and published in the past year or so. I know you will want to check some of these out, if you haven’t…
Underlining Pants
Underlining is a couture technique that offers a number of benefits to careful garment sewers. When you underline, a second layer of fabric is hand basted to your fashion fabric to provide support or to change the fabric’s nature. Today we will consider underlining pants. I mentioned this briefly…
A New Face for the Tabula Rasa Jacket
We are pleased to announce that we are giving the Tabula Rasa Jacket a bright new face! It was time to print more TRJ Instruction books, so we decided to put new art on the cover that is more consistent with the TRJ Variation covers. Many thanks to our excellent…