Sewing With Purpose and Repurpose

I'd always really liked the Alder shirt dress from Grainline Studios , the idea of having something loose fitting and comfortable but still having a defined waistline appealed to me. When I saw this version, posted by Jen on the Grainline blog , it gave me a kick it the butt to buy the pattern. Those are my colours! I knew immediately it would become a staple in my wardrobe. As much as I am drawn to the outrageous prints in the store (and buy them because I'm impulsive), I tend to only wear black and grey in real life. I was really busy and didn't get around to making the dress until fairly recently. Part of this is because of how HUGE the pdf was. I loovvee Grainline's patterns, but their pdfs are often colossal from containing all the views in one file. I used a black polyester "linen" from the sale rack at Fabricland (evidently my favourite place) It's really light to wear in the heat (tip for wearing all black in the summer). My big gripe with the...

Me-made-may is finally here, but I suddenly have a wrench thrown into my plans. I had originally planned to wear one me made piece a day and hoped to get a lot of wear out of my fun cotton dresses, but it looks like I'll be in the lab doing messy stuff and I don't want to ruin any of my clothes! I'll just do the best I can. I'm sure I can get by just wearing my Watson bras for a month :) Now for the main attraction! I'm not one to have a "stash" of fabric (I like having a project in mind before I buy), but I have had a couple pieces that I loved too much to pass up or were gifted to me that I've been waiting to find the PERFECT pattern for. One of these was a butterfly print cotton my mom brought to me in England, and it made it all the way back to Canada because I couldn't find a pattern to do it justice. WELL THE WAIT IS OVER! Enjoying my almond milk chai at city hall Lekala #4282 finally won as the pattern of choice. The print is pretty ...

Before I get started into my post I wanted to share a neat photo collection I stumbled upon, Christopher Payne's "Textiles" collection . The photos are so fascinating! I love seeing the technology that goes into the materials for my favourite past-time, and the colours in the photos are absolutely delicious. Doesn't this look like it should be cotton candy, not fabric?? Back to business! This was my last sewing with non-purpose dress of 2015, first and last! (Hopefully) I had just walked into fabricland, saw this gorgeous stuff on sale for $3 a meter (!!!) and had to have it, even though I didn't really have a plan for it. My original idea for it was to make a long collared shirt-dress with the white border at the bottom. However, I had a friend who was feeling a bit down in the dumps so I asked his opinion to get his mind off things. He's very into minimalist and edgy fashion and I thought he'd really like the fabric. He was very adamant that it...

In the quest to find clothes that are kind to my menopausal body, while filling my need to re-use clothing I am tired of wearing I came across the Burda 6851 pattern . This is a dress/top pattern and I was sold on it instantly, for 2 reasons: Muffin Top be Gone: It has side block panels to camouflage muffin tops or back bra strap bulges. Re-use Factor High: There are small pattern pieces which leave me open to re-use clothes I am tired of wearing but still like and have life left in them. I made 3 versions of this pattern, one dress and 2 longer tops, the tops can be worn with tights. I modified the neck line on all three version because when I asked my husband what he thought, during the sewing process, he said it looked like a scuba suit. Ask an honest question and get an honest answer. Version 1: I reused fabric I that was leftover from a previous project on the top sleeve fronts. I love this fabric it is a 60's design, crisp and fun. Version 2: I have a habit o...

I have experimented with sewing hand drawn simple and complicated designs on garments to add some interest. Below are a few simple ideas: View 1: This is a way of being noncommittal if you want to try this out. Draw your design on a piece of scrap fabric and sew with the desired thread colour (use a contrasting colour, preferably using upholstery thread). Use a stretch stitch so you have some movement and the design shows up better as well.  Then pin your sewn design to the garment you want to display it on and sew away. View 2: With this version of the project you need to be a brave, draw your design directly on your garment and sew, again with stretch stitch and high contrast upholstery thread. Best to make you design somewhat organic and whimsical so if you mess up it still looks good. View 3: This is a bit more work. I found a design I liked on the Internet, re sized it and printed in on computer fabric transfer paper. I cut around the design and ironed it onto my gar...