A Smocked Tunic Hack
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Want to Design and Sell your own Patterns, but don’t Know Where to Begin? Start Here.
Figuring out how to share patterns with others is no small feat. It can also get extremely expensive. When I first starting thinking about digitizing my own patterns, it seemed like a bit of a money pit. I have managed to figure out how to do it in an affordable manner. It does however, require a large mental and time investment. First things first, you have to figure out how to get your drawn patterns onto the computer. You have a few options, there are people out there that you can contract to do it for you, or you can use Adobe Illustrator and figure out how to do it…
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Smocked Tunic Pattern Now Available!
Some time ago, I was gifted a vintage pattern called “BJ’s Gown and Blouse” by Albe’s Creations. I made one up in a beautiful Liberty of London and posted it to Instagram and Facebook. I was overwhelmed by the positive feedback and questions about the pattern. On a whim, I started searching for the pattern designer, Brenda Raker. I was hoping she may have more patterns in her basement somewhere as it was impossible to find any for sale online or anywhere else. I reached out to my followers with her name, did some googling, and asked around in an attempt to find her. You all came through (as usual!)…
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Grand Millennial Ottoman: How I Breathed New Life into an Old Piece.
I was gifted this old ottoman from my Grand-Mother-In-Law some time ago. I immediately had a million ideas for it, got overwhelmed, and promptly put it in my basement storage room to sit for all of eternity. Recently, we’ve purchased land (19 acres!) and have decided to build a new house. This will be our “until-the-kids-move-out-of-the-house” house. So my goal is to make the style fairly timeless and elegant. I’ve always been a sucker for timeless, elegant, children’s clothing, but when it came to home decor I pretty much followed whatever trend I was feeling at the moment. I’d like to stay away from that with the new house and…
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Picture Smocking on Corduroy, my Solution to Carpool Line Entertainment.
Its been a minute since I’ve done a blog post. Life has been wild around here! We’ve purchased land (nineteen acres) in my hometown and are slowly starting to take the steps toward building a house. I’ve found myself spending a ton of time in carpool lines with Robby and Maria in different schools and keeping up with John Luke is a full time job….see the picture below for his personality in-a-nut-shell. I’ve discovered the best way to spend my time in the carpool line is smocking…otherwise I get sucked into social media and yucky news. Soooo these outfits are the fruits of the carpool. I’m going to start with…
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The Elusive Caftan-How I made a $750 dress for less than $100
Y’all my taste. It’s out of control. Sewing has spoiled me rotten. I like real fabric. I like dresses that fit. I like unique pieces. I like French seams. I like hand embroidery. I like trim, lots and lots of trim. I’ve been looking to purchase a caftan for about a year now and this is what I found people…this… So when I stumbled upon the Vintage Vogue 7295 pattern on Etsy…I jumped on it. I found another one here, if you’re interested. The used pattern I received was SO good. The previous owner had made some solid alterations and clearly loved the pattern. It was neat to see the…
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Fall 2021: What to Make and What to Buy.
My mom told me this is her favorite of my annual posts…so I had to make another 🙂 I can’t sew it all. I’ve tried but I just can’t. Below you will see a graphic of what I’ll be making and what I’ll be sewing for this fall and winter. Looking at the graphic above, the items on the top are pieces I’ll be buying. I love Peter Pan collared shirts but I cannot make them as fast as my kids can destroy them. I also prefer them in knit but I don’t prefer sewing with knit. For me, purchasing staple knit pieces for the kids makes the most sense,…
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Smocking-want to try but not sure where to begin?
disclaimer: all of the following applies mainly to smocking done on pleated fabric. Not smocking done in which you pleat the fabric by hand using dots. Personally, I haven’t done that type of smocking. Ahhhh smocking. One of my favorite forms of sewing, smocking can add beautiful detail to an outfit. The act of smocking can also provide a sewist an outlet through which to pour love into a garment. Are you interested in adding smocking into your sewing repertoire? There are TONS of helpful books, patterns, magazines, YouTube videos, and people. I hope to provide a list of the sources that have been most helpful to me. These are…
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Appliquéd Buntings, Easy Embroidered Party Decor.
The majority of what I sew is clothes. I dabble in the occasional home decor item but in general, I sew clothes. Three of the five outfits seen below are my creations. However, for my daughter’s recent birthday party, I stepped out of my comfort zone and made something else. Party decor. I recently ran across this adorable idea in my Instagram scrolling. Appliquéd buntings! They took me a minute to figure out but were not tricky to make at all. Often, when sewing clothing, I cut out the pattern and there is an awkward piece of fabric left over. It is typically one long rectangle that isn’t even big…
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The Dress Them Dearly Sunsuit Pattern is Now Live!!
A few years ago, my friend and I drafted a pattern on my kitchen counter. I had recently learned that I was pregnant and was itching to get sewing for my baby, who would be about six months old when the summer months hit. Dreaming of a chubby baby sitting by the pool in a sunsuit, we set out to design a sunsuit that would be appropriate for boys and girls and would have a ton of room for embroidery and appliqué. We came up with this look. I made several for my then unborn child Robby, and forgot all about it. This past year I’ve been on a mission…
