A lifetime of sewing patterns: a tribute

A lifetime of sewing patterns

Last week I got a call from a man offering me his late wife’s sewing patterns. Her name was Carol. I took the patterns to my sewing class, but before the class I looked through them all. Carol’s pattern collection reflected a lifetime of sewing, beginning in the late 1960’s with some cute maternity patterns…

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The unexpected conclusion to the hug-me-tight experiment

Conclusion of the hug me tight experiment white cotton 2

Last week’s hug-me-tight experiment has taken an unexpected turn. You can read about the adventure so far here. This is the cutting concept I started with: I felt that the maroon double knit hug-me-tight that I was experimenting with was too short (it finished at my waist), although the sleeves were good and the collar…

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The hug-me-tight experiment

hug me tight

Folks, I’m not sure what to call this garment I’ve been experimenting with this week. I’ve seen it called a hug-me-tight but does it have another name? Some sort of shrug? The cutting concept is very simple and can easily be zero waste: John Galliano did a very glamorous brocade hug-me-tight for Dior spring/summer 1998.…

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Happy 60th, Barbie

Happy 60th Barbie

March 9th is the 60th birthday of the barbie doll.  While there’s much to be read on the history of Barbie, today’s post is my tribute to my own. Yes, while Barbie is controversial and perpetuates unrealistic body expectations for girls who we’re trying to raise into confident, happy women who are comfortable with their…

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Behold my zero waste jeans

zero waste jeans

On the weekend I finished my zero waste jeans, and here they are! Read about my research and the beginning of my quest, cutting out, and the start of sewing them. The sewing turned out to be fairly straight forward, much like sewing ordinary jeans. There were some unusual shapes which were tamed as I…

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