Sewing Archives - Page 2 of 7 - The Craft of Clothes

It’s been a week of creativity here at Haywood Homestead. The dress-ups box was raided and the hot glue gun’s been going overtime, as the finishing touches were put on book week costumes. The doomed Lucky Prescott costume (see last week’s post) got replaced by Plan B: I converted the Ladybug Miraculous catsuit (made for…

Sunday afternoon was spent sewing things for Book Week costumes. It was pleasant to sit and sew in the warm kitchen, as the hail thrashed the windows and the trees bent over horizontally outside. For international readers, Aussie schools celebrate Children’s Book Week by inviting students dress up as their favourite book character. Our school…

After sewing two jumpsuits in a row I badly needed a quick “instant gratification” project. What could be more perfect than swimming trunks for Ken! The poor doll has been swimming in the nuddy while Barbie’s been doing laps in her snazzy bikini. However, my favourite eight year old tells me he’s actually wearing a…

Hello New taupe corduroy trousers closeup of front 2

The departure of my old much-worn taupe corduroy trousers has left a void (see obituary here). Too many smart-casual country looks are going unworn since they retired…it seems that taupe corduroy trousers are needed in my wardrobe. Meanwhile, dormant in my stash, waiting for its moment to shine, was this stretch taupe babycord with a…

Some time ago, my mum went on a holiday to Japan and brought me back a backpack kit. It consists of a pre-printed panel and a single sheet of instructions. The instructions are in Japanese but, as is the case with Japanese pattern books, the illustrations are so clear and thoughtfully drawn that a person…

On the weekend I did a visible mending workshop hosted by Marion library in Adelaide. First was a short book talk on The Dressmaker’s Companion, then we got stuck into visible mending. You may remember I was making samples for this workshop. You can also view these on Instagram (you’ll have to scroll down a…

It’s been a while coming, but the Built by Wendy sheath dress is….finished? I wish I could write that it is, and it very nearly is finished. I had hoped to wear it on the weekend since the weather was hot, but I got stuck on the buttons (more about this below; please keep reading).…

Do you remember the Built by Wendy sheath dress I started back in September? Unfortunately I only got as far as a toile fitting before being paralyzed by fabric and styling indecision. Since then, though, I’ve dug through my extensive fabric collection and come up with a very old cotton sateen pink/purple/puce floral. I can’t…

A short post this week, with three unrelated sewing ideas I hope you’ll find useful… Unpicker cover The Clover unpicker, while expensive, is considered by many to be the unpicker of choice, with its smooth sharp blade and comfortable handle. However, it comes with a flimsy sleeve to protect to blade (which I lost). …

Hello Folks, I’ve been preparing some samples for a visible mending workshop in November. While I tend to be a fan of invisible mending (as explored in this post), I do like the combination of embroidery, denim, running stitch and creatively working through the household’s mending pile. The technique is very simple and kinda fun.…