Stitchin' in My Kitchen

One of my February purchases from StyleArc was one of their new skirt patterns - the Brook Woven skirt. Described as: This on trend asymmetrical skirt has a full wrap that will allow you to wear this skirt with confidence that it will not fall. We have given you two full patterns in two different lengths that gives you the choice of the mini skirt or the more sophisticated knee length. You will feel fabulous in either! Will I feel fabulous? We'll see.  I bought a size 10 and made a muslin of the mini length, which was a  tad short (for work).  I didn't have a fabric in mind until I saw this stretch cotton online at Mood a few weeks ago - for $3.99 a yard! Yes please.  I normally don't wear yellow, but I've been trying to get out of my comfort zone in terms of style and color lately, and I liked the print. Stretch cotton - $3.99/yard! This is an easy sew, I whipped this up in maybe an hour and half, or less.  There is nothing tricky - a few darts, mi...

Lately I've found myself buying patterns that I never would have thought I would like - the cape in my previous post, for example!  Which brings me to this Burda Style pants pattern: First of all, I haven't really gotten around to making myself real non-leggings pants yet, although my apartment is full of muslins.  I saw this, and bought it, I'm not sure why - I was sober and of sound mind and body.  I kind of liked the pleat, but doubted it would look good on my body.  I decided to make view A, first with some fruity rayon challis I'd just bought from Califabrics.com: Fruity!! Rayon challis from Califabrics.com It is very lightweight and drapey and silky - perfect for this style.  I cut a size 12 - based on my hip I would have cut a 14, but I chose the 12 based on the finished measurements printed on the pattern (thanks Burda!) It came out to about 6" ease, which is plenty. Burda instructions are sparse, but fine. This is a pretty simple pant t...

Sometime in January I found myself browsing patterns and I was hypnotized by the cape patterns from New Look.  I bought this one and  also this one and will probably eventually buy this one! I never thought I was a 'cape person'.  I had also recently bought some really beautiful Tahari wool plum speckled coating from Califabrics.com coating and for a lining I used Bemberg rayon in mustard from Mood. I started with 6227 - no hood.  I cut a size S, view C.  The trick with this fabric that I did not foresee is the directional stripe - I managed to creatively lay it out and cut it so that it made a chevron at the center front and back.   Construction is simple, there are only a few pieces.  The slits are basically like cutting a welt, if you've done that before, only larger.  The only change I made was not to attach the lining at the bottom edge; I'd read a review where this seemed to cause the fabric not to lay right, wh...

This isn't really a pattern review because I have at least 3 Hollyburns in my closet already.   I was seeing a lot of leather skirts in easier silhouettes (as opposed to sexy and vampy - not that there's anything wrong with that!) in magazines, and decided to make a version for myself.  I bought some black vegan leather from Califabrics.com: I was really happy with this fabric when it arrived - it's beautiful, and looks really high-quality for pleather. It had been sold out (because I bought the rest since I liked it so much, ha!) but looks like they've restocked here . I sewed a size 6 like I usually do with a Hollyburn and sewed version B. The only difference was to use a teflon foot for the pleather and lengthen my stitches, especially for topstitching the pockets, etc. I had no issues sewing the pleather, it was easy with the teflon foot!  I did some test stitches on a scrap, which I usually do and would recommend any time its a new fabric or technique. I...