Stitchin' in My Kitchen

Cesaro happens to be my favorite WWE wrestler, and he recently disclosed in an interview that he sewed the tear-away suit he wears for his entrance.  Before his WWE days, he used to sew all of his in-ring gear - pretty impressive. Now if you'll excuse me, my new ambition is to be a WWE seamstress, and I'm going to work on my spandex sewing skills.

Every summer I plan to sew up a bunch of cute casual dresses, and then, I just don't.   They aren't always as practical for work (somedays I need more mobility than a dress allows, so I frequently wear a knit top/skirt combo this time of year, or one of my many Lady Skater dresses), excuses excuses.  When I first started sewing I made a bunch of dresses that I don't get to wear very often (Icing v Cake I believe the sewing world calls it).  I've been really into making pieces that I will wear daily.  But last weekend I went thru my pattern and fabric stash and made New Look 6447. I made View D, sleeveless and above the knee.  I like dress patterns with a midriff piece because I find it's easier to fit if you tend to grade between sizes in the upper and lower body, which I often do. Although I cut a straight 12 this time and it fit pretty much perfectly. I used some Cotton & Steel octopus cotton lawn that I bought last year.  Black is usually th...

I sew a lot of button-down shirts for my partner, mostly Negroni by Colette patterns.  He's happy with it, we've perfected the fit to his liking, why change horses?  But I was cruising Etsy and found this vintage pattern (circa 1974), bought it, showed it to Tim online and he wrinkled his nose and said "No, I don't think so." I was crushed, but I had a feeling he would like it and I decided to make it anyway.  My pattern actually had the embroidery transfer in it still! (which I didn't use)  I cut the size 40 and decided to use this heavyweight chambray from Califabrics.com that I had leftover from a skirt I'd made. It was very easy to sew - the instructions were excellent and it's pretty straightforward, especially if you've made a tailored shirt before.   I had wanted to sew this because it has a two-part collar, and the Negroni shirt is a camp collar, and I decided it was time to tackle the more complicated collar. It went together with ...