Stitchin' in My Kitchen

 I love to travel, and I love to use an upcoming trip as an excuse to sew something new!   Next month I’m headed back to Seattle, one of my favorite American cities, and I decided I should make some outerwear for the trip.   I’d had the Jalie 2680 Stretch City Coat pattern in my “to sew” pile for a while and decided the hooded version would be perfect.     I also had 3 yards of this black perforated windblock fleece in my stash that I bought last year from Califabrics.com .   It is medium weight, has nice stretch, and a soft fleecy interior. Since I anticipated rain, I decided on the hooded view. I cut a size U based on my measurements.   There are a lot of pieces, with seaming and topstitiching details, but the construction is quite simple.   I made this on a Saturday while battling a cold and it was still easy!! I used a 90/14 ballpoint needle and had no problems sewing it with the machine (hand-tacking was a bit dif...

This will just be a short little post about my just finished asymmetrical zip jacket, Butterick 6169. Described as: Semi-fitted, lined jacket has shoulder pads, seam detail, welt pockets, exposed zipper, and two-piece sleeves.  I want to make myself a full on moto jacket at some point, so I'm working my way up to, starting with this pattern.  I made a muslin for a straight size 12, and only made two small changes: First, a swayback adjustment. It was very roomy at the small of my back, and I know it's described as semi-fitted, but I didn't like the look and I took out a few inches back there so it would fit close when I had it zipped. Second, the pocket bags are not drafted for adult human hands. They are crazy small so I drew them large enough to put my hand in them (see the picture above? Her hand can't go any farther in!) Otherwise, it was a great little jacket pattern. I spent about a day working on this, there's not a lot of hand sewing, just the lining at...

I’ve spent the past few weeks working on Vintage Simplicity 5922, it’s finally finished, and I felt like showing it off! Even though I’m currently experiencing summer in the SF Bay Area, I love faux fur, and I hope to one day move back to a city that experiences true winter. In the meantime…. This jacket pattern is meant to be made in a combination of fur and a woven fabric. I decided to go with the fur sleeve option this round.   The body of the fabric is this amazing black-on-black skull silk-cotton from the designer Milly that I bought from Cali Fabrics (I think it’s sold out because I bought it all). The sleeves are a black shag 2” faux fur also from Cali Fabrics, and the lining is a purple polyester from the brick-and-mortar home of Cali Fabrics, Fabric Outlet (shop local!) I made a quick muslin of this and found it to be a bit snug around the lower band. It’s a size 14, which is sized for a 28” waist, but felt a little too tight for a jacket so I ended up s...

This post originally appeared on the Cali & Co. Blog for the Fabric Obsessed . There are a few types of fabric that I am obsessed with since I’ve been sewing, but never would have bought off the rack. Faux fur is one, and sequins are the other! (You can take the girl out of New Jersey but….) Maybe some of you have a similar relationship with certain fabrics? I had wanted to make a sequined jacket for the holidays, but those came and went and it didn’t happen, but it stayed on my to-sew list. So even though it isn’t entirely seasonal, my new blog project is a sequined blazer! Some of my inspiration: Tom Haverford, Park and Rec, "Treat yo self" Chris Jericho, WWE wrestler Cali Fabrics has a great selection of sequin fabrics, including the amazing reversible sequins they've added to the site recently. For this project I chose to work with their matte silver ‘micro sequins’ . I’ve sewn with micro sequins before and they are pretty easy to work with...