Author: thelongthread

Posted on

Show Your Stripes

I told my kids that this would be the “summer of fun”, so unfortunately for you, I think it’s the summer of me not paying much attention to my blog. But really, playing and relaxing has made some significant improvements for us this summer. Maybe one day I’ll write a post about my return to 70s era parenting techniques.

But today I thought I’d share a couple of sewing projects. I am fully on board with this stripe and chevron trend, so I made a swimsuit cover up from Anna Maria Horner’s Mixed Signals voile (below), and a skirt with a nice twill ticking stripe (above), both bought locally from Whipstitch.

I didn’t use a pattern for either, but the top of the cover-up is similar to the Liberty of London top I made a while back. It has a sash and a split at the side hem. Next time, I am adding darts because I think that would help. Part of sewing clothes for myself really needs to be about finding a flattering fit since everything can be customized. That may take years to figure out. The skirt is lined with a side zipper and apparently I couldn’t be bothered with perfection in lining up the stripes. But perfection is totally overrated.

Anyway, I also wanted to let you know about a couple of current giveaways for my book, 1, 2, 3 Sew. Naughty Secretary Club is hosting a giveaway that you can enter here through Monday and Chronicle Books has a giveaway that you can enter through Tuesday by leaving a comment on their facebook post here. I’m really excited to kick off a blog tour in a couple of weeks and I’m thrilled about all the great blogs who have agreed to be part of the tour!

Posted on

Market Tote Instructions

Chronicle Books wrote this fun post about tote bags and included the instructions for my Market Tote from 1, 2, 3 Sew, like this one that I made last week. Made with burlap and fully lined, this tote is the first of three in the tote bag chapter and is the most simple to make, perfect for a beginner or anyone who wants a grown-up tote bag.

It’s a great bag for the summer, and even though my latest version is in linen and cotton, it’s proven to be a perfect pool carry-all, holding 2-3 towels and our gear. You could also use a vinyl-coated cotton liner and outer bottom for wet swimsuits. I need to go ahead and invest in a teflon presser foot for working with slippery fabrics, but now I simply use a strip of painter’s tape on the edge of the fabric and then remove it after I’m done stitching.

I’m still waiting for the days when I can just take a magazine to the pool and relax in the shade while the kids swim on their own, but we’re not quite there yet. Although when my daughter practiced her “dead man float” at the pool last week, the lifeguard did jump in after her, which gave me some reassurance. But oops. She’s not allowed to do that anymore.

Note: Included with the book for some of the projects are full-scale paper patterns to make your life easier. But since this tote pattern is larger than the printable page, they were having some problems with the template file on the Chronicle blog, so I sent over a diagram of the pattern (which is posted there now), but then I figured out an easier way! Here’s a tiled version, so you just print out these six pages and put them together like a puzzle. Everyone loves a puzzle, right? Here’s your hint: it will look like the image above when done.

Please let me know if you have any questions! Happy Sewing!

Posted on

Etsy Finds Friday

Big Splashy Floral Screenprinted Scarf, $32 from Pretty Perry Designs.

White Tape from Mummysam, $16.

Handmade Fabric Doll, $18 from Timo Handmade.

Organic Cotton Fabric from Daisy Janie, $16.50 per yard.

Marimekko Throw Pillow Cover, $34 from Sigrids Secrets.

Vintage Scissors Mixed Media, $64 from Cori Kindred.

The Wild Bunch Printable Kit, $5.30 from mibo.

Small Porcelain Vase, $175 from Isabelle Abramson Ceramics.

Dreamcatcher Bag, hand-dyed, $69 from Hazel and Hunter.

Posted on

Photos from 1, 2, 3 Sew

More pictures! I’ve updated my 1, 2, 3 Sew page here to include photos from all of the chapter openers as you can see above, which shows you all 33 projects from the book. Also included on the page is the table of contents.

Be sure to also check out the book designer’s site here and the photographer’s site here to see more photos from the book.

Proudly powered by WordPress