C Sews

Hey, I made it to Week 3 of Me Made May 2013! As I mentioned in my previous post (“My Unofficial Me Made May Participation: Weeks 1 and 2“), I’m unofficially participating in this handmade wearable challenge.  So far I’ve only had one repeat – wearing my red hat twice. But I think I’ll be [...]

I hadn’t planned on participating in Me Made May challenge but it just so happened that I was wearing a dress I made on May 1 so on an impulse I decided to see how many days in a row I could wear something I made. So here’s what I’ve worn so far in my [...]

I’ve never entered any sewing contests before but I hope to enter my first one this year – the BurdaStyle Vintage Modern Sewing Contest. It’ll help me keep to my sewing resolution – to make, not buy clothes this year. I decided that if I’m going to make something for a contest, it needed to [...]

In October I began embroidering a wrap featured in Natalie Chanin’s book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design (see my post “Getting Started on My “Alabama Fur” Wrap“). After a few evenings and about 15 hours of stitching spirals on this black jersey knit fabric, I realized that I was making spirals on the so-called wrong [...]

When I got my copy of Natalie Chanin’s Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, which I reviewed in September, I was all fired up to make a wrap embroidered with spirals, or what designer Natalie Chanin calls “Alabama fur.” The “fur” is created by leaving one-inch tails of embroidery floss on the right side of your fabric. [...]

For this post, I pick up where I left off in Part 1 — I had sewed the front and back pieces together and attached the collar. Now I tried on the top to see how it fit. I was swimming in it. It was way too wide. I think I was overcompensating on the size because [...]

I bought this “Jasmine” top pattern from Colette Patterns earlier this year. For fabrics, I decided to use a striped cotton shirting, a remnant I got from Britex Fabrics a while ago. I thought it would be a nice contrast to this feminine style and make full use of this bias-cut pattern. The instructions mentioned that the pattern was [...]

When I saw this skirt by Comtoir Des Cotonniers on sale last year at A Miner Miracle Shop in San Francisco, I just had to buy it. I loved the print. Plus the proceeds go to A Miner Miracle, – a nonprofit organization that “provides professional clothing and image counseling to low-income people seeking employment.” Everything at [...]

This month Christine Haynes launched her new pattern line, which kicks off with two lovely patterns for summer weather: Derby Dress and Chelsea Dress. You can order them on her website ChristineHaynes.com on this page and soon you will be able to buy them in shops around the country. After they ship, Christine will put a store [...]

When I first began sewing as a young girl, I sewed mostly woven cotton fabric and made pretty basic clothes. So I never really had to be concerned about the “hand” of fabric. What is the hand of fabric? It’s how a fabric feels when you touch it – soft, stiff, flowing, crisp, and so on. [...]