I’ve created a new website to sell my hand dyed clothing and accessories! (Like the quilted shawl pictured above.) My blog will now be located there as well.
You can also join my mailing list here, if you want to know when I have new work for sale. I would love it if you came over and said hello! Hope to see you there!
-Stephanie:)
Zoinks! I didn’t intend to take such a long break from this blog! Is anyone still out there???
Just in case you are still reading, here is a new completed garment! It’s a Grainline Studio Tamarack Jacket!
Well, technically, it’s not really a “new” garment. I have a backlog of completed garments from the past three years that I haven’t blogged. I completed this Tamarack Jacket last January.
I have a ton of fabric scraps saved from previous projects and I thought a patchwork Tamarack would look really cool. Some of my scraps are from my hand dyed fabrics and some of them are solids that I purchased. I decided to go with shades of blue because…I like shades of blue…
It took quite a while to piece all of the scraps together, but I was very happy with the result.
I used organic cotton batting as a filler and navy organic cotton broad cloth for the lining and binding.
I hand quilted the jacket using navy blue sashiko thread. This was my first time quilting and I instantly became obsessed with it! I finished my first quilt after this jacket, but I’ll save that for another post.
Needless to say, I love this pattern! The one change I made was to blend the hem into a continuous line from front to back at the side seam, instead of doing the curved edges that the original pattern has. Also, I really need to add the pockets. I was a little impatient to wear the jacket, so once it was mostly done, I figured pockets could wait, but I sorely miss them.
That’s it for now! I promise I won’t stay away so long this time!
I’ve got a full glass of wine and “Murder She Wrote” playing on the TV in the background, so conditions seem just right to tell you about my latest sewing project.
No, it’s not this gold lamé number. It’s a blue linen baby doll top!
I think baby doll tops/dresses may be another thing that I love, but many people despise. I just really like shapes that aren’t too form fitting, or that even take it a step further and kind of hang away from the body. I do like to pair tops like this with something slim on the bottom, to balance out the proportions.
I was waiting to post this one until it became a little more spring-like outside, and I don’t want to jinx us, but it feels like winter is over in my neck of the woods.
I dyed the linen with my usual fiber reactive dyes, and I used a bunch of little clamps to make the small square/dot pattern. I’ve been trying out different resists and I like how this came out a little more subtle than my usual patterns.
Here is a shot of the full piece of fabric.
I’ve been working on some new pieces to put up for sale in my Etsy shop, and I’ll probably blog about some of them here as they are completed. I perpetually feel like I’m not getting enough done, but I’m trying to take it one garment at a time:)
Cheers!
We just had a huge snowstorm here in the northeast, so I felt like posting about something warm and cozy while I’m stuck inside.
I had a little bit of organic sweatshirt fleece leftover after I cut out my Elf Cardigan, so I used it to make another Linden Sweatshirt. There wasn’t quite enough to make my sweatshirt the full length of the pattern, so I shortened it to make a cropped version.
I dyed the fabric with my usual fiber reactive dyes and I clamped the bundle with an assortment of circular blocks before putting it into the dye bath to create a random polka dot pattern.
I ventured out to check out the storm on Saturday and took a few pictures:
That’s it for now. Stay warm!
I was reading the Merchant & Mills Sewing Book a few months ago and one of the sewing projects in the book was a two-sided linen throw. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to make one! I made mine using organic linen, which I ice dyed.
It’s a pretty simple design, just two squares of fabric stitched together, but one square is cut larger than the other so that when you turn it right side out, one side wraps around to the other side of the throw and forms a contrasting border.
The corners are mitered and the border is top stitched to keep the edges neat.
For the ice dying, I did a random crumple pattern on the pink/purple side and for the blue side I folded the fabric into triangles before dying it.
I love how these patterns turned out so much. Both sides look like crazy abstract florals.
I love to make clothes, but it’s nice to take a break with a project that doesn’t require as much mental energy. No fitting, no curves, only two pattern pieces, pretty colors…very relaxing.
No mistakes, just happy accidents.
It was the Bob Ross of sewing projects.
I’ve been working on some new designs for my shop. This is the first version of a hooded cardigan that I’ve been testing out.
I’ve been working with more knits since I bought a serger and I wanted to make something that would be comfortable and easy to wear, but would still look interesting.
It’s my own self-drafted pattern and this sample was made from organic cotton sweatshirt fleece that I hand dyed.
I’m pretty happy with it, but there are a few things I need to adjust before it will be ready for sale.
One change will be to have the front bodice panels overlap each other further. I made it so that they overlap by a few inches, which is fine for wearing the cardigan open, but I realized that it feels much cozier to have them fully overlap each other when you want to bundle up.
Another thing I will change is how the seams inside the hood and around the front edge and hem are finished. I don’t really like how the exposed serged seams look, so I will conceal them next time.
I’m thinking probably a flat felled seam down the center of the hood and a twice turned up hem with mitered corners around the edge of the garment. I’m not sure how to finish the neckline, I’ll have to think about that one!
Overall, I’m really happy with how this design turned out and I’m hoping to have the new and improved version up for sale in my shop soon. In the mean time I will continue “test wearing” this one in the name of fashion science!
Hello! I’m back with a backlog of garments to post!
First up is the Lark Tee from Grainline Studio.
I really like Grainline’s patterns. They are basic in the best way. Classic and minimalist, but not boring. I usually dye my own fabric and I tend to stick to simpler shapes to let the fabric do the talking.
For this top, I ice dyed organic cotton jersey. This was my first foray into ice dyeing and I am obsessed!!!
Fabric scrunched up in a basket with ice on top, sprinkled with dye.
Ice dyeing is pretty easy, you just need fabric, powdered dye and ice (duh!). There are a lot of tutorials about how to do it online, I followed the one on Dharma Trading’s website. The fabric came out awesome!
Finished fabric drying on the rack.
As far as the Lark Tee pattern, I made a straight size 14 and I didn’t make any adjustments to the pattern. I think next time I will go down a size because the 14 feels a little too big, but the proportions of the tee are good.
I used my serger to sew the majority of the tee together and I used a jersey needle in my straight stitch machine to do the hems and to top-stitch around the neck binding. Before I hemmed the sleeves and body, I serged the edges to keep them neat, then pressed them up and stitched in place.
I will definitely make this pattern again and DEFINITELY do more ice dyeing!
My measurements for reference:
Height: 5′ 5″
Bust: 41.5″
Waist: 33.5″
Hips: 41.5″
Pattern: Grainline Studio Lark Tee – size 14
Fabric: Organic cotton jersey
I’ve been meaning to post better pictures of this rainbow silk kaftan ever since I wrote about the process of making it during the winter, but I didn’t get around to taking them until last week. The lighting in my apartment is dreadful, but I was not willing to take pictures outside in February. So here they are, finally!
The day I took these pictures was very hot and humid, but I felt so breezy walking around in this…
Hmmm…I feel it all the way up my skirt.
I’m definitely going to make myself some more kaftans. By next summer my muumuu collection will rival that of Mrs. Roper!
The other night I was really bored, so I decided to play dress up!
I had decided a while ago that I wanted to make all of my own clothes and have a completely made-by-me wardrobe. I’ve been making a lot of clothes, but I don’t have the greatest storage system, so most of them get folded up and tucked away in storage boxes and I end up wearing the same group of easily accessible basics most of the time.
It was good to see the progress I’ve made towards my goal, I always feel like I’m not getting enough done. I took pictures of my favorites, a la Cher in Clueless:
I don’t trust mirrors, so I always take Polaroids.
It was a really helpful exercise!
I need to make some pants…
Hello! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been working on getting one of my patterns ready to release as a PDF and I have been neglecting my trusty sewing blog! I took a break from the pattern to spruce up my summer wardrobe.
First up is this blue shibori dyed dress with dolman sleeves, a gathered skirt, and big patch pockets. I used my own self drafted pattern.
I wanted to make myself a few things that were comfortable but looked nicer than my worn out collection of skinny jeans and tee shirts. Bleck.
I had some crinkly cotton gauze on hand and I dyed it up with some blueberry fiber reactive dye. I had just enough to get one dress out of it. What luck!
This is also the first time I tried taking pictures outside and they look sooooo much better that the ones taken inside my cave-like apartment!
Back view:
And a few shots of the inside of the dress:
I used french seams as usual, including at the waist with the gathering, and contrasting bias binding around the neck. The hems of the sleeves and skirt were turned up twice and stitched. I like to make the hems pretty deep, especially on a lightweight fabric, it makes everything hang very nicely.
That’s it!
P.S. If anyone has any questions about the techniques I used, please don’t hesitate to ask:)
Stephanie Rasulo 