Welcome to the blog! Here you’ll find a hub for all my tutorials, advice, videos and other sewing news and inspiration. Choose a category or simply explore. Enjoy!
Last year I scored three boxes full of vintage sewing patterns on Facebook Marketplace for some crazy price, like $10 for the whole lot. I had the best time going through them and picking out what to keep, what was too mouse eaten to touch (ha!) and what to pass along to the next lucky seeker of vintage patterns at a thrift store somewhere.
Read MoreIf you’re a short waisted gal like me, then boy, do I have the tutorial for you today! While I like the look of all the current high waisted trends on other people, being short waisted, those clothes can look rather ridiculous on me. In fact, most mid rise fit like high rise on me!
Because of this, I struggle to find pants that are the right rise for me right now. I recently bought some pajama pants, though, that were high rise, but that I knew I could alter to fit me how I like them. I created a video tutorial to show you how to do it too!
Read MoreAre you someone who has been sewing clothing and finding that your clothes just aren’t turning out how you wanted them to? Maybe they’re wearable, but just don’t look good on you, or maybe they actually turned out beautifully, but you find them languishing in the back of your closet, never being worn and you wonder why it is you don’t like it.
If that’s you, I have two big tips for you today so that you can start making garments you’ll actually be able to wear! If you’re making one of these mistakes in your sewing life, this post is sure to improve your success rate. Promise.
Read MoreMy teen daughters are into cottage core style hair accessories lately and asked if I could copy a few that we’ve seen. One of those were some pretty, velvet bows we spotted at Target the other day. They were larger hair bows with long tails and so cute! But at $14 a piece, we knew we could DIY them for a fraction of the cost.
Sure enough, after spending just $2.50 for each spool of velvet ribbon and the same for a bag of hair clips, we have the cutest set of velvet hair bows! And I’m going to teach you how, so you can have some too :)
Read MoreIf you have a top or shirt pattern that you love the fit of and that you find yourself making over and over, you may have considered other ways to use it, including somehow turning it into a dress. This is something I’ve done many times with great success! So today I’m going to show you how you can lengthen any top sewing pattern to make a dress.
Let the pattern hacking commence!
Read MoreShorts can be such an easy, low pressure garment garment to sew! They don’t require as much fitting as pants since shorts are generally worn looser and and there aren’t any leg fitting issues to be dealt with. Plus, shorts don’t take much fabric, so you can even sew some cute summer shorts from scraps you have left over from other garments! They can be made in all kinds of fabrics too — I love easy, breezy fabrics like rayon and linen for summer clothes of all kinds, shorts included.
I’ve rounded up a great variety of shorts sewing patterns for women for you! There’s something for everyone here, denim and non denim shorts patterns, high waisted shorts, running shorts, and even some FREE shorts patterns to sew.
Read MoreBlazers are a hot trend right now! I was lucky enough to score a perfect vintage corduroy blazer at a thrift store last year and it’s been so useful in my wardrobe every since, it has my wheels turning about adding a few more blazers to my wardrobe in this upcoming season.
Read MoreBefore I let any of our family’s clothing head off to the thrift store donation center, I make sure I go through the bags to see if there’s anything in there that we can refashion into something else! This is a great experimental idea for sewing with kids, and it’s one that won’t cost you anything, so I’m here to share with you today several ideas for how to refashion and/or upcycle your kids’ outgrown or worn out clothing. Hopefully these ideas will get the creative juices flowing and get you and your kids sewing!
Read MoreI have a few quick solutions for fixing pockets in ready to wear dresses or skirts! I don’t know if you’ve had the same experience, but whenever I have a dress with side seam pockets, I get super annoyed by how the pockets either wrinkle and bunch up, adding bulk to my hip area, or shift out of place — sometimes I stand up and my pockets have fallen to the back of my dress. It’s annoying to have to always fix my pockets.
Read MoreYesterday I promised I’d share some great t-shirt sewing patterns with you all! T-shirt sewing is fun and easy, but finding a perfect pattern can be so hard. It’s funny that the most basic garments are hardest to find the perfect patterns for.
If you haven’t seen my newest video tutorial, you can see how I make a t-shirt using a store bought one to make a pattern. But, you may not have a t-shirt to cut up for that purpose, so I wanted to list the tee patterns I’ve had success with over and over again. Once you have a pattern, you can use the techniques and tips in that video and in my fail proof neckband tutorial, to make a closet full of favorite t-shirts.
Read MoreIt’s funny that t-shirts are considered one of the most basic garments out there, but most people are afraid to try sewing one! I’m here to fix that for you today. T-shirt sewing doesn’t have to be scary or complicated. With a few specific tools and tricks, you can copy a well fitting t-shirt and make them up in all kinds of fabric and colors!
Read MoreThis sewing tutorial has been a long time coming! In fact, I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to create an apron tutorial because I’ve been making this same exact apron for literally decades. So, a little late, I know, but today I’m sharing with you how to sew a simple kitchen bib apron!
My mom is really the one who deserves credit for this apron, since she’s the one who started making these many years ago. She’s made countless aprons for housewarming gifts, bridal shower gifts, and birthday/Christmas gifts. During my first year of marriage, she made me an apron for every holiday that came along that year. So I had cute aprons in holiday fabrics to wear for years to come! So cute and clever.
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