Sew Spoiled

This school year is about to start and every year we buy a new book bag for the girls. It is fun to pick out but once you get to the check out and you see the amount everything costs, it can make your hair stand on end. That is why last year I bought L.L. Bean Book bags . They have a lifetime guarantee and are super durable.  So once the new school year rolled around I took out the LLBean bags. Gross, yucky, marked up bags . It's great they have a warranty but I can't replace them just because they are dirty. What to do? Then, I remembered the stain remover solution of 2 parts Hydrogen, 1 part Blue Dawn dish soap. Luckily, I had the two and mixed up a batch. I took a sponge and rubbed the solution all over the book bags. After letting them sit for a while I sprayed them with water. They were still a little soapy, so I placed them in the washer. Finally, I let them air dry and Ta Da! New beautiful looking book bags. The only part of the book bag that did not like getti...

Yesterday, I wrote about the  Blythe Skirt  from the book the Magic Pattern Book. I just finished another fabulous project and had to share! You know it is a fantastic book when you can make many of the projects quickly. This is the Charlotte shirt from the Magic Pattern Book written by Amy Barickman. This shirt is a great fall shirt to wear. In the Magic Pattern Book Amy shows you how to repurpose an old mens shirt to make something new for yourself. My husband over the pass year and a half has lost 100 pounds and he let me cut up one of his XXL button down shirts. WooHoo!! I am truly proud of him.  I took the easy way out. I left the bottom hem intact and the sleeve cuffs. I also left the buttons and sewed the center together. Leaving all of that still put together left less for me to sew. The sewing pattern calls for bias tape as a casing, I chose to fold the casing back so you would not see it to create the casing. The Charlotte shirt is comfortable to...

If Amy Barickman's name doesn't ring a bell, how about  Indygo Junction ? Amy Barickman founded  Indygo Junction  in 1990 and over the past 20 years she has sold 2 million sewing patterns! When I found out she recently authored another sewing book, I had to give it a try. Her new book is called  The Magic Pattern Book  and it has a wonderful concept.  In The Magic Pattern Book  Amy take 6 patterns (tank top, skirt, dress, cardigan, coat and accessories) and creates 36 designs from these 6 patterns!!  For example, the cardigan, has 6 versions you can create.  The Cardigan Family That's not all, Amy doesn't just give you the instructions and tell you how to manipulate the pattern templates but she has given you all 36 designs with full templates on a CD in the back of the book. Many times a sewing book will suggest extra designs but when you go to create it you have to draft the new design by yourself. Amy has constructed it all for y...

I just received this book in the mail and I am so excited! It is not a typical sewing book. Built By Wendy , by Wendy Mullin , is written for anyone who wants to create dresses that are unique.  Wendy gives you 3 style of dresses; the sheath dress, shift dress and dirndl dress. The pattern templates do not have seam allowances but that is so that you can create more designs with them. These pattern temples are called slopers. Designers use slopers to create new dress designs. Wendy also shows you how to create 25 different dresses but you will have to draft some of the extra pieces of the dress. When I think of the slopers, the lines are the seams. After reading through the book I realized that I have been creating these basic dress designs all a long. Here are just a few examples. You might have these sewing patterns too. ✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄ The Shift Dress Laurel by Colette Patterns This is the shift dress with a couple darts along the back panels. ✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄✄...