Neuroscientist + Curious Mind + Passionate Maker
Button down shirts: classic, always on-trend, easy to wear, perfect. If done correctly, an untucked button down shirt and a pair of pants can be the easiest outfit possible that is appropriate for everyday wear. After getting my technique down for sewing the collar and cuffs (see here for tutorial), I have been on a... Continue Reading →
Nothing beats a good sweatshirt and urban fit track pant combo. In the last week, I've made myself several sweaters out of the most glorious sweatshirting fabric you could imagine. NOSH's stretch sweatshirt fleece is made from organic cotton. It contains elastane which gives it great stretch and recovery. This fabric is resilient, flexible, durable, does not pill, and is super easy to work with.
I've put off sewing a fleece robe for 2 years, almost as long as I have been sewing. Why? First, I was not looking forward to tracing out the pattern. B (or second), I was not looking forward to cutting out long pieces of fabric that wouldn't fit on my sewing table, so I'd have to get on the floor and cut out fabric. Third, I hate sewing with fleece. IV (or D or Fourth), if you are a Doctor Who fan, I hope you got my joke...
I'm starting a full time position this semester and I'm going to have to get serious about my work appropriate wardrobe. First step is to make a bunch of great button-down shirts. Luckily I'm able to wear jeans to work, so a classy shirt with jeans is going to be a great go-to outfit.
This summer I found the perfect summer PJ set for Ryan. Now I realize the fabric does this weird visual illusion, but go with me on this. I mashed together two patterns to generate the best possible comfortable PJ set for warm summer days. For the top, I used Thread Theory's Arrowsmith undershirt pattern, which is a free PDF pattern by the way. For the bottoms, I used True Bias' Hudson pant pattern. Match made in heaven!
Recently had to change the pattern for Ryan's t-shirts and I wanted to just give the update on how great Thread Theory's Strathcona Henley pattern is for making a basic shirt.
Necessity is the mother of invention. I have been dreading this day, but the day has come. Ryan no longer fits in ANY of his work clothes. Luckily, he's a school teacher and that gives me until August to rectify the situation. Now we are faced with two choices. Go out and buy clothes, which are really expensive, or suck it up and learn to make him pants and shirts. Because of the dire situation, I'm forced to make this happen. I'm pushing myself to figure out a pant pattern and a long-sleeved shirt pattern.
After test driving the shorts in a woven cotton and then making a pair in knit, I wanted to have a basic denim short for the summer. I thought this project would be a great time to try out Art Gallery solid smooth denim, a quilting weight denim fabric. Details Pattern: Tammy's Tulip Shorts by... Continue Reading →
I've been focusing on getting out of my comfort zone lately. This means I'm participating in #mmmay17. Part of my participation involves sewing new clothes and trying new patterns. It has taken awhile, but I finally have a good wardrobe base, so now I can really start refining. This whole post and the clothes I made came out of no where. I had the fabric and my original goal was to make a nice summery outfit, but it turned into the best, most comfiest PJs you could imagine. Surprises are good!
Last year, I just took Ryan's old work pants that were showing wear and had holes around places and shortened them into shorts for the summer. That worked brilliantly and was a great way to upcycle his clothes, but this last year Ryan's pant size has changed and I don't have any old work pants to shorten. If Ryan is to have any summer shorts, I need to sew shorts from scratch. Sewing patterns for men are pretty dismal and sparse especially when it comes to pants and shorts. Luckily, very luckily, I found a pattern that sews up really quick and looks great.
When I saw Inês from La Folie in her Waterfall raglan shirt, I was immediately hooked! I've been keeping my eye out for a relaxed knit shirt that would work over leggings or stretchy pants and be totally age appropriate. The Waterfall raglan is utter perfection. Details Pattern: Waterfall Raglan by Chalk & Notch Fabric: Pop... Continue Reading →
This post is not so much about the fantastically awesome, best-pant-pattern ever, but instead about the plights of finding fabric that will work for making pants. Here's the dilemma, I need casual pants for work and everyday wear and I want them to come in colors other than black, but I don't want the fabric to look ridiculous after an hour.
