Neuroscientist + Curious Mind + Passionate Maker
I recently found a local fabric store that has a ton of excellent quilt cotton fabrics. I wanted to show my husband, so during the Christmas holiday, we went. While meandering around the store, I found the perfect fabric to make an Easter dress for a friend's little girl.
Anybody that has sewed using plaid has done it, accidentally flipped the plaid upside down. I made this flannel shirt awhile back ago, and when I cut out the arms, I cut them the wrong way. If you look closely, you'll see that the plaid pattern is reversed. Now, I realize that this isn't a... Continue Reading →
I have been finally making myself comfortable and wearable pants! I've raved about the 8 oz. chino twill from http://www.sellfabric.com before and that's the fun fabric I used for these pants, pumpkin color! I love the fit, finally on a pair of pants. They are not too tight and not too loose, but in terms... Continue Reading →
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 →
Last year, I found this great tutorial on how to sew a collar to a shirt: http://foursquarewalls.blogspot.com/2013/09/sewing-collar-different-order.html. However, I was still not fully satisfied, because the last step of folding the bottom of the stand resulted in an uneven and bulky seam. Here's my improved method for getting a crisp, clean collar on a shirt.... Continue Reading →
There's nothing better than fresh bread and if you don't want to bother with the effort of making a yeasted bread, this recipe is a great alternative. It takes longer to preheat your oven then it does to make the bread. Your final product results in the perfect bread for a little bit of butter and jam!!
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!
I'm gonna be honest. I don't think I could have ever managed this pattern if I didn't have a couple of years experience sewing and making adjustments to patterns. I made this sweater four, yes FOUR times because it took that long to figure out how to get a decent fit. Here's the saga.
I was reluctant to make strawberry rhubarb jam. However, after my attempt at making just rhubarb jam, I knew I needed to explore adding something else to rhubarb. Rhubarb jam alone doesn't pack much flavor. It doesn't make for a good jam in the morning on toast. It is sharp and citrusy, but that's about it. By adding the bare minimum of strawberries, I was able to round out the flavor of rhubarb without losing the wonderful essence of rhubarb that I love. This recipe is so delicious. If you have a hard time finding 10 pounds of rhubarb, look at my notes below.
