The Hurrying Spring Along Shirt!

This is what I woke up to on April 2nd...

It was supposed to be spring like 3 weeks ago! So continuing to sew shirts is appropriate for April. Especially since I'm thinking it's gonna be a minute before it gets really warm in my neck of the woods, especially since more snow is forecasted for today.  Oh spring, where art thou?

At the same time, Macy's is having their Annual Flower Show on the main floor of the Herald Square store. I thought it would be the perfect place to take photos of my latest make but of course being the slub that I am I just couldn't make that work. It's a lot harder than you realize to cart clothing, camera pieces and extra hair from NJ!

So my ever resourceful daughter thought up going to Michaels to take pictures in their floral department. She said that there is a #MichaelsChallenge where the store is encouraging people to take photos in their floral department. So we headed there to take the pictures and no one bothered us. 

Onto the shirt ~
This is my quarterly make for Elliot Berman Textiles.  I saw the fabric on their Instagram feed and walked over to see if I could have some. Now I got this fabric in early February. My plan was to make this shirt over President's Day weekend. Well we all know that didn't happen and why! But I was determined to get this finished, so I took it to Sew Camp with me.

This was from EB's feed on IG

It was also available on Emmaonesock but is long sold out!

I'm sharing this pic because of the amazing shots EOS took of the fabric.

Supply List ~
* Cotton Sateen Border Print from Italy - this fabric was in panels and I used 3 panels.
* Light Crisp Shirting Fusible Interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply
* 8 1/2" flower buttons from the collection

Construction & Design Thoughts ~
Now that this pattern's fit issues have been resolved, my shirts are all about the fabric choices. When I saw this on Instagram, I KNEW it would make an amazing shirt if I could get the border print to lay down the front of the shirt. This is challenging because I don't use a flat front on my shirts. My shirts have a shoulder princess seam...so layout would be important.

This is what I shared on IG when thinking about my layout:

Then it was how do I make the border print work most effectively for the shirt. 

A few things:

1. The border print ran horizontally, so I made sure that all of the main pieces (fronts, bottom back and sleeves) were cut in the same direction.

2. While I cut the collar, cuffs and back yoke on the straight grain, I've done this before and know that it doesn't affect the hang of the shirt.

3. I cut these pieces to work most effectively with the shirt's design flow.

4. Full cuffs for the sleeves instead of a button cuff was the way I went with this shirt. I just liked it. It was totally my choice - it could have gone either way - this is just the direction I chose.

5. Originally I thought that I would pleat the lower back piece where it joins to the yoke. I did pleat and baste it together but the pleat seemed to diminish the effect of the border print. So I went with gathers because it worked better with the yoke and collar.

6. I've been making shirts for awhile now but I haven't been able to master "the burrito method" from all of the written instructions. However, after a lesson or two cause Imma admit Kisha helped me with the second shirt too, I think I've got it now! 

I used three panels and only had scraps left. Some other design ideas thought of but discarded:
- covered buttons from the floral area of the border print (decided it was too much)
- really full sleeves (wanted them fuller but there wasn't enough white space between the border

One more thing ~ 
I chose sew on button bands instead of the fold on ones due to fabric layout. As I was adding the front button bands on, I realized that I sewed one on folding to the front and one folding to the back. I was kinda upset thinking that I would need to unpick the back one. When Coralee piped up and said you should just leave it alone.

Coralee at Sew Camp looking sassy in her Miyake coat!

She was right! With the band going to the back it leaves a cleaner finish on the button band and I will now be using the "Coralee Method" when sewing on button bands!

Here are a few pictures of the finished shirt ~

Doesn't that pink plant falling forward look like an octopus or sea creature?

I love the back swing of this shirt along with how the 

border print works for the cuffs and back!

Sewing Tip for Sewing Shirts ~
Since it's Shirt Month here on the blog, I've decided to add a sewing tip for all of those sewing or reading along and thinking of making their own shirts. Today's tip would be to use the speciality feet for your sewing machine to make the sewing as easy as possible.

This shirt was sewn on my back up sewing machine - Janome 6600P - during Sew Camp. I own a straight stitch foot for this machine and it made constructing this shirt so much easier than on my main machine. I've since rectified that and purchased a straight stitch foot for my main one. However, look at the stitching line and how close I got to the edge without having to change to the edge stitch foot.

Purchasing extra feet for your machine may seem like an unnecessary expense but believe me it's money well spent!

Conclusion ~
Just a reminder that this fabric was given to me by Elliott Berman since I'm collaborating with them to showcase the awesome fabrics they have in-store and online.  I did a quick search of their online store and here is compilation of border print fabrics if you're interesting in purchasing some of your own! Cause y'all know I love a good border print!

This is the kick-off to Shirt Month and emphasizes that fabric CAN make all the difference in making shirts...so step outside the box and use a fabric that's not typically thought of for a shirt.

Next up is my black shirt ~ do you own one?

...as always more later!

April is Shirt Month

I was discussing my sewing with a dear friend and lamented that you, my blog readers, were going to be tired of shirt post after shirt post appearing here.  See I've been on a serious shirt sewing tear.  I'd originally thought that I would make a couple of shirts every month and mix them in with the other tops and vests that I was also sewing.

Well due to illness and a host of other life things, including my photographer going on vacation, I'm just getting around to scheduling time to photograph my new makes.  There are presently 5 shirts sewn with another 5 waiting to be cut and sewn. This dear friend suggested that I have a "Shirt Month" on the blog.

So April will be dedicated to my new found love of making shirts.  All of these shirts are made from my TNT pattern which is a mash-up of Butterick 5678 and Vogue 7700 - both of which are out of print.  Now that I've got all of the fitting issues worked out with the pattern, my shirt making is all about fabric choices and design details.

My new shirts are chock full of fun and flights of fancy.  98% of the fabric is from the collection - which thrills me to no end!  I've mixed prints.  I've played with sleeve widths.  I've let interesting fabrics take center front and buttons were chosen to add drama to the shirts.  I've thoroughly enjoyed making each and every one of them. I love the construction process and how each individual shirt has it's own design story.

I've sewn so many shirts in the last two years, that when these latest versions are done, I will have made a total of  17 shirts...









I hope you enjoy "Shirt Month". If you get bored halfway through the month, tune back in during the month of May, where there will be new sewing adventures! However, I can't promise that there won't be more shirts or shirtdresses cause I really want to make my own version of Carolyn's Perth Dress!

...as always more later! 

Carriage Corners Sew Camp 2018 - Part Two

After Friday at Fabric Mart and lunch out...everyone headed back to the B&B to sew.  As mentioned in the previous post, sewing machines were either already set up or were just being set up and sewing lasted at least until midnight.

One of the things that I really like about Sew Camp is that you sew at your own pace and time.  Since I roomed with an early riser, Kisha was downstairs early every morning getting her sewing in.  It's also probably why she finished four garments during Camp! 

Me, I'm a late riser and have to drag myself out of bed to make it on time to breakfast (served promptly at 8:30am) because I like to sew late into the night. I think there was an even mix of early & late risers at Camp this time!

Besides sewing, there were so many conversations about fitting, sewing tools & construction and life & politics.  Some of the conversations were heavier in nature and some just made us laugh and laugh.

Here are a few pics of the fitting that occurred between campers:

Andrea discussing how to draft darts in patterns ~

Andrea fitting LaQuana's Ogden Cami to Gaylen ~

Cennetta fitting the Concord Tee to LaQuana ~

Cennetta checking LaQuana's shoulder seam ~

Bernice and Coralee sharing a technique ~

Also here's a link to Kisha teaching me the burrito method.  Cause I've tried and tried to figure it out by reading the instructions and always got lost! Now both shirts made at Sew Camp have the yoke burrito rolled.

...and where was I? Ummm I really was being the social media director between sewing my own projects, of course! *LOL* I just wanted to share with you the camaraderie, the knowledge that's shared, the unlimited time to sew at your own pace, and the wonderful atmosphere of the B&B.

Which leads me to the schedule of the next Sew Camps at Carriage Corner.

There is one more CarriageCornerSewCamp Weekend scheduled for 2018 and the date is:  Friday, September 14 through Sunday, September 16, 2018. 

If you are unable to make that one, these are the dates for 2019:

March 29 – 31, 2019

June 20 – 24, 2019 – this one is 4.5 days

September 20 – 22, 2019

Some of the feedback that Gaylen received from this group of campers was that it could be a little longer.  To accommodate that she added a June 2019 Sew Camp for 4.5 days. Honestly quite a few of us have already signed up for the 4 day June event and for this September also. I will be attending the September 2018 and June 2019 Sew Camp, I mean if you care! LOL!

If you’d like more information about Carriage Corner and the Sew Camp Weekends please send an email to:  hello@carriagecornerbandb.com and Gaylen will add you to their mailing list.  Or you can call or text Gaylen at 717-768-3059 or send her a direct message through Instagram with your email address. 

See multiple ways to reach out or schedule a weekend at Sew Camp. Personally, I hope you will attend because it's a wonderful way to spend a weekend!

My next posts will be about shirts...lots and lots of shirts!

...as always more later!

Carriage Corners Sew Camp 2018 - Part One

I had the BEST time at Sew Camp! There were eight of us this time - Andrea, from Knit Knac, Bernice (who has attended Sew Camp for her third time!), Cennetta from Magahony Stylist, Coralee who just reads my blog but who is now my new bestie, LaQuana from Made by LaQuana, Nakisha from Dressmaking Debacles and myself.

It was a full house with an atmosphere like a college dorm...we didn't lock the doors to our rooms or just left them open.  We visited each other just because and we had the BEST time!

I took ALOT of pictures and a couple of videos because the trip started with Nakisha and I fabric shopping in NYC, then training to PA to meet up with our Sew Camp sisters. Because I documented everything and I mean everything except for the scrumptious meals that Gaylen served this is going to be a two part recount.  Y'all there are just too many pictures!!!

This post will cover the NYC Garment District and the Fabric Mart shopping pics - because Fabric Mart was off the chain! I'm sure the saying dates me and is no longer cool but I don't care, that's how I felt about the trip to Fabric Fairyland.

The second post will cover the actual Sew Camp activities and information on how to register for the next one and the ones in 2019. 

Day One of the Sewing Vacay ~

Nakisha contacted me after I announced that I was going to Carriage Corner Sew Camp and we worked it out that she would fly to NYC, fabric shop in the garment district and then we would train to PA.

Well Mother Nature didn't like us making plans in the middle of March because the East Coast experienced it's 4th Nor'easter in 3 weeks!  Nakisha was on one of the last flights into the area on Wednesday.  However by the time she got to NYC, everything was closing! Then Amtrak cancelled our train on Thursday! So we had to scramble to get on another one - since they cancelled like half of them!!!

So because of weather drama, we ended up only having four hours in the garment district so we were strategic about her shopping trip.

• Mood Fabrics
• Pacific Trimmings
• Metro Textiles
• with drive buys of Steinlauf & Stoeller and the Around the World Bookstore

We met LaQuana on the train and Gaylen picked us up from the train station.  After a marvelous dinner and a lot of conversation filled with laughter, we headed back to the B&B.  Since it was early enough we set up our sewing machines and I'm almost sure that both of them started working on their projects.  They weren't letting any grass grow under their feet!!!

Day Two of Sew Camp ~

The trip to Fabric Mart...*sigh* is like going to Disney World for Fabricaholics! I know I showed you the fabric shopping from last March's Sew Camp but this version was beyond words.  First there were nine of us descending upon Fabric Mart without fabric budgets! 

All of us with Julie from Fabric Mart

Julie graciously spent four hours with us - touring, cutting, having her team bring bolts from all over the place and even doing a burn test on some of the fabric...

Since I tried my hardest to refrain from the extreme fabric joy, I was able to photograph my fellow campers enjoying the moments. Here are the pics of each camper with their piles of purchases:

Bernice with her pile - hey she was a 3 timer so she showed some restraint!

Cennetta with her "take everything on the bolt" pile!

Coralee who squealed at anything green!

Nakisha with her cut pile - she was the Pre-Cut Queen!

One more of Nakisha waiting with her haul to be cut

LaQuana with one of her two bags - that she had shipped home

...and here is great pic of Gaylen wearing an Ottobre dress made with Fabric Mart fabric...

Sadly Andrea kept adding to her pile so I never got a pic of her and her goods but she's posted them to Instagram so you can see what she bought here!

Even I bought more fabric than I intended too! You know that I said I was only purchasing three pieces - well that's not quite how it turned out.  I bought one piece at Mood...

An appliqued denim border print

...and five pieces at Fabric Mart! 

from l-r: 

ITY border print knit, silky cotton yellow gingham, white linen with black pinstripe, paisley rayon challis, navy double silk georgette w/white pinstripe

However, with all the fabric temptation that was present, I think I showed admirable restraint! LOL!

After a wonderful lunch, we headed back to the B&B, for those that arrived on Friday, machines were set up and sewing ensued until after midnight!

The next post will be about the next two days and all of the sharing, sewing, laughter and frank conversations that happened.

...as always more later!

What's Going On...

My last post was February 19th and I was just getting over the crud.  I went to work on the Tuesday after the President's Day holiday, came home sank into bed and have been in the midst of a minor health crisis since. Y'all know me so you know I'm not gonna go into details cause the Internet lives forever!  But I am grateful to have a job that allows you to work from home when you're not feeling well and that provides sick time when you need it.

I'm finally coming out on the other end, starting to feel like myself again, so my sewing plans for the end of February and beginning of March have been trashed.

Here is where I left off:

The chambray denim blue pin dot shirt just needs buttons sewn onto it.  Something I want to do today. The glen plaid vest is done and is just waiting to be photographed.  The black cotton shirt with the gingham accents has been hanging the longest because I just couldn't decide upon a finished length. I think I'm gonna go longer so it needs a hem, buttons and buttonholes.

Even though the calendar says it will be spring in 10 days ~ it really is still the end of winter here as evidenced by the nor'easter that came through and dropped about 10" of snow on us. 

It probably won't start to warm up until the end of April so my unfinished sewing plans will still work. Also, Imma be more realistic about warm weather, it doesn't become comfortable dress wearing weather until the middle of May around here and even Memorial Day is questionable.  Some years it's hot and some days it rainy and damp.

So with shirt ideas still on my mind, here is the pile of shirting that I'm working my way through.

End of Month Totals ~
Realistically I only completed one garment in the month of February ~ the vest so I have 4 yards out and 3 yards in. When I went to pick up my next quarter fabric allotment from Elliott Berman, there was this amazing piece of double-sided wool that I just couldn't leave behind. 

I wanted to make a new Easter dress but that's out the window now, so I'm glad I paid for that piece myself. Anyway, my yearly totals so far are 13.5 yards out and 3 yards in with a total of 5 new garments.

Going forward ~
I'd planned on sewing for my daughter at the beginning of March but she's totally let me off the hook on that one.  I will be able to attend Sew Camp as planned so I'm thrilled about that! Cause believe me I was starting to get worried but I believe I will be well enough to hang with my friends and I need that after the last 3 weeks.

I will get the two remaining pieces finished this weekend and hope to get some more shirts cut out. Then I have to determine what I'm bringing with me to Sew Camp to sew. I know I'm going to cut and prep 2 or 3 projects because that's what I realistically think I can make during the time.

If I feel up to it next weekend, I will photograph the finished garments and hopefully there will be new blog posts. Otherwise there will definitely be blog posts after Sew Camp.

So that's what's been going on...hopefully things will be back to normal here on the blog.

...as always more later!

Shirt Inspiration

It's been awhile since I posted.  Some of it was because I was on a sewing tear and didn't want to stop to post and take pictures...and then this weekend, I got the crud again. It came and went faster this time, probably because I didn't try to fight it not wanting to make myself sicker. So I went to bed and sweated it out even though I had a full weekend of sewing planned.

I don't have any finished garments to share. Those will be in future posts but I did want to talk a little about what I'm obsessing over sewingwise ~ SHIRTS!

(from Chicos.com)

(Love the floral shirt and the matching tank with shirt is nice too!

These are from ColdwaterCreek.com)

I bought the lace for an all lace shirt last year - now to just make it!

(This one would be great to use up shirting scraps)

A few things I've learned that I like when making shirts ~
1. I like a longer shirt - something thigh length and butt covering
2. I like a princess seam front, yoked back with full lower back silhouette
3. The cuffs is one of the details I like to change up
4. The buttonband on the front can be cut on or sewn on - both work but the sewn on version allows me to add some more visual details to the shirt.
5. A mandarin collar works just as well as a collar and collar stand version.
6. I like a fuller shirt rather than a fitted one.

Mostly though I like making shirts because of the details. They aren't a simple sew, there are steps you need to follow and making them allows you to use a variety of sewing skills.

(Isn't that an amazing detail on the button band!)

Shirts are also versatile pieces in my wardrobe and have become my new dress - the garment I love to sew and wear. I can wear shirts over jeans, leggings or my denim skirts. They can be worn closed or open...with a tank top, sleeveless turtleneck or t-shirt. I can change up the details on each shirt to make each one distinctive while maintaining the silhouette I like. All of this is challenging me creatively especially since I've collected quite a few shirting fabrics.

(Details on my latest shirt - just waiting to be photographed!

There are numerous shirt patterns currently available. You can buy them from the indie designers, Grainline Studio & Cashmerette to name a few, or from one of the Big4 pattern companies. My TNT is a combination of Butterick 5678 and Vogue 7700 both of which are out of print. I've used this pattern combo six times, so my fitting challenges are all worked out...now the fun sewing begins.

That's what's under my sewing machine needle and on my cutting table. Hopefully I will have some pics of finished garments (a couple of shirts and a vest) to share with you soon.

Thanks to everyone who left such thoughtful comments on my last two posts. I really appreciate that everyone felt free to leave their opinion whether they agreed or disagreed with me and that the discussion remained civil. 

...as always more later!

Do you ever feel like you don't sew enough?

I pose the question because if you're on Social Media (Instagram, Facebook, Blogs) it seems as if garment after garment passes our screens (phone, iPad, Computer) with different sewists turning out these amazing pieces in the blink of an eye!

Now I'm a pretty quick sewist but I do go through my dry spells.  Times when my mind thinks about sewing but I'm just not motivated to go through the act of actually constructing a garment. I also think I'm a pretty productive sewist but even I sometimes wonder how the other sewists get all of that sewing done.

I'm sure that I'm not alone with these thoughts. Especially since sewing is no longer a solitary thing. You make a garment now and you can discuss all the ins and outs of the pattern/fabric in a Facebook Group or ask a question on Instagram and get instanteous reactions.

So the Question of the Day is, "Do you ever feel like you don't sew enough?"  This can be compared to other sewists, your fabric collection, the new pattern collection releases, etc.

Talk back to me because this is the Question of the Day!

...as always more later!

The Year of Sewing from the Collection

It's the third day of February and I made some decisions last year about what direction I want to take my sewing in for 2018. There were two main things I wanted to refrain from:

(Yes there is now a row of fabric behind the cutting table as high as the table.

Nevermind the fabric that's still on the shelves surrounding the Sewing Cave)

1. Buying more fabric. 
I think I could sew for the next 20 years and STILL have plenty of fabric. It really hit me last year when I needed to find something and realized that I had to move around soooooo much fabric to find it. That's not good...even for me!  But I wasn't sure that I could pledge to not purchase any more fabric because I LOVE fabric...LOVE IT!

(Moving fabric around to find a piece)

So my first challenge was to stop purchasing from Fabric Mart...
I met that challenge. I haven't purchased anything from FM in three months. As time goes by, it gets easier not to purchase fabric. So my goal now is not to buy anything until I go to Sew Camp at the end of March.  Even then I'm limiting myself to just three pieces.

My next challenge is that I can't say I won't purchase fabric anymore. 
I've never been able to totally stop purchasing fabric because I LOVE fabric! And I don't want to make that empty pledge again. Then Elliott Berman came to the rescue by collaborating with me. Giving me the opportunity to slake the new fabric thirst whenever I need a fix, especially because I have to use it right away, I can't store it. That's made it easy for me to say that I won't buy new fabric now.

With those pieces in place, I've honestly been thrilled to shop my collection. I've been finding some amazing fabrics on the shelves and rethinking how to use some of it. Now that I'm shopping less, I'm going to try to keep track of fabric in and out this year - praying that the out number is greater than the fabric in number. I'd like to know just how much fabric would come out of the collection in a year, if I only sew from it.

I've made/posted to the blog four garments in January - three garments from fabric from the collection and the shirt from the Elliott Berman piece. The three garments from the collection used 9.5 yards. I'm not counting the Elliott Berman fabric because it came into the collection in December 2017. So right now I'm 9.5 yards out and no yards in! YES!

I believe that will be my story for February too - yardage out but no yardage in. At least I hope so! *LOL* Well I actually know it will be, so I'm finally ready to discuss it here. Putting it in black 'n white makes me accountable to everyone, cause you know I'm into honesty and transparency.

2. Buying stuff
Since I haven't really been purchasing things for myself in December and January, I want to keep that up too. I own a lot of stuff...clothing, shoes, jewelry and other things. I really don't want to add anything unnecessary in 2018. I want to use what I have. Even though I'm not joining the RTW Fasters with Sarah at Goodbye Valentino, my plan is not to purchase any garments this year either. I want to make it myself, work around it, or do without it. 

My end of month recap for January is:
4 garments made/blogged
9.5 yards of fabric out of the collection
No fabric in

I'm presently working on a black version of my TNT shirt. That will be the next finished garment on the blog. I hope you will accompany me on this journey this year...it should be very interesting to say the least!

...as always more later!