Wow. This summer was a lot, folks. Moving was more challenging that I was prepared for. Mostly because selling was new to us and then closing dates and finish dates meant we had to spend the hottest month of the year in a rental apartment. Needless to say, there was…
A Tosti raincoat for him
I had big plans for my husband’s birthday this year. My first ever real raincoat! His birthday was in May… I finished it in the final days of October. It was a very dry summer, so he didn’t need it until now, but I’m usually not so tardy. This one…
Brooks Jeans – Helen’s Closet Patterns
I grabbed the Helen’s Closet Brooks Jeans on a whim in a sale in late 2022. I was curious, because they looked well drafted for my shape, but I was also on my bikeable work pants kick and didn’t have any urgency to make some. Then somehow I volunteered to…
Korshavn Slipover sweater vest
I’m a vest person now. I started December 2022 with no knitted vests. I just had my quilted vest that I rarely wear because it doesn’t feel like me (though I always get compliments when i do wear it so maybe it is more me than I think). By January…
Cable knit sweater vest
Both my husband and I are enamoured with his 28608 cable knit sweater. I’ve been so jealous of him every time he’s worn it that I seriously contemplated making the exact same sweater for myself. Then I came to my senses and realized that I’d been yearning for a sweater…
Closet Core Sasha Toile
Today, in the category of pants I’ve planned to make for literal years and finally got around to, only to find out that they’re pretty much perfect for me and I should have made them years ago: Closet Core Sasha Trousers. The simple thing that kept me from making these…
Closet Core – Pietra Pants
I’m on a mission to make pants (that aren’t jeans) that I can both bike to work in and wear at work. I’m going to need to be in the office more this fall and I commute by bike. The last time I was in the office regularly, back in…
Summer exercise scrap busters
I have this thing with matching my running shoes to my workout outfits. When I used to be a gymnastics coach, I always had four or five pairs of runners (Nike Shocks usually) in rotation with matching stretch pants and jackets. I haven’t coached in almost 16 years but my…
Lander sailor pants
Inspiration struck recently. It started with wanting to experiment with a pair of Lander Pants in stretch denim. I picked up some 9 oz. organic raw stretch denim (2% spandex 98% cotton, though it feels lighter and more stretchy than that) from Fabricana in Richmond but they didn’t have a…
Cropped Grainline Archer
I was gifted this cut of light-weight embroidered cotton by the same lovely friend who gave me the flower print viscose that I used for my recent Orla Midi. There wasn’t a lot of it, only at 1.5m in a narrow width, but it was lovely and light so I…
French Navy – Orla midi dress
I had two summer dresses on my list this year. The first was my Fiona dress with gathered skirt. The second, I wasn’t certain of until I started to work on it. My uncertainty was about the fabric. In both the many vibrant colours and the large size of the…
Closet Core Fiona-ish
I first had this idea in the late winter or early springâŻa fitted princess seamed bodice with straps, a gathered midi skirt and a button front. I debated briefly whether or not to look for a pattern before deciding to shop my existing collection. The Fiona dress from Closet Core…
Merchant and Mills – Harlene Overalls
One day, in the not too distant future I hope, I plan to expand my creative repertoire to include making furnishings for our home. Yes, I’m going to become a person who works with wood – a wood worker – eventually, when I have the space to. So, of course…
Paola Workwear Jacket for him
This year, for his birthday, my husband wanted a custom garment. His specifications were a heavy, dark grey wool over shirt with wood buttons that he could wear both inside as a house jacket and outside if needed. I looked around at patterns and decided to start with the free…
Tilly and the Buttons – Arielle Skirt
My impromptu Arielle skirt a few weeks ago gave me an idea for the leftovers of my Italian wool. After my Jasika Blazer and my first Oia Dress, I only had a very small amount of the gorgeous grey wool twill that I brought back from Italy in 2019. Remember…
Another Oia, but different
Ever since I made my first Itch to Stitch Oia Dress in early 2021, I’ve wanted to make another without the centre front bodice panel. I didn’t know if it would work but I knew I had to try it. This is the dress I was finally cutting out (after…
A skirt made of leftovers
I was cutting out a wool dress that I’d been planning for a while when I noticed I had more leftover fabric than anticipated. I’m not sure why but I immediately became obsessed with making the leftovers into something wearable, but before I’d even finished cutting out the dress, I…
Pauline Alice – Ayora Vest
If you arrived here from my Instagram, you’ll already know that I was compelled from somewhere and I know not where to make something wearable from my copious linen scraps. Finding these five colours sealed the deal and the Pauline Alice Ayora Jacket seemed a good fit for what I…
Three Pairs of Landers
The latter half of this summer, in part because a return to in-person office work appeared to be fast approaching (since which time everything was delayed, again), and in other part because my previous pairs are both too small, I made three pairs of True Bias Lander Pants. Making so…
Pauline Alice – Serra Jacket
It’s been quite a while since I blogged one of my makes. I’ve still been making over the past few months. It’s been primarily Basic Instinct Tees and Lander Pants for me and a number of gifts for others. I’ll put up a new Lander Pants post soon, but first,…
Closet Core – Sienna Maker Jacket
I’ve been toying with the idea of making a light coloured cropped denim jacket for a few years. I wanted a little more modern style than a traditional jean jacket. It was the back button placket on the Sienna Maker Jacket from Closet Core Patterns that sold me. I saw…
True Bias – Rory Jumpsuit
This project has been in the back of my mind for over a year. My mother in law made a beautiful Rory (then Yari) jumpsuit in a natural linen and it got me thinking about making my own. I knew it would be a challenging project to tackle though because…
Shoe Making #2
Well, I’ve made another pair. This turn of events is hardly a surprise so let’s get right into what I learned this time around. I was trying for a few things on this pair: Mary Jane style with a closed toe and sandal back to wear with bare feet or…
Draped Bull Denim Jumpsuit
Late last summer, I had a sudden desire for a white bull denim jumpsuit with a fitted bodice and wide leg pants. It came out of nowhere (that I was aware of) but I didn’t have room in my schedule to make it. I wanted it so intensely that I…
Shoe Making: First Attempt
I didn’t start 2021 planning on getting into shoe making. I planned to make sandals and then I saw the I Can Make Shoes online course (which my husband generously gifted me for my birthday) and have been obsessed ever since. I knew going in that my first pair was…
Sandal Making #3
Read about my previous attempts at sandal making in my Astrid Sandals version one and Astrid Sandals version two posts. For my third pair of hand made sandals, I wanted to branch out from a purchased pattern and create my own using elements learned from both The Shoe Camaraderie and…
Photo Tutorial: Sewing Easy Thong Underwear
Making my own undies isn’t something I love doing, but it’s better then having to go out and buy them and is a great way to use up scrap fabrics – so I do it and try to enjoy the process. Last time I posted these lace and jersey thong…
2021 Underwear Refresh
Let me start by saying, I dislike making underwear. It’s fiddly and slippery and I just don’t enjoy it. So I don’t. Then two years go by and my few bras as threadbare and too small and my underwear is falling apart from too much wear… and I have no…
Shoe Camaraderie – Astrid Sandals Take 2
I’ve been bitten by the shoe making bug this year and have spent the first part of the year accruing supplies and watching SO many videos of shoe repair on YouTube. It’s become a true obsession. Before I get started on real shoes though, I thought I’d brush up my…
My first draped project
One of the skills I want to develop this year is draping. I purchased a new dress form last year for this purpose. It’s not a perfect fit but I’ve padded it out close enough that I think I’ll be able to use it. This first project – a plaid,…