Author: goodbyevalentino

14 Mar Giveaway and a New Sewing Interest!

  My obsession with sewing has led me to a new place – pattern drafting. I’ve become so interested in achieving the perfect fit attainable only through sewing (or having a personal tailor) that I enrolled in Patternmaking Basics: The Bodice Sloper with Suzy Furrer  The end result of the class will be a bodice sloper adaptable for many uses. Suzy Furrer a most competent, serious, professional and well-spoken instructor explains how fashion designers work from a single sloper to create dozens of designs. I often attempt to customize a purchased pattern without understanding how ONE little change affects the entire fit. Additionally,...

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01 Mar Hot Pink Boucle!

  How  do you like our six inches of snow? We get ridiculously excited about every winter storm warning in the South, wipe out the grocery stores and cancel events in anticipation of snow. This 'winter storm' I hit the sewing machine with a color hot enough to melt the ice off the patio. When the skies turned gray my eye turned to this bright pink boucle on the Mood Fabrics website. It is soft, it is happy and it is well-behaved :) My pattern is Vogue 9022  sewn last month in a color block style with Mood's black and white wool crepe. This time I sewed the pattern...

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11 Feb Sewaholic’s Granville II

  Y I K E S ! How could I have possibly spent so much time sewing this shirt again?  The answer lies in making it fit, but alas, it fits. Not quite ready to cut into the silk I planned to sew two garments ago, I bought a bolt of muslin and learned how to fit Sewaholic’s Granville Shirt to my body. My wearable muslin had several issues, namely tightness through the bust , misplaced darts and bunching in the back. Many readers suggested the fit was as good as RTW, which is precisely why I have avoided tailored shirts throughout my life. They...

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03 Feb A Wearable Muslin – the Granville Shirt

While patience is a virtue, and a quality I attempt to pursue, I would not consider it  to be my best attribute. Many sewists truly enjoy using the PDF patterns. I too love the instant gratification of downloading a pattern, but assembling 30-page patterns is an event in and of itself. I wanted Sewaholic's Granville Shirt  enough to download the pattern late one evening. Online access to sewing patterns is certainly advantageous, especially for re-printing purposes, but printing and assembling a pattern adds additional responsibility and time. It takes patience for sure! After assembling and cutting my pattern, I chose to skip out on the muslin...

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28 Jan Meet Andrea Birkan

  Dear Readers, You must meet Andrea Birkan, a 2014 and 2015 RTW Faster! Andrea's  garments display such inspirational creativity that I asked her to write a guest post. I'm writing very little to avoid spoiling the lovely text and photos to follow. Read on to learn more about Andrea, and visit her blog at: http://sewbusy.weebly.com Enjoy! _________________________________________ I discovered Sarah’s blog while searching for some fabric off the Mood Fabrics website one morning, and have been an avid reader of the blog ever since. I’ve always had a love for sewing, but she really inspired me to get back to sewing on a daily basis. By doing...

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25 Jan Vogue 9022

How many times have you seen a ready-to-wear garment that you KNEW you could make… if only you had the pattern? That was certainly my reaction upon seeing this Akris Punto dress, and when I noticed some similarities in Vogue 9022 to the $995.00 dress, I couldn’t resist. True, the pattern is split vertically rather than horizontally, but I was feeling adventurous, and besides, I loved the pockets.   How did I do? What I really like about the Akris Punto dress is its unstructured but not too oversized nature. I have avoided kimono sleeves because they appear so large, however, Vogue describes this pattern as fitted. After making...

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19 Jan Notebook Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to N MacGregor, the lucky winner of  A Sewist's Notebook! Please contact me at goodbyevalentino@gmail.com by Wednesday, January 21 or another winner will be selected. For readers interested in purchasing A Sewist's Notebook, Beth is offering free shipping through today (January 19) by adding the code SHQ15 during checkout. Many thanks for the great comments and enthusiastic participation! I hope to complete my current project soon ~ my own twist on Vogue 9022 inspired by an Akris Punto dress.     Until soon :)...

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17 Jan A Comment from Marcy Tilton

Dear Readers, I intended to make a correction to my last post on Monday, January 19, when I announced the Giveaway winner. However, upon receiving a comment from the pattern designer  Marcy Tilton, I decided the subject needed a separate post. From Marcy: I refer to these as skinny pants, not leggings (or tights or jeggings etc) as they are really a narrow pant. They can be made with very little ease, or, depending on the fabric with more ease. I must have 12 pair in different weight fabrics. Knits like ponte are a natural, but I make them in stretch woven fabrics...

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16 Jan Marcy Tilton Leggings & A Notebook Giveaway

Many readers asked about the Marcy Tilton Leggings I was wearing in the last post. Believe it or not, they are the first pair of leggings I've sewn. I bought several yards of a polyester two-way stretch fabric at Mood Fabrics in 2013, some of which I used it for the inserts in this dress in October. It seemed appropriate legging material and so in late November I started the pattern which I just recently finished. If you are a Pattern Review Website reader, you know one of the review questions is - Does your garment look like the one in the pattern photograph? Well, yes...

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