SewLSC

A friend asked, how do I sew so fast?  And how many hours a day I sew?  I'm not sure how many hours a day I work on a project. I want sewing to be a fun, no pressure exercise so I made a concrete decision to not keep track of my hours.  The question made me think. There are a number of factors that contributed to my efficiency and output:  (1) I converted an underused bedroom in my empty nester home to a sewing room. Yes, it is a cliche. But the first time in my life I can cut, sew, press, fit & alter and store fabric, patterns and notions all in the same room. I keep my machines out. I keep my cutting board out on the table. I have a place to put and organize planned projects. And I did not need to put everything away between sewing sessions. Huge time saver! Huge! (2) I organized my patterns and fabric. Patterns are organized by type of garment or craft project. Fabric is organized by use and fabric type. Bottom weights together. Fabric for tops...

Can you use sheets as fabric to sew clothes? IMHO solid colored sheets are great for many garments. I’ve used them to make shirts, dresses, flowy pants, PJs, nightgowns and even a bra, which I reviewed here. The drape of sheets are often more similar to target fabric than actual muslin, which can be quite stiff. Per yard, sheets are often a LOT cheaper than muslin. Moreover, I like to sew wearable muslins so I can fit the pattern after wearing the test garment a time or four. I think the reason garments made with old sheets look like old sheets is twofold: mismatch drape and outdated color combination. The first is when the drape of the sheet does not match the drape of the fabric intended for the garment pattern. It is the same problem as with use of quilting cotton for garments. If the drape is similar, quilting cotton can be stunning in garments such as skirts and dresses. Not so much if the sewist uses quilting cotton in place of charmeuse or chiffon. Or knits. ...

An advanced beginner sewist recently asked what can you short cut/speed sew and what can you not? That question got me thinking about sewing efficiency.   I took a class on Craftsy years ago called Sew Better, Sew Faster . The class explained industry techniques for sewing efficiency. Sometimes I like to go very slow and sew couture level detail. I did that for my MOG gown that took months. ( And I took a class to learn to sew couture too). Most of the time I sew RTW style for myself and my family. This is a concrete decision to let go of perfectionist tendencies and not hold myself to a standard that exceeds what I would accept from most shops. I’ve sewed almost all my clothes since 2011. Not all garments I wear need to be couture quality. Sometimes good enough is good enough. Here are my prime takeaways for increasing efficiency: 1) Using a serger is quick and gives a nice seam finish. 2) Presser feet are engineering miracles. The correct foot for the job helps. Stitch in th...

  Scarves and belts are great accessories that can elevate an outfit. Both are also easily made from leftover fabric from your sewing projects. Designing the Scarf A scarf can be any size or shape you want. Typically scarves are made as small or large squares or as long rectangles..... but the size is really limited to your imagination and how your want to use it. I recently made a scarf to go with an off the shoulder dress I made from Vogue 1674. The purpose of the scarf was to convert an evening to day look, to add modesty to the dress when needed and to provide warmth if the room was cold. I decided I wanted a large rectangular scarf instead of a large square.  I made my scarf a rectangle so I could tie it and wear it in a multitude of ways.   Cutting the Fabric for the Scarf To make the scarf, I cut a piece of 26x44 inch silk and then used my serger to make a rolled hem. I had between 1/2 and 2/3 yard of fabric leftover from a blouse I had made years ago, so the si...

Pattern Review just introduced a feature called My Top 10 List as a feature of the pattern stash. Last year alone I sewed over 200 different patterns. I can pick only 10? Challenge accepted. I began by listing patterns be type. Then I evaluated how often I sewed the pattern and even more important, how often I wore the garments.  My most sewn, most worn patterns are all dresses. Not a surprise. Dresses are my most worn garment. For business. For casual. For travel. I love how I can put on a dress and be done. I also love how I can vary my look by changing shoes, scarves, jewelry and toppers. In a world where there is too much to do, I like easy decisions when getting dressed. Pardon the bad pun. Since I had a difficult time confining my list to just dresses, let alone 10 patterns period, I present my favorite patterns by type: Tops: I have 41 tops reviewed on Pattern Review. Of those, these are the patterns I've sewn and worn again and again: Simplici...

Patternreview is sponsoring a contest requiring participants to use "What Was I Thinking?" fabric.   Hmmmmm. I just discovered I have an abundance of “what was I thinking fabrics.” There’s a pattern. Not enough fabric. The fabric was expensive but stunning. No particular project in mind but it was a have-to-have fabric. I did not buy enough. What was I thinking? Too much fabric. I bought a bit of extra fabric for an important project. Now I have leftovers that are not quite enough to make something. What was I thinking? Disappointing fabric. Ordered online for a planned project. The fabric arrived and was not as expected. Many reasons for this category. Could be color was off. Or fabric hand was wrong for the project. Or stretch was not as described. Or just looked/felt less lovely than it did online. Ugh. Disappointing purchase. What was I thinking? Seduced by type of fabric or designer . Example. Sale on silk. I love silk. This is reall...

Is there any style more elegant than a classic sheath dress?  For years I could not wear a sheath dress because I found few in petite sizing. Once I started sewing, I could make the styles that I want. TNT McCalls 7085 Sheath dresses are comfortable to wear and easy to sew. I often get asked what are my favorite patterns for making a sheath dress. I have a few. Only two are currently in print:  Butterick 6624 has lovely princess seams. I've made this pattern up in stretch cotton sateen and denim with lycra. McCalls 7085 has great shaping with darts. I've made this up in cashmere, wool, cotton sateen, batik and silk. I've sewn both in different hem and sleeve lengths to get very different looks from a basic pattern. A number of my very favorite patterns are now out of print but can frequently be found on Amazon, Ebay and Etsy. Here are my favorite out of print patterns for making a sheath dress: OOP McCalls 7714 This pattern has a straight and a-line skirt options. I've...

 I love T shirt dresses. They are soft comfortable and make dressing decisions easy. Pull on your dress and you are ready for the world. TNT Vogue 8663 I prefer to make my T shirt dresses with 100% cotton interlock or silk jersey. You can use any interlock or jersey fabric. It's your T Shirt dress, so you can choose your favorite fabric to make it. I often get asked questions about favorite T shirt dress patterns. I have a few. For a classic T shirt dress, nothing beats TNT: OOP McCalls 6886 . It has only three pieces total: a front piece, a back piece and a sleeve. Although M6886 is now out of print, it has been replaced with McCalls 8058 . TNT McCalls 6957 For an A-line dress, I have three favorites. I recommend: McCalls 6957 or beginner basic pattern McCalls 7122.   I also like McCalls 7348 , which includes an option to have a handkerchief hem. I almost always make a self belt to wear with this style dress to add shaping at the waist.... but you do not need to do so. Like ...

Silk Georgette Gown  Silk is wonderful to wear but it can be tricky to sew. These are my favorite tricks when sewing with silk (based on experience with silk chiffon, silk charmeuse, silk dupioni, wool/silk blends and silk jersey): (1) Be sure to have a very sharp rotary cutter and/or scissors. When I sew with silk I always sharpen and/or change blades. Silk slips. A lot. So sharp tools make precision cutting easier. (2) Use a presser foot designed for a straight stitch. (3) If that is not adequate, use a presser foot designed for slippery fabric. I use a plastic roller foot. I've tried my walking foot but I find the walking foot cumbersome when working with slippery fabrics. (4) Start with a fresh needle. Sharps needles work best. (5) Use a fine needle. I typically use Schmetz universal size 70/10 (6) If the fabric is really fussy when cutting, you can tame the silk by laying a piece of tissue paper over it. (7) Press with LOTS of steam. Finger pressing with a stea...

Linen Jumpsuit I love linen. It is soft and comfortable. But linen wrinkles. Badly. There are ways to prep the fabric prior to sewing so linen will wrinkle a bit less. A tip I learned from Sandra Betzina was to iron linen fabric with a very hot, dry iron BEFORE washing the fabric. After ironing, put the machine wash the linen in very hot water. Tumble in the dryer on the highest heat setting until the linen is completely dry. The linen will shrink during this prep ... but the shrinkage will create small, soft folds in the fabric rather than the typical stiff creases that give linen that badly wrinkled look. After sewing the fabric, machine or hand wash in cold water. Hang dry on a wide hanger immediately after the wash cycle stops. Or tumble dry on very low heat taking care to remove the fabric from the dryer as soon as the machine stops.  The results: less wrinkled linen. Magic. Happy Sewing!

  Did you know that bust darts often need to be moved? I did not. I thought I was sewing my darts poorly until I learned the issue was not how I finished the darts but where I put them that was causing my garments to have fitting drags. Typically, I now know that I need to lower my busts darts by about 1 inch, and I need to shorten the top of the fishy eye darts by about 1 inch in most darted dresses or tops. Lowering bust darts are actually common adjustments needed for older women as the commercial pattern companies assume a perky B cup when drafting. Many women find the apex sags lower as we age. Bust darts should point to the apex of the bust. If yours do not, like in these examples, you may need to move the bust darts. To calculate how to move the bust dart, I compare my measurements to those on the pattern piece. In my case, my apex is now about 10 inches from the shoulder seam and about 6 inches to the natural waistline with 6 inches from apex to apex. Tha...

  With the colder weather settling in, I wanted to make something warm and easy to wear for my grandkids—especially for car rides when bulky coats aren’t ideal. I pulled out McCall’s 6431 and got to work making two: one in an XS and one in a Small. Why a Car Poncho? Winter coats can be a safety hazard in car seats. The extra bulk prevents the harness from fitting snugly against the child’s body, which can lead to dangerous slack in an accident. A car poncho solves this problem by providing warmth without interfering with the harness. With a poncho, the child gets buckled in first, and then the back of the poncho can be lifted over the car seat while the front drapes over their lap for warmth. No compressed padding, no loosened straps—just a safe and cozy ride! Pattern & Fabric Choices McCall’s 6431 is designed for woven fabrics, but I opted for fleece since it’s soft, warm, and doesn’t fray. I let the kids pick out fun prints. Both opted for trucks. Instead of the hood options ...

  Everything that is old is new again.   This project was designed for the Pattern Review Modernize Vintage contest but was not completed on time. It was also part of the January 2025 Pop-up Sew-along: Nothing But Stash and a part of my year long commitment to the 2025 Fabric Fast and 2025 50 Yard Dash . I used Vogue 2288, a 1979 pattern that was part of the Vogue American Designer series by John Anthony to make my dress. Although the pattern featured both a coat and dress, I made only the dress. The dress pattern was described as follows: Loose-fitting, straight dress, four inches below mid-knee length has bias turtleneck, shoulder pads, back zipper, pockets in side seams, side hemline slits and narrow hem. Full length sleeves narrow at wrist. Topstitching. The completed dress did like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once I was done sewing,  except I "modernized" it. Sorry John Anthony.   The instructions were easy to follow. I really like...

L Looking for a stylish way to repurpose leftover fabric?  Wondering how to make a dress that can have multiple looks depending on the weather? A dickie is a perfect solution! It adds a polished look to your outfit while making use of fabric scraps. You can quickly turn a scoop neck dress into a dress with a toasty warm collar. Here’s how to make a wool Dickie from leftover fabric in just a few steps: Materials Needed: Scrap fabric Tape measure Pins Sewing machine or needle & thread Optional: Hook and eye closure Instructions: Measure & Cut Drape a tape measure around your neck in the shape you want your dickie to fall. Cut a square with sides equal to this measurement. (For a more fitted look, use a slightly smaller square.) Finish the Edges To prevent fraying, finish the edges with a rolled hem using a serger or a narrow hem on a standard sewing machine. Shape the Dickie Fold the square in half diagonally to form a triangle. Wrap & Pin Wrap the triangle around your ne...

 February is the border and panel print contest on Pattern Review.  In 2024, I committed to sew every contest as if it was a month long seminar with a particular challenge as the focus. I really enjoyed sewing along with others. So I decided to continue to do so in 2025. Designing for the monthly challenge is half the fun. When the rules of the contest are announced I revisit my pattern and fabric stash to see what might work.  I also like to revisit past work to get inspirations from “me made” garments that I particularly like. As it turns out, last year I made both a panel print and a border print dress. Both were sewn using TNT sewing patterns. And both were among my most worn, favorite makes of 2024. The first is an incredible yummy silk charmeuse border print I found at Mood. I’d made a quick stop at Mood before my train, saw this lovely fabric, took it home and sewed it up the very next day. I used a favorite classic pattern. The formula worked. Really well. I love ...