New Fabric Collections in Store!

This week I had the great pleasure of putting the most brand-new fabrics on our website. This is the first time I've gotten to unwrap and tag the newest of new fabric and let me just say it was a rush! Thus far I've been getting the website up to date with things that were already in the store. Getting to put fabric on the website as soon as it's been unboxed is EVEN better!

There are two new collections from Moda: Scrumptious from Designers Bonnie and Camille. I think this might be my favorite of the new (though it is really is hard to decide). It definitely has a vintage flair and the colors are right up my alley.

A few of the fabrics from Scrumptious.

The second Moda was, Soho Chic from Sandy Gervais. This fabric is so rich looking and still kind of exotic. I love that combo! Can't you just imagine the most plush room with a mahogany poster bed, and french doors that open up to the french rivera?

SoHo Chic from Moda.

Finally, the new line from Art Gallery is called Minimalista and has a completely wonderful sixties mod look. The color is so wonderful and I love all the geometry of these fabrics. Not to mention they feel amazing (am I the only one who loves to feel fabric). I don't know how quilting cotton can feel like silk, but it totally does.

Minimalista from Art Gallery Fabrics.

You can find all of these in our brick and mortar store or online, here. We would love to feature projects made with these fabrics, so bring them in or send us pics so we can see what lovely ways you use the fabric. I'm leaving next week for a sister/mom trip, so if it's quiet around here you'll know why. I hope your fall is going splendidly.

Happy Sewing

Love, Jessie

Dress Disaster!

Have you ever had one of those projects where you have in your head just exactly how you want something to look? Add to that a deadline for which your really excited. You work quite focused to reach these goals. And then... then it doesn't come out exactly how you envisioned it. In fact by the time you're done you've been looking at the fabric for so long that your nearly cross eyed and you can't decide if it even looks pretty and vintage like you thought or if it somehow turned japanese kimono/ old lady night gown before your very eyes.

This is what happened to me this week. I'm leaving tomorrow for a weekend conference on writing. I wanted a new dress (the one I talked about briefly here) to wear to this conference. I wanted to look quirky, vintage, and trim all at the same time. Oh heavens, today when I finally stitched the last hem and pressed the last seam I couldn't even tell if I liked it. I can't tell if it looks good! I might have cried a little (but in my defense I was also really hungry and it's so gloomy here I'm suffering from a lack of vitamin D).

I took a few pictures (because of course it was the topic of today's blog) and then put it away. Maybe tomorrow with fresh eyes, a cardigan, and new boots I'll feel differently. Maybe tomorrow instead of it looking like a nightgown it will look Madeline in Paris like I intended.

Sewing can so mirror life, can't it? You have a vision in your head and plans and sometimes it just doesn't turn out the way you wanted it to. Sewing has such risk involved, you can't truly know how something will look, fit, feel, match until it's made, until you've already put in all that time. And I think maybe it's a good thing, maybe it helps us handle those bigger life issues where things didn't turn out the way we wanted them too. But, there's still learning; I'm still a better seamstress then when I started this dress (I did a successful full bust adjustment and I drafted my own collar). And, maybe, if you layer a cardigan over your new-made dress, then maybe, just maybe, it will turn out, just in a different way then you had intended.

More pics to come once I've gotten some things to help it out.  If your looking to sew your own dress might I suggest this pattern available in our online shop: It's the Monique pattern from Serendipity Studios.  I made this dress and I wear it all the time.

Find the Pattern Here.

That's the pattern above and this is me in the dress.
An actual success, I just had to show you that not all
of my projects end in tears (this one ended up in Jamaica!)

Also check out our Pinterest Board Apparel filled with all sorts of good ideas.
I hope your sewing and your life is filled with good stitches.
Happy Sewing
Love, Jessie

Tis the Season for Rain Jackets.

Finally the sun is back! I love rainy weather but only for a day here and a day there. Once it's been raining for a few days I begin to feel sad, seriously I'll cry over anything. Can you say Seasonal Affective Disorder?

This chilly wet weather inspired us to put our laminated fabrics on the website because of the beautiful possibilities there are for jackets. In fact I made a jacket out of fabric from the store last year and it is STILL the piece I am most proud of and the piece that I get the most compliments on. When I began working on this jacket it was out of necessity, I needed something I could wear so that I could walk the dog even if it was damp outside, my old school sweatshirts just weren't cutting it any more. However, even if it was out of practicality that this jacket was conceived I wanted it to be something special. I envisioned it harkening back to some of my girlhood things; something pink, and floral, and with butterflies. Friends, I get more compliments from women and girls of all ages on this jacket, then on anything else I've ever made! I love this jacket, and the rain boots (something I've always wanted) simply make the ensemble sweeter. If your interested in a more detailed post on the rain jacket you can read about it here, here and here

Just being a little silly.

If your interested in making your own jacket, or if you're wondering what else can be made from laminated fabrics (there are sooooo many good ideas, chair covers, table clothes, traveling pouches, bibs, aprons, reusable market bags...) check out our new Pinterest board, laminated fabrics. And if your interested in the fabric I made my jacket from, or the pattern they are available in the store (along with so many others) and in our online shop.

I lined the jacket in flannel to give it a bit more warmth.
This is MI, after all. I call it "french bicycles"
(it's actually from the baby department).

The pattern I used was very straightforward. I
left off the extra thing over the shoulders.

I did finally finish the last apron, and am hoping to cut into my dress pattern today! Oh I'm crossing my fingers that I can get it finished before next Friday (when I hope to wear it). Wish me luck, and as always...
Happy Sewing to you friends
Love, Jessie.

Happy Sewing dear friends. I hope your weekend is going well and your spending this wet rainy weather snuggled up with a needle, thread and a cup of tea. I've had a very productive weekend filled with finished Halloween costumes, a wet but fun walk in the woods for some fun upcoming blog posts and snuggles with my little ones.

I did manage to FINALLY get one of my aprons finished. I still have one more to do before I'm allowed to start on the dress I was talking about in an earlier post. I'm having a very hard time being motivated to do these, for some reason (as I love aprons and wear them daily). Maybe now that I've got one done getting the second finished will be easier (but, oh how I'm ready to start that dress).

The apron I did finally finish I really love. It's a gift for a friend and the tea cups are perfect (that fabric was bought about six months ago and finally got used) the contrast fabric in green is from the shop. It's an RJR fabric called Garden Medley. It's the perfect green with the same diamond pattern as on some of the cups with just a bit of pink. I love it when fabrics work out that way. The shape of the apron is very 1940's which, I'm sure you're beginning to discover, I totally dig! It covers so much and believe me, I need a lot of coverage (I'm not sure if I'm a good cook but I KNOW I'm a messy one). The pattern is also from the shop (and you can buy it online) It's the "All Day Apron" from Indygo Junction. It was a nice pattern to use with pretty easy directions, and not a ton of pieces which I like.

The bag you see in these pictures is the "Mondo Bag" and let me just say it is HUGE! It holds sooo much. There is a class starting Oct 10th 10pm-1pm and the cost for the class is $7 and the kit is $48, which is pretty much the cost of the materials so you get the great sewing time with lovely ladies free! You can check out the details online. 

I hope you had a great weekend and I hope your week ahead is filled with,

Happy Sewing

Love, Jessie

Fig Tree Fabrics.

I had the pleasure of putting all the fig tree fabric from Moda on the website Monday and can I just say, "Ahhhhhh" and then swoon. It was all so pretty I nearly went mad. I wanted to go skipping with it through the store (which reminds me of a musical my sister and I want to write called the fabric and book shop musical. It would include a lot of using scissors and books as precussion). Instead of frolicking and singing through the store, I made a Pinterest board for all thing Fig Tree. Check there for some inspiration and pretty pictures of fabric. And, if you can't get into our brick and mortar shop you can always shop for it in our online store.

The second thing I did was to completely redesign this dress that's in my cue. (As a side note; am I the only one who's favorite part of a sewing project is the planning part)? I am going to use some of the Fig Tree Avalon fabric and I think it will look really cute (I've asked like ten people their opinions so I'd say I'm good). I was looking for something Navy Blue that will coordinate with mustard, and army green. These are the colors I try to stay near when I'm buying or making things for fall. And this totally fits the bill, along with the fact that I think it will give the dress a really vintage vibe (which is totally my style).

I'm going to change the collar to a peter pan collar and do that in the polka dot while the body of the dress is floral. I'll show pics when I'm all finished!

I can't start the dress until I finish this weeks project, which I'll be blogging about soon. It's a very homey project and is what is inspiring our sewing song list this week. I needed something with a bit of a blue grass vibe while I sew this weeks vintage inspired creation. I hope you enjoy.

We'd love to hear what your favorite part of sewing is. Is it the planning, the cutting, or the actual machine stitching? Whatever it is...
Happy Sewing
Love, Jessie