First let me say sewing has been happening here at sewTreefrog but I with all the extras 2020 has given us, I haven’t been blogging much. I’ve been posting most of my makes on IG, so please checkout my feed. Most recently I’ve been working through a cycling capsule. (One of the good things that has come out of two lockdowns is that I’ve got back into regular cycling again and I’m loving it)
Over at Artisans Square the annual SWAP (sewing with a plan) is getting underway. I’ve volunteered to be co-ordinator this year. Please join us!
I love the planning phase. So many possibilities! Ahh, sew little time 😦
I’ve been following the speculation thread for the 2017 SWAP on Artisan’s square. One of the suggestions was to use four patterns to make the 11 piece wardrobe. This afternoon, I put a pen to paper and came up with a couple of quick options for a casual wardrobe and a sport one. My first impression was that four patterns would be fairly bland – but it is actually not too bad if you change collars, lengths of sleeves or add some colour blocking. See what you think. Continue reading “4 patterns => 11 piece wardrobe”→
As today is the last official day of winter, it is time to checking on my progress with my Winter SWAP plans. The format for the SWAP is the same for my previous swap. This format helps me focus on the colour and the wildcards allow a bit of fun as the don’t have to be worn will ALL of the other pieces.
Some of my pieces are for work, some business-casual and others for the weekend. Mostly I've used patterns I've used before which meant I didn't have to worry about fitting. Two patterns, both from My Image magazine, have been on my stash for too long and I'm so glad I tried them.
☑plain knit tops to wear under a jacket, esp cream and black
☑black jeans and dressy pants
☑red jeans to go with the Tosti jacket
Nice to have:
☑dressy knit jacket
☒ hand-woven jacket - sadly I didn't finish this project. I made the body section of a Chanel style jacket - complete with quilting. But shelved the project because I accidentally cut one of the front pieces from the sampling section. -> My check pattern was wider on one front than the other. I may come back and re-cut the piece or re-dye the fabric
Overall I think it has been a success. My favourite pieces are the biker jacket and utility jacket. The other solid tops and pants mean I have plenty of options to wear them.
I bought this gorgeous textured knit from my “local” indie fabric store at the same time I picked up the pixel plaid wool. The pattern I had in mind was Lekala 4466 which is designed for knits and has a shawl collar, princess seams and two piece sleeves. Continue reading “Lekala 4466 Knit Blazer and other finish objects…”→
This knit jacket is from the pattern for the pinky-grey jacket featured on the cover of My Image 9 (Fall/Winter 2014/15). The magazine shots show view B, which has a colour blocked layered-look sleeve. View A has a plain sleeve. There is a mistake in the tech drawing – the front princess seam actually runs from the shoulder rather the armhole. This was another pattern that was on my wishlist as soon as I saw it. So since the top I made from the previous edition went so well, I decided it was good time to sew it up.
The fabric is a textured jacquard knit that I bought last year from KnitWit with this pattern in mind.
At the top of my list for winter sewing was some plain knit tops, especially cream and black, that can wear under jackets. Next in line was a pair of black jeans.
For the tops, I went the top from McCalls M5890 (now OOP). I’d this so many times that I had to re-trace the pattern because the original was falling apart. The main reason that I keep going back to this pattern is because of the princess seams. I use a binding of the neckline and armholes rather than the turned & stitched edges suggested. I keep meaning to graft in a V neck.. I’ll get there … gunnawundae!
This dress pattern has gorgeous style style lines and is perfect for colour blocking. It is from the Spring/Summer 2014 edition of My Image and has been on my wishlist for a while now. Actually, there are a quite few other My Image patterns that I’ve been meaning to make. But there is always that hesitation of trialling a new pattern company and working out how their draft compares to my dimensions. So, I thought I’d dip my toe in the water with this pattern and make it as a top. Continue reading “My Image Colour Blocked Top (M1412) Review”→
Since my SWAP wardrobe was inspired by the colours in a skein of yarn, I should show you the finished scarf. After a few wrong turns learning experiences, the end result was a featherweight scarf that really showed up the colour variations in the dying. Continue reading “‘Start with a skein’ SWAP: Finish with a scarf”→
The last part of the new wardrobe is the “wildcard” pack. The colours can be anything, as long as they match with some (not all) of the items in the previous packs. I’ve used orange tones in my wildcards. Continue reading “‘Start with a skein’ SWAP: Pack 4”→
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