'Tis the season for attending Comic Cons! If you're looking for some quick and easy tips for creating your own cosplay look, here are my suggestions. For my cosplay, I chose one of the handmaids from Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, recently reimagined by Hulu. If you're wondering why I look unhappy in these shots, it's because I'm mimicking the style of the show! Before you begin, you need to decide just ...
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The Tried and True Philosophy of Sewing
In my mind, there are two types of sewists - those who enjoy the constant challenge of new patterns and those that enjoy sewing tried and true patterns over and over again. There are pros and cons to each - As I've said in previous posts, I am a sucker for a tried and true pattern. I love working out the kinks in a pattern and then making it many times. ...
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The time between March and May is difficult dressing season. Waking up in the morning, it's freezing but by lunchtime you feel ready to don a summer dress! A shirt dress is the perfect solution - easy to throw a cardigan over but still cool and casual. You may remember this isn't my first love affair with a shirtdress; last year I made the Alex Shirt dress from orange chambray. Though I ...
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A velvet dress for the holidays
It's always hard to find a good dress for the holidays. You want it to be stylish, but not too avant garde. Comfortable but not frumpy. This year I took matters into my own hands and made the best holiday dress ever. Okay, so maybe it's not the best ever but I still think it is pretty darn great. I used Vogue 9253 - a kimono sleeve dress with a deep V-neck. ...
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Despite loving the style of sheath dresses, I tend to wear them only on business formal days because they’re so uncomfortable. Enter the Lodo dress - comfortable enough to wear any time of the day or night. The Lodo is a sheath dress made from a stable knit. It features subtle sleeves, a v-neck, and two length options. The best thing about this dress - other than its ease of wear- ...
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Comfortable work wear is something that I always struggle with. I want to look polished and put together, but still be able to shelve books, sit down, and not want to change half way through a shift. A few months ago I tried on a ponte pencil skirt from a ready-to-wear shop and thought -- this is it! Ponte pencil skirts look just as polished as other pencil skirts but have ...
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I’ve been lusting after the gorgeous jumpsuits and rompers everyone has been wearing for the past year, but after trying on a few ready-to-wear versions I got discouraged. My top and bottom halves are completely different sizes – okay for separates but terrible for jumpsuits. I put my jumpsuit dreams on the shelf for a while until one day about a month ago I had a revelation – I sew! I ...
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As I mentioned in my last post, I have decided to focus on sewing some more me-made basics. In my mind, there is nothing more basic than a striped tshirt so that is what I set out to make! My style tends toward the vintage; I prefer longer skirts, cinched in waists, and 50s silhouettes. All of this meant that finding a tshirt pattern I liked was a challenge. I considered ...
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I don't know about you but I really enjoy sewing for special occasions. Give me a dress pattern, a complicated pants pattern - I'm there! Unfortunately, sewing only fancy outfits leaves me all dressed up with no place to go. I decided it was time to sew some practical outfits, starting with some loungewear. For my top, I made the Sew House Seven Toaster Sweater much loved around these parts (check ...
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Our Contributors , Silky Fabrics
Recreating Lady Sybil’s Harem Pants or How Not to Make a 1920s Costume
When setting out to make a costume for an event, be sure to plan your entire design around a tiny piece a fabric that you found in your grandmother’s stash. Bonus points if it is falling apart and tremendously difficult to sew with. Don’t even think about using a ready-made pattern! Why make it easy on yourself?! If you want to make harem pants, it is logical to start ...
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I've always love the look of suede skirts for fall, but haven't ever found one that suited me. I like skirts that are full and long, not tight, short, and covered with buttons. I love circle skirts and ever since I started sewing last year, I've had this skirt in mind. I read a lot of tutorials and none of them made sense to me. In case circle skirts confuse you ...
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As soon as the new Sew Over It City Break ebook came out, I knew that I wanted to sew the patterns up for fall. I fell in love with the Alex dress - partially because it shares my name! I decided to make the dress in an orange designer chambray. The fabric is thin enough to be worn in Fall and Spring, but its color makes it perfect for year-round. The ...
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Do you remember when you were a kid and you got a new toy that you’d wanted for ages? Once you got it you were too scared to play with it, right? You were afraid of messing it up. Well folks, that is EXACTLY how I felt about my new serger. When I got my sewing machine I said, “If I stay with this sewing thing for longer than six months, I’ll ...
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For my first Cali Fabrics project, I chose a gorgeous orange embroidered eyelet. I immediately gravitated toward this fabric because of its gorgeous color, but once I received it, I became even more enamored with its overall design. I like that the eyelet openings are relatively small, meaning that I didn’t have to worry as much about underlining. Plus, the embroidery ensures that the design is visually interesting! Since the fabric ...
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Hi! My name is Alexandra. I blog over at The Library of Alexandra. I blog about sewing, textiles, books and reading! By day I am a high school librarian, but by night I sew up a storm! I grew up watching my mother sew and hearing stories of my grandmother’s time working in the Philadelphia garment district, but I only recently took up sewing myself. I made my first dress in December 2015 and have been sewing ...
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