I finished another pair of slacks (navy blue) and that was the last piece of fabric in my stash that was destined to be pants. It feels good to be “done with the pants sewing”. You know… just that feeling of completion. And now some of the bulkier fabrics are gone from my stash so [...]

eQuilter has Star Trek fabric!!! There are several more but that one is my favorite. I love that it’s Original Series. Of course I could put them all together in a quilt since it is quilting fabric but it’s the thought of wearing it that’s tempting me. But I don’t know… Give me time; I’m [...]

I finished the top for the baby quilt. I saw this shadow pattern online (I forget where) and had to try it. The squares are all from scraps that I had on hand. The two greens are from Wal-mart and the brown/multi polka dot is from eQuilter.com. The finished size will be about 36 – [...]

I was originally planning to title this post, “The First Dress of Summer” but seeing as how the temperature is in the mid 40s F today I thought it should somehow refer to the fact that we are merely hoping that there will be a summer this year. Fortunately though, we did get a couple [...]

About three years ago, I think it was, we were in Branson and I stopped in at a little quilt shop “just to look around” and left with three pieces of fabric. Two of them were nice little floral and paisley prints in reasonable, adult colors. And then there was the clown fabric. At least [...]

Peter of Male Pattern Boldness talks about something dear to my heart, treadle sewing machines, and the tragic things that happen to them when their owners don’t appreciate them for what they are. People, PLEASE, don’t destroy your treadle sewing machines to make desks and plant stands and other purely decorative things! Even if you [...]

I only needed one button. For the green slacks I made last week. I saw the perfect button at Walmart. Unfortunately it was in a bag full of buttons. So I thought about it for a while. I could burn more than a gallon of gasoline to get to the nearest Hobby Lobby where they [...]

Sewing people, (assuming there are any out there reading this) do you ever get a new pattern and immediately, before you’ve even made it once, start thinking of ways you want to change it? last week I was talking about the Vogue patterns sale. I did buy two: 8789 and 8811. I didn’t have any [...]

I finished another pair of pants. (same pattern as these) The latest ones are purple. I haven’t worn them yet. They’re a bit too lightweight for this weather we’ve been having lately but it’s supposed to warm up a bit soon. And when it does I promise I will post pictures of another recent project. [...]

I knew they had to be out there and I’ve found one – a man who sews!* His blog is cleverly named, Male Pattern Boldness. He uses mostly vintage patterns and vintage sewing machines. Oooo, I bet mine’s older than yours. (Well, maybe not) Anyway, I’m interested in the sewing machines. I must look deeper [...]

I have mentioned before that, for me, St. Patrick’s Day heralds the beginning of spring but yesterday it felt more like the return of winter. The cats hate cold fronts. Cats like to be where it’s warm. They also like to be outdoors. When the outdoors is suddenly not warm, after it’s been warm for [...]

Well, darn. I have a new blouse that I was going to show off today but the pictures all turned out unacceptable. The weather is supposed to be warmer later in the week so I think I’ll wear it again and try some outdoor photography. (I finally found my tripod.) It’s the flash that messes [...]

It seems that we are evolved to live in the seasons. Or maybe we’re just conditioned to the changing seasons because we’ve lived in them all our lives. I wonder what it’s like for people who live where there are no seasons. Do they, twice a year, crave a change in the weather? I like [...]

All of my life I have been hearing women who sew for themselves and their daughters claim that “sewing men’s clothes is too hard.” I would bet that almost 100 percent of those women never even tried to sew men’s clothes. First of all, “Too hard?” You don’t want to do it because it’s too [...]

Jane sews and notices that one of her dresses kinda, sorta looks like a Star Trek: TOS uniform. Only more modest. More like what you would expect a professional officer to wear for goodness sake, so I say Jane’s is more realistic than the real one. Anyway, welcome to my links page, Jane. (Whenever I [...]

I made these two blouses last fall but didn’t get around to photographing them until this week. I used New Look 6078 for both of them, with just a few little changes. These are actually blouses 2 and 3 from this pattern. I didn’t like the placket* so I made these with just a plain [...]

The only reason anyone ever needs for doing something out of season is, “because I wanted to,” but I want to explain this anyway. Pretty Grievances has had this Jungle January thing going on all month and it is, without exception, the best online party ever. So of course I’ve been feeling the pull to [...]

Six Terrifying Beach Sculptures – Not exactly what I would call terrifying but mostly not lovely to look at. The whole idea of beach sculptures makes me sad. Natural beaches are perfect and do not need any adornment. The only sculpture I want to see on a beach is the occasional sand sculpture that will [...]

A year ago I knew about, I think, two sewing blogs and one quilting blog. In the past few months it seems like I find a dozen new sewing blogs every week, most thanks to the absolutely wonderful, Pretty Grievances and its highly active and fun comments section. I fear that I will soon get [...]

I have been procrastinating about this for months because the half of me that wears pants hates cameras but these pants have a secret that I want to share. Back in the 80′s I had a pants pattern that had this clever hidden closure and for years I have been wishing I could find another [...]

It’s Back to Normal Day. That’s not an official Day of course and that’s exactly the point – it’s nothing. It’s the first ordinary, routine day of the year and I am so ready for it. I do love the holidays. I enjoy the shopping and seeing people and the food, but a couple of [...]

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, at least not “officially”, but at the end of every year I do think about things I want to do better or differently in the coming year. Of course, just like actual resolutions, my New Year’s thoughts turn to nothing. I keep doing the same things, the same way [...]

Ideas for using selvages. I hate when the selvages are too wide. I can understand a manufacturer wanting to put their brand on their products but it seems like they have been making them wider in recent years and it really bugs me. When I pay for fabric that is 44 inches wide I want [...]

A year ago I only knew about, maybe, two sewing blogs. Lately it seems like I find half a dozen or more every week. And here’s a list of even more sewing bloggers. I don’t expect that I’ll ever attract any of these wonderful ladies to my humble little everything-and-nothing blog but if any of [...]

I hate when I see something I want to comment on and then I can’t find it again. One of the sewing bloggers wrote about polka dots and asked something about personal style and fabric choices, and I did comment over there but I wanted to link to it. I looked at every sewing blog [...]