2015 Threads Challenge: Translate Measurements into a GREAT FIT

For the final 2015 Threads Challenge I chose the article “Essential Measuring Points” on page 57 of November 2015 Issue no. 181.

Sew Powerful Purse Project

If you are looking for patterns for 18″ American Girl sized dolls, Pixie Faire is the place to go. According to their website “In 2009 Cinnamon Miles, the co-founder of Liberty Jane Clothing, started offering her unique designs as digitally downloadable patterns at http://www.libertyjanepatterns.com. The site quickly grew into a large marketplace that supported a vibrant community of independent designers. In 2013 it was time for the site to take the next step on it’s journey and the Liberty Jane team decided a new name was in order…Pixie Faire was born.”

“Pixie Faire is a marketplace designed to inspire your creativity. A place where digital downloads are easy, safe and simple. A place to learn how to sew. The site features patterns from many independent designers – all focused on either doll or daughter sized patterns.”

I have used many of their patterns from shoes, to shorts, dresses, and swimsuits. All are wonderful!  This is a leotard made from a Liberty Jane swim suit pattern.

Besides wonderful, fun patterns for dolls, Pixie Faire has a mission: They are passionate about serving others. Over the years their passion to serve others has grown into a real 501C3 charity named Sew Powerful. The purpose of the organization is to equip and train seamstresses that are striving to serve their community and make a better life. They do that by sewing for the orphans in their neighborhood. Sew Powerful supports them from the profits of Liberty Jane Clothing by providing income, training, equipment, and materials.

Enter the Sew Powerful Purse Project. Sew Powerful provides a free downloadable purse pattern and has asked volunteers to sew and donate the purses. Here is an explanation of the project, what it is, why it is needed, how to participate.

Last year I made four purses. This year I made eight. (Not including the three “prototypes” I gave to grandchildren.)

I made two different style purses. Basically the same but different pockets on the front flap.

Here are the eight I am mailing off tomorrow.

15 Hats in 2015 Final Update

The Stash and Burn Podcast challenge “15 Hats in 2015” was lots of fun. I’ve never made so many hats! But still I didn’t finish. I knit a total of 13 hats. Just two short of the goal, but I ran out of time. So here are all the hats. I’m re-posting pictures because Josie and Noelle came to visit in October and were my hat models. (They were paid in hats; they took home all the ones their Mom liked.)

2015 Threads Challenge: Mixing Patterns

This challenge was taken from the September, 2015 Issue No. 180 of Threads Magazine.  This has been a very busy summer, so I am very late with this challenge.  I decided to combine Halloween costume sewing with the Threads challenge.   The article itself is called “Mixing Patterns”, but the teaser on the cover says “Pattern Grafting”.  It is a fun and useful article written by Laura Nash explaining how to combine purchased patterns to make a new design.  I used it to create the helmet for Batman.

Petticoats

One Sunday, as I was wearing one of the dresses that I made last year, I got to thinking that maybe the dress would look better if the full skirt were held out a little. This led me to thinking about petticoats. When I was a little girl, we had a suitcase filled with “dress-ups”. In that suitcase was a petticoat. I was a child in the 1950’s when the older girls and women had tiny waists and full skirts.  Even as a little girl,  I did not have a tiny waist, and I can’t even begin to imagine how uncomfortable it would have been to wear the undergarments that made waists so tiny, but it did make a pretty silhouette.

2015 Threads Challenge: Zipper Techniques

For the June/July Threads Challenge I considered “Zipper Secrets” (page 36) and “Perfect piping” in Essential Techniques (page 74). I decided on zippers because I was making a skirt and it needed a zipper. I would like to also study the perfect piping, but haven’t found a project for that yet.

2015 Threads Challenge: Staystitching

For the May, 2015 issue of Threads (No. 178) I decided to study the article on staystitching, p. 74. I sewed the Morris Blazer by Grainline Studios.

Staystitching is a row of permanent, straight stitches sewn on single, cut garment pieces before they are seamed together. Staystitching helps maintain the grainline of curved areas of garment pieces during the construction process.