Capital Sew and Sew: April 2009

April 22, 2009

DC Threads Featured at the Summit of Awesome

Join Allison and I on May 2nd as we host a sewing demo at the inaugural DC Summit of Awesome! We would love to have you all come down and sew with us!

Click on the photo to read more about the Summit!

April 19, 2009

Let the PR Frenzy Begin!

Heidi Klum Kidnapped????

Christian Siriano an Actor????

Tim Gunn Evil?????

Click on the smooch for the latest hype!

April 5, 2009

AND SOMETHING FOR ME!

Welcome spring!
Welcome a white tunic!
Ah bueno!

I am so going to make about a dozen more of these!

The pattern is Simplicity 5197 - I think it may be discontinued which is shame because it is great fitting, easy to make, with loads of style/design options!

The fabric is 100% linen with a great island feel - pineapples and organic design motif. I actually had used the fabric as curtains for a while - just call me Scarlet!

The yoke is made with a facing. The next one I make I will likely make a contrasting yoke so I suppose I will just "flip" the facing to the outside..

Loads of sleeve options!

Hooray! Somethin' for me!

Sewing Lounge - EAT YOUR BEETS!!!

Here is project #2 for next weekend's DC Threads Sewing Lounge - a Tres Chic and Ah Bueno re-fashioned T-Shirt! Hard to believe all those ruffles and that ruching were once an old "beat" up Beets Tee!!!

P.S.
Thanks to all who have written to me about this T-Shirt design. Many of you have inquired about the neckline construction. Here goes:

Decide how wide and low you want the finished neckline to be and clip away (there is the photo of this in the slideshow). The next step is to apply the elastic directly to the t-shirt fabric - there is no casing. My design had the neckline end about 2 inches in from the top of my shoulder. I measured across my upper chest (above the front neckline about 1 inch or so) and doubled that measurement to determine the length of elastic I would need - for my shirt I think my elastic measured about 22 inches total (but please be certain to take your individual measurement as everyone's upper chest is different!!). You can adjust the elastic length depending on the amount of "ruffle" you can tolerate! Be certain not to stretch your elastic when you measure. To apply the elastic you will need to divide the elastic into quarters and pin the elastic (at the quarter markings) to the shoulder seams and to the center front and center back. Please note that the unstretched elastic will be considerably shorter than the neckline. Stretch the elastic to fit as you sew using a zigzag stitch. Voile!
Here is a very quick diagram that may help - - or not (I am clearly NOT an artist - it's an embarrassment!!!)

Some Sewing Done!

Ah, finally, productivity (like I sit around eating bon-bons all week!) - sewing productivity, that is! As you can see I spent more time last week looking at what other designers are creating (for the Divine Ms O) than sewing myself! So here are two of the three garments on my to-do list for this weekend (isn't this supposed to be a hobby??)

Re-Fashioned Jean Skirt for this month's DC Threads Sewing Lounge - this month we're focusing on stretching your fashionista budget while steering GREEN!

I haven't made a jean skirt since high school (1902 - kidding-kidding!!) but in these tight economic times I'm sure that alot of us feel like we have as much money in the bank as we did in high school! The skirt is very straightforward to construct - the only tricky parts are determining the correct size for the front and back inserts and getting the dreaded crotch to align and lie flat!! And it's a little tricky stitching in the inserts - you tend to be working in a tight space with lots of fabric ends trying to sneak into the path of the needle! My seam-ripper was my faithful companion more than once!! This will be a great skirt to wear to the beach or to the farmer's market.