I was happy to hear that they enjoyed the process and the resulting bags! So feast your eyes on these tester samples and then get your copy of the Pavia Backpack pattern while it is still on sale through the May 13th, 2018.

Meg — size 18 inch

Natalie of Carry Hers — size 14 inch

Genie of The Sew and Tell Project — size 18 inch

Erin — size 16 inch

Hannah — size 18 inch

Alyssa — size 14 inch

Anne — size 14 inch

Lorene — size 14 inch

Nancy — size 16 inch

Marie of CraftyRie — size 18 inch

Stephanie — size 18 inch

Melanie of The Seeds of 3 — size 14 inch modified to shoulder bag only

Thank you so much, dear friends!

>>> Get your copy of the Pavia Backpack pattern here. <<<

It feel like I have been promising and teasing this bag for forever, but it was worth the wait. I am thrilled with this pattern and the bags that can be made with it.

The inspiration for this bag comes from motorcycle jackets (specifically the “Ziggi” wool moto jacket that I made a few years ago that I’m sporting on my blog profile pic). I wanted the diagonal design lines, topstitching, and exposed zippers on the seam. I wanted fun construction techniques. I wanted this bag to work hard too. Bags need function and form, and I think the Pavia Backpack has them both in spades.

I’m telling you once you go backpack-as-purse you don’t really want to go back. It is just so much easier to deal with when you are on the go.

However, it doesn’t have to be worn as a backpack. The Pavia Backpack converts to a shoulder bag in a jiffy. No fussing with clips, or extra straps to make the change.

It doesn’t just stop there. If you extend the straps out, the Pavia Backpack will turn into a cross-body “messenger style” bag.

The top of the bag features a recessed zipper to keep your stuff in and little prying fingers out.

Inside, the Pavia Backpack has 2 pockets – a zippered pocket and a patch slip-in pocket.

For further customization, the Pavia Backpack  pattern comes in three sizes corresponding to the length of the top zipper. The 18 inch bag is large and roomy – good for a diaper bag or for carrying your craft projects. The 16 inch bag is for those who prefer a smaller, but still roomy bag. The 14 inch bag is a “mini” or “tween” size backpack. (shown below left to right: 18 inch, 16 inch, 14 inch)

The approximate finished bag sizes are as follows:

• 18 inch size:  15 inches high by 14 inches wide by 5 inches deep
  (38 cm high by 35 1/2 cm wide by 12 3/4 cm deep)
• 16 inch size:  13 1/4 inches high by 12 1/2 inches wide by 4 1/2 inches deep
  (33 1/2 cm high by 31 3/4 cm wide by 11 1/2 cm deep)
• 14 inch size:  11 1/2 inches high by 11 inches wide by 4 inches deep
  (29 1/4 cm high by 28 cm wide by 10 cm deep)

The 18 inch denim bag shown has been my go-to bag for almost a year now. I never leave the house without.

The pattern itself has been crafted and tested to make the sewing process as delightful as possible,with computer drawn illustrations and full-sized pattern pieces.

As with all Sew Fearless patterns, the Pavia Backpack pattern is designed to grow your sewing skill set. You will learn how how to install welt zipper pockets on a seam and into a lining, and how to add the structural support of a bag bottom.

I hope you love this pattern as much as I do!

Get your copy today, but don’t wait!
The Pavia Backpack Pattern is on sale until May 13th, 2018 only!

One of the great things about sewing for yourself is that it makes you think through what kinds of clothes you like, and what styles you identify with. Although I wear a lot of florals, I’m not a super-duper girly dresser. I’m not sporty, or vintage. I’m not super glam on most days.

What words would I use to describe my style? Casual for sure. Bright colors almost always, but I love my dark neutrals. The clothes I love have a little bit of edge to them, but not so much that they don’t wear easily. My body works so hard caring for other peoples that I need  comfort. So my style might be summed up as “loud and comfy rocker mom“. Do you see it? Yes?  If I put the clothes I put on in the morning hits all those marks, I feel like a million bucks.

So I’ve been trying to work those ideas into my projects, which is why I pulled out the Evergreen jacket pattern. Adrianna sent me this pattern three (!!!!) years ago when I posted a dressing room photo gushing over a moto sweatshirt.

A motorcycle jacket is delightfully edgy, but because it is made out of sweatshirt material, it is so very comfy! I just need to wear it with some bright colors and I feel amazing.

This pattern was a fun sew! Adrianna used some fun techniques for finishing the yoke/collar area, and I loved that she posted a free moto collar mod for the jacket which was more to my taste than the classic collar.

To be perfectly honest, I did feel like quitting in the middle because my fabric was giving the hardest time with topstitching. It is bulky stretchy fabric, without good recovery. My standard machine was not a fan. I decided to push through because no one can see the stitching at all. I’m so glad I did! I think I could have added some stabilizer to all of the seams and it would have helped. I will remember that for the future. Also, if I make another (and I hope I do), I might mess with the construction order. I would love to see the bottom hem finished in a different manner. I see why she chose the construction methods she did, and I think the one she provides gives the best results to the most people. However, I’ve sewn enough jacket hems to want to try a different way.

EVERGREEN JACKET

• Pattern: Evergreen Jacket by Hey June Patterns
• Fabric: Heavyweight navy french terry from a LA fabric warehouse (no online shop. sorry!)
• Measurements: Height – 5’10”, Bust – 43 inches, High Bust– 39, Waist – 43 inches, Hips – 51 inches
• Size/Adjustments: Size XL in shoulders/bust/arms graded out to a 2X through stomach and hips

P.S. Those white straps I have on are the straps of my soon-to-be released bag pattern – the Pavia Backpack. I totally forgot to turn around and have my husband take a shot of the bag while being worn. Oops. So this photo will have to suffice until the pattern comes out. :) 

I finished off a batch of seven baby boy outfits recently to give to friends that will be having (or had) baby boys this year. Isn’t that wild that I know so many people having boys? What a wonderful season of life this is.

I was pretty pleased with how efficiently I was able to church out this many outfits and this is how I managed it.

Step 1: Plan it all out on paper and refer to it as needed.

I wanted to make all the little outfits different. So I used little diagrams to plan out which colors/fabrics to use with which pieces. This helped me be efficient in my cutting and kept me straight with all the different pieces. No drawing skills necessary.

Step 2: Cut all the pieces fabric-by-fabric.

I found it fastest to cut out the pieces fabric-by-fabric. For example, I cut out all the yellow striped pieces (Hat pieces, shirt front and back, shirt sleeves, pant cuffs, etc) before moving on to the next color.

Step 3: Sew your pieces according by thread color.

I like having my serger threads match the project. I think it looks more professional that way, but I also didn’t want to take forever with this project. I am not intimidated by changing threads on my serger, but I wanted to be efficient. So I used 4 different basic thread colors – navy, cream, grey, and blue variegated. Then I sewed as many seams as I could, switching between the outfits sets, before moving on to the next color thread. I found it to be a nice balance of pickiness and just-get-er-done-ness.

Step 4: Give away and enjoy the influx of pictures of adorable babies wearing the outfits.

It feels so good to give these handmade gifts to the new babies in my life, and the best part is the pictures their moms send me of them wearing them.

Baby Boy Layette Project Details

• Patterns:
  • Pants: B&T Drawstring Leggings: 22
  • Shirt: B& T Ringer Tee: 99 (Free Pattern!)
  • This is my Brindille & Twig referral link. If you use it, you get 15% off your first purchase (and I get credit in their pattern shop.)
  • Hat: Zaaberry Baby Hat, but I increased the size a smidge.
• Fabric: I used cotton-lycra jersey for all parts of this project. Specifically Robert Kaufman Laguna Knits for the solids, and Art Gallery Knits Striped line for all the stripes.

Christina is such a friend, and the quilt we made for her is probably one of the most heartfelt gifts I have had the pleasure of sewing. I hope others give this sort of baby shower a try.

Benefit from your friends talents and skills.

A group of friends and I planned and threw Christina a last-minute baby shower/quilting bee right before her due date. I attribute the success of the party and project to how we worked together. It was so great to be able to put all our gifts and strengths to use. For example, the center block is a fabric printed with an original watercolor by our friend Rachel who owns South Farthing Studio.

My friend Emily and I shared the work of turning the blocks into a crib sized quilt, and our friend Chrissy brought refreshments that catered to our guest of honor’s dietary needs.

Choose a single block size, and communicate that to the guests.

We chose a block size, 8 inches square, that would generate a crib-sized quilt based on the number of friends that would participate. 8 inches was a great size and if you don’t have enough blocks you can always fill in with blank squares.

Sash the blocks.

Don’t worry too much about color harmony or imperfectly cut blocks. We found that the sashing helped unify the blocks and also made it easy to enlarge the blocks that were not cut to the correct size.

Make the block-making a social event.

If we had planned this project farther out, I think more people would have created the blocks at home. However, this was planned about a week in advance. While we encouraged people to make the blocks ahead of time, we arranged the party around the making of the blocks. I’m glad it turned out that way.

Help those who are intimidated by sewing.

We invited a large number of non-sewists to celebrate our friend with us. We encouraged them to come to the baby shower empty-handed if they preferred, and had supplies waiting for them to use. We had pre-cut blocks, scrap fabric, fabric markers, stamps, and embroidery floss on hand. As you can see, fabric markers and hand-sewn appliqué where the methods of choice for most of the guests.

Make quilting bees a thing again.

We had so much fun with this project. There is nothing more beautiful than a group of women banding together to support another woman. I am grateful to have been a part of it.

Posting this Kelly Anorak is definitely an “Iceberg Success Illusion.” What isn’t seen in these pictures is the twelve years of sewing (including three previous jackets), four months of ploddingly slow progress, hours spent researching the pattern and new techniques, muslins to check for fit, blood spilled by errant pins, and tears of frustration and fear that I would never finish because of the intensity of my family’s needs or from some stupid sewing mistake.

Not that this project isn’t achievable with someone who has less experience than I! Closet Case Patterns, as usual, has created a wonderful pattern and the accompanying sewalong smooths the way for those adventurous sewists that are up for a good challenge.

I’m just saying that victory is sweet, and consistent long-term effort makes it even sweeter.

I am proud of my flat-felled seams and underlining, which are both new techniques for me. I love how the Hong-Kong finishes and bias-bound seams contrast the plaid interior. (Also, they match my hat!) I was terrified of installing the spring snaps, but I managed them successfully, even without a fancy tabletop press. (Someday, I will have one of those beasts.)

So from the top of this iceberg, I can say. Yes, it was worth it.

Organic Cotton Plus Fabric Review

*Note: I was provided fabric for this review, and the following opinions are my own.*

I am grateful to Organic Cotton Plus for providing me with the double-ply organic cotton twill for this project for review. It is always such a pleasure to use good quality fabrics. Even more so, this project was a big time investment, and it was important to me to use a fabric that would hold up for a long time. I think this fabric will do just that.

This particular type of twill was right fabric for the job too! It is stable and sturdy without being too bulky. It gave me no trouble at all cutting or sewing it. I underlined my anorak for warmth, but if I had wanted a lightweight jacket, this fabric would have been good weight unlined as well.

I pre-washed the fabric against future shrinkage, and the 4 yards I ordered were the perfect quantity for my size 20 coat. (The pattern calls for 3.5 yards so the half yard went to shrinkage in the wash and my lengthening adjustments to the body and sleeves.)

If you are looking for fabric for you own Kelly Anorak, I can confidently recommend their double-ply twills.

Kelly Anorak

• Pattern: Kelly Anorak Pattern by Closet Case Patterns
  • Fabric: Double-Ply Twill in “Olive” from Organice Cotton Plus,
    underlined in flannel shirting and gold anti-static lining from Jo Ann Fabrics, the hardware is a kit from Closet Case Patterns
• Measurements: Height – 5’10”, Bust – 43 inches, High Bust– 39, Waist – 43 inches, Hips – 51 inches
• Size/Adjustments
  • I am, technically speaking, a size 16 in the bust according to the size chart, but I want to be able to fit the jacket comfortably while wearing layers, and not have to make extreme adjustments to fit me through the waist and hips. After much measuring of finished garment sizes and myself, I chose a size 20.
  • From the size 20, I pivoted out the side seams, starting below the bust, to increase the hip measurement a total of 4 inches around (by adding 1 inch to the front and back pattern pieces at hips).
  • The pattern is drafted for a height of 5’6″ and I am 5’10”. I chose to add .75 inches in length to the jacket body and lengthened the arms 1.75 inches.
• Also Wearing
  • hand knit hat – “Foliage” hat pattern by Emileee Mooney in “Honey” Swish Worsted yarn from Knitpicks
  • “Love Yourself” Linden Sweatshirt (previously posted)

This was the dress I wanted to make myself last Christmas, but I was too pregnant to handle figuring out how to work for maternity. Instead, I made my daughter a velvet dress, and myself a velvet t-shirt and didn’t blog either because hashtag-too-pregnant. So here I am NOT pregnant, and living all the velvet wrap dress dreams.

Also, I’m freezing my butt off. However, when your husband is willing, and there is beautiful snow covering your weedy gardens, you toss on the dress, and squirt some dry shampoo in your hair and say, yes-honey-yes-now-is-perfect-yes-that-looks-fine-I’m-cold-that’s-good-we’re-done. phew.

Also, I wish I could have recorded six-year-old Gladys hamming it up behind Andy, striking her best “blogger pose” to make fun of my feeble modeling in the snow attempts. She is a riot.

There isn’t much to report on the construction itself. I used the Cashmerette Appleton pattern, which I have sewn before. I lengthened the skirt and the sleeves to give it a more formal look. In fact, I cut them a generous length and fussed with pinning the hems until I found a length that looked “right”. I didn’t want to have to muslin my tweaks because I knew the pattern was rock solid.

I must say I love that this pattern is a true wrap dress, because it is both easy to nurse in and also easy to adjust the fit, as my weight does whatever it is doing while I nurse my way through baby Edna’s first year.

However, I highly recommend sensible undergarment choices when wearing a wrap dress. Especially if you are wearing said dress around babies or obnoxious two-year olds. I was by both during our Christmas Eve mass, and I was grateful for my prudential choice to wear a half slip.

Cashmerette Appleton Wrap Dress in Stretch Velvet

• Pattern: Appleton Wrap Dress by Cashmerette
• Fabric: Navy Blue 4-way Stretch Velvet from Cali Fabrics
• Measurements: Height – 5’10”, Bust – 43 inches, High Bust– 39, Waist – 43 inches, Hips – 51 inches
• Size/Adjustments
  • I used size 18, graded out to a size 24 in the hips.
  • I added 5 inches to the skirt length to have it hit below the knee.
  • To adjust the sleeves, I added 1/2″ to the bicep width and lengthened it 2 inches to make it long sleeve, but then I hemmed it up to the bracelet length shown by removing 5 3/8 inches.

A classic silhouette, in a luxurious fabric, made with a tried-and-true pattern is just about the trifecta of sewing perfection. Isn’t it?

Fringe Dress

• Pattern: Fringe Dress by Chalk and Notch
• Fabric: Cotton + Steel Rifle Paper Co. Les Fleurs Rayon Challis Birch Floral Navy
• Measurements: Height – 5’10”, High Bust – 42 inches, Bust– 44, Waist – 43 inches, Hips – 52 inches
• Size/Adjustments
  • I used Size 18 in view A with the view B sleeve cuffs.
  • I left the front darts open to accommodate my prominent stomach.
  • I added 3/4″ to the skirt length but in hindsight, that wasn’t necessary.
  • I added 1 inch to the skirt pattern, which added a total of 4 inches to hip circumference.

Custom sewing labels are so good for situations like these. I mean, if you are going to spend more on materials than you would for a ready-made item, you better be getting credit. Am I right?

My handmade gifts won’t cause sororal disharmony again this year though, because the Dutch Label Shop sent me these gorgeous product labels to try out.

Disclaimer: Dutch Label Shop provided me with this product to try out and review. I was not compensated in any other way. I have made every effort to be honest and open in my assessment.

They have two product lines of woven labels – their “Basic” labels, and their custom labels. Their basic label option are plain text labels. You choose the two colors, the font, the text, and optional clip art. I thought this option was reasonably priced for small runs of labels. (I just checked and it is as little as $17 for 30 labels.)

However, as I had the option, I went all out with a custom label. The options with this method feel endless. You can choose your label size or shape and up to seven logo colors. I put together a single color design in Illustrator and uploaded it to their website. The custom label is still pretty reasonably priced per label, but it is bigger financial commitment because the pricing is designed for larger orders of labels.

As you can imagine, I am thrilled with how they turned out. If I was forced to find fault with them, the logo doesn’t look perfectly centered to me, but it might be a matter of “bleed edge” or some other graphic design detail, and contacting their art department for future orders would probably sort that out.

I especially like the white frame I added to the logo, because it is the perfect stitching line to attach the label to my bags, just as I had hoped it would be.

The label itself feels fairly soft, but I think it might still be too bulky to add to my children’s clothes. Even the softest of labels are irritating for kids. Kids are annoying like that. It’s too pretty to hide anyways. Maybe I’ll sew it to the outside instead?

Overall, the site was straight-forward navigate and order from, the turnaround time was just a couple of weeks, and the product was lovely. It is a win all around. If you have any questions or comments about these labels and the process, I would be happy to answer them in the comments section.

Thank you, Dutch Label Shop! 

Interested in ordering your own labels? The Dutch Label Shop has set us up with our very own coupon code. Use “sewfearless15” to receive 15% off your first order! (Offer good through Oct 30th, 2017.)

P.S. This is a sneak of my latest pattern. Isn’t she a beaut? I’m working on it every spare moment I have and look forward to sharing it with you in a month or so!

Last Sunday, Seamstress Erin posted a roundup of the posts shared during the first week (be sure to click over and read them all if you haven’t yet!) and it is now my turn share this last week’s beautiful stories. My summaries will not do these posts justice. You must click over and read them yourself!

Vicki, from Another Sewing Scientist, shared how important it is to “Get Yourself A Thing” after you become a mother.

Snow, from Sewing Curves, wrote about the mission impossible: baby vs sewing.

Beck, from I Sew Therefore I Am, wrote about a special pattern that she used heavily in the first year of her son’s life, and why she loved it. Can you guess which one she loved that much?

Eleri from The Sew and Tell Project shares how sewing played a role in a turning point of her mothering. She also lists 10 things she learned that apply to both motherhood and sewing.

I posted my latest postpartum make that is everything that I require during postpartum recovery (it fits me now, it will fit me as my body changes, it makes me feel glamorous, I can sew it in 15 minute sessions, and I can nurse in it).

Keep your eye out on Monserratt’s blog for the roundup next Sunday!