I find that meeting people who share your passion wonderful. Meeting someone who shares your passion, has sewn practically everything, lives by you and is supportive of you is pretty much a needle in a haystack. But I’m here to say that it happens. I have a friend and mentor that is an insanely amazing woman. Leena has been around the sewing block. Lately when I’ve sewn something, I show her or I plan projects and get her input. I like getting her input because she gives me ideas for how to do this or that differently or maybe try this sewing technique or gives me her thoughts on color choice and style.

Leena is one of those types of people that would literally give you the shirt off her back if you needed it or probably if you didn’t need it too. She’s given me a TON of fabric from her amazing stash and then one day, she invited me over to pick out yarns because she wanted to weave me some fabric too. I know, I know! This is crazy, but yeah, these photos are of some fabric that she wove for me. Like on a loom with her bare hands and all. I really have no concept of how to weave fabric except to say that its pretty much magical and this is pretty much one of the nicest, most thoughtful gifts anyone has ever given me. Amazing, right?

I feel pretty spoiled and am quickly brainstorming a jacket to make out of it. Chanel style, cardigan jacket I think. What do you think? Do you have a sewing mentor in your life?

The coat is finished. Like, all the way done. Can you even believe that? Mr. S has been at death’s door with the flu so we haven’t yet been able to take photos. Nor has he had the haircut he promised me to get because I finished the coat – do you make deals with your significant other like this? I’ll make you a coat if you’ll please just get a haircut. Somehow, I’m pretty sure one is not on the same level as the other, but the things we do for love, am I right? Anyways, photos will happen this weekend or my name is mud. Promise.

Lauren’s totally rad, stylin, fabulous dress flipped through my reader just yesterday and I had to give it the spotlighted creation badge this week. Isn’t it awesome? It’s knit, its amazingly comfortable and its that pattern. What pattern you say? It’s that Tiramisu pattern put out by Cake. Hop on over for totally awesome pattern hook-up. Lauren, you are the bomb and so is that dress.

This is one of the best tutorials for cutting silk I have ever seen. Really amazing results, I’m so excited to try. In fact, I’m very excited to try it on any slippery fabric really, I mean think of all that rayon bemberg lining. The precision is what really freaks me out. I LOVE this! Jen, seriously, you’re a genius!

I haven’t really gotten into the holiday spirit much around here. Things just seem so scattered this year. But, I am enjoying seeing the inspiring little tutorials for holiday decorating. Isn’t this a cute idea? Wouldn’t take too long either.

More inspired goodness from this week:
● Peter makes another fabulous shirt, for himself. Two more actually, here & here.
● Loving this rub-off that Karen did. She looks pretty killer in a short skirt, wouldn’t you say?
● I love this dress from Tasia, but she points out why it was a flop. What was your last sewing flop?
● The cutest little knits in the whole world. I can’t wait to see the mini Casey all dolled up in them!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sunni

Hi friends! How’s your December shaping up? Mine is going pretty well. The coat is almost finished. Almost. I promised the mister he would have it by Monday and by George! it will be done! Things have been kind of quiet around here and its been really nice! Gosh – that’s a little weird to say when it’s verging on Christmas. Wait! Did I just say the “C” word? My mister and I don’t get too crazy (meaning presents) about this time of year as we just look forward to being together and enjoy one another’s company. What about you? Whatever you are doing, I do hope you all are doing well and your holidays become what you want them to be.

This week’s spotlighted creation goes out to Peter! He’s got some gift giving spirit already making this shirt for Michael. So fabulous! I do love a great men’s shirt and this one is in flannel to boot – I’ll bet its amazingly comfy! I’ve been wanting a flannel shirtdress actually and this was totally inspiring for that! Lovely shirt Peter!

Please tell me you didn’t miss the new Cordova jacket! I hurried up and purchased my copy right when I saw the photos hit my reader. Hip Hip Hooray! Jackets can be one of the hardest things to construct and lookey here, Tasia – clever minx – has created a jacket pattern that doesn’t look daunting in the least. Sheesh! A great pattern and I’m sure it will become another standby for me. I’m in love with all things Sewaholic! Go get your copy today!

I loved this post from Megan about the Everyday Wear-ability Test. You guys, this is serious Everyday Wardrobe talk right here! I love the idea of testing out a garment as everyday friendly though when your time is limited it can be impossible, so its really nice when a designer does it for you. I love that! Hop on over and have a gander!

More fanciness to catch my eye this week:
● This post by Already Pretty was amazing! Truer words were never spoken.
● I love this post from The Perfect Nose.
● An awesome idea for getting that UFO pile going.
● Aren’t these darling?
● Speaking of Christmas Ornaments, this ornament exchange was brilliant! Loved. It.
● A gorgeous jacket! So jealous!

Have a happy weekend readers!
Sunni

Continuing on with my Sewing Library series, here is another one of my japanese craft books. This one has a few english subtitles scattered throughout the book and on the front the title is Stylish Dress Book. It’s one of my favorites, though I freely admit that I feel that many of the styles of dresses in the book tend to look the same. I also admit that though I love the shapes and composition of everything in the book, the styles probably would not look that great on my figure. I definitely need to try one though before I completely write it off – the plaid number a few photos down is my absolute favorite! Looks so incredibly comfortable and I can only imagine how much I would wear it if it was in a flannel. I’m a hick at heart, what can I say? Sigh….

I hope you enjoy these! The color compositions and photo styling are so wonderful I think. Lovely and modern with a whimsical twist. In a bit of other news, I’ve had a pretty swell time beefing up the blog over the weekend. I’m still chipping away at it bit by bit, but hop on over and tell me what you think of the layout. I really do love hearing your opinions as they are important when I plan big changes. Have a wonderful Monday! I’m off to lunch with a friend and then its putting my nose to the grindstone as I try to finish up the coat!

xoxo,
Sunni

I thought it might be fun to start a new series here about what’s in my sewing library. I have so many sewing books that I just love and so many interesting items that I think you might find interesting too. I hope it will broaden your sewing horizons just a little and give you some ideas for trying out new things that maybe you didn’t know about before. To start this series, and since I’m working on a certain someone’s coat from a Japanese book, I thought I would share some Japanese craft books with you. I thought it might be more exciting to go through them one by one because these truly are luscious little books. So let’s begin.

What are Japanese craft books? They are wonderful little books that contain anything from clothing to crafts to knitting and crochet photos, illustrations, instructions and patterns. The ones that I’m familiar with dedicate an entire book to one type of craft. For example, with Japanese craft books that are dedicated to sewing clothing all the photos in the book will be of something you can make. The instructions are usually located at the back of the book along with line drawings and the patterns are just like the patterns in a BurdaStyle magazine – they are all nested on top of each other on one big page meaning that you have to trace them off and usually add seam allowances in order to use them. There’s usually something like 20 patterns in each book and all of the instructions are in japanese. For those of us that don’t speak japanese though, the illustrations are magnificent. Very clear and very easy to follow for someone who is well acquainted with sewing.

I think one of the most interesting parts about these books is that the book is also dedicated to a certain style of clothing. I have a book on skirts, one on women’s clothing, one on men’s coats (same one that I’m using for my hub’s coat), etc. Today I wanted to share my book on handbags. I never even make handbags, but when I first picked up this particular pattern book, the bags just made my mouth water. Sometimes I get really itchy for a crafty like project and these types of books are wonderful to turn to for that. I love how the Japanese can take something like a handbag and make it look so elegant and refreshing.

Aren’t these just wonderful? I also wanted to give you my favorite resource for getting these pattern books. This Etsy shop here is marvelous and they provide excellent service and they always have great stock on a lot of these books. Go have a gander and enjoy yourself!

Happy daydreaming!
Sunni

Lauren, I totally stole your slogan here. The outpouring of “one project at a time” love really rocked my world last week. It’s true, I’ve been feeling….overwhelmed and oddly enough, after I had posted that last week and finally just let it out, I felt better. So much better. That’s kind of the way it goes right? Writer’s/sewer’s block and all.

I was really taken with what y’all had to say too and I thought it would be great to bring to life your comments by posting this follow up post. This might be especially useful if you too, have been suffering from some sewing burn out and/or you just don’t know where to start because you have so many projects you could start….This idea of crafty monogamy – working on only one project at a time as stated by Lauren – is a really good way to get the most productivity out of your sewing, I think.

First and foremost, “Sewing should be fun and not stressful!” Miss Crayola Creepy said this. Isn’t that the truth? Sewing can be such an enjoyable process. I admit, I love the scheming part the best, but I do so love all the in betweens too. I love the moment you take the first cut into your fashion fabric and the way the scissors glide through the cloth. I also love the finishing – hemming, handstitching, making buttonholes and the like. What’s more I adore wearing the finished item. Always makes me happy to put it on and see it all done and then go to my closet and pair it with garments I already have.

Katherine had an awesome idea and one that would be really enjoyable to employ. Creating little bags of projects that have the fabric, pattern and all the notions and supplies collected and all put together so that you’re ready to sew it all up. This idea feeds my organizational side too and would probably be very handy when planning out a wardrobe for a new season. Carolyn also had a wonderful tidbit of advice to go along with this and that was to keep a notebook handy for scheming projects. Write down your thoughts for future fabric use, color scheme and possibly pattern numbers or ideas for patterns you’ve made and want to alter. It’s handy to sketch out your plan and staple fabric swatches next to your sketch. This gives you freedom from dwelling on and being consumed by future projects – something I have a problem with. Instead you can just write down your idea and then keep going with your current project. Brilliant!

“Working on 5 projects at a time does not get them done faster, instead it usually means that nothing gets done.” Amen lisa g. I’m embracing this one project at a time notion and I’m really loving it. I’ve got my man’s winter coat on a roll! Lisa also had the brilliant idea of creating a project task list – seriously this is like genius! Its so nice to organize your time in the sewing room with a task list and it can show you how long this specific project will take. I think it makes the project look and feel not quite so daunting if you’ve got a really big complicated project on your hands.

Several of you chimed in by saying that its really helpful to restrict yourself and make yourself work on one project at a time by not allowing yourself to buy anything new or start anything new until one thing is finished. Buying something new is something I need to work on bit by bit, but in the meantime, I definitely want to incorporate the don’t start anything new until one thing is finished part. In addition to this though, a few of you stated that with really long projects, its great to break it up with an easy peasy project, like a t-shirt. I’ve actually been thinking about this and have fabric and thread for another cowl necked Renfrew whilst I’m working away on my man’s winter coat. I’m looking forward to just breaking the pace a bit with something different that’s not really time consuming and is really gratifying and easy to bang out. A really really great idea!

On UFO piles – This is definitely an area I need to work on, but I have to admit to myself that I can’t just work on that pile alone. Some of those garments are for a different season than the one I’m in now and so I think for me, when it comes to organizing this section of my sewing room, it will be in order of season first and then by something that theperfectnose said which is to organize your UFO pile by the amount of work a project needs to get finished and putting those with the least amount of work at the top of the pile. Fabulous idea! Stef also said that she goes through her UFO pile and decides on their fate very quickly. How likely is it that you will finish that blouse that’s been languishing at the bottom of the pile for years? Maybe you should either come to terms with getting rid of it or cut it up and use it for something else. I totally need to do that.

Last but not least, organization can spawn creativity, movement and the desire to finish what you’ve started and you all even told me so! One of the most important elements here is keeping a clean workspace whether that’s by cleaning up your mess before you’re done for the day or by cleaning it up before you get started, the idea is to just clean it all up so that you can focus your attention on the project you’re working on at the moment. Organize your sewing room and put things in their proper place where you’ll know you’ll find them again. Its no fun searching for that one little tool you need for over an hour because your place is such a mess and nothing can be found! Ask me how I know!

Oh goodness readers! Thank you so much for your wonderful ideas, comments, suggestions and the time you took to post about my previous post. It was wonderful and I feel so much better! I feel great! Gosh, y’all know how to make a girl feel like a million. Here’s to more organized, efficient but creative sewing. Here’s to one project at a time!

Cheers!
Sunni

The return of Stitching Spotlights! I love putting these posts together and its been sooooo long since I did one. It’s a wonderful round up to a great sewing/inspiration week in action. I hope you have missed them as much as I have! In other news, it snowed here yesterday and Mr. S remarked on the cold temp outside – a little nudge to get my fanny in gear on his coat I think. I’m looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend with some tea, movies/music and my sewing machine. That’s something I haven’t had a quite some time. How’s your weekend shaping up to be?

I chose two amazing garments this week for the spotlighted creations. It’s been so long that I think two is quite apropos. On the left is Karen’s Teases in Teal. Is it natural that I ran right out and purchased the pattern she used immediately afterward. I’m pretty sure its not, but that’s exactly what happened. Unfortunately, I have the PERFECT wool crepe for this make. Isn’t Karen’s just delightful? She has such an eye for sweet little details. On the right you see Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic. I love Carolyn’s makes and this dress is no different! I adore the trim around the neckline and armholes and I love it paired with those fantastic gloves. Gorgeous fabric too – Carolyn has a fabric addiction just like me! So glad I’m not the only one! Fantastic and inspiring work ladies!

Do you ever wonder if fabric hoarders of years back actually collected good fabric? I know this might be a fairly weird question, but whenever I go thrifting or to estate sales and such, I rarely, if ever find fabric that is worth having. Lots of polyester but nothing of really good quality. Well, much to my amazement and delight, Andrea posted about her recent fabric and pattern acquisition. And there’s actually liberty of london in the mix. I nearly fell off my chair. I’m sooooo jealous, but have to admit it could not have happened to a funnier cuter gal! Lucky you Andrea – can’t wait to see what you make with it all!

Mim over at MadMim has been hosting a very sweet tiny art week! Its so adorable! I love little things – I really really do! I especially loved this little matchbox idea. I envision a wall full of these with little buttons in them – now how cute would that be in a sewing room?

More inspiring goodness from my reader this week:
♥ Tilly shows us how to pleat a sleeve cap.
♥ I’m a sucker for animal prints and am dying over this fabulous animal print dress from Erika B.
♥ Megan reiterates why its so important to press and iron your handmade creations. So important!
♥ This guest post on chic embellishments is sooooo inspiring!
♥ Did you see this Thread’s article on Firming Up Fabrics w/Gelatine? Amazing!

Here’s to an amazing fall week! Happy October everyone!
xoxo,
Sunni

Is it just me, or does this not look the exact dress that’s on the envelope of Simplicity 1880? In yellow, no less.  Now just how crazy is that! Friends, have a simply marvelous weekend. Dream of shirt & wrap dresses. I’ll meet you here Monday and we’ll officially start the sewalong!

xoxo,
Sunni

“This pattern is so sweet — it reminds me of the dresses we sewed in the mid-late 1970s, with its front gathers into a shoulder yoke, and the swingy skirt, and the convertible collar. Even the cuffed full sleeves on the wrap dress make me nostalgic for that time of at-last-i’m-done-with-high-school-bring-on-the-boys optimism and youthful vitality! I look forward to seeing your finished dresses.”

I would say that just about sums it right up for me. Perfect description of what I’m after.

This is like THE wrap dress I want. Isn’t it rather beautiful? Yet it looks totally unfussy and easy to wear. Comfort is definitely a word that is coming to mind and I do so like comfort.

This is another beauty. It has a very chic look and I love the pockets – something I’m seriously considering incorporating into the sewalong. What say you?

Here’s a faux wrap style dress that’s got a bit of an edge to it. I love the use of gathers everywhere and it looks light and summery. Plus its green and I’m a green fanatic!

Pretty right? I love the fabric choice and this looks very similar to our pattern pick as well. A pretty pair of heels and a clutch and you’re set.

Are you dying over this dress? Crazy thing is it looks like a sharp, clean cotton poplin and I was all thinking only about silky drapey stuff. You can’t go wrong with cotton poplin now can you?

I’m so in love with this purpley color and the fact it’s polka dotted makes my knees start to give. It’s lovely! Plus again, we’ve got those lovely gathers at the waist and shoulders – so flattering!

I’m loving the sleeve length on this number and even the color, though I know it wouldn’t look that great on me (same color as my skin). Still quite nice!

Another lovely piece and it has such class too. All I can think is chic, class, sophisticated.

So you can click on any of the photos to see where they came from. What do you think? Do have an inspiring wrap dress image? Leave the link in the comments cuz I would love to see more. Also, I ran across this interview with Diane Von Furstenberg who pretty much hallmarked the wrap dress style and I thought it was more than inspiring so you should hop over and read it too.

xoxo,
Sunni

I’m so glad its Friday loves! I’ve been making serious progress on my jacket and I’m still soaking up the satisfaction and I’ve added another jacket to the list of makes. Its a way down the line, but I’ll get to it before the summer is out. Gosh, tailoring is just so much fun and its opened up a whole new world of options to me. I hadn’t really factored in jackets into my wardrobe – seems I never really wore them much, but that’s more due to fit, which I can cure, than anything else. So let’s hear it for tailored jackets, eh?

On the Stitching Spotlights front, Karen’s fabuloso St. Clements Cambie made my list. So cute right? I’m big fan of citrusy colors mostly because I wear them very well, so I can’t help loving this dress. Plus I’ve got the Cambie on my list to make this summer – what great inspiration! Lovely make Karen!

Karen also posted a marvelous tutorial for how to knot your thread. This is actually how I knot my thread, a trick I picked up some years ago from a sewing class I took. It was a revelation at the time, so if you too ever have difficulty knotting a thread, have a gander at Karen’s clever tutorial.

For you southern hemisphere folks it’s probably getting a little chilly right? Well Sew Tessuti made their stellar New York Cape Pattern now available by PDF. I’m seriously crushing on this cute little cape and it looks so easy to make too. I’ve got it tagged for a possible make come the fall. I think I might even have the perfect wool for it too.

More inspiration from around the interwebs:
♥ A very cute and clever pocket tutorial. I think it would sweet on a denim skirt myself.
♥ This girl’s got jackets on the brain too – I do so love a great jacket from Amanda. Don’t miss.
♥ Some great tips on when to change sewing needles and maybe try out a new brand.
♥ Tasia gives an in depth look at how to line the Cambie Dress. BTW, this works for a number of other dresses too.
♥ Some rather GORGEOUS corded detail inspiration.
♥ I love these wonderful tips for how to get over a crafting slump.

Friends, have a fabulous weekend!

xoxo,
Sunni