All tagged aunt maggie sews for herself

a trio of lovely larks

as previously mentioned, i recently made a goal to sew more things for myself. so on my birthday a few months ago I took the day off work and made trips to my two favorite fabric stores in the east bay: a verb for keeping warm and stonemountain & daughter and got fabrics specifically for this purpose. 

one of the patterns on my to-sew list was the lark cardigan, which is an adaptation of the lark tee from grainline studio. i believe the first time you sew a pattern it's best to follow the instructions and hold off on any alterations or hacks. so before I embarked on the cardigan variation I thought it best to make a basic lark tee with the lightweight grey knit I picked up at a verb for keeping warm. 

2016: year of the indie pattern

happy 2016 everyone!

one of my favorite stores in the bay area, stonemountain & daughter, has declared 2016 to be the 'year of the indie pattern' and is kicking off #indiepatternmonth today. as a long time patron of independent pattern companies i love this.

let me say that again for emphasis: i love this.

i've previously extolled my love of oliver + s, the crown jewel of independent patterns, and expressed my goal to sew all their styles. but in the spirit of the new year i wanted to share some other indie sewing patterns that have caught my eye and i want to sew in 2016.

by hand london by maggie

two years ago our friends joe and kathryn got married and i decided to use the occasion to make myself a new dress.

i found myself wanting something special so i went to spoonflower, a site i had read provided a lot of the fabric for the little things to sew book by oliver + s.  

it was amazing. i spent hours looking at prints before ordering a few swatches. once they arrived i quickly settled on the teal serpentine and placed an order for two yards in cotton sateen.

make the napkins, buy the curtains: the economics of sewing for the home

when i moved to california two years ago i had grand dreams of refurbishing or making all our home furnishings.

i was going to find a vintage school map and hang it as a funky piece of art, put $75 worth of anthropologie hardware on a $50 dresser from craigslist i lovingly refinished while listening to podcasts, and of course sew any and all fabric components of the decor along the way.

these days i am a wiser woman and have come to realize just because you can make something it doesn't mean you have to. so today i am going share my thoughts on what is worth it to make vs. what is okay to just buy. 

100 hours dress

because of our age vic and i go to a lot of weddings these days. because we meet in college (same freshman dorm) a lot of these weddings have the similar guest lists.

last fall we had three weddings, three weekends in a row, all on the east coast.  by the time we got through the second (our fifth of the year) i was so sick of all my dresses i couldn't bear the thought of wearing any of them the next week, especially when half the guest list would be the same.

so i did the logical thing and decided to make a dress 100 hours before the ceremony.

everyday love

sometimes aunt maggie needs to sew for herself. now in general i prefer to sew for kids over adults for a few reasons: 

  • kids clothing doesn't have to fit precisely (it's more about drawstrings and elastic waistbands, less darts and zippers). because this part is easier, i can focus my energy on trying new and different techniques, patterns, and fabrics. 
  • i'm not really a clothes girl, seriously if i could pull off that whole steve jobs uniform thing i would.
  • adult clothing takes a lot more fabric and time, which is tough for me to commit to. maybe i should explore that in therapy.

bubble tea dresses

have i mentioned nora and etta are quite girly? well they are. i however am not. so it's a constant struggle to find fabrics that are sweet enough for them but not too saccharine for me.

when i saw this amy butler lark print at stonemountain & daughter i instantly knew two things: a) nora and etta would love wearing it and b) i wouldn't mind sewing it. so i picked up a few yards and waited for the right inspiration.