Sewing with "Wild & Free"

 I've received some lovely shipments of Art Gallery Fabric over the last couple of weeks and I'm super excited to share with you today some of the projects I sewed up with them. Maureen Cracknell has a new fabric line that she'll be debuting at Quilt Market next week. It's called Wild and Free.  She sent me a few of her precious strike offs to play with and sew up some handbags for her booth.

 The 2 prints on the right and left are actually knits.  Jersey with spandex knits. They are luscious!!
She also sent me a bunch of coordinating solids to use.

Want to see the bags I made?

For these first two I used the Beautiful Belle Handbag Pattern by Amy Butler. I decided to add a little color blocking.

For the 3rd one I used my Garden Tiles pattern minus the tiles of course. Each side is different.

I just love the side cinching on this bag. (I have a pattern in the works for this one).

I have a couple more little things I'm sewing up with the scraps that I'll show you soon. I had so much fun sewing these up, You should check out Maureen's blog to see all the other awesome things she's been sewing up with her fabric. Her thread sketching is amazing!! I can't wait to see how her booth turns out.

Purse Palooza

Hi there! Just in case you haven't heard Sara from Sew Sweetness is hosting Purse Palooza again. Hop on over today to see my handbag pattern review. It's the Crafty Satchel, a pattern from our new book Just For You. Go read all about it HERE!

You should enter a bag for the sewing contest. There are some awesome prizes to be won!

Saturday Night Tunic- Maternity

I'm happy to report that I added another make to my Maternity wardrobe! 

With our new book coming out we get to go to Quilt Market this month to show off all our projects at a Schoolhouse presentation. I'm so excited! Of course it's the perfect time to wear some of our projects throughout the weekend too so I decided to make another version of the Saturday Night Tunic just for me! This pattern is designed by Caroline of SewCanShe and is actually on the front cover of the book. 

It already has a slightly empire waist so I thought it might be perfect for maternity wear.  

For the fabric I chopped up Mer's old Liberty of London dress that doesn't fit her anymore.  Remember when they had a limited edition line at Target? I wish I bought more! Anyway I couldn't part with this beautiful fabric.  It turned out to be the perfect size to cut a tunic from.

I opted to keep the bottom hem as is, which saved sewing time.  I'm still on the fence about it though, That green might need to be narrower. I decided to not shirr the middle so I could belt it or not. I think it also looks cute and retro not belted. I also considered adding the pockets back on... Decisions, decisions!

This is how it sits for now...Any opinions on this? Green hem or no green hem?

And that's it for today. 

Happy Sewing!

A Color Blocked Maternity Shirt

  I just learned that it's Selfish Sewing week over at Imagine Gnats and I'm happy to have something to share. My sewing machine has been stitching away and I'm just getting around to posting. Here is the maternity shirt I stitched up last week.  We finally got a minor break in the rain so I could step outside for a few meager shots of it.

I told you I was going use those orange polka dots again. I'm on the fence a little about how this turned out though.  Of course I used a regular pattern and "maternity-fied" it. This pattern happens to be in our new book Just For You. It's a fun pattern by Jessica from Running with Scissors with endless color blocking options.

 To make it maternity, I just swooped out the bottom a little more on the side seams and turned the "hi-lo" hem into a "lo-lo" hem, making the front the same length as the back but leaving the swooped opening at the sides

The back has three panels as well, which hopefully you can see through all the wrinkles from a day of wear.

I'm not sure this is the most flattering style for my preggo belly but I do like the color blocking on it and will definitely sew this again when my belly has shrunk a bit.

 Have you been doing any selfish sewing this week? 

Maternity Lane Raglan Take 2!

I made another Lane Raglan!  This time I went a little more adventurous and used orange polka dots for the sleeves. What do you think? Can I pull off the polkadot sleeve look in everyday life?

  I say yes! Especially on the soccer sidelines when we may just get drenched with rain like we did this week this would be better than the sweater and skirt I was wearing at the time. It works as a cute p.j. tee too. 

SO this time around I made a size Small on in the chest and shoulders and sloped the sides to a size Medium sized waist.  You can see my last Maternity Raglan attempt in this post for comparison. I chose not to add the extra length to the front panel this time.  I really like the length on this one but it doesn't seem to sink in under the chest as nicely as the last one, making it not quite as flattering.  I may need to take it in a little more there at the side seams or it may help to add some elastic at the side seams to add a little ruching. Or maybe I'm just bigger now and I really do  need that extra fabric helping me out. :) 

I decided to change the sleeves again. I made them even shorter this time and hemmed them the same as the neck line. I think a little curvy cap sleeve would even be cute too.  The Polkadot Fabric is a Riley Blake knit and the gray is Laguna Stretch knit by Robert Kaufman. I picked them up on my last visit to Sew Central. both knits have spandex in them and are super stretchy so they paired well together. So soft and comfortable too.

I think the hardest part of this whole pattern is the applying the neckline. I messed it up the first time around and had to re-do it, stretching it a little more. This fabric has much more stretch than the last one I used so it took a couple of tries to get the hang of it. It's maybe a little to stretched now cause it puckers a little still. I'm picky. If you are going to sew this pattern I would suggest cutting a curve in some leftover scraps and sewing the a separate piece of binding to it just so you know how much stretch you need to have it lay flat. 

Even though I'm pouting here, I totally love my new Lane Raglan. Thank's Hey June for a great pattern!

Oh!!And I almost forgot! Our new book came in the mail a couple of days ago.  A real copy in my hands!!  It's a little surreal seeing your name in print ON A BOOK!  You saw it already if you follow me on Instagram (@bluesusanmakes). I'll take some glamour shots of it soon to show you. C&T Publishing really did a beautiful job putting it all together. Just another month or so and you will be able to get your hands on it as well.  It's available for pre-order on Amazon now. And you get an eBook version from the C&T website.

For my next maternity shirt hack I'm going to use a pattern from our new book, and you just might see some more orange polkadots. 

Stay tuned!

27 Pillowcases closer to One Million

I'm in charge of a monthly Women's group (Relief Society) activity at our local LDS Church. We have scads of fabric in our closet that people have donated for quilts and such. When I heard about the American Patchwork and Quilting's 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge I knew just what we'd do with  all that fabric. Make pillowcases of course! They are a little quicker to sew than quilts and just as useful. We used a simple free Roll-it-up method pattern from the APQ website. There are lots of fancier patterns to choose from too. This one has french seams on the sides and bottom so there are no raw edges.

I wish I had taken pictures of the ladies in action but we sewed up a whopping 27 pillowcases. Now each pillowcase takes 1 yard of fabric to make so that is 27 yards of fabric sitting there folks.

 We chose to donate them to two local women and children's centers. They were so happy to receive them. It was so fun to see the look of surprise on their faces when I handed them a stack of new freshly washed pillowcases that they could distribute to those in need. It makes me want to make more things to donate. We actually have about 4 quilt tops in our closet that are waiting to be put together so that is next on the list.

If you want to learn more about the One Million Pillowcase challenge go HERE. When I uploaded our contribution to the tally they were around 500 K. They are actually hosting a 24 hour sewathon coming up on September 19. You can look in your area to see if you live near a quilt shop who is hosting one or just sew along at home. If you need fabric, consider checking at your local Goodwill or thrift store, You would be amazed at how much fabric they have there for cheap. 

Get Sewing!

Hey June Lane Raglan … Maternity Style

I made myself another shirt this week. One more thing I can fit into, yay! (I'm 21 weeks along here, more than half way!) This time I used the Lane Raglan pattern from Hey June. I love a good raglan sleeve. They are so easy to sew. This pattern can be sewn entirely on the serger, which means it’s super fast to sew once you get it cut out.  I really like the way it turned out in general.

The pattern sizing says to go by your waist measurement. Since my waist is a little altered I went with my current non maternity shirt size which is Medium.

I also wanted to try and turn it into a maternity shirt so I added 4 inches to the front panel and gathered it into the side seams.  It turned out a bit too big and a bit too long.

 I ended up taking it in a little on the side seams in the chest and arms. I think I could still do that on the tummy and be okay.  But I’m going to leave it so my belly still has room to grow.

I also shortened the sleeves since It’s always hot here. I love the cuff around the bottom of the sleeve!! Since I shortened the sleeve, the patterned cuff wouldn’t have been big enough to go around my arm. So I re-sized it to be ½ inch shorter than the width of the bottom of the sleeve where I cut it, if that makes any sense.

 I also really like the band around the bottom though you can see it very well in these pics. It theoretically would have been great if I didn't add length to the front panel.

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The verdict: This pattern is clear and well written.  It’s easy enough even for the beginner to sew. This pattern runs a little big and longer than I expected.  I do like the pattern though and will definitely sew it up again.  Next time I think I’ll try out making a size Small and not adding the extra maternity length on the front.

For fabric I used some striped knit that I picked up from Joann a while back. It has a little metallic shimmer to it that you can't really see. It is a great weight and I think it worked well.

I will definitely be sewing this one again, soon!

Until next time Happy sewing. 

Oh yes...I'm linking this up to Take a Look Tuesday and Project Parade.