Stitching in the Barn

Happy New Year!!!! It seems like every year I start off wanting to sew and blog more. I get new quilting stuff for Christmas that I'm excited about and work slows down for me in January. Then, I get sick/depressed/busy again, forget all about blogging and last year I actually didn't get a lot of sewing in. It was a crazy year. I have 6 drafts saved up from January of last year that I didn't get to post because I didn't have the pictures ready and never got around to them. I think this will be my year to change all that. At the end of 2015, I finally got to sew something other than mending! It finally got cold here in DFW after Christmas so my daughter and I had to make our dogs sweaters. We used Simplicity 3939. I bought it on sale for under $2 a few years back. It's for smaller dogs.

This top was the first time I worked with a knit fabric. I was previously scared of them & I don't have a serger so I stayed away from them. Then I saw this lovely purple butterfly print I just couldn't pass up.  I looked in my pattern stash and on Pattern Review.com and found McCall's 6326 was an easy top that came out good. I chose view C and cut it out in a size 20, one size smaller than the pattern flap measurements. Front

You can skip straight to the review under the break. I bought Burda 7670 at Jo Ann's when they went on sale for $2.50. I buy most of my patterns when they go on sale for $1-$2.50. They go on sale at different times but usually once a month. Burda used to never go on sale but now they do and this one was one of the first I picked up. Before the sale, I get on the company's website, look through the catalog & write down the pattern number and sometimes a brief description. It saves time but sometimes, when I look at the pattern envelope I decide to not buy it because it looks different in a larger picture. Sometimes, I flip through the books at the store and see patterns I wouldn't have picked because the pictures are so much bigger than online, even though they are the same pictures. I've picked up a lot of patterns for basic things like button down shirts, boxers, pants, jeans and coats. I don't ever stitch them up right away but I do read the instru...

It's been a long time but I actually got some projects done. I've been focusing on sewing my own clothes and making thrift store items fit. I've had a lot of success this past weekend on both fronts so I'll have quite a few posts scheduled for the next week or so. I think I've caught a fall sewing bug! I took a 3x large knit shirt I found at the thrift store and took it in 2 inches on each side to fit me. I could probably take in a bit more but loose & comfy is OK. Then there was an unknown size, long, purple, knit camisole that gaped a lot under the armpit that I just darted in on the side seams and now it fits beautifully & hides my bra. The most I spent on those two items together was $4 so I'm pretty happy with that. I had a skirt that was two sizes too big with stretched out elastic in the back of the waist. It also had a facing instead of a waistband so I took out the elastic, sewed three channels into the facing around the waist and threaded i...