As promised in my buttonholes post a couple weeks ago-- here she is, the finished couture tailored cape coat!

Hi, all! This is my daughter’s graduation dress, which I finished on Sunday for the ceremony on Monday. Part of the reason for the short deadline was that the design kept changing, and the other issue is that she lives abroad and was not available for fittings.

I was wondering if anyone knows how I can reduce how wrinkly it gets around the corners of the opening?

Made this frog purse for a friend to wear to ren faire! Now that he’s arrived at his destination I can post pictures. I’m SO incredibly happy with how it turned out!

Made from quilting cotton with a thrifted zipper I ripped out of a goodwill purse. He’s fully lined with a funky green print I got in a fat quarter stack and wasn’t sure how to use in a quilt. Feet are embroidered with a tight zigzag stitch for the details.

The feet are convertible straps - they can either clip around a belt for a more whimsical belt bag look, or they can open up and clip onto a longer strap for an everyday crossbody look!

Edit: this is a self-drafted pattern! He’s loosely based on a free fanny pack pattern I found online, but there’s a LOT of modifications. I might make a tutorial later if others want to make a little friend too :)

Seems all I do is sew things for my wife lately 🤣 She sent me a link to an Amazon bag she was wanting but it was too small. Being me I thought "I can make that". Final dimensions expanded are 12"x12" x6"

I've never made anything like this and took a lot of YouTube tutorials of similar bags before settling on exactly how I wanted to make it.

Self drafted following this how-to: https://youtu.be/1kFk2Ei49Iw?is=piFlccFi7vSzuyJY

Fabric: Cotton https://a.co/d/0eyyJQrH Lining: Nylon Ripstop

Been making lots of purses and bags lately, here are a couple I’ve made in the last month or so.

All are made up of faux leather and cotton ribbed fabric and lined with suede.

My sister asked for a passport holder for an upcoming trip, so I used Passport Wallet by TeethyMcGeeDigitals on Etsy to make this mockup that I will probably use for myself as I’ve had the same boring passport wallet since 2009.

The wallet has two passport pockets, a zipper pouch, and two card slots. It closes with elastic. I opted not to stitch around the edges because all of the pockets sewn together add a lot of layers and I thought it would look a bit unprofessional. The card pockets are a little dicey—I don’t really like how the cards hang over the pocket and they are a little loose for comfort.

I used leftover quilt cotton (Bella Firenze by Art Gallery Fabrics! Truly, this fabric was made to be a passport cover and it makes me want to go to Florence soon) and foldover elastic because it was the only elastic I have that isn’t white, and cut a zipper to size after sewing it on.

I like that it has a sleek profile, but it is pretty floppy with nothing inside it. Only the main piece has interfacing, and i worry that with all the layers, adding additional interfacing might make it more difficult to work with. It would be interesting to make this with thicker fabric and see if the added bulkiness would be worth it.

The version for my sister will feature Princess Mononoke fabric :)

Overall, this was a relatively quick evening project and a naturally stunning result with the fabric choice!

First time sewed it. Made out of old bed sheet. Took more than two weeks to finish, from learning pattern making and sewing as part time. Procrastination also made me late. One thing I learned is not to try pants with bed sheet. The cloth needs to be little heavier. I think I need more practice/ dummy project before I can cut a real pants draft.

Hi, very exciting to be posting these trousers that i made. I don't currently own a sewing machine so I had to sew them by hand. These are the first garment I have made in over 7 years and the very first pair of trousers (with a fly and everything!!!)

They are the burda polyester cargo trouser pattern 114 https://www.burdastyle.uk/polyester-trousers-114-burda-style-09-25-pdf-pattern sewn with a navy cotton drill and cute little bit of pink cotton poplin. Though the fabric choice may not have been the best as it doesn't hold the pleat.

I know the fit around the back of the thighs is also not the best but the smallest size in the pattern was 2 sizes too big so I think overall the fit is okay.

What do you think?

**Constructive Feedback Appreciated**

I made the Bootstrap Fashion Full Body Dressform! This was such a long project but I think for me making this for the first time I feel like it worked out better than expected! I followed instructions for the fabric part of the dress form. I added onto the original pattern in a few ways. First, I added zippers which I call "Service Zippers" on the main sections: Both arms, both sides of the legs, and both sides of the torso. I did this because I wanted to be able to go into the dressform later if something is broken, the fabric rips, or some other problem so I can unzip the section that needs repair and then zip it after I finish the repair. I also decided to add in some internal PVC Pipe structuring so the arms were anchored onto something firm in case I am putting weight around the arms or upper torso. I attached these internal 1/2 inch PVC Pipes onto some 2" to 1" PVC Pipe fittings to allow me to anchor the PVC Pipes onto something firm. This was then glued onto a wooden version of the waist piece with epoxy so that it was also on a firm base. I glued the leg PVC Pipes onto a wooden waist piece as well with epoxy to have a firm base to anchor to. I used wood for the arms and waist pieces. I used a circle hole saw for the wood to drill a hole and then sewed a hole in two fabric pieces together and then wrapped it around the wood and sewed those to the holes.

There were definitely hurdles to doing it this way. One is that I messed up on the lengths of the 1/2 inch pipes for the Torso so I had to improvise with fittings left over from my first duck tape dressform to get the height right to match where the arms were. Another hurdle was I didn't drill holes in the wooden pieces for the arms in the right spots so I had to awkwardly glue the pipes to the sides of the fittings I glued together (btw drill the holes in the middle of the arm hole piece not the sides. That's lined up with the center of the holes in the waist piece).

Some lingering things I need feedback on are the following. I feel like this is extremely lumpy with how I guess I filled it with stuffing. Maybe I didn't stuff it correctly??? I used muslin fabric with interfacing on all fabric pieces. I know I had problems with some of my fabric pieces getting messed up and slightly wrinkly with accidentally leaving the iron too long when fusing some of the interfacing. Idk how to get the lumps out. Also, I think the bottom and maybe the sides of the Torso section is too wide. Again, did I stuff it too much??? I sewed the fabric piece with the right seam allowance on the torso section. Idk, probably maybe need to fiddle with the stuffing? Or did I mess up the lengths of the torso fabric pieces? What might be causing the mismatch on the bottom? Please let me know what you think might help with these problems I seem to have with this.

Hey sewing community! I got a great deal on this adjustable dress form recently after searching for ages to find one that wasn’t going to cost beaucoup bucks. But in my excitement of finding it at the thrift, i completely forgot to consider the material this thing is made out of.

it’s basically a plastic sheet formed to fit the shape of a woman, so no way to pin it to hold fabric to it… i can’t even get a straight pin to stay in place through the thin fabric already covering it 😣 so i’m hoping to ask for some help or thoughts: what should i add to this dress form to give me the ability to pin garments to it? basically how to i get this dress form to behave like a dress form 😅

some initial thoughts/ideas:

IDEA #1: i was thinking i could try to find some sort of magnetic tape or something to line the inside of it so i could use magnets to hold the fabric up, then hopefully as i pin material together it would just hold on its own from tension…???? feels like a way dumber idea now that i’ve written it out though, LOL.

IDEA #2: i also have a good amount of aida fabric that i found thrown out behind a michaels, and that would hold pins well but doesnt want to conform to the shape of the mold at all. i could cut them into strips though, which might make shaping a bit easier.

IDEA #3: i could use very thin foam sheets? like a sew-in foam sheet like you might use for stabilizing a bag or something you might get in a pack for other crafts. i do need to add an inch to the butt lol so this could be a good fit.

maybe a combo of 2/3?? have any of you run into a situation like this before?? please lend me your wisdom 😭😭😭

I'm obsessed with this jacket, I would love to recreate this!

However I'm a bit confused about the fabric used here;

Looks like sherpa for the body.

Then the bright stripes look like ripstop fabric.

What about the patterned fabric though??

I see it's quilted and it's some kind of synthetic fabric, but I would appreciate any recommendations. What kind of fabric would work the best with fleece and also ripstop and have a good variety of prints to choose from?

I'm not sure if it's a ripstop as well, it doesn't really look like one to me or maybe it is, idk.

Would appreciate any help/thoughts

Thanks!

I just moved and have a sewing room all to myself. What you use for storage? I’ve tried thrifting for organizing drawers but haven’t really found anything, it’s either too small or too big. Im fine just keeping fabric in boxes but digging through a box with all sewing supplies all mixed up is driving me insane. Also im very much on a budget so please don’t suggest anything too too expensive

I saw the polka dot bag on insta and the creator doesn’t have a pattern yet but I’m obsessed and literally itching to make the bag.🫣🤣 the baggu shoulder bag shape looks almost identical. I was thinking about buying one second hand and seam ripping it apart to then trace on my own fabric???? Is that even possible? 😅

I really fell in love with this style of jacket (https://en-grasser.com/vykrojki/all-patterns/men-s-hoodie-pattern-49/). It's made for strechy knit but I would like to use my midweight 280gsm denim with only a small amount of stretch (2% elastane). Do you think it will work if I just size up one size and try it? Or do you know similar patterns that are made for woven fabric?

I tried contacting grasser but I only got a notification back that the mail could not be delivered, so I'm not sure what's up with that.

Thanks!

I ordered some lovely wine-stripe shirting cotton. It's printed, not woven, which is not a surprise given the price point.

I washed it this morning, 40°C (104°F), and the white stripes are now a very light pink. (The hand has also changed significantly, which is not a surprise but it's changed much more than other cottons I've been washing lately)

Do I:

• throw it back in the wash before it dres, with many color catchers?
• swear, complain to the vendor, and get more?
• other?

Looking for a dress pattern like the one Dita has. I had this pattern (vogue 8280) but it’s been out of print and sizes I had is a max of 8, and I’m a 12(bust) 16/18 hips. Etsy has is for $55(mind blown) and I just can’t justify spending that much.

Any recommendations for a current in print style that’s the same/similar pattern?

1# Where do you all get official Juki presser feet for that machine in the US?
2# Avoid CKPSMS bran presser feet being sold as a replacement for the DNU-1541.

You can't adjust the inner presser foot independently of the needle on the horizontal, you can only adjust on the vertical. Meaning that if the needle hole is not machined in the correct position on the inner foot, you can't do anything about it. For example in my photo you can see the needle is too far to the back of the whole, there is nothing that I can do to move the inner foot back to center the needle in the hole. The issue here is if that needle has any play in it at all (and it does) it could have a needle strike on the foot throwing your machine out of time if you don't have a clutch like the DNU-1541S. Even still that's really bad for all the other reasons too.

All of my CKPSMS feet that I ordered that had be advertised as being replacement feet for the DNU-1541 have bad hole position and will cause needle strikes on the foot. I would avoid this.

Now its possible that I maybe wrong about not being able to adjust the horizontal position but all my research says that's the case. So if I am wrong please by all means call it out as I would love to fix this.

So that leads me back to the first point. Where do you all get your presser feet from?

Anyone have a recommendation for what to use to make them as heat resistant as possible?

Dar lovely community,

I want to beauty my weighted blanket. This depresión gray doesn't do it for me. I tried putting it into a duvet cover but it will inevitable buch up inside.I thought of making a nicer quilt inspired cover for it and sew it directly to the blanket so it stays in place.

The blanket is 7kg with glass beats. The squares containing the beats are quite big so not evenly distributed. I tried to sew through to make smaller squares, it was very difficult and, as you can see, gave up on the first column.

I know I could "gut" the blanket to take the beats and remake the blanket from 0 with small squares, but I seems like a risky move.

What would you do? I am up for work if it is worth the result but I am also not the most experienced seamstress. Anyone has experience doing weighted blankets?

Thank you!

I’m looking to make a patchwork dress for my baby girl. I think my current plan is to buy a yard of the “main” pattern/color and then get some precut fabric squares in various patterns to make the patchwork. Does anyone have any recommendations for places to buy the squares? I only have a small budget. Amazon is an option but I want at least decent quality fabric And I don’t know what to expect from them. Looking for sets of cute patterns that go well together. The main fabric and patches would ideally be the same type of fabric too which makes things complicated.

Update: Thank you all for teaching me about charm packs! (I’m not new to sewing but new to buying fabric for patchwork!).

Hi, we do costumes at work for Halloween. This year I wanna make my own, but I'm not sure what fabric to use. I want it to look as close to the fabric as possible, but nothing scratchy and I don't want to wear a felt fabric costume because that would be far too hot. Any advice, please. For the lace part I already have a plan. And I will probably wear a bodysuit because the backs of the toy costume aren't velcro or anything.

Thank You!!

Hi all! I’m attempting a snow-white inspire cloak and have found the exact fabric I need (richloom blossom) . Alas…it’s sold out. I’ve exhausted my reverse image search skill and was wondering if anyone knew of a place to find this particular fabric, something similar or somewhere that can reproduce? It’s an embroidered linen from what I can tell, embroidered being key ✨

Thanks in advance, sewing buddies!

I've got this cream sashiko stitch design fabric with the measurements of 110 cm by 300 cm (43 inch by 3.3 yards). It has a texture to it and it's lightly sheer. Do you guys have any recommendations what to sew with this fabric?

Hi! I'm hoping to make a flat front, elastic back skirt (Friday Pattern Company Saturday Skirt) out of silk chiffon with a bemberg lining. I have never sewn with chiffon before. I plan on doing a gelatin soak and am keeping my fingers crossed. My question is- how to deal with/create the waistband, preferably keeping the chiffon as the top visible layer? I have some flexible-ish medium weight interfacing (I don't know what type- I got it at a fabric sale) but I don't think that would be enough by itself. I have googled and couldn't find any ideas. Thanks for any tips or ideas!