Skirts, a top and a cardigan - oh my!

Just a quick after-Thanksgiving post to share some photos of the outfits I made during my sewing retreat. I hope to get some shots in a few days of the garments on Dr. Erin - I think they'll look so much better on her than they do on Gwendolyn, but these will have to do for now.

Sewing Retreat Dreams

Wenona cotton jersey, from Sawyer Brook (of course!)

If you had 3 days just to sew exactly what you felt like making, what would you dream up?

How did they DO that???

This post isn't going to be about anything I've sewn. Not that I haven't been sewing (actually very little, since I just got back from vacation.) It's about something new I just discovered in the RTW fashion that's available. I'm looking for any knowledge anyone out there has to share, to help me figure out exactly what was done to this garment.

2nd life for the gown

In years past, a young bride held onto her wedding gown, carefully packing and preserving the white innocence for its next appearance - hoping her daughter someday would want to wear it for her own wedding. I've been doing bridal alterations and custom work for over 20 years, and only once did I have a bride come to me with her mother's gown.

Machine Loyalty

A quick post today, to let you know that I'm alive and kicking. I have been sewing and have a couple of posts in draft mode, just waiting for photos. I'll get to them this week, I hope - no promises.

But I'm hanging around doing nothing (not really, but telling you I've been crazy busy gets old really fast...) This weekend ranks up there with the busiest

My favorite custom project...

This morning, I was commissioned for the first custom project of the year - a christening gown to be made from the mother's wedding gown. Repurposing a gown that was such a large investment really appeals to my "green" side,

Christmas gifting from the stash and scrap bags!

In the last weeks before Christmas, I managed to sneak into the studio to whip up a couple of little gifts for the girls and guys in my family. Digging into the stash, I found two great wool plaids and made scarves for my two sons, son-in-law, brother-in-law and DH. Simple! Snip-and-tear to size, stabilizing straight stitch along each edge and pulled threads to fringe all around.

What will 2014 bring?

I've been reading the many "top 5 of 2013" posts my fellow and most-often-read bloggers in the sewisphere have written, and felt a bit guilty that I haven't done one. I don't know that I could find 5 of anything that I'd want to list from the past year, because I also feel guilty about the extremely low number of posts I wrote. As I start out fresh for the new year, perhaps it's time for me to channel my usual resolution-listing into what I'd love most to see from my sewing and blogging.