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Adding Pockets to the Minoru Jacket: Amy’s Awesome Tutorial

By on January 27, 2012 in Tips

I have an excellent surprise for you guys today – a tutorial on how to add pockets to the Minoru Jacket! Amy from Sew Well was kind enough to take photos and write up a guide to adding sideseam pockets. If you’ve been holding off sewing your sideseams because you wanted to add pockets, this [...]

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How to Make Your Own Piping

By on January 18, 2012 in Sew-Alongs, Tips

I saw this post called ‘How I Make Piping’ on Vicki Kate’s blog, VickikateMakes and instantly thought “Hey, maybe the rest of you Sew-alongers would be interested in making your own piping too!’ Click the image or click here to see how she’s made the piping for her Minoru Jacket. You can buy piping in [...]

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What is Triple Stitch?

By on January 17, 2012 in Tips

Vicki asked “What is a Triple Stitch” so I thought I’d show you guys, rather than try and explain it! Your sewing machine may or may not have this stitch option. It’s Option #2 on my machine out of its seventy-five settings, which makes me think it’s fairly common on newer machines. It’s also known [...]

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Five Ways to Tell if Your Fabric Is Water-Resistant

By on January 6, 2012 in Fabrics, Tips

How do you tell if a fabric is waterproof or water-resistant? I bought a piece of fabric from a discount store recently, and was told it might be waterproof. It was so cheap ($4/m) that I didn’t mind if it wasn’t officially waterproof, as it would be just as cute as a windbreaker-style jacket. I [...]

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A Full Bust Adjustment on the Minoru Jacket, Courtesy of Alana

By on December 15, 2011 in Tips

Who here is planning to do a Full Bust Adjustment (FBA) on their Minoru Jacket? I am thrilled to share this fantastic photo-illustrated FBA demonstration from Alana at Lazy Stitching. Alana was kind enough to let me borrow her photos from her tutorial! Which is great. It’s awesome to get pattern adjustment tips from someone [...]

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Tailoring a Coat: Making a Back Stay

By on November 18, 2011 in Projects, Tips, Work in Progress

Another baby step of progress on the Seventies Wrap Coat project! Here is the first tailoring technique I’ve applied to my Wrap Coat. We’re adding a back stay to support and stabilize the back of our coat. This will prevent strain across the shoulders as well. And I’m guessing it will also keep loosely woven [...]

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Guest Post: Caroline on Sewing Waterproof Outerwear

By on November 7, 2011 in Online Resources, Tips

Hey, everyone! I’m super excited to have Caroline of Little Package as a guest on the blog today. Caroline has been a long-time reader of the blog – you’ve likely seen her name come up in the comments before! She’s combined her love of sewing with her love of cycling to create Little Package, offering [...]

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Even the Most Beautiful Fabric May Have Flaws

By on October 11, 2011 in Fabrics, Projects, Tips, Work in Progress

I just noticed that my beautiful teal and brown coating has flaws! There are long gold strings, white lumps and even blue bumps on my coating fabric. I didn’t notice it at first, but it’s not the end of the world. We can work around them and still have a beautiful coat at the end [...]

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