The Island Vacation skirt has scenery on it … it has a yellow sunset on the horizon, a line of purple mountains, and then the ground, before it explodes into poppies. The skirt has 3 separate pieces in order for it to wrap around, and you’ll want an unbroken line of horizon to go around the waist and hips. So, you’ll want to lay out the 3 pattern pieces to

I made this skirt for a couple of reasons. First, I loved the fabric and wanted to use it as a long skirt because the panel/border is so long. I haven’t worn an everyday long skirt since they were called maxi-dresses. Isn’t the fabric absolutely stunning? It’s at the Bungalow, in store and online here, along with several other designs with panels that can be long or short. Note the

My dress for my daughter’s wedding is finished! See the photo. It shimmers in the daylight. What beautiful fabric to work with. Though it ravels on the raw edges a lot, you can alleviate the stress of that by using a zig-zag or overlock stitch on the edges. Regarding the gathering I wrote about: Lots of gathering in this pattern to make the skirt very flaired and “twirly”. If I

My daughter said something really smart to me once. She said that she liked to wear bracelets because it’s a piece of jewelry that she could see all day. If she was wearing earrings or a necklace, it was for everyone else to see. I feel that way about accessorizing. Especially with handmade projects. Putting luxury and beautiful fabrics on your body makes you feel good. When you look pretty

“How to make gathers much more easily than pulling threads” Here’s a wonderful tip for making gathers EASIER.  It’s hard to do gathering with thick fabric or with fabric that ravels like my brocade.  You can use dental floss!!  You make two rows of gathering using two pieces of dental floss as you gathering “thread”.  Starting with the first piece of floss, hold your floss in place by lining up

“The ease of making a lining” When you have a fabric, like the brocade, that ravels on the cut edge very easily, you will benefit from making a lining in your garment, especially on the bodice of the garment where you will have to fuss with armholes, gathers, and curves.  A lining makes for a really smooth inside and actually can be LESS work than making facings for armholes, narrow

Hi!  My name is Sue; I’m Judy’s sister.  I love sewing too – have been sewing garments since 5th grade; actually a bit earlier, but started perfecting my skills in 5th grade Home Economics class.  While I love quilts and anything made with brightly colored fabric pieces, I still steer toward clothing.  LOVE LOVE LOVE looking at patterns.  Right now I’m making a dress for myself for my daughter’s wedding

How many of you reading this have ever sewn a robe? A robe can make you feel positively elegant. I remember when my mother was sick. Now this may seem a little morose for a blog post, but one of the things that she did was to sew herself an absolutely beautiful robe. She bought some luxury fabric, and sewed herself an elegant bathrobe. I think that is great therapy.

We had a wonderful weekend with Giucy Giuce of Andover Fabrics as our guest and teacher. He came for one weekend to the Bungalow to teach Tiny Piecing. If you don’t know Giuseppe you can read all about him Here. When he first arrived we hung out a little at the lake. He showed me his samples and they were of course, amazing. Then I realized that the antlers on

Some people take my umbrella class and then can’t remember how they did the tips when they go home and make the second umbrella. Or, they purchase the umbrella and pattern but the tips have them perplexed. Well, it isn’t hard, but it’s the part of the umbrella instruction that usually needs the most explanation. So, I am putting photos of the step by step process here. When you have