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

I love the book “Pat the Bunny”. It’s a toddler book. Little kids and babies love texture. You often see them crawl over to something and scratch with their little fingers to feel the surface. Or, when you’re holding them, they rub their little fingers on surfaces to get the feel and the comfort. There is definitely something about growing their little brain cells that is involved with tactile sensations.

There are times when I love a particular layer cake and I don’t know what to do with it. Even when I love a particular fabric, and I can see that it would bring me joy for years, often I can’t picture it in any quilt. That’s when the always dependable hourglass design is useful. I have made several of these quilts because they’re beautiful, and work well with most

I have been doing a lot of teaching these days. That’s how it goes in the summer. I tend to do one on one teaching of children for several reasons. For one, I like to give them undivided attention. Where hot irons and sewing machines are concerned, you have to watch them like a hawk. Secondly, when I advertise classes for children at particular times, hoping to get 2 or