The Tale of Two Shirts

Recently Colette Patterns released a mans shirt pattern known as Negroni.  Now for those of you who like to sew know that there was a great buzz in the sewing realm at the release of this pattern.  Colette patterns is known for their hip styles and easy instructions, but up until now they had mainly focused on women's fashion, which made the release of this pattern the buzz of the sewing blogs!   

The great thing about sewing is that it's a great way of making something your own.  Patty and I set out to sew the Negroni shirt for the men in our lives (her hubby and my brother).  As you will see we both used the same shirt pattern, but our shirts have turned out very different.  

I made my shirt as a birthday present for my brother who lives in Seattle.  (so mums the word) My brother is a personal assistant by day and a hipster by night.  (modeled by my son who demanded a ride to school as pay)  I chose to use a cotton woven fabric by Joel Dewberry which has a heavier hand (feel to it) and very urban. 

  While Patty made her shirt for her husband who is an accountant and works downtown. (who modeled in exchange for being allowed to play with Lucy the beautiful basset hound).  Patty chose a cotton woven fabric by Oliver+S - has a lighter hand and is more conservative.

We both chose the same pocket style (there were at 3 to choose from), though I chose to use a pearl snap on mine because I thought it added to the 'hipster' look of the shirt.

 while Patty chose to use buttons, which fits in nicely with the conservative look of her shirt. 

We both made the long sleeve version and again I opted to use snaps on the cuffs and top-stitched using a light blue thread. 

While Patty created button holes and used her sewing machine to attach all the buttons (clever girl).

Patty even added a spare button to the inside seam of her shirt - just like ready to wear! (very clever girl)

I chose to use the serger to create a rolled-edge stitch to finish the hem of my shirt.  I did this for a few reason:  1.  It shows off the contrasting blue thread which, I think, adds to the casual look and charm of this shirt.  2.  If my brother chooses to tuck in the shirt it adds a little more length to the finished shirt (my brother has a long torso) and 3.  It was just plain easier!  

Patty chose to hem the bottom of her shirt using a very narrow hem.   

The front of my shirt and the back of Patty's. 

And the back of my shirt and the front of Patty's.  

Two completely different looks using the same shirt pattern.  

*you can read more about Patty's shirt on her snugbug blog and more about my shirt on my hubbahubbadingdong blog. (after March 17 - because this is his birthday gift after all)

Coming in like a lion–classes next week at Sewtropolis!

Whew! As everyone digs out from the last storm, we’re gearing up for spring with our March classes! Check out these classes – all happening the very first week of March!

March 1st – Perfect Wrap Dress

We’ll kick off the month with the Perfect Wrap dress – perfect for Spring! This super flattering dress is easy to make (no zippers or buttons!) and is as comfy as it is cute. The class is two parts, so make sure to get registered and make it to both sessions. We’ve graded the class as a level 3 – it’s perfect for students who’ve taken Sewing Essentials and one of our level 2 classes (apron? pajama bottoms?) and are looking for the next project. The class is taught by Patty – here she is modeling her version in a lovely double gauze from Echino.

March 2nd – Sewing Essentials

Dying to make the wrap dress, but can’t remember how to wind your bobbin? Sewing Essentials is perfect for you! Half the class is devoted to a full review of the sewing machine including threading, bobbin winding, cleaning and oiling. During the second half of the class we’ll put your new knowledge to practice and make some funky pillowcases that fit a standard size pillow. Great for beginners or those who want to brush up rusty skills. Bring your machine so you’ll know what to do when you get back home, or use one of ours.

March 3rd - Hostess Apron

OK, we’re all about spring, but Mother’s Day and Father’s Day will be here before you know it! Take our Hostess Apron class and get your gifts ready early. Make mom’s from this gorgeous fleur de lis cotton and make dad a barbeque-ready from this woodsy cotton laminate – both fabrics from the Kate Spain Central Park line from Moda. This is a level two class – so if you’ve graduated from Sewing Essentials, you’re ready to tackle the Hostess (or Host) Apron!
  

March 5th – Quillow

At the end of the week we’ll hold the Quillow class… what’s a quillow you ask? Half quilt, half pillow, this level two class is perfect for beginner sewers who’ve taken the Sewing Essentials class and are looking for a fun project to sew for kids. We’ll be using Valori Wells’ Blissful Turnaround pattern.

March 5th – Pincushion of the Month Club

Rrrawr! This month’s pincushion of the month club features lion and lamb pincushions! These simple and adorable pincushions are almost too cute to stick a pin in! Learn how to play with a bit of yarn to make a mane or some wooly fleece and have fun making faces out of buttons! Workshops are open to all levels and last for one hour where we’ll go over the specific techniques for the month’s pincushion. Kits are available for an extra fee with all the materials to make a lion and lamb of your own and your class fee includes two hours of Q&A Studio Time to use anytime during the month of March – the perfect amount of time to make a lion and lamb of your own!

Registration and materials.

Whew! That’s a lot going on in one week! To register, call the shop (612-827-9550) during business hours – Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays noon to 4 p.m. In most cases, materials are not included in class fees. We offer a 10% discount on materials purchased at the shop for a class.

See you next week!

What's Black and White and Soon To Be Swapped!

The Minneapolis Modern Quilters are doing a swap and challenge on Thursday, I recently blogged about the challenge if you'd like to read 'the rules'. I have so much fabric in my stash that I thought I would use up what I had. Unfortunately once I started cutting into it I discovered that the 1/4yard cuts I had were cut 9"x44" and not fat quarters which are 18"x 22". Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the rules say that the fabric has to be washed.... which then made it fray.  I then ended up getting only 4 strips instead of the 6 I needed from each of my scraps - which means I was 'forced' to use this beautiful fabric we have at the store called Dilly Dally by Me and My Sister.

Squaring up fabric straight off the bolt is a whole lot easier then squaring up fabric once it's been washed.  Here's how I squared up the fabric after I washed it. 

I folded my fabric matching up the selvages first.  I then folded it in half again. 

All wrinkles should be smoothed out.

I then lined up the vertical lines on my ruler with the folded edge. 

I cut off just the frayed edges of the fabric. (waste not, want not)

If you're ambidextrous you should be able to make the next cut without flipping the fabric.  But since most of us aren't ambidextrous I flipped the fabric.  I then measured in 3" with my ruler and cut my first strip.  If you are cutting more than one strip you will repeat this step for as many strips as you need. 

If you did this right, when you open your strip it should be straight and not wavy.

I'll be taking the top fabric and the bottom fabric for the exchange.  But I'll also be bringing the two in the middle as extras - because we're allowed to do that.  :-)

In case you didn't read the post about the exchange, everyone is welcome to come to the meeting.  It starts at 6:30 and goes till 8.  Bring a Fat Quarter if you'd like to be entered in the fat quarter drawing.

Do-It-Green Workshop - Repurposed Sweater Tutorial

If you missed out on today's Do-It-Green upcycling, repurposing and clothing swap at the store you'll be happy to know that there was such a good turnout that I'm sure we'll be doing it again soon. 

At the workshop I promised to blog about how I turned a old out of fashion sweater into a sweater that I'll actually wear!  (which is the whole purpose behind repurposing).  

Supplies you will need:
old sweater
thread
scissors
pins
sewing machine or serger

Before we begin, here is the before picture of me wearing a sweater that is in no way, shape or form flattering on me at all.

Lay your sweater out on a flat surface and start cutting!  

First, start with the sleeves, you can either leave them long or short or do what I did and make them 3/4 length.  This is your sweater make it work for you!  

Next if your sweater has a turtle neck like mine you can either leave it or cut it off.  I chose to cut mine off because I plan on wearing this sweater in the Spring when the weather turns warmer.  If you decide to leave the neck intact, you'll cut right through it in the next step. 

Next I made a cut about 3" - 4" off center to the left from hem to neck.  If you decided to cut the neck off - this is where you'll do it.

You're now ready to sew it all back together.

Once again, starting with the sleeves I used the serger to finish the edges.  You don't have to use a serger - a simple zigzag on a conventional machine will work. 

 I then serged (or zigzaged) around the bottom edge, up one side of the front, around the neck, and down the other side.  Doing this will ensure a nice 'finished' look for your sweater. 

Next, pin the two front edges together - with the insides t ouching.  Now stitch (serge or zigzag) starting at the bottom edge of the sweater, working your way towards the neck and stopping about 4" - 6"  from the neck line.  (Where you stop will depend on how low a cut you are comfortable with - again this is your sweater - make it work for you)!

Here is my "after" sweater - now this is something I will wear! 

Thanks again to everyone who attended the Do-It-Green workshop. 

For a tutorial on how to make leg warmers out of a wool sweater check out my personal blog.

Minneapolis Modern Quilters February Challenge

Hi all,
The Minneapolis Modern Quilters are putting together a new Swap and Challenge for February.  If you don't know what a swap and challenge is let me explain it to you.  Everyone brings the pre-determined fabric requirements to the meeting (in this case it's two or more fat quarters that "read" Black, White or Gray.  We all swap our fabric with one another so that everyone ends up with a bit of everyone else's fabric.  We then go home and make something. 

The cool thing about this group is - it doesn't have to be a quilt.  We did a swap and challenge last year - exchanging strips of polka-dot fabric.  What was so cool  was that even though we all walked away with the same fabrics we all created entirely different items!  I created this strip quilt. 

You can see what the other members made by visiting our Flickr site.  

If you love quilting this group is a great group to get involved in.  What is super neat about it is that most are on-line in one way shape or form.  There are a few that have blogs (see sites below) and are very active on-line.  I have really, really loved getting to know this group of women, they are all so creative!  I really encourage everyone who even dreams of quilting to come to a meeting and see for yourself.  

In the meantime here are the rules for the Februray swap.  Hope to see you soon! 

SWAP
Start with two (or more) fat quarters that "read" BLACK, WHITE or GRAY. Print should be in these colors, too. No solids, please.

Wash fabrics.
Cut into strips that are 3 inches wide/ 20 inches long. You should end up with 5-6 strips per fat quarter.

We are swapping 10 strips - 5 from two fabrics. If you submit more, you may duplicate fabrics. (Each swapper will use at least two different fat quarters!) - You will get the same number of strips that you swap.

The swap will happen at the February meeting. If you are unable to be there, but want to swap, please send Elise Peters a email (elisepeters@mac.com) and she will send you her mailing address.  If you choose to participate this way you must send a return envelope and postage. All mail in strips should be received by Tuesday, February 15th.

CHALLENGE
Once you have received your swapped strips, add one additional SOLID fabric to finish the "top" of your project. (You may add others for your backing and binding!)

There are lots of ideas for black and white quilting projects on flickr!

Complete your top for the May meeting.

If you have questions about this swap-challenge, let me know! We are hoping to get at least 12 participants, but more would be great! 

Want to check out the group at:  https://www.bigtent.com/groups/modquilt 
Other members of the Group who are also blogging about this project are:
Marie @ http://craftymsp.blogspot.com/
Annik @ http://www.minimushrooms.blogspot.com/
Karen @ http://www.badlandsquilts.com/

Nikol @ http://hubbahubbadingdong.blogspot.com/

The price of cotton going up, up, up!

If you follow any of the sewing blogs you know by now that the current price of cotton is about to increase significantly. Even the fashion world is about to take a hit as cost of 'the fabric of our lives' heads upward. 

The price of cotton is increasing from many complex reasons, including:


1. Restrictions on cottons export by India, the second largest cotton growing country,

2. Stockpiling by China, the largest consumer of cotton,

3. Poor harvest in cotton growing countries such as Uzbekistan, which helped create the shortfall; and

4. Last year’s devastating flood in Pakistan, the fourth largest cotton supplier of the world.

In the last 6 months the price of cotton has increased 50-60% and in December cotton futures hit $1.1980 a pound, officially the highest price since records began back in 1870. That's shortly after the 'cotton famine' of the Civil War sent prices soaring. (I’ll have to admit that I’m a history buff and in the interest of keeping this short I’ll skip the history lesson).

What does this mean for you? Well, I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. I do know that this will affect everything from clothing, to yarns, to fabric and more. Just think about everything that is made with cotton; bath towels, robes, quilts, fabrics, clothing, and now think about paying more for those items.

Being a business owner who has a significant interest in keeping my prices low, I started this research to help me decide how this is going to affect my own business.  Some of my initial thoughts are that I may not carry such a wide variety of fabric lines, but I think instead I may focus on a few select designers and try to carry their whole line of fabrics… which some small businesses are already doing.  Up to this point I've had the fabric to help supplement or fill in the blanks for those lines.

Cotton is not the only fiber on the market, so I may concentrate more on bringing in bamboo, rayon or some other natural, sustainable fabrics.

I may also increase the number of classes I offer on up-cycling. In the past couple of years so many of us have learned creative ways to ‘make-do’ with what we already have that I think continuing with this trend will be easy. Sometimes all it takes is just a little bit of fabric to make a huge impact on our ‘ready to wear’ clothing items.

What does the future hold? I wish I knew! I do think cotton prices will continue to stay high for the time being. I also think (hope) that U.S. farmers will switch their field from corn to cotton now that there is some serious money in growing cotton. Then as it always done, supply and demand will work its magic and prices will start to decrease and/or plateau. Cotton prices have been so low for so long, that like a rubber band, they were bound to snap. I do think there is a ‘happy medium’ it will just be a matter of finding that sweet spot.

Till then I'll be building up my stash!!

New Classes… Home Ec Series in February

The February class schedule is out and we are totally excited! New this month, we’ve split our classes into groups of similar projects – we’re calling them ‘series’ to help new (and experienced) sewists decide which class to take next! Look for the Home Ec series (more below!), Sewing Clothes, Sewing for Fun (accessories and such), Quilts and the Home and Kids and Teens. Later this year watch for Sewing Green – a series of classes featuring upcycling projects, as well as organic and sustainable materials.

The Home Ec Series is a technique-oriented series of classes that includes our popular Sewing Essentials Class. Sewing Essentials is our intro class – learn your way around a sewing machine (if you’ve never used one) or if you’re returning to sewing after a long break and can’t remember how to wind a bobbin, this is the class for you! Students are welcome to bring along sewing machines from home and we’ll help you get the basics down on your machine. Or use one of ours! And, like, most of our classes, you go home at the end of the night with a finished project – a standard sized pillowcase in some of our funky fabrics!


We’re excited to bring two NEW offerings to the Home Ec series in February. On February 12th, we’ll hold The Pattern Reading Workshop. Come to the session with a pattern and fabric for your project and we’ll go over the basics of reading a pattern and get you started on your project (3 hours, $50.)

On February 23rd we’ll kick off a series of fitted-oriented classes with Full Bust Adjustment I. During this class, learn the basics of altering your pattern to get a great fitted shirt! Students will learn about how commercial patterns are drafted, choosing the correct size and making the changes to ensure a great fit. By the end of the class, we’ll have tissue fitted each pattern and students will be ready to head home and work on a muslin (a practice shirt!) In March we’ll offer Full Bust Adjustment II, which will pick up where FBA I leaves off and walk students through ‘reading their muslin’ – assessing the fit and transferring changes back to the paper pattern. (2 hours and initial consultation, $50.)

Hope to see you in the Home Ec Series! Later this week we’ll unveil new classes from our other class series!

To register for a class, stop by the shop or give us a call 612-827-9550.