I was so flattered when Kimberly of Straight Stitch Designs invited me to be a part of her Remix the Stitch blog tour celebrating one year in business! Kimberly is a student of Pattern Workshop and someone I consider to be a friend (even though we have never met in person!). She just lives a couple hours away from me, so one of these days, we have to get together. I have watched her business grow over the last 12 months and seen the entrepreneurial spirit she has, and it's super inspiring. For the tour, I decided to sew the Greenwood tank and Laurelhurst cardigan. I can't say that I really "remixed" these patterns as was the premise of the tour, but I did add 1/2" to both sides of the tank straps to give a little more nursing-bra coverage.
Lately, I've been loving wardrobe basics like tees and tanks, and the Greenwood is just that. It's a great little tank that can be dressed up or down, and I just love how she has you sew the neck and armhole bindings! It's designed for someone who doesn't have a fancy coverstitch machine, but you can still get a super professional look using Kimberly's instructions. It's also just a great, modern shape that looks great on all figures.
As you can see, mine turned out a little big despite making a size 4. This fabric is a very stretchy ribbing which I thought would be great, but unfortunately, it doesn't have the nice recovery that I like to see from ribbing. I made a previous muslin using some Art Gallery knit that turned out too small in a size 4, so it really is all about the fabric you choose. I am usually a pretty good judge of which knits will work with what, but this just goes to show there's sometimes a bit of a guessing game! I'm going to try some more of these in non-ribbed knit in the 4 and see how they work now that I've lost a little more of the baby belly.
(Can we also talk about how hard fitting is after having a baby??! One's shoulders don't really grow, but everything else does!)
I love that the Laurelhurst gives such a polished look, but it's a very easy-to-sew pattern. I whipped this one up (also in a size 4 - I am 5'6", 35"-29"-38" as pictured) in just a couple hours including piecing the pattern and cutting. I didn't finish any of the edges, and it worked great in this tissue knit which LOVES to roll on the edges. It's hard to see in the photo above, but the fabric is actually a really interesting, geometric burnout that I bought at the Michael Levine Loft in Los Angeles. If you're ever in LA fabric shopping, you have to go there!! It's $3/pound (I think? Or two something?) for everything in the store! And it's like a huge warehouse with bins and bins and rolls and rolls of fabric. Heaven. It just takes a little digging to find what you want (or what you didn't know you wanted!).
As for the jeans...ahhh, the jeans. They were a bit of a fail on my part. First, as you can tell in the photo above, the pockets are way too far apart. This was because I mistakenly sewed them on before getting the placement just right, and I didn't like where they ended up. I had already bar-tacked them, so when I pulled them off, I messed up the fabric a little. I resorted to moving them outward to the side seams to cover that up, but that was a mistake.
The pattern is a mashup of the Ginger Skinny Jeans and the Angel Jeans by Angela Wolf. They are the Angel Jeans from the hips up (size 27) and Ginger Jeans from the hips down (size 2 legs from the skinny version). I also used the Ginger pockets.
Overall, they look okay. However, this denim was also allll wrong. It's a little too thin (as you can see in the photo below - it doesn't really hold its shape), and it's not stretchy enough which left me with reeeeeeally tight jeans that don't bend well at the knees. I'm kind of considering all my jeans sewing to be practice at the moment though as I haven't found the perfect denim just yet. I have some on my cutting table that I bought as a remnant at Mill End here in Portland, and I'm copying a pair of RTW for those. Of course, I'll share them here when I'm done!
See? Practice, practice, practice. The buttonholes are too far away from the edge and maybe a little too low, and that bar tack on the fly is a little weird. Oh well. Jeans are a bit of an endeavor to get perfect whether you're sewing them or purchasing them from the store, right?! I'm a very process-oriented sewist, so I'm having fun while trying.
There you have it! Thanks so much to Kimberly for having me in the tour. I had such a fun time sewing up these awesome patterns, and I can't wait to make more with them! Lucky for you, all Straight Stitch Designs patterns are on sale right now (50% off all patterns - PDF and paper - and 40% off stitch kits - no coupon needed) through September 20th, AND, there's a giveaway at the bottom of this post! Enjoy! xoxo
Be sure to check out all the other tour participants:
Tuesday, September 8th: Meg Cookin' and Craftin' | Jennifer Ginger Peach Studio Wednesday, September 9th: Ajaire Call Ajaire | Heidi Handmade Frenzy | Stacey Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts Thursday, September 10th: Melissa Rebel & Malice | Annika Näh-Connection | Abby Sew Much Ado Friday, September 11th: Katie It's Hard to Hear Up Here | Jane Buzzmills | Lisa Mabey She Made It Saturday, September 12th: Elena Randomly Happy | Allie Indiesew | Jess If Only They Would Nap Monday, September 14th: Jaime Made By Jaime | Lauren BASTE + GATHER | Sara Made by Sara Tuesday, September 15th: Audrey Skirt Fixationy | Teri Fa Sew La | Hayley Welcome to the Mouse House Wednesday, September 16th: Emi Just Add Fabric | Rachael Imagine Gnats | Teresa Dandelion Drift Thursday, September 17th: Kaysie | KZJO'STUDIO Rita Conversas de Hermanas | Stephanie Swoodson Says Friday, September 18th: Andreia In a Manner of Sewing | Nienke Pienkel | Abbey Sew Charleston
