New sewing blog

It's about time that I have a blog dedicated to my sewing projects, rather than just keeping a list in a notebook as I've been doing. My bulleted list avoids any project details and includes only the month finished, which doesn't really help me when I look back on finished projects.

As a start, here are some of the sewing projects that I included in my portfolio for my graduate school interview:

The corset and the shirt were for my undergrad advanced costuming class. Both were constructed from period patterns, reproduced in historical fashion books. The corset was done by machine except for the arrows over the boning, which I did by hand. The blouse took forever - I had no idea how labor intensive gathered pleats was going to be before I started!

This is the purse that I made for my wedding - it was from a Butterick pattern. I had to sew it all by hand because it was a sheer fabric with glued beading that jammed my old sewing machine every time I tried to use it. My favorite part of this was the trim and the hand-sewn buttonholes for the gathering ribbon.

Next is my current wallet - I love this wallet, as it lets me carry a lot of cards without additional bulk in my purse. The embroidery on the corduroy was part of the fabric, not my own. Both of the fabrics were bought as remnants, which is too bad as I really like the combination.

Last are two messenger bags that I've made for myself since graduating - the red one is of a denim fabric, and large/sturdy enough to hold a couple of full 1.5" binders. The basic shape is from a Butterick pattern, but it was a plain front so i added the design on the flap. I love the flower fabric on the outide - it's also lined with this fabric and it has a couple of pockets inside.

The grey bag is slightly smaller than the other and is from a Vogue pattern. It is constructed from wool suiting, a charcoal pinstripe for the outside and a lighter grey for the inside. I love that the lines on this one are more angular than the other bag. This bag is edgestitched in contrast with the understitching on the red bag - I think the edgestitching gives a much cleaner look to the finished product.