Sartorial Stitchery
I’ve been a sewing hobbyist for most of my life—it started with Barbie clothes, and I think I constructed my first skirt in primary school. Admittedly, I’ve gone through phases; various life events have interevened with my sewing adventures i.e. College. However, it is something I am very driven to begin again. So, long story short, I am sewing again, and this is my way of keeping myself accountable to that desire and the investment involved.
Organza vs. Organdy
Is your fabric organza or organdy? What is the difference? The similarity in names for these two fabrics causes a lot of confusion. Both are sheer, crisp, plain-weave fabrics. The difference comes down to the type of yarn used to create the fabric. … Continue reading Bargello Pattern
With the color runs done for the bargello quilt, it’s time to start cutting out the strips for the quilt top. On one hand, it sounds simple: the pattern from the book tells me the widths I need for each piece… I just need to cut, right? But, in practice, the color shift across the quilt, combined with my plans to insert the purple “pop” pieces meant graphing it all out was a superb idea—and also the next step in my homework, along with starting to sew the pieces together. … Continue reading Bargello Color Runs
Two weeks ago, I showed you my color choices and pattern for the bargello quilt I’m making as part of a bi-weekly class. Our homework before this week’s class was to create our color map and have all of our fabric cut into strips and sewn into color runs for the quilt. … Continue reading The Baby Quilt from a 1930s–Inspired Wall Hanging
The project that started this new quilting hobby of mine was the idea to make a quilt for my oldest friend’s baby-on-the-way. Because she reads this blog occasionally, I couldn’t talk much about it while I was working on it, but now that it’s done, I get to share! Quilt pattern as shown on allpeoplequilt.com … Continue reading … Continue reading Devil in a Blue Dress: Pattern
As discussed previously, my goal for Halloween this year is to finish my costume that I planned to wear last year: the Devil in a Blue Dress. Once I'd settled on which blue-clad devil woman I wanted to protray for Halloween, I had to choose the exact costume. I'm quite in love with Vogue's current-print retro patterns, but unfortunately not all of them come in a large enough size, or were sold out at the local store. I was rather pressed for time, so I needed some sort of modern pattern that would fit without too much muslin fiddling. … Continue reading Bargello Quilting
I’ve started taking a bi-weekly class on bargello quilting. I’m now two weeks in, with a pattern chosen and fabrics picked out. The class is structured so that we meet for an hour every other Monday, and then have homework in between. Last week’s homework was to finish picking out fabrics and get them washed and ironed before class this week. We also looked at different bargello designs and did a preliminary ordering of the fabrics to be discussed in class. While I’m eager to get started, I think the bi-weekly format will work great for allowing me to work on other projects and keep you all updated as well. … Continue reading Baby Quilt Sneak Peak
I’m visiting my friend Sammi and delivering the baby quilt this coming weekend. Here’s a sneak peak of the quilt, and a shot of the elephant I made out of the leftover material. It’s Simplicity 2613 again. I used each of the four colors for each piece, and the border fuzzy yellow fabric for the ear inserts. The scarf is made from the backing fabric with little pieces of selvage on the end—they made perfect fringe. … Continue reading What is this Sheer Silk Fabric Called?
Chiffon. Gauze. Georgette. Organza. All four of these fabrics are loose-weave, semi-transparent fabrics that are traditionally made of silk and often confused for one another. Small differences in the yarn used in weaving and the weight of the fabric can help you tell them apart. … Continue reading Hello, my name is…
When I first started this site and my reentrance into sewing, I planned to focus on clothing and costuming. After all, that is what all of my experience is in. So, thesaurus in hand—well, at keystroke—I decided on the name “Sartorial Stitchery” for this section. Partly because I liked how the alliteration fit with my book review section, and partly because I'm rather partial to the word “sartorial.” … Continue reading The Cyclist’s Guide to Sewing Machines
My partner and I both have hobbies that can get expensive. His is cycling, which is by far the more healthy of the two. Mine is (obviously) sewing. Once you reach a certain threshold, each can be about as expensive as you’re willing to make them—and dedicated hobbyists of either are often willing to go quite expensive to get the best gear. The two hobbies actually have a lot of financial similarities—especially when it comes to the cost of machines. So here it is: the cyclists guide to sewing machines, or, how to understand why that $5,000 sewing machine is just important to your sewist’s hobby as your $5,000 bike is to yours. … Continue reading 
