Zinnias are My Favorite Flower

Zinnia Skirt with pleated pockets

This is the new Colette Patterns Zinnia Skirt Pattern.   I just decided to make this in a maxi length for the Holiday Season. (It's easy to do, just use lengthen/shorten lines, plus I have a cheater method - I measure the length on an existing maxi and go from there)
If you'd like to make one too, I have them in stock. For this week only, we'll give free shipping on all Colette Patterns. I'll take the shipping off in the cart. (Websites are tricky) Use the code ZINNIA.
So the only question is, what do I make my fabulous maxi skirt out of? The pattern says: 

• Versatile. You can use a wide array of fabrics, from wool flannel to delicate chiffon.

This makes me think maybe washed dupioni or heavy silk would work too.

Off to cruise the stash. Happy Gardening!

Laurel Sewing Contest

Remember how I told you yesterday that I was sewing the Laurel Blouse? If you like to sew and love contests and winning fabulous prizes,(who doesn't?) you should sew one too!
Details here, pattern, of course here.
I can't enter because Little Hunting Creek is one of the Sponsors! You could win a $100 gift certificate to The Little Hunting Creek Company! You could win your choice of Colette Patterns, Indygo Junction Patterns, Amy Butler Patterns, Vintage Patterns, quilt Patterns, Interfacing, tools...all sorts of cool stuff.
Check out the details here, and then start sewing!

On the Border with Laurel

Laurel in Top form

My new Colette Patterns Laurel Pattern has arrived ( Available here, if you'd like one too)and coincidentally, Sarai has posted a variation with an eyelet border, which would also work quite nicely into my March Border Print focus. Tracing the pattern tonight so I can cut one as soon as I can find a few minutes. (work! It gets in the way of my sewing.)
Here is a line drawing:

New Colette Patterns Coming, and Happy Birthday to Little Hunting Creek

Are you ready for summer? I am so ready. I'm a former California Girl, and in winter I dream of sundresses, shorts, going coatless and bootless and scarfless. These pretty patterns will inspire you to make shorts and sundresses even before the weather heats up, because they are so darn cute.



Since it it Little Hunting Creek's tenth birthday, we're going to take pre-orders on these patterns now, and ship when they arrive next week. As a little birthday bonus, we'll give FREE Shipping if you buy TWO or more Colette Patterns (instead of our usual THREE patterns. We'll take the discount off in the shopping cart, so don't be alarmed if you see it.)

These shorts are the kind of patterns that I'd like to make ten versions of, in every sherbet color.
May summer last a thousand years!

Bedside Reading- Colette Sewing Handbook

The Colette Sewing Handbook came in the mail yesterday. I read every single book that I sell on my website - what if someone asks me a question? This book would be a nice gift for someone who wanted to learn more about sewing, and if I were giving it as a gift, I'd put it in a gift bag with some silk pins, a pretty pin cushion, and a measuring tape. I like how it opens up and lies flat too. The book has lots of good advice about prepping fabric and pattern tissue - stuff that I learned from my mom ages ago, but if you don't have a mom or grandma who knows about sewing, it's nice to see this sisterly advice here. There's a chapter on fitting, advice about wardrobe planning and more. I need to read it very carefully again and maybe make that cute skirt. The instructions have lots of pictures for visual learners, and are very reassuring.
Even though I've been sewing since I was a child, there's always something new to learn. Plus, it comes with five patterns! The skirt with the scalloped hem would be perfect for my daughter. There's also a pretty bias blouse with fluttery sleeves, and a couple really pretty dresses. There just aren't enough pretty dress patterns - you can't have too many.
Mr. Hunting Creek thinks reading sewing books in bed is deviant behavior. Things could be worse, I tell him - with mobile devices I could be buying fabric in bed. This effectively shuts him up about the reading material.

Jasmine is my New Favorite

Even though I have not purchased any fabric in over four years (and not suffered one bit, that's how much fabric there is around here), I never stopped collecting patterns. Patterns are the crack cocaine of sewing, incredibly addictive, and each new batch leaves you wanting more, more , MORE! Not that I have a problem with that. Patterns are small. I temporarily stopped my so far fruitless search for Simplicity 3536(but now I have two completely clean closets!)
to unwrap my new Colette Patterns, and immediately decided to make the Jasmine Blouse. So pretty! So feminine! No buttons or zippers- a big plus in my book. Although I've been making buttonholes since I was ten, I hate sewing on buttons and this is a perfect chance to avoid them.
As mentioned yesterday, when I cleaned out my office closet and previous fabric storage location, I found fabrics that some unknown person had snuck into my house. Luckily this unknown person has exactly my taste, so I could make the Jasmine Blouse out of blue charmeuse or cream silk jacquard. Or possibly both.
The new Peony Dress is a very ladylike kind of dress as my mother would say, and it would make a perfect LBD, and the Clover Pants are VERY Audrey. Audrey and I look nothing alike, but we can't let little things like that get in the way.(I'm more like Elizabeth Taylor, and very few people would say that she was a fashion icon...in a good way. She had her own style, though. She didn't give a damn about what you thought of her, and that's a style worth emulating.)
I know what I'm making next -what's on your cutting table for Fall?

Must Make This List

The Violet Blouse from Colette Patterns reminded me so much of blouses I wore in high school that I had to have it.


Now I just have to find a worthy fabric. I know I have to have a pattern when I see every new fabric and think, "you'd make a nice Violet Blouse."
Also on the agenda- a maxi dress (I wore those in high school too) and silk drawstring pants (I was never so lucky as to have silk drawstring pants in high school. We mostly wore shorts and jeans and t shirts.)
For my drawstring pants (which I haven't worn since college, but then, I am a recovering corporate dresser) I thought either McCalls 6291 (I have a muslin cut)

Or McCalls 5889, since I admired Lindsay T's version so much:


Or possibly, both versions. I don't have any red silk lying around, but you can't let a little difficulty like that get in the way. I do have celadon green silk, and Caribbean blue silk...let's just say there's no shortage of alternative colors.
The fabric for my maxi-dress has not yet revealed itself to me, but I'm sure while I am sewing the pants muslin this weekend I'll realize what it should be.
What's on your summer sewing list?

Why didn't I think of That?

My new patterns arrived this weekend and I am very excited to try making the Sencha Blouse from Colette Patterns.
I was mulling over how I was going to solve the puzzle of the buttoned-up back (I have limited mobility, and it would be difficult for me to button it) when I read the the Slapdash Sewist's blog today and she said that she would turn the back of a pattern into a neck slit with one button. And I had one of those epiphanies! Yes! That's exactly what I'll do. As you can see by the pieces on this picture,


Placing the back pieces on the fold and doing a faced slit, or doing a seamed back and then a hemmed slit would be super easy (child's play, she says, hopefully).
I'll let you know how it works out. We get the best ideas from our sewing friends, don't we?

New Patterns for Spring

It's my birthday this week, so I decided to treat myself to some new patterns. These beauties are from the new Colette Patterns. I've heard good things about them, and admired what other sewistas have made.
I love the vintage feeling they invoke - so elegant. Just my cup of tea.
Since I had not bought any patterns for myself yet this year, it was fun to pick out a whole new batch for Spring. I'm sure I have just the fabric already for the Sencha blouse, but I'll have to poke around the sewing cave to see what I have that wants to be an Oolong dress.
I suddenly realized what we all have to do to make spring arrive with warmer weather - sew something for winter! Yes, we all must sew some wintry garments, and just like wearing your pajamas inside-out will make it snow(experts have proven this), hundreds of sewistas sewing turtlenecks and wool skirts will make it hot in no time. (Doesn't washing your car always make it rain?)