Sewjo.

I saw that mojo-coined term on the Pincushion Treats blog. She's so cute. I'm practically salivating over her recent Ava blouse too.

Anywho, I'm feeling a bit of return on my own sew-jo I think.  Especially with fall looming closer and closer.  Of course most of the things I'm going to share with you today are all summery.  Such is my life, right?

In the same vein as Pincushion Treats' Ava blouse, I'm in love with lacy insets and details right now.  IN LOVE.  Like this gorge Zara blouse with lace bow inset:

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I think I could use my Sorbetto pattern to knock this off.  It would require a cami of some sort, but Lord, it's pretty. 

It reminds me of this Sencha by Colette Patterns: 

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 Have I ever mentioned how much I love red and blue together?  Speaking of Sencha's, this is another beautiful example of yoke detailing from the Colette blog:

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I'm never sure how practical all of that openwork is, since I would have bra straps and cami straps showing, but it sure is pretty. 

I'm in total and complete love with this top too, although I've had the devil of a time trying to track down the original source image.  The source link below is as close as it gets I think. Gorgeous Edwardian-inspired white lawn and lace:

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I'll take two, please. On the same blog I found this lovely creation too:

I think you could use the Colette Jasmine and knock this one off fairly easily (and have sleeves!)  The little jabot and applique are such sweet details. Love.

And then there's this amazing top of tucks and lace. Those are angels singing, btw.

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The lacework would take a bit of finagling, but note that it's all essentially straight seams.  Totally knockoff-able.

So that's my weekend in a nutshell...finally breaking out the warm fuzzy socks and dreaming about lawn and linen and lace.  

It's a quandary.  

But a good one.

Colette Sencha pt 3 - finished!

My Sencha blouse is finally finished! I made the keyhole neck version.


The fit is wonderful in the front, with nearly no alterations. I cut out the 14 through the neck & shoulders and the 18 at the side seams. I don't know if I mentioned in the previous post that the armhole was a little snug, but I had to drop that about 1/2". I love the cut-on cap sleeves though!

Here's headless me:


I like how the darts make it more fitted through the torso. There are lots of opportunities to customize the fit through there too.

Here's a closer view of the keyhole. I also edgestitched the neckline. The pattern calls for understitching, but the keyhole makes that a real mess to try & do neatly. I went with a good pressing & an edgestitch instead.


The back facing & placket have a boo-boo in the pattern. The instructions are correct, they say to turn back 1/4" and stitch, but the diagram/illustration that is paired with that instruction show the neck & hem seam allowances pressed under (so that they are caught under this line of stitching). But in the next direction, you are to turn back the placket on itself (RST) to stitch along the seam line and create a neat finish at the hem & neck. But to do that you need those seam allowances free! I don't remember reading this particular glitch anywhere, and perhaps this is an errata that is on their website. I honestly didn't think to check.

In any case, it was a simple bit of seam ripping and re-stitching and the back turned out perfectly. I used shell buttons on the back.


And one more shot of moi, no head. Sorry, haven't fixed my hair!


Here's my friend the peach tree, where I take nearly all my close up shots! Look! Itty bitty peaches!

Colette Sencha pt 2

Just a baby post, folks. I was so excited about my pretty sleeve hems, though, I just had to share!

(plus, I like talking to myself on the internets. Ahem.)

Look! It worked!


That nifty catchstitch is so pretty, and nearly invisible!

How/Why did it suddenly work? (other than sleeping between the frustrated cursing and the picking back up of the needle & thread, I mean.) I actually didn't have the hems folded back on the correct dots. Remember how I couldn't find them? Yea. I wasn't looking far enough back! The hem does fold back at an angle, with more folded in at the shoulder level than the armhole. It fits perfectly when you, you know, follow the directions.

If you're not familiar with a catchstitch, here's a picture of the inside, and my pretty, pretty handstitched sleeve hem. It was actually rather relaxing this afternoon and stitching my pretty hems.


Just a tip for making your handstitching go a little smoother...I always wax my threads (run your doubled & knotted threads through or across a block of beeswax) before sewing on buttons or stitching hems, but a cool little trick is to run a hot iron over your waxed thread. The heat & wax melds those threads together and help them to slip right through your fabric.

I'm almost finished! I do have a bit of a boo-boo though. I got so involved stitching the neck facing that I totally forgot to attach my keyhole ties first! I'll just have to figure that little glitch later.