Category Archives: Garments

Star Trek TOS uniforms: Quick-n-dirty

The kids wanted to go as Star Trek TOS officers for a 60s/70s costume party we attended; the 4yo was Spock while the 7yo wanted to be Uhura (“because her skin colour is the closest to mine”. Indeed.) . The design of these costumes is quite simple, almost pyjama-like. Quick to sew with a serger, and probably also with zigzag stitches on a sewing machine; sure beats shopping around for red and blue turtlenecks in the right size! These costumes were made mainly for one evening, so they are quite slapdash – no hems, no finishing, and the threads don’t match the fabric colour. 🙂

Continue reading Star Trek TOS uniforms: Quick-n-dirty

Wiksten Tova III : more sensible pattern-following

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Cold winter mornings are a great time to catch up on the sewing backlog; the chill winds make getting out on my bike a LOT less attractive. Here is a Wiksten Tova in a dressy fabric from Denyse Schmidt (“Ansonia”), a combination that immediately suggested itself when I first saw the gorgeous fabric at the store.  This is my third Tova (first last Feb and second last April), and I can see the difference a year of a-project-a-month has made.

Of course the outfit itself came together quickly because I had gone through the moves a few times before, but there were other notable changes that improved the dressmaking experience: Continue reading Wiksten Tova III : more sensible pattern-following

Butterick B5954 – Knit tunic

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This is my first knit in a long time – the last one was in 2011, a maternity dress I had sewn using my beginner Singer machine. It’s been four months since I made clothes, what with the pigs, the Halloween costume and the racoons. So I was very happy to use some the the Holiday break to catch up on my back-log.  In my experience knit prints are hard to come by, which is interesting considering that a lot of store-bought clothes involve knits. I snapped this one up (Bari J’s “Emmy Grace”)  in Rockland, Maine over the summer. The goal of this project was to sew a knit garment with the serger.  While it bolstered my confidence Continue reading Butterick B5954 – Knit tunic