It’s hard to beat the color orange.
Quilt quilt quilt
Enjoying the warmth coming through my window. Sewing a Juniper Quilted Jacket with this yummy Robert Kaufman quilting cotton.
For this jacket, I just marked two stitch lines with chalk and eyeballed the rest to have some variation in the stitching.
The lines turned out endearingly wavy.
After popping it in the wash… yummy yummy.
I used the quilted jacket in this short video about escaping from the world, if you care to watch.
To get the Juniper Quilted Jacket pattern, you can grab it here.
For tips on sewing quilted jackets, check out this post.
For more photos of sewing quilted jackets, check out this post.
Bike bike, paddle paddle, sew sew, new pattern
My bicycle, Daisy, and I went on a long bike ride together a few years ago. We rode down the Mississippi and across the hot plains of Texas. Here are some photos of the day we arrived at the Gulf. It was a nice feeling to make it that far.
To save weight on the road, I wore the same clothes everyday and washed them at night — yellow Baggies, a blue cotton tee (note to aspiring touring cyclists, maybe don’t go the cotton tee route. It was not my smartest move), and a pair of Teva sandals.
Daisy also carried my tent, sleeping bag, sweater, rain jacket, extra shirt, pants, and shorts for rest days, repair kit and tools, and of course, snacks.
This summer, I bought a big stack of fun colored nylon taslan and started making a shorts pattern for new adventures inspired by those shorts.
Follow along for a day on the lake with my paddleboard to see how the pattern is looking so far.
I’m jealous of those people who have nice husbands who take beautiful photos. Until I find one, I’ll just precariously perch my camera on the flotation device, ready to plop into the depths at any moment…. I signed up for Tinder last week, so, you know, there’s always hope.
Sunrise Colorblock Hack - Sweet Pea Sweatshirt
Here’s how to do it!
1) Make a paper copy of the pattern with a full front bodice. I’m using my Sweet Pea Sweatshirt Pattern.
2) Grab a long ruler. Stick a pin in the left side, or hold it with your finger as you pivot to make all the lines. For mine, I positioned the left side of the ruler 14” away from the edge of the pattern. Play around with how far away you want the end of your ruler to be to get different angles on your colorblock lines.
3) Grab a pen. Draw three colorblock lines as you pivot the ruler. Try to pivot the ruler a consistent number of degrees for each line. For example, the first line is 0°, the next line is 20°, and the last line is 40°.
4) Cut the pattern along the lines.
5) Cut each piece with the color of sweatshirt fabric you want. Add 1/2” (1.3 cm) seam allowance on the sides that are going to be sewed to the other colorblock pieces.
6) Sew the pieces together with 1/2” (1.3 cm) seam allowance. Serge seams. Press seams down and topstitch with matching thread.
7) Follow pattern steps to sew the rest of the sweatshirt together.
That’s it!
You can grab the Sweet Pea Sweat Set here!
The best sweatshirt fabric source I’ve found for thick, colorful, 100% cotton fabric is Nick of Time Textiles.
Also… the other day I signed up for TikTok!
The Daisy Dress
For the joy of simple sewing and elegant silhouettes, the Daisy Dress, the latest pattern in my series of Paperless Patterns!
Paperless patterns invite you into the process of drafting the pattern for your specific body using your own measurements as the scissors’ compass. It’s a fun and exciting way to sew!
The Daisy Dress has a classy vintage silhouette that functions well at special events, dates you are day dreaming about going on with that guy you have a massive crush on, and casual jaunts to the library to pick up your interlibrary loan books.
Paperless patterns have the unique ability to connect with and satisfy the deep inner longing to create something. It feels so good to scratch that itch.
