Whipstitch
Christmas Pajamas: the Ultimate in Deadline Sewing
I wasn’t going to sew Christmas pajamas two years ago. Until my children heard about it. They were actually speechless. Aghast. Appalled. Couldn’t IMAGINE a world in which they didn’t launch into bed on Christmas Eve wearing new handmade pajamas. We work hard not to go (too far) overboard for Christmas, to the point that […]
Personalizing with Patches
I have self-diagnosed as having a massive patch problem. I am a patch addict. I’ve written about the satchel-style backpacks I made for our children who vigorously pursue the Junior Ranger program at every National Park we visit. They love these backpacks, and so do I (especially now we’ve upgraded them with an interior zipper […]
Emerson Shorts in moss linen
When our family took a trip to Maui this spring, I started packing pretty late in the game, for me: only a week ahead. Because, for real, I get SO EXCITED when we travel that I am honestly thinking about packing weeks in advance, and have to hold myself back to only start putting things […]
Lost Project: Beatrix Top in Liberty Cotton
This is the Beatrix Top from Made By Rae, which I made up in Liberty lawn before ever making a muslin, and learned a valuable lesson. The pattern itself is really excellent—I love the sleeve styling and length, and the buttons up the back (mine are faux, see below). The pattern also includes adjustments for […]
Lost Project: Liberty Lawn Tuxedo Tank Top
This particular Lost Project actually got a lot of screen time, just not publicly: I originally drafted this pattern for my League of Dressmakers, and we worked with it in various capacities for a few months in 2016, and then re-visited it in 2017. I used one of my all-time favorite Liberty of London lawn […]
Florence Kimono in rayon–with cherries!
I have a truly absurd number of garments hiding in my closet. Things that I’ve made, for myself, over the past few years that have never been shared or blogged about. Or more accurately, have made it on to my Instagram feed, but have never been written about at length in a format where I […]
How to Store Wool Yarn & Fabric
When I started knitting, I realized I needed to think about storing my textiles differently. For one good reason: MOTHS. Moths are the enemy of long-term textile storage, which we learned the hard way at our house from one vintage jacket purchased at a second-hand store that worked its way through three prized sweaters before […]
Hand-Knitted Socks
Hand-knitted? Hand knit? Whichever. I thought at one point I would never, ever, ever knit socks. The stitches are just soooooo tiny, you guys. But my friend Alexia assured me that once I got going they were really fast, and the appeal of knitting something that was so eminently practical was pretty strong. Like when […]
Make This The Year You Sew Your Own Wardrobe: The League of Adventurous Dressmakers
Years ago, before I started Whipstitch, I was a schoolteacher. Schoolteachers are not, as a cultural group, widely known for their fashion sense. For the most part, I suspect I dressed like a sad librarian. I know this because the most common days on which I received compliments from my students for looking “nice” were […]
The Murder Mystery Quilt and The League of Adventurous Dressmakers: BACK FOR 2017!
This past year has been one of the happiest, most rewarding years I have ever spent sewing, and that is down to a single factor: the people I spent it with. I made the decision almost exactly one year ago that I was going to focus on two groups in 2016: The Murder Mystery Quilt […]
The End of the Stash
I wore my Driftless Cardigan–photograph below from Instagram, and yet another garment I have yet to blog about because I’m too busy wearing it–this morning, and a friend asked if I had made it. And what I told her is this weird revelation that I’ve been having over and over, and that feels so obvious […]
Do I Really HAVE to Block My Knitting?
It is finished! My amazing yellow yellow merino-and-silk sweater is all done. Well, finished depending on whom you ask. Seems like nearly all the knitting sites I’ve seen say it isn’t really finished until I block it. Which appears to involve soaking it and laying it out to dry, and if I understand it right, […]
#aggressivelyambitious and the Handmade Wardrobe
I did a personality profile recently. Not like an online quiz kind of thing, but like a detailed personality assessment with a 39-page analysis and a person-to-person de-brief with the consultant. It was so, so fun. I mean that completely un-ironically. I LOVE test-taking. LOVE IT. Always have. I would get all a-twitter on days […]
When Making Your Own Clothes Becomes the New Normal
And then one day you catch yourself thinking, “Well, sure. Of course I’m going to make my own underwear. I mean, why didn’t I think of that sooner??” But let’s back up a bit. I came to sewing as someone who makes clothing. I didn’t start out making quilts or bags or even really home […]
The Murder Mystery Quilt and The League of Adventurous Dressmakers: Last Day to Join!
The League of Adventurous Dressmakers It’s only February, and I’m deeply immersed in the League of Adventurous Dressmakers. I feel so inspired and motivated and excited about the garments I have in my queue. Part of what slows me down, looking back on past years and the to-sew lists that never get completed, is that I […]
You need more fabric.
