Sunday, May 3, 2009

Summer Sewing Success

The first Summer Sew Along has come and gone and was very fun.

The hats were made and Jessie brought it to my attention that the Blue Sky Sun Hat by Amy Butler would make a great Mother's Day present and I heartily agreed, so my hat is going to be a gift for my Grandmother. She will love it, I think.


We had a great surprise at Sewing Lounge: Julie came back from a two week vacation to Hawaii very tan and very well-rested and very MARRIED. Boy can that gal keep a secret. Her ring is gorgeous, too. Congratulations, Julie!!! We are all so happy for you... it couldn't have happened to a nicer gal and guy.

The next Summer Sew Along will be June 5th and we will be making the Summer Blouse from the book Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. If you plan to attend, can I recommend the cutting of your pattern pieces before you arrive? That particular book has many patterns on one page, so you have to trace your pattern onto tissue paper (or some such thing) and THEN cut it out. From there on in it's pretty straight forward and I GUARANTEE you will be hooked and need to make more. I just cut out FOUR new Summer Blouses myself last night while Ollie was away camping.

What can I say? I like 'em. A LOT.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I shall return!

XO,

Rhea

2 comments:

zoesimm said...

hi Rhea,
I just purchased Weekend Sewing and am dying to make that blouse! Need some advice though, as i am still a novice seamstress. I need 1 more size up (essentially an XL) is there an easy way to make the pattern bigger? hoping to join your Summer Sew group too!

Rhea Butler said...

Ahhh, the sizing up...

Weeelll, unfortunately there is no easy answer to your question, but here's how I would tackle it:

Take a look at how the original patterns in the book are sized up:

Is there a difference of a half inch from the size small to size medium, etc.? If so, you would have to add a half inch to the perimiter of all the pattern pieces.

AND REMEMBER: The summer blouse is over-sized. Some people (including myself, I assure you!) benefit from this roominess more than others. It's more of a shaped, fitted shirt on me while it is a blousy, roomy tunic on some other gals.

With that info in mind, you might not need the size you think!

Good Luck!!!

XO,
Rhea