threadWEAR 301

​During my first weekend in London, I was able to attend the Balenciaga exhibit at the legendary Victoria & Albert Museum. The exhibit runs through mid-February and is an incredible showcase of the designer's exquisite taste, design, style and legacy. Here, I give you an inside look at some of my personal highlights of the exhibit. 

We are so excited to welcome back an old friend, the Bells & Whistles pattern, to our collection. Over the years, we have had many requests to bring this style back. Finally, this summer after seeing a customer wear her Bells Shirt at a Sew Kansas event, we realized that the design is timeless. Bells & Whistles is not just a duo of boring old button-down shirts. For this pattern we have taken classic designs and redefined them with a twist. Both shirts feature unusual closure bands that add an avant garde look to a archetypal shape. The architectural elements add sophistication to the design. Dress them up with silk or go casual with cotton. Either way, Bells & Whistles will become a staple in your closet and your pattern collection.

Not every button has to be the same on a garment. After looking at the over-the-top mixed looks this season of Etro, Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana, I decided to shake it up a little bit on my "Burberry" silk charmeuse and pebble textured knit Liberty/MixIt Shirt. You can find the tutorial to combine these two patterns in our August 2017 Sew Confident! tutorial, The Liberty MixIt Fusion. In this tutorial Linda combined the general shape of the Liberty with the neckline of the MixIt. She also teaches you how to shorten the sleeves, create a new self-facing, and create perfect mitered corners. 

When you love a fabric, but it's not quite the right weight for the piece that you want to make, what do you do? This is what happened to me recently. I fell in love with this printed handkerchief linen fabric and couldn't get past the idea of making pants. But the fabric was too sheer for a bottom weight.

This summer we hosted our very first Sew-Along for our newest pattern, the Zayn Top. Our goal was to break down the instructions with step-by-step photographs to make sewing the Zayn even easier. We also wanted to include some of our favorite techniques – things that we can't fit in our regular pattern instructions. The best part, by far, has been our Sew-Along Facebook Group where everyone who is making a Zayn can ask questions and share their projects. We have had a few finished Zayn's pop-up on Facebook so far, which we wanted to share with you. We hope you keep the pictures coming. We want to see your finished projects!