December - Valencia Pants

For our twelfth project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are using the Valencia Pants pattern to create an elegant pair of pants that are incredibly comfortable to wear.

The Valencia Pants are a straight-leg pant with inner leg seams only, flat waistband in front, elastic sides and back. For this project, we are sewing them in a beautiful stretch crepe fabric. Stretch crepe fabric has the qualities of a 4-ply crepe and matte jersey. Its construction allows for an elegant yet comfortable and sensuous fit. It has a soft hand, exquisite drape, and matte finish - perfect for a pair of Valencia Pants. It also has the added bonus that it doesn't wrinkle. So you can end the evening looking as fresh as you as started. 

VIDEO TUTORIAL & Q&A

What you will learn in the class:

• How to select the right seam finish for polyester stretch crepe
• How to sew an invisible hem stitch
• Careful pressing
• How to sew a flat and elastic combo waistband 

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the digital pattern.

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. 

3. Valencia Pants Kits - There are various kit options for this project. Not interested in purchasing a kit? Check out our other polyester/spandex stretch crepe options.

November - Picasso Sweatshirt

For our eleventh project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are using the Picasso Top pattern to make a fashionably “tattered” sweatshirt.

The Picasso Top is a loose-fitting garment with a jewel neckline, square-inset long tapered sleeves and a pocket. For this project, we are deleting the hems in favor of raw edges, using the overlapping seam method, changing the patch pocket style to an applied pocket on the underside with a slit opening, allowing the neck binding seam to be exposed, using outside darts on the front, back and sleeves, and we are adding stitched appliqués at the neckline and along the hem of the front and one sleeve.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• How to sew fashion fleece
• How to sew a unique pocket with a raw-edge slit opening 
• How to sew a reverse dart with cut edges
• How to apply stitched and raw edge appliqués
• How to apply an exposed seam neck binding

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the digital pattern. Click HERE to purchase the printed pattern.

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. 

 Zoom Q&A Session Recordings

October - Boro-Inspired London Jacket

For our tenth project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are using the London Shirt pattern to make a Japanese boro-inspired jacket.

Boro is a class of Japanese textiles that have been mended or patched together. The term 'boro' typically refers to cotton, linen and hemp materials, mostly hand woven by peasant farmers, that have been stitched or re-woven together to create an often many-layered material used for warm, practical clothing.

We are using a base fabric of printed linen with machine-sewn raw-edge patches of linen gauze in an arrangement of blocks over which sashiko (a running stitch) stitching is applied.

The London Shirt is a loose-fitting garment with diagonal-to-the-front side seams forming open side vents, a swing back, and a stand up or fold down collar. It has dropped shoulders with three-quarter length sleeves and folded cuffs. Seven buttons are used for closures.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• Creating a placement design 
• Layering patches and stitches
• Sashiko stitching with hidden tails
• Applying a foldover collar
• How to sew a doublefold hem
• Perfect buttonholes

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the digital pattern. Click HERE to purchase the printed pattern.

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. 

Stitch-A-Long

 Zoom Q&A Session Recordings

September - Panel Pants

For our ninth project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Panel Pants in a printed and crinkled silk georgette. We have added a lining, also in silk georgette.

The Panel Pants are a contemporary rendition of traditional Japanese gardener’s pants. They feature full legs that taper at the ankle, a three-section center panel with a “knee patch”, side seam pockets with French seams, and a triple-casing elastic waist treatment.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• How to sew silk georgette using couture finishes
• How to sew a pocket using French seams
• How to line pants
• How to make a triple-casing elastic waistband
• How to sew a doublefold hem

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the digital pattern.

2. Are you a Yearly Member? Don't forget to use your coupon code for all fabric, kit, and pattern purchases. Information on using this code is in your account.

3. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. 

 Zoom Q&A Session Recordings

August - Pieced Eureka Top

For our eighth project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Eureka Top, pieced in a lovely assortment of silks and rayons.

We are lengthening the Eureka Top to below the hip and creating a side vent opening with the back longer than the front. The front and back are segmented into an arrangement of rectangular shapes, all sewn together to create an artistic rendition of this simple top.

*Pieced Eureka Top Important Documents*

Your Materials List & Preperation Information Document and the added Pieced Eureka Preparation Information and the document is important to review before beginning this project. Please review this document located in your account or download HERE. Within these documents, you will find: 

• HOW TO LENGTHEN THE EUREKA TOP 
• SEAM GUIDE: ORDER OF PIECING
• PIECING GUIDE
• CUTTING KEY 

*UPDATE 8/6/21*

As you prepare your Pieced Eureka Top project for Sew Confident! August 2021, please review the Pieced Eureka Preparation Information to proceed with your project. 

Neck Binding Pattern Piece (page 1)

When cutting out your neck binding piece, extend the length by at least 2 ½” and place the pattern on the bias direction of the fabric.

Seam Guide: Order of Piecing (page 2)

This document identifies the order in which you will sew the various seams to piece the Front and Back sections. As I explain in the class video, sew a seam, finish the seam using a 3-thread stitch formation on your serger, and press the seam one direction. Do all three steps before moving onto the next seam. Vertical seams are pressed towards the side seams and horizontal seams are pressed down. You are making a larger section of pieced fabric from which you will cut your lengthened pattern. 

Additional Notions

In addition to the materials as listed on in the prep letter, you will need the following:

• Pattern Paper - I use medical exam paper and vellum
• Straight Edge Ruler
• Prismacolor Col-Erase 20045 Carmine Red colored pencil with eraser
• Scotch Removable Tape
• Small Post-it Notes
• Throat Plate with 5.5mm opening
• Edgestitch Presser Foot
• ¼” Toe Presser Foot
• Walking Foot
• 3 Tagbord Templates
  • 1 - 2 3/8” wide
  • 1 - any width with line marked at ½” from one edge
  • 1 - any width

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• How to work with slippery silks and rayons
• How to arrange fabrics in an artistic way
• How to sew French seams
• How to end a French seam at the top of a vent
• How to apply bias bindings 
• How to apply folded sleeve bands
• How to sew a doublefold handkerchief hem
• How to sew an invisible slipstitch

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the printed pattern (includes Skirt Pattern). Click HERE to purchase the digital pattern (Eureka Top only).

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. We have also included important information in a seperate document, called "Pieced Eureka Preparation Information", located also in your account files.

3. Order your Limited Edition Pieced Eureka Top Kits (Optional Purchase) - Click HERE for the kit options.

 Zoom Q&A Session Recordings

July - The Gardenia Dress & Blouse

For our seventh project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Gardenia Dress & Blouse using a 100% linen-like fiber called ramie.

The project can be made as a dress or a blouse and has two sleeve options — either an extended shoulder line ending with a folded sleeve band or sleeveless (slightly beyond the shoulder) and finished with bias binding. Four tucks and a tie accentuate the waistline. The open neckline has a partially sewn tuck at the center front and is finished with bias binding. Doublefold handkerchief hems finish the dress of blouse.

**GARDENIA BLOUSE UPDATE!** 7/7/21

If you are making the Gardenia Blouse using the Sleeve Band from the Dress pattern, please take note of the following detail.

In your prep letter, we have given you an illustration for transferring new cutting lines at the shoulder line and armhole. These instructions are still correct. As I was making this version in preparation for the July video, I discovered that the side seams are now different lengths, so you will want to lengthen the Back pattern piece of the Blouse ¾” in order for the side seams to match. Use the Lengthen and Shorten line printed on the Back pattern piece to split the pattern, insert some pattern paper, spread it ¾”, and tape in place.

We are still trying to figure out the mystery of this, but in the meantime, this is the fix. I am so sorry that we did not catch this earlier.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• How to work with ramie fabric
• How to sew equal length tucks
• How to turn perfect tubes for ties
• How to apply bias bindings 
• How to apply folded sleeve bands
• How to sew a doublefold handkerchief hem

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the PDF pattern, or HERE for the printed pattern. 

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. We have also included an important PDF at the end of the document for your reference.

3. Order your Limited Edition Gardenia Dress & Blouse Kits (Optional Purchase) - Click HERE for the kit options.

 Zoom Q&A Session Recordings

June - The Hibiscus Shirt

For our sixth project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Hibiscus Shirt using a combination of finely woven 100% cotton mens’ shirtings. This asymmetric design with bias panels, bell sleeve insertions, and a fun pocket allows for a fantastic interpretation using five different fabrics and a mix of striking buttons. 

In this skill-building shirt series, we began with the fairly simple Whistles Shirt in May which featured a rectangular collar, flat-inserted sleeve, and wide hems. This month’s Hibiscus Shirt project builds on our shirt sewing skills with a collar and stand, set-in sleeves, and narrow hems.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• How to work with bias
• How to use pressing templates for hems and pocket
• How to sew a collar and stand
• How to sew a handkerchief hem
• How to sew a “V” insertion
• How to sew buttonholes in difficult places

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase.

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. We have also included important PDFs at the end of the document for your reference.

3. Order your Limited Edition Hibiscus Shirt Kits (Optional Purchase) - Click HERE for the kit options.

 Zoom Q&A Session Recordings

May - The Painterly Whistles Shirt

For our fifth project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Whistles Shirt (part of the Bells & Whistles printed pattern). We are sewing a short sleeve version of View B of the Whistles Shirt, although you can make this shirt with long sleeves if you prefer. Noelle Phares is an environmental scientist turned modern artist, and she has created fractured architectural landscape paintings now printed on 100% cotton. We have selected two colorways. They are each printed on 40“ x 32” panels. The Whistles Shirt is architectural in its own right, with geometric flanges in the center front and back, just right for an artistic use of this amazing fabric. 

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• How to use fabric printed in panels in an artistic way
• How to install a flat collar
• How to apply fusible interfacing properly
• How to set in a flat sleeve
• How to use tagboard templates for pressing
• How to sew perfect buttonholes

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase.

2. Grab Your Materials List, Cutting Layout & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download. We have also included cutting layout instructions for Kit A and Kit B at the end of the document. Please follow layouts closely to get the shirt in 3 panels.

3. Order your Limited Edition Whistles Shirt Kits (Optional Purchase) - Click HERE for the kit options.

 Zoom Recordings

April - The Charlie Bomber Jacket

For our fourth project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Charlie Bomber Jacket. This is a quilted version of the historic bomber-style jacket constructed in a combination of laundered denim and cotton twill backed in cotton knit. It has a forward shoulder seam that turns to form the neck seam, a decorative front zipper, and a matching hem and sleeve band ribbing.

VIDEO TUTORIAL

What you will learn in the class:

• How to underline cotton twill using cotton knit and quilting them together in a diamond-shape pattern
• How to sew inside corner seams
• How to install a decorative zipper
• How to attach ribbing
• How to reduce bulk at seams and corners

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download

3. Order your Charlie Bomber Kits (Optional Purchase) - Click HERE for the kit option

ZOOM Q&A Session

March - The Ikina Two Jacket

For our third project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Ikina Two Jacket. This is a mid-length, loose-fitting kimono-style jacket that has a narrow front band with piped trim, patch pockets, three-quarter-length sleeves with matching trimmed edge bands, and slide vents. We will be using a printed rayon crepe or challis for the class project. 

What you will learn in the class:

• How to work with drapey rayon
• How to trace motifs for perfectly matching patch pockets
• How to make and apply baby piping
• How to sew asymmetric mitered corners
• How to finish seams at vent openings
• How to slipstitch by hand

VIDEO TUTORIAL

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download

3. Order your Ikina Two Jacket Kits (Optional Purchase) - Click HERE for all the kit options!

ZOOM Q&A Sessions

February - The Maison Jogger

For our second project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Maison Joggers. The joggers are loose-fitting pants with side seam pockets, elastic and drawstring combo waistband, and jogger-style hem bands.

What you will learn in the class

• How to sew on a jersey knit that curls
• Seam finish options
• How to sew one-piece pockets
• How to attach jogger-style hem bands
• How to sew buttonholes in knits
• How to attach a foldover waistband with elastic and a drawstring
• Tips and techniques for achieving precision work

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the PDF pattern, or HERE for the printed pattern. 

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download

VIDEO TUTORIAL

 ZOOM Q&A Sessions

Zoom Recording: 12:00pm

Zoom Recording: 6:00pm

January - The Maison Top

For our kickoff project in Series 10 Sew Confident!, we are sewing the Maison Top. This top is very casual and loose-fitting. The body of it is meant to be blousy and is eased into a hem band. The neck is bound using our signature ready-to-wear binding technique and the sleeves are ¾-length and full.

What you will learn in the class

• How to sew on a jersey knit that curls
• How to match stripes
• Seam finish options
• Hem finish options
• How to install a professional-looking neck binding
• How to install sleeves using the “flat method”
• How to ease a garment to a smaller hem band
• Tips and techniques for achieving precision work

1. Remember to purchase your pattern! - Click HERE to purchase the PDF pattern, or HERE for the printed pattern.

2. Grab Your Materials List & Preparation Information - Click HERE to download

3. Order your Maison Top Kits (Optional Purchase) - Click HERE for all the kit options

VIDEO TUTORIAL

**January Zoom Update

Due to technical difficulties within the Zoom platform, the sessions were not able to be recorded last week on 1/28. Zoom has been working to resolve and find the files but was unable to.

Since this was an unforeseen error, Linda recorded a short video going over the main themes of questions that were asked in the January session. We have posted this video below.