Pack your bags, we’re going on a maker vacation

August 7, 2019 By Alison

Nate & company at an advanced sewing intensive with Workroom Social at Fancy Tiger

Last month, I spent a weekend in Denver at Fancy Tiger Crafts sewing jeans with 12 other sewing obsessed ladies. Even though I’m not new to jeans construction, sewing a finished pair of jeans from cutting to wearing is a tall order for me in 2 and a 1/2 days. There’s no time to agonize over pocket placement or a wonky topstitch. You have to just let go and sew. And really, that’s what makes it so much fun!

Gathered around a table covered with neatly folded sample jeans in every size, our instructor Lauren (of Lladybird fame) began the workshop with a little goal setting for the weekend. Yes, we were going to learn her hard-won jeans construction tricks she’s developed over the years. But, this class was not about sewing a perfect pair of jeans. It was about proudly walking out the door in a completed pair of handmade jeans and feeling great about it.

Reflecting back on that crazy weekend, Lauren had it spot on. Whether you’re taking a multi-day class at a local fabric shop or flying halfway across the planet for a multi-week retreat, the reason we take these workshops is almost never about achieving sewing perfection. When I asked my sewist friends about their “why”, this is what they told me.

How to shop for a dress form

July 3, 2019 By Alison

Beatrice Dress Form outside of the workshop

In the market for a dress form? The choices can be a bit overwhelming! As you might have noticed, there’s not a lot of up-to-date info out there to help prospective dress form buyers. My hope is that after reading this article, you’ll feel prepared to buy (or not buy) with confidence!

MAKE IT! Custom sewing tools caddy

February 1, 2019 By Alison

sewing caddy - finished

Tell me this hasn’t happened to you: you’re cruising along on your project, maybe cutting out fabric with your rotary cutters – then you hit the end of the cutting mat and need your shears… hmmm, where did you last set those down?? Maybe they are over by your machine? Nope. Ugh.

My big problem is with rulers, absentmindedly putting them down in random places when I’m in “the zone”. Where’s my french curve? Ah, found the big aluminum hip curve but what I really need is the small clear one! The pains.

I think I’ve found the perfect DIY solution: a rolling, vertical tools caddy! To be fair, this was not my idea. I stole it from my awesome father in-law who built one for his workshop and was lovely enough to make me one just like his.

Since then, I’ve figured out how to build them on my own in an afternoon – let me show you how!

What our Early Supporters taught us

October 14, 2018 By Alison

I can’t believe it but we are almost done with our Early Supporter Program! We have 4 shipping out Monday and just one more form to cut this week. I thought it might be a good time to reflect.

Learning by doing

When starting anything new, including starting a business, you can only really learn by doing the darn thing. As much as we’d like to think that we can imagine what it’s going to be like, there will always be surprises and some failures – which I prefer to frame as “learning”.

So what did we learn? A lot, thanks to all the incredibly patient and generous sewists out there that took a chance on us. Here are the big take-aways:

Patterns are symmetrical, your body is not

July 8, 2018 By Alison

Maybe you’ve noticed in the mirror that one of your shoulders is higher than the other. But did you know that our bodies also twist from top to bottom, lean to the side, and are sometimes bigger on one side? Just because most patterns are symmetrical doesn’t mean that your body is too!