kits now available!

do you craftsy?  if not, you need to go take a look at everything they have to offer.  no membership fees, you only pay for the classes you want to take….and they have some great sales, making the classes very reasonable.  there are classes in cake decorating, cooking, gardening, photography, knitting….and of course, sewing.  they also sell patterns, fabric, yarn, supplies…and kits.  once you purchase a class it’s yours forever…watch as many times as you like and ask the instructor questions through the craftsy platform.  i’m almost ashamed to admit that i currently have well over 100 classes in my account, along with several patterns (many free!).  almost, but not quite!

many months ago we were contacted about using our summer jazz dress pattern in a kit and of course we jumped at the chance.  we had no input as to what fabric they might choose, but the kit was just made available and i’m really pleased with what they chose.am i allowed to say how proud i am of this design?  i am, and even after making many of them i haven’t grown tired of it!  i love the maxi length and the fabric looks fantastic!  it’s a rayon, which means it’s going to be super drapey and soft.

several months later they asked for the market day tunic pattern for a kit and again, i’m excited about their fabric choice, a robert kaufman linen blend…perfect for the tunic!both kits are currently on sale too!

so, if you’re a sewist who likes the idea of having everything packaged together and delivered right to your door, here’s the perfect opportunity.  of course, if you just want the pattern, we can take care of that!  we’ll ship it same day and you’ll be sewing in no time flat!

kim

selfishly sewing

while technically i began these two projects BEFORE selfish sewing week began, i’m counting them since i didn’t finish them until monday.  and technically, they’re not for me….they’re for amy….but i’m still counting them because…well, just because!  first up was our own market day tunic in an anna maria horner fabric from her little folks collection.  this voile is ever so soft and drapey, although it does tend to crease quite a bit (more on that in a minute!).  next came a clara dress from sew liberated.  i’ve been fortunate to be able to work with meg and danica (brand new mom by the way) at sew liberated for many years now and i love this clara dress.  unfortunately it’s a bit young for this old lady, so i was thrilled when amy asked for one.  we used a sarah watts  fabric (by blend) called timber & leaf….darling little fox heads.  it’s an older fabric and sarah is now part of cotton & steel.  amy has yet to choose buttons, but except for that, this one too is ready to go.  the only change i made was to the sleeve.  the clara was designed with a keyhole opening on the sleeve, but we opted to omit the keyhole and add a few mini pleats instead and i’m really please with how it worked.  since i didn’t have amy here to model, my old standby eloise (yes, her name changes on a whim!!) stood in her place….amy is much less crooked, and, sorry eloise, she’s more fun to talk to!

oh…those creases??  i finally got to use my newest studio gadget.  that little mini steamer was a Christmas gift from my sister.  i’ve used the huge professional ones before and wasn’t quite sure how this one would perform.  it gets a standing ovation!!  what a handy little tool…thanks sis!!

it’s only wednesday…the week is young, still time for something from the studio for myself!!

kim

Tutorial: the Market Day Tunic as a dress

Last week I shared a couple pictures of my beautiful sister modeling our Market Day Tunic which I lengthened into a dress and sewed up in a cozy double-knit for winter.  I promised I would be back with the tutorial this week, and it may have taken me ALL week, but here it is!

The best thing about this tutorial is that there is practically nothing to it.  Start with the Market Day Tunic pattern, of course.  You will want about 3 1/2 yards of fabric to make the dress length (a little less if you are using 60″ wide fabric, but not much – I think I used about 3 yards of 60″ knit to make this size small.  I would recommend erring on the side of more fabric rather than less, especially if you are making a large or extra large).  Also note that you should drop down one size from what you would normally wear if you are using a knit.  I wear a medium Market Day in a woven and small in knit.

If you are using a knit you will not need to add the invisible zipper to the side seam.  There is enough ease in the pattern to do without it even with a relatively unstretchy knit like the one I used, so just sew the left side seam shut like you do the right side seam.  If you are using a woven fabric plan to install the zipper as instructed.  Aside from using a ball point needle and a very, very slight zig zag stitch to allow my fabric to stretch a bit I did not do anything differently for this dress than I do for woven Market Day Tunics.

Trace out your size on Swedish tracing paper, adding 10-12″ (depending on the length you want) to the bottom of the tunic front and tunic back, following the original curve of the bodice hem.

Transfer the markings to your fabric as instructed.  The back darts will not be affected by the change in length, but the long center front darts can either be lengthened to the new hem length by following the line of the original darts all the way to the bottom of the garment, taking a tiny seam allowance and tapering to nothing at the hem, or tapering to nothing a little below the original hem length as I did in the tunic pictured above.

Finish the rest of the dress according to the tunic instructions.  For this dress I flipped the double knit to show the wrong side on the interior neck facing and the sleeves, which I rolled for a fun little contrast, but you could do a contrasting neckline facing or lace appliqued facing like our original samples, too.  

Since I used a knit with a hidden neck facing I didn’t finish the outside edges of the facing so as not to add bulk and just tacked the facing to the shoulder seam allowance to keep it tucked in.  If you use a woven, finish the neckline as instructed.

My only complaint with this dress (and it’s the same complaint I have with ALL dresses and tunics in the winter) is that it rides up over leggings or tights when I walk.  I’m thinking that stitching a wide ribbon around the inside hem would add a little weight and slipperiness and might prevent the cling.  Has anybody tried that?  Did it work?

What are you sewing up this winter?  If you make one of our patterns and would like to share, please drop us a line at ohsnapdragonstudios@gmail.com.  We’d love to see what you create!

 

Happy New Year!

Hello, all!  I hope your holidays were lovely and warm and that you have had a great first week of 2015.  We took a bit of a hiatus to regroup and relax with our families for the holidays and now we are looking forward to an exciting new year.

I mentioned in my winter wardrobe post that I had a double-knit Market Day Tunic and a tweed Weekend Rambler on the brain, so I wanted to share some pictures from a quick photoshoot we did in the library just before the holidays to get you in the mood for some winter-y sewing.  We finally got 4″ of snow yesterday and I’m anxious to get back to my sewing machine for some selfish warm gear sewing.

I made this Weekend Rambler following the instructions exactly, and the only thing I wish I would have done differently is to line the pockets with a lighter fabric since the seams got pretty bulky with all that wool.  Next up for me is a pair of Sewaholic Thurlow trousers in chunky brown corduroy.  (… and maybe purple twill.  And goldenrod pinwale corduroy.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?)

We have a slew of photos to share of the Summer Jazz wintered up with our free sleeve pattern that we will be sharing soon, and I will write a tutorial next week for lengthening the Market Day into a dress (it’s easy, I promise!).

What is on your cutting table these days?

*Photos by the talented Amy Schweizer, as usual.

 

Winter wardrobe wishlist

It’s the second week of December!  Which means that I’m now definitely behind on my Christmas gifting!

We’ve been busy behind the scenes around here planning and sewing for a wintery photoshoot that took place yesterday morning.  We’re looking forward to sharing those pics with you soon, but in the meantime, here’s what I’ve been daydreaming about while I procrastinate on my Christmas projects.

1. Melissa’s Marigold Dress is calling my name.  Wouldn’t it be super fun in a homespun plaid for wintertime?  Leggings?  Boots with legwarmer cuffs?  I think so.  Perhaps in something like this denim blue homespun from Jubliee Fabrics?

2. It seems like everybody and their brother (sister?) is making the Lane Raglan from Hey June, but there’s a reason for that, right?  I’m thinking two versions – one t-shirt weight knit in a floral with contrasting sleeves to combat the winter blues and another in a loopy French terry sweatshirt weight for cozying up with a cup of tea.  I’m digging the elephants hidden in this print from Near Sea Naturals.  Maybe with coral thermal sleeves? Something like this pretty plum French terry, I think.

3. Sewaholic’s Thurlow Trousers seem super versatile to me.  My first thought was corduroy (my head says brown or grey, my heart says kelly green), but I’m a jeans girl for sure and I think a pair of dark denim trousers would be kinda great.

4. In the spirit of “put something on your list you’ve already done so you can cross it off right away”, I made a Weekend Rambler Skirt in a great medium brown tweed that I wore yesterday and totally love.  It could go full-on classic librarian with some sensible shoes and a twinset, but I wore it with my old, bright stripey wool sweater and combat boots for a funkier look.  (We photographed my sister wearing it during the photoshoot with less rebellious boots, so we’ll show you that look as soon as the pics are edited.)

5.  Like the Lane Raglan, the Grainline Archer is making the rounds, but again, it’s because it’s great.  I’m possibly the last person in the world to have made one, so I am feeling the need to get on it.  I’m leaning toward a neutral to wear with my kelly green sensible brown or grey corduroys, but I am also really enamored with the plaid sample on the website and I have no control when it comes to shirting fabric, so….

6.  And, finally, I experimented this week with making the Market Day Tunic into a dress and the result is kind of awesome.  I will have photos and a tutorial soon, but in the meantime, I want one in all of the colors.  All of them.

 

What’s on your sewing list these days?

-Elizabeth

Blog Hop with Teri of Fa Sew La

We’re happy to welcome Teri of Fa Sew La to the blog today to show off her lovely Market Day Tunic.  I found Teri via Indiesew, where she is a rockstar in the user creations section supporting independent designers and doing a beautiful job sewing up their patterns and making them her own.  Teri is expecing a new baby next spring, so she was hesitant when I contacted her about joining our blog hop.  Then I showed her the picture of me tucked into my (regular size) Market Day tunic for Quilt Market at 30 weeks and she decided to go for it.  🙂  I’m so glad she did!

Aren’t the fabrics she chose perfect for each other?  Head over to Fa Sew La to see what Teri has to say about the pattern and for suggestions on modifying it for maternity wear.  Thanks, Teri!

 

We’re down to the last week of the blog hop, but that doesn’t mean the fun is over.  If you’ve made one of our patterns, please shoot us an email and share a picture!  We’d love to put together a gallery of our patrons’ creations.  In the meantime, be sure to check out any stops that you’ve missed over the past month and stay tuned for our hop finale next Wednesday with Sew Maris!

9/3: Morgan at Thread Theory

9/10: Beth at Sew 110 Creations

9/17: Meg at Cookin’ and Craftin’

9/24: Claire at Hoopes Park Studios

10/1: Teri at Fa Sew La

10/8: Maris at Sew Maris

 

-Elizabeth and Kim

Blog hop with Meg of Cookin’ and Craftin’

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s another blog hop day!  Today we’re glad to have Meg joining us from Cookin’ and Craftin’.  Meg discovered us before we even had a single pattern for sale, and kept an eye on us until we released our first collection in June (and can I just say what a confidence boost that was?  I so needed that enthusiasm in the last weeks of finishing all the details to release our patterns!)  She was one of our very first customers, and hers was the first Summer Jazz Dress I saw “in the wild”, so I knew I wanted to invite her to join our blog hop.  She made a gorgeous Market Day Tunic.

 

Here’s what she had to say about the pictures she sent: “Attached are a couple photos of my Market Day Tunic- love it! I wore it to work last week and it perfectly toed the line between casual and work appropriate.  No dirty hippies to be seen ;-)”

 

Didn’t she do a beautiful job?  I love her choice of fabric.  Be sure to check out Meg’s blog for more details and her thoughts on the pattern.

Thanks, Meg!

-Elizabeth and Kim

We’re halfway through the blog hop already!  Here’s the schedule in case you’ve missed any:

9/3: Morgan at Thread Theory

9/10: Beth at Sew 110 Creations

9/17: Meg at Cookin’ and Craftin’

9/24: Claire at Hoopes Park Studios

10/1: Teri at Fa Sew La

10/8: Maris at Sew Maris