Our FI Nest

I sewed up another couple Jalie Nicole 's recently, but first up is the one that's part of my 2020 sewing plan aka sew down the stash recently bought plan. In my last Discovery Fabrics order I bought some solar stretch in Poppies  because I loved the Nicole version Dawn from TwoonTwooff made. Yep, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We just won't play who wore it better. To complete this outfit I'll be making some purple Clara's. As mentioned in my last post, they are already cut out and just need to be sewn. Here I'm wearing my Éleonores in raspberry jegging fabric. I just realized I've never actually blogged about these ones so will have to do that at some point. They are my most worn pants. I do love them, but let's be honest, main reason is because they are the only pair of pants that fit comfortably at the moment. I need to lose about 10 pounds to get back to fitting in the rest of my pants. Thank goodness I have a decent wardrobe o...

I bought a lot of fabric last year despite it being a year to sew down my stash so I'm trying to focus on using it up and expanding my work wardrobe. I've been hesitant to make the pants because I've recently gone up a dress size and I'm hopeful I'll come back down. I just don't want to put in the effort of making something for it not to fit in a couple months. The dresses and leggings are more forgiving size wise so I'll likely start there.   If When I complete it all I'll have made 2 pairs of Sabrina Slims  Pants 1 pair of  Vanessa Fluid Pants 1 pair of Éleonore Pull-on Jeans 1 pair of Clara Leggings 2  Classic Tee s Sloane Sweatshirt Alice Top Nicole Tunic Rachel Dress It's not quite a full SWAP (Sewing with a Plan) as not all the tops will go with all the bottoms and it is missing a topper that coordinates with everything, but it will fill some holes in my wardrobe and use up a good portion of my recent fabric acquisitions....

This year's homemade costume My older son is a bit Harry Potter obsessed. Last year I made them Year 1 Hogwarts robes and they went as Harry and Hermoine. I upcycled some black curtains I found at Value Village to make my son's robe and bought some cheap fabric for my daughter's. This year my son wanted to go as a Quidditch player. I definitely didn't want to spend $50 per costume to buy the game robes. When looking at some movie stills to get some ideas I came across the Quidditch try-out/practice robes from the 6th movie the Half Blood Prince and realized I already had fabric on hand that could work to copy it. Yeah for being able to use up a bit of the overflowing stash. Movie still found on Pinterest I used Jalie 3355 hoodie as the base for my pattern. To figure out the line work on the jerseys I took the line drawing from the pattern and did a screenshot of it. Then I measured the pattern pieces for each size and expanded the bodice to that siz...

Finally I get to share some of the patterns I was fortunate enough to test for Jalie this past winter. Hardest part is not sharing anything till they are released in the Spring! First up is Nikita.  Description: Tank with front yoke and keyhold racer back. The unique hem is easy to sew and adds a modern touch to the garment. Swing Dress, mid-thigh lenght, with closed racer back. Armholes on both views finished with bands.  This is such a cute top/dress and I can't wait to make one for me. I made two for my daughter. The pattern calls for very drapy fabrics, and the first version I made had a bit more body, but I figured it would be ok in a child size. Adult size I'd definitely wouldn't want this sticking stiffly out from my body. My daughter is 5 and wears a size 5 in RTW but in Jalie Sizes is an F (size 2) with extra length added. To the first version I added 2 inches, but this only makes it tunic length. I added 4 or 5 inches to the 2nd version se...

As mentioned in a previous post we were woefully under dressed for camping in the mountains last summer so I've been a little obsessed with warm sweaters for this year. I was so excited to be chosen to test Jalie's Alex and it just feels like the perfect camping/cozy sweater and will be making a ton of these over the years with 3 kids! I love this pattern. I unfortunately didn't pick the best fabric for my first version as the scale of the pattern was just a bit too large and I failed miserably with pattern matching. I'll be watching a few youtube videos to figure out how to do that properly on my next version. The cut off animals on this one are really bugging me. I keep reminding myself that many RTW pattern matching is often worse.   Despite the pattern issues I love this pattern. I just made up a version for myself and it is super cozy.  I did make a few alterations to this wearable muslin. I made a Size S grading to U at the hips and ad...

Another of the patterns I tested was Michelle. This was my favourite thing to wear on our trip to Mexico this winter. A dress with pockets! What more do we want in a dress?!?. This one also has the most flattering bodice and I love a gathered skirt. As I was trying to "shop" my stash and not buy fabric unless necessary, I used this embroidered cotton I'd picked up in New York City circa 2008! I had just enough to make this dress if I flipped the direction of the embroidery so the top goes vertically and skirt horizontally. The only problem was that this fabric does not meet the criteria of flowy. I thought I'd try it anyways and get more suitable fabric for the next version. So, um, yes... there is a reason fabric recommendations should be followed... But I loved the bodice,  colour and pockets and just needed a tad more waist shaping so I added some 1/4 inch elastic along the skirt seam. I just measured a length of elastic around...