There seems to be something for everyone; pastels, smokey purples, dusty pinks, prints include animal prints. This year’s choice faux fur overscaled herringbone, fox, leopard, giraffe, and oh my goodness butterfly prints. Color blocking (I hope I eventually master) and mixing of prints are stand outs. Florals are huge as are black and white prints, I couldn’t be happier! Take a look at the tribal and ethnic prints below. These hand block printed cottons are perfect for this folky, tribal trend.
So much to share with you! Here’s one of my favorite sites. So much to shop for and design! I’m so excited for us all. ENJOY! More to follow, don’t think for a second this could be the end of the line. 🙂
Sew much to learn, no matter how much I sew. I learned this weekend children grow at amazing rates. I measured my granddaughter less than a month ago. I used those measurements to make her a very special dress. She couldn’t get it over her head with a zipper! I designed a top and skirt for her using the same measurements, it fit PERFECTLY!
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The Princess themed double peplum dress took me about 8 hours to make and about 10 seconds to try on then refashion. The Van Gogh ensemble took less than 4 hours to design according to her measurements, cut out, and sew. It, as you can see, fits perfectly!
I don’t know how to feel about this, do we design or use other’s designs? Even when I sew using a pattern, I do not go exactly by the pattern. I always add some, glitz or glam. For instance, the orange layer of the peplum, is covered in pink glitter! When designing for myself or adult daughter we also have must haves in our clothing. I’m a huge boho fan. So even simple tops end up with boho twist. She has a nice booty, the things I design for her highlight her assets. Most of my designs come from knowing the person. As I’ve said a million times before, style is so much more than fashion.
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From this photo of me in my wedding dress I made pre sewing machine, you can tell I have a style! No, I don’t don myself in tulle daily or sequins, at least not that much. Whatever you sew or wear, ENJOY!
Always for me the hardest thing is knowing the best way of transitioning textiles. Like, how soon is too soon to transition textiles from denim to something warmer? Is it really okay to wear white after Labor Day? I personally don’t, just because I rarely wear white, but there are others who do not care about fashion rules. They just wear what they like and make it their style. These are the ones scoffing at me in my black clothing throughout the Summer. LOL
My first transition would consist of a light jacket or sweater. Hatchi Sweater Knit is a great transitioning textile. The fabric is lightweight blends of rayon, poly, and lycra. Hatchi is fairly easy to acquire as the seasons change. I use it for Kimonos in the fall. Another great piece to add to your collection is a lace Kimono in any color or texture. I made a black one last year and loved how easy it is to wear over jeans and a t shirt. Lace kimonos appear much dressier in darker colors, while the lighter creams give a boho casual look. Patchwork is a newer trend. I’m loving it, a boho kinda gal gets excited about mixing and matching fabrics to create something new and unpredictable. There are great examples here. My favorite is still the essential dress I flubbed at making a few weeks ago. I’ll master it though. I am dedicated to it now.
Fleece is making a comeback? Is it possible? I read on one of the major pattern manufacturers website suggestions of using fleece as a light jacket. I guess in any case, before worrying about revamping the wardrobe for Fall, a jacket or light sweater should be first on the list. I recently made a couple of simple Kimono’s using Hatchi knit. One I used a charcoal grey and another I used an olive green. I think they’ll both earn heavy rotation. ENJOY!
It’s time again, to worry about fall fashion. You know, visit the library, local bookstore, or coffeeshop and study up on what’s new and make lists of where you may find the fabric you are lusting after. I start my search at Girl Charlee. I just love the hand of that fabric. Then I hit Fabric dot com. Both stores are equal as far as I am concerned. I’ve never had a reason to complain. My new favorite place for shopping is the thrift stores. Those 2xl shirts have a lot of fabric and where I live, Mondays are 99 cent clothing days. $5 will get a lot of fabric.
September is the month I scour all the fashion magazines, deciding where I’ll shop and what I’ll buy. I’ve been doing this since childhood. So far I’ve discovered,
[envira-gallery id="1635"][envira-gallery slug="1635"] WOW! I love the variations.Remember, it’s more about style than fashion. Use your go to styles and change the colors or textures. Show me what you come up with, ENJOY!
Budding designers begin young,I don’t know about you, but as a child, a very young child, I was a budding designer. I always had paper and crayons or pencils to quickly sketch whatever it was in my head I thought someone may want to buy. Not only was I designer, my grandmother sewed. Double bonus! I think it up, put it on paper, and my grandma makes it a reality. I remember they had those little plastic forms you could color over and create something wonderful. Wonderful and just like everyone else’s. How boring! I did nt want to be that person making the same thing everyone else made. I wanted to be the girl with all original clothing. Funny thing is, now that I make my own clothes, I color the pattern the same way I want the garment to look in the end. Also at that time I can change the sleeves, the skirt, anything I don’t like about the pattern.There is a new line of products like this for children.
Perfect for the catwalk designer
Catwalk designers would go nuts for this.
Perfect for the glam designer
I’m not sure how kids would like these, but I am pretty sure I would need to buy some for me to try out. You know, nothing is worse than disappointing children on Christmas. Besides, I may come up with new designs. This does not mean I will be giving up on using paper and pencil sketches. I just means I want to try the newest toys! ENJOY
Birdnesting, maybe you’ve never heard it called that but I bet it’s made you mad. You know, when you are sewing along and life is good, you cut the threads, turn it over and it’s a MESS. Horrific, mess, “I can’t wear this,” mess. That’s birdnesting! Why is my machine making me mad? For me, it’s mainly the result of laziness.
If none of the above help, you may need to take your baby to the local machine doctor. Good Luck and ENJOY!
If you’ve been following my blog very long you know I love to sew thrifty! Amazon is one of my favorite places to shop. For various reasons, but mostly because if I spend $35 I get free shipping! I shop at fabric.com and pay through Amazon because, who cannot find $35 of fabric? Shipping is outrageous these days. I will always shop anywhere that will allow me to skip the shipping charges.
So, just now I filled my Amazon cart up with mostly add-on items. They get kinda picky if you try for $25 of just add on items. LOL….It took me a few minutes longer because of this. I had to find some regular price items to make them happy. It made me happy too, I saved $25 plus shipping.
In case you are wondering the good deals are as follows;
Clover Wonder Clips, Red, 50-Pack by Clover
COATS & CLARK Dual Duty Plus Denim Thread, 125-Yard
Wrights 881428 Flower Head Multicolor Pins, 75 pins
Singer Titanium Universal Reg and Ball Point Machine Needles Combo Pack, 8-Pack
Singer Denim Machine Needles, Size 100/16, 3-Pack
Dritz Ergonomic Design Large Seam Ripper
I think that’s pretty good, especially saving on shipping plus $25. Where do you shop for your good sewing deals?
ENJOY!
It’s been very busy around here. When I’m not sewing, making jewelry, blogging, or sleeping a new online store is preparing to open! I can’t wait for you to shop LucyLou 918. I’ve started adding items already, but need to tidy up a little before it goes live. For example, I don’t have PayPal set up yet. I have put contact forms on each item though so if you need to ask questions, order, or request something custom feel free to use those forms. I can also be contacted via Facebook email.
I would love to create the item you’ve been looking for and couldn’t find. That’s actually how the idea of LucyLou 918 came about. I have never been able to find anything 100% perfect. Everything I looked at while shopping was either too over the top for me or just plain and boring. This is frustrating! So, I started shopping for supplies to create exactly what I wanted to purchase. As I created jewelry and wore it to work people began to notice and ask about the necklace or whatever. Time passed and these same people began to ask about buying my jewelry. Somewhere around 2013 I started an Etsy shop and really did not tend to the needs of a business for success. I was working outside the home and my grandchildren were with me much of the time. Those two factors prevented me from the work I needed to do. At this time, I do not work outside the home and have more than enough time for a successful venture!
Right now my catalog has accessories for her and the home. A wide array of handmade jewelry, pillows, and aprons. The catalog is growing daily. Like I said before please feel free to contact me [contact-form subject='[Lucy%26#039;s Sewing Lab’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form] with any questions or special orders. Remember, Christmas is only 4 months away!
ENJOY!
I have been sewing regularly, as in more than three times a week for a year now. You know what? I STILL don’t know that much about sewing needles. I did a little research and wanted to share with you all, “Sewing Needles Demystified”. It’s so confusing to me how to know when to change the needle, they seem to wear out fast around here. I think I really make my machine work hard. In the past week I have sewn a Kimino, four skirts, two tops, shorts, a little girl’s skirt, and a circle top. I’ve also made a handbag and a bag for my O2. I guess when I look at it that way, I really am not that hard on my needles, I just sew a lot. It always seems like they should last longer.
The consensus is not exactly in agreement. Some say after every project, while others feel the need to change them after eight hours. I don’t know, my machine makes this “noise” I know then, I better change the needle or there are going to be some problems. 🙂
After a little searching on a few sites I found enough information to create this downloadable, printable chart. I think it’s pretty useful for your sewing room. I really haven’t paid much attention to the number on the needle. I usually go by the name of the needle. If I am sewing denim, I buy denim needles.
I hope this chart helped someone other than me, just a little. 🙂 ENJOY!
Getting stuff for free is like a dream come true right? Here’s a list of sewing Giveaways, Contests and Freebies I just found and entered. I have entered giveaways before and loved that I won a gift certificate. Everyone loves freebies right? I’ve already turned the gift certificate into clothing. Win win! I’m thinking what I’ll do is post a monthly list of websites offering contests or giveaways. I know something like that would be useful for me.
Websites currently offering Sewing Giveaways
Freebies
Currently Running Contests