Udemy Pattern Drafting Class Review & Drafting Discussion
Like most of you probably do, I get a lot of ads on social media for Udemy, Domestika, Craftsy, etc. I finally got an offer I couldn’t refuse, an introductory pattern drafting class for $17 or so. So I signed up, only to discover it was only an hour of content, and largely an ad for the instructor’s YouTube channel and website. But, it did have a couple of useful tips, I suppose. So I completed the hour and got a certificate, hooray for me: I did like the instructor’s style very much, and have since subscribed to his YouTube channel, but I won’t be in a hurry to pay…
Making Track Pants from Existing Track Pants (aka “Pervert Egg” Pants)
If you’ve ever had a perfect pair of track pants, you know why you never want to let them go. They fit comfortably in both waist and length. They aren’t tight in the wrong places. They make your butt look nice – as nice as it can look in track pants anyway. Also as an aside some people might call these types of pants sweat pants, or jogging pants, but I’ve always called them track pants. For me the perfect pair were a grey pair of Beaver Canoe track pants that I bought at Target Canada circa…sometime between 2013 and 2015. And up until recently I was still wearing them.…
Lutterloh Knitting
It’s been some time since I sewed the dress in my last post, and in the interim I’ve made another Lutterloh pattern. I had said I wanted to draw out the tank top pattern on my knitleader and knit it on the Brother 940, and I did just that. I went with this simple number: I drew out the pattern on paper manually, using the Lutterloh ruler, and then cut it out and traced it onto the knitleader mylar sheets. I included the dart, even though in retrospect I probably didn’t need to. I chose a yarn and a stitch pattern (a very hard task for me). I wanted to…
More Lutterloh Patterns
I thought before I dive into Lutterloh pants making, I should try something a little simpler. Enter this dress: It’s a basic little number with a back zipper and a couple of darts. I have a similar RTW dress so I can compare construction techniques. A better place to start for a pattern system with no instructions, I think. And a little more forgiving if the sizing is not quite right. First off, the pattern doesn’t indicate facings for the armholes. It only really shows a little fold over area at the back neck. It is assumed that the armholes would therefore be turned under, but I thought that a…
Sewing a Lutterloh Pattern
As most buyers/collectors of pre-loved knitting or sewing machines know, often when you get a machine you are given a collection of assorted odds and ends along with it. Pieces for other machines, random thread, bobbins, old elastic – anything that may have been associated with the machine in question. With one of my acquisitions, I can’t remember which at this point, I was given this box: At the time I had no idea what it was, but at some point I opened it and figured out it is a pattern drafting system made by Lutterloh. I put it aside, and hadn’t looked at it much until recently when I…
Pattern Drafting (for Sewing) with Seamly2D
Why hello! I think the title for today says it all – I want to talk about drafting your own sewing patterns. If, like me, you got your start in sewing garments from commercial, pre-printed patterns from the “Big Three” pattern companies, or the printable PDF patterns available online, it has maybe never crossed your mind to draft your own patterns. After all, there are tons of great commercial patterns available, many of which include tutorials and helpful tips to make sewing your own clothes possible, even for beginners. Especially if you’re sewing for just one person (particularly someone who doesn’t change sizes frequently) and can get used to what…
Needle Quest – Part 2
If you read Part 1 of this series, you will know that I was on a quest for suitable needles for a Bellinky linker. They are virtually impossible to get as it turns out, and although I have a stash, they won’t last forever, and other people are in need of them as well. I won’t keep you reading for no reason: the new needles work perfectly! But not without a few adjustments, so read on if you’d like details. I received the 88×1 needles (very quickly might I add) and look how closely they resemble the Orange PYE-2 needles: I apologize in advance, by the way, for these photos.…
Needle Quest
That’s what I’m calling what I did yesterday. Over the last while, I have heard from several people looking to buy spare needles for their Bellinky linker. And there is a shop that I have directed them to, where I myself bought some of the needles after an internet search, but they are out of the size 22. What I have been using successfully is the size 140/22, in the PYE-2 system from Orange needles. I can find NO ONE else who makes this type of needle, nor can I find anywhere besides that one shop to buy them. (A quick Google will bring them up. They are in the…
Insert Industrial Revolution Pun Here
My brain hurts, make your own pun for the title. It’s like choose your own adventure! So as the weather changes, and my natural crafty inclinations swing back toward sewing, I’ve been hard at work making spring/summer things for the kids and myself. If you’ve been following my Instagram, you’ll have seen the monstrous piece of cotton fleece I ice dyed to make myself some shorts, and the spring softshell jackets I made for two of my kids. I’m exceptionally happy with how those jackets turned out, but I have to say, they were not easy for my sewing machine. I used the vintage Kenmore for all of it, (well…
Craft Boredom Cycles and The Very Long Year
This is a less informational/more personal post than I normally put here, so if you’re not in the mood for a ramble, you may want to skip it. I just wanted to share something that I have noticed about myself. I have seen several people mentioning it lately, so I don’t think it’s limited to just me. Crafting Boredom. Do you ever get afflicted? By this I mean, do you ever look at your heap of supplies for this hobby you have, that you LOVE, and just…don’t wanna? It’s happened to me before, many times. The first time it was hand knitting/crochet. I had a lot of yarn, all kinds…
