It's 2013 and we are still asking the question: "How can you tell if your shirt was made in a sweatshop?" Source: Andrew Biraj/Reuters There was an incident in a factory that makes clothes for large retail giants causing many people to once again ask that question. On April 24th, a factory fire in Bangladesh...

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I've finally finished the sweater I was making for myself. Actually, it had been 99% done for about a month, I was just waiting for some buttons. I love the colour and how fitted it is. ...

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Here we go with more Burdastyle Ute sewing. We are now at Step 7: finishing the collar. Step 8 is basically the same, but for the tie collar (Variation B). Now you can iron the button band along the fold lines. My polka dots made this part easy, since I could just follow...

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Now for more of Step 5 and 6 of the Burdastyle Ute Sew-Along. If you are following along with me, your fabric should start to look more and more shirt-like from here on out. Ok, so if you haven't trimmed and neatened your seams, you can do that now. All I did was...

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Well, my first purse from an old jacket didn't last too long. It was only a couple of months before the pleather started to tear and the layers separated in some places. But, I expected it to, as that is why it no longer worked as a jacket. The good news is that...

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Continuing along with my Burdastyle Ute Sew-Along, I am now at Steps 5 and 6, which has most of the actual sewing of the shirt. I'm going to skip Step 5, as that is just cutting the interfacing (I'll do that when I need it). On to Step 6: Sew the front and...

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One of the great blogs that I've stumbled upon recently is Male Pattern Boldness by Peter Lappin. It's full of great (and humourous) posts on Peter's adventures into sewing. Today's post on "The Quantity vs. Quality Clothing Conundrum" I thought was particularly good and reminded me about why I started this blog. Peter points...

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Just a quick little post for my Ute Sew-Along. I am now at Step 4: Cutting out the fabric. And now you will finally get to see my fabric choice for my Black and White Challenge! Lovely little polka dots I've chosen a nice stretch cotton (97% cotton, 3% lycra) for my blouse....

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As promised, I'm going to post a 'how to' on sewing the downloadable Burdastyle Ute (6020) blouse. Using the step numbers from the instructions, I'll fill in some parts that a new sewer might need help with. Step 1 - Pattern Information This step is just to tell you what pattern pieces are...

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I've finally finished making my first shirt. It's a wearable muslin for my eventual Black and White challenge shirt. I wanted to go through the whole process (interfacing, buttons, buttonholes, etc.) before doing the same with my fashion fabric. My notes after the jump... ...

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My Store is finally up and running. Please visit Tiffany's Notions if you are interested in vintage sewing patterns and other notions. Readers of my blog get a special 25% discount on their purchases (expires April 5th). Just type in the code 'blogger25' when finalizing your purchase. ...

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