Miranda Day Bag

Good Morning,

I am so excited to write this today. Yesterday, the Miranda Day Bag Class was held at my studio, with Karen Radding, The Bag Officianado. I asked Karen this summer to teach this bag and I had been waiting patiently until yesterday to take it. I am so pleased with my bag!

We learned a great new technique for making firm bottoms on bags. Karen did a great job of organizing the cutting and fusing process and we were done in no time. Our bags were done by 4pm except for whatever supplies we forgot. My bag just needs velcro for the closure. All of them are gorgeous. Here are some pictures. The zebra print is mine. We were all impressed with how the stripes matched at the seams. Not intentional on my part at all. My Threads magazine came yesterday and my button was in the notions sections! How cool is that!

Enjoy the pictures! I'll be back soon.

Merry Christmas!

I just want to say Merry Christmas to all my sewing friends!

My Linda Lee Project

Good Morning to you! I'm on a roll now baby! Two posts in a row! I should start one of those blogs like Julie did in Julie and Julia. That might be a bit ambitious on my part.

So I went to Topeka, Kansas before Thanksgiving to take a class with fourty or so other women. We learned about a new initiative to generate interest in garment sewing again called "Project Sewing Workshop". At the moment, a good portion of Linda Lee's popular pattern line called "The Sewing Workshop Collection and the "Shapes" collection that she put together with Louise Cutting, are in the line. Linda and her team are packaging patterns and fabrics in kits to take some of the stress off of new sewers when choosing a project to work on. Patterns and fabrics are available separately and I can coordinate other fabrics available from Project Sewing Workshop as well. She has a chosen some really nice fabrics and I am told that she is adding to the line all of the time. Fabric is available separately in 3, 5 and 10 yard increments.

So I chose the Trio Collection to work on when I was there. It is a top, a tee and cargo pants. I didn't really care for the pants.

I finished the tee in Kansas when I was there. They are really easy to construct. Its a cute pattern and something different. It is the first raglan sleeve I have ever made.

I cut the top when I was there and I finished it yesterday. I only had trouble with one step in the instructions. When sewing the collar to the top, they say to sew the back piece of the collar stand on first then fold over the shirt and sew it burrito style. I couldn't figure it out, so I sewed the same way I learned to install the collar in Peggy Sagers shirt pattern. I sewed the rest of the collar stand together. I folded under and pressed the top piece of the stand, pinned and top stitched. I learned this method in the Peggy Sager's Classic Blouse. From now on I would sew the whole collar in the same fashion. Way easier. If anyone know what burrito style might be, add a post, I may have to call the Sewing Workshop to find out what it means.

Overall the projects are relatively simple. I learned to flat pattern measure to adjust my tshirt and I did lengthen my shirt sleeves, the pattern is for 3/4 sleeve. On the advice of Linda, I only needed to lengthen the trio top. I might try the smaller size in muslin just to get a comparison. There is a lot of ease in this top. I will be making the two pieces again.

Well so long for now. Until my next project....

The Wine Tote

Hi! Happy Holidays! I know it's strange time to decide to start posting but I think I can see the light (or a train is coming, as one of my clients recently told me. Too funny!) Anyways, I did this wine tote class a few weeks ago and I made another one as a gift recently. Here's a picture of the original sample.

It wasn't a bad sample, but I bought this black and red fabric that I thought would look really good stippled. I couldn't convince any of my students to stipple so I thought I would try on this gift. I didn't have anymore of the insul-brite batting that the pattern calls for and I am not sure that you could stipple on it anyway. So I put regular fleece batting inside. Here is a picture of new one.

It is much stiffer than the original and I like the way it stands. The original is more like a bag. The pattern for this tote is available as a freebie from Bernina Sewing Republic.

I don't know how many of you are "seasoned quilters" but stippling is hard! In the sense that it's hard to not be so tense. I found, when I did this project, that I was a little less tense when I followed the beat of the sewing machine. My stitches were even a little more even. Overall it's an art that needs lots of practice. If you have any advice, add a post. I'm curious to see what other people do.

Have a great day!

album 09\11\09 (12 photos), by Barbara Deane

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Friday 9/11/09

Well here I am as I promised. It's been a busy week. I've been working on two wedding gowns. The brides are getting married on the same day but one is in Louisianna and the gown needs to be shipped.

The first dress is an empire waist with a low cut back. It's champagne satin with a beaded lace overlay. The empire waist is embellished with a beaded band. It needed to be taken in the waist but it had already been taken in to the limit at the side seams so I took it in more at the two darts. The lace cap sleeve kept slipping and the back buckled so I took the back in at the empire waist so it will help keep the shoulders from slipping and keep the fabric against her back. The train is a large godet so I bustled it with on tab at the top of the godet. If all goes well with her 2nd fitting it should be ready to go back together and she can ship by Friday.

The second is a bustier style with a sheer embroidered overlay. I took the bustier in about 2" over all to the hip area and I have to taper it more into the skirt. It was too poofy for the bride. I created a simple bustle with a braided tab that she can hang off one of the buttons. This one is ready to go back together and should be done by the end of next week.

I taught a pillow case class for my neighborhood group for the American Sewing Guild. I included pictures. Fun was had by all. It's a fun easy pattern that you roll and sew together creating no visible seams. Look for this class coming soon on my website.

Lastly, after all these brides and my Wednesday night class constantly trying to duck the windows, its time for window treatments! I have calculated my fabric and I didn't have enough for the shades so I bought something different of course in the black and white color scheme. It's very sheek. Be sure to check it out and I even included the pattern too. Another class in the making.

Well that's it for now. Stay tuned for next Friday....

This one

Hello Everyone! Sorry not to have written in a while. I'm still playing catch up. I have been sewing. I posted two of my tshirts to snapfish. I'm currently working on a tank top. I finished version 1 of my pants pattern (it's Vogue 2532, I think). They came out nice. I made two more tweaks to the pattern and I am going to make them again. I would like to teach this class in the fall. I'm very happy with them so far though. I used Palmer/Pletches book "Pants that fit".

So long for now. Don't forget to check out snapfish. Today is class #2 of the basic purse. I plan on taking pictures so you can see what they are looking like.

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I've been a bit busy. But the open house has past and life continues on as normal. Thank goodness!

I want to thank my family and friends for helping me over the last 4 weeks, especially my husband and my daughter, who put in tireless weekends and late nights. Thank you I couldn't have done this without you. And to you Paige, I hope this becomes your legacy if you want it, and if it not that's ok too. But thank you for being such a patient little girl! I'm very proud of you.

Enough sappiness. I'm going back to sewing. I posted all the pictures of the studio on snapfish. I'll be posting my projects as I go. Until next week.......

It's o'dark thirty on Thursday am and I can't wait for that coffee maker to finish!

Well, I have turned turned my self into an alteration diva. People have brought me such cool stuff. I have the ultimate in princess dresses. It's an absolutely beautiful aqua blue tule (I'm not even if sure if that's how you spell tule? Oh it's early people!) hand beaded with a pale yellow underlay. My daughter and I love to look at this dress it's so pretty. It's strapless and the young lady wearing it to the prom need to have it made tighter to keep everybody in their proper places. I'm almost done. I only have one more flower to bead and I can sew the lining and the dress back together. It really came out nice. I like it when you can even tell that I've taken something apart and put it back together.

I got a couple of dance costumes yesterday that are to say the least ADORABLE! Dance teachers are very specific. But, they give good directions.

Well I am back to reality for me. A little bit of laundry, post a couple of bills, and then I become Barbara, the Builder. Don't forget to check out snapfish. I'll be posting pictures of the princess dress hopefully later today.

Bye for now.

It's Thursday already! Where does the time go.

I have been busy working on the studio renovations. It's coming along. I am excited to see it take shape. I can't wait for all of you to see the finished product!

Sewing is on the backburner for now. I have been putzing around a bit. I got a whole bunch of new fabric for my summer wardrobe. I'm working on my pants pattern for the basic pants class I am going to teach this summer. I got lots of great knits for t-shirts.

Well good bye for now. I have to get moving. Be sure to check snapfish for up to date pictures. Keep in mind that you do have to log into my group, but it is free and you are under no obligation to purchase anything.

Have a great week!

Hello Everyone,



The rat race has begun. Tomorrow is the official full day of project demo at Barbara Deane's Sewing Studio. It's kind of exciting. Besides sewing, there is nothing more fun then demo work.



I created a group room for photos at Snapfish. It's kind of cool. I feel so global now. If you asked me this afternoon though while I was setting all this up I would have told you it was for the birds! Technology is very tedious. Anyways the point is so you can see my work, the progress of the new studio renovations and any class photos I take. I like to take pictures.



On to important business. Sewing of course. I tried the new serger (Babylock Evolve) it's fabulous. Like the technology stuff, it was a bit stressful getting used to the threading or not threading is more like it and at first I was a bit concerned that I bit off more than I could chew but not anymore. I LOVE it! I made a t-shirt with it and used the cover hem. Fantastic. I will be posting pictures of it soon. My four year old decided to use it to wipe the glitter off her hands. I think got most of it off.



I did another project yesterday that was fun. It's a business card holder. I think you could also use it to hold gift cards. Pictures are on the snapfish site. Check them out. The fabric is absolutely gorgeous. I am making a coordinating Miranda Day Bag and Basic Purse. It should be stunning.



Well good sewing time is a wasting. Check back in a week for the next post. In the meantime, here's the link for snapfish. http://barbaradeanessewingstudio.snapfish.com/snapfish/otsc=SYE/otsi=WCR

Well Good Afternoon and welcome to my very first blog.

This past weekend was the Annual Quilting and Sewing Expo. Hope you were able to attend if you were in the Worcester, MA area. I found it quite exciting. There was lots of great stuff and I certainly stimulated the sewing economy.

I came home with a new Babylock Evolve Serger which I can't wait to play with. I think Babylock is in a league of their own with this machine. Who can beat automatic thread tension and jet air threading, no matter what weight of thread you are using.

Fabric. Oh the fabric. I got some good buys. My lime green stretch cotton and a great shirting to match. Both under $5 a yard. Then there was the not so cheap. I did have fun haggeling with this gentlemen. He was a blast and I must say he had some luxurious fabrics. The cashmere, wool and silks were to die for and if my husband ever finds out how much I spent on that fabric I certainly will die for it!

The coolest place was the button place, Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods. What a collection. They had everything from beads, buttons, cording, ribbons, trim, the list is endless. Her display was amazingly organized by color.

Although by the end I was in a shopping daze, it was a great Saturday spent with my mom, talking and brainstorming about future projects, techniques and fabric.

Until my next post.....