Josephine Sews

My word for me today - "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34)." I have a bunch of "not quite scrap" fabric.  This is fabric that I have leftover from some other project that is not big enough to make something with by itself but it is too big to consider scraps that I can toss in the trash. I have wanted to make a pencil skirt for forever (when I was thin and could wear it well).  I finally got around to doing it a of days ago and finally bought a mirror so I can take pictures.  I will admit there seems to be an art and science to taking selfies that I have not mastered. I wanted to find a pattern the would allow me to use up all these "not quite scrap" fabric pieces.  I don't remember how I landed on this site but I found it and thought this would be perfect for allowing to use this fabric. I downloaded this free pencil skirt pattern from  On The Cutt...

My scripture for me this day - Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (I Thessalonians 5:16 -18).  I don't understand Lord but I thank you in spite of my circumstances. So 4 days ago I decided I needed to reorganize my fabric stash to see what I had.  Seeing all that fabric was so overwhelming that I didn't want to deal with reorganizing it.  I am happy to say it finally is done. My garment fabric is now sorted by color.  I kept finding bags of fabric and so I don't have enough space to store all my fabric in the bookcase which means I need to sew like a mad person to reduce my stash. I am really glad I did this.  I had completely forgotten all the beautiful pieces I have collected over the years. See my reorganized stash. Bookcase of Fabric Overflow Fabric

Sometimes when the Lord is working in my life and I get confused and just don't understand.  During these times I have to stand on the truth of His word.  This week I have been reminded of Jeremiah 29:11 which says "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to. give you hope and a future.".  I am thankful that the Lord knows what he is doing! I have been "hiding" in my sewing room and it has been absolutely wonderful - until yesterday.  I will not relive the trauma (see yesterday's post). I had decided earlier this month to not buy anymore fabric or patterns - to just use my stash.  I have failed already.  All the new fabrics and patterns got to me and besides I needed a "pick me up" to recover from yesterday's epic sewing failure. It started so innocently.  I wanted to wear this jacket I made and needed something to wear with it.  I found a free skirt pattern online and though...

I have been on a roll and sewing quite frequently and am well ahead of my monthly sewing goal.  I am trying really hard not to buy any more fabric or patterns until I have significantly reduced my current stash of fabric and have use the patterns that I bought years ago and have yet to touch them. Yesterday I reviewed my fabric stash to find fabric to make McCall's 6750 view B and found a wine color rayon something with a bit of crosswise stretch. How I Did It (or in this case how I messed up) Notice the pattern says "EASY"?  Leave it to me to take something so simple and mess it up so badly.  The easier question to answer on this one is what went right.   The only thing I got right was the collar and the buttonholes but I don't count buttonholes.. This pattern for me was straight from the bowels of hell.  I wasted a day on a top that was supposed to take only 3 HOURS. My first sign of trouble was when I had to adjust the back length and it also a...

I am so excited I am ahead of my sewing goal of one clothing item for myself a month.  Today completes March's goal.  While I am motivated and have the time I am trying to complete as many monthly goals as I can. Since I had already altered Vogue 7762 I decided to take advantage of that and make another dress.  I will probably make one more after this one before I put the pattern pieces back in the envelope.  I decided to make view B this time (the one on the right). How I Did It I made view C last week and love the sleeves but since I was making virtually the same dress I wanted it to look different.  This time I used the regular long sleeve but decided to remove all but 1/4 inch from the hem allowance and do a "lettuce" edge rather than a traditional hem.  As before I shortened the sleeve 3 inches.  I did the same thing for the hem - "lettuce" edge.  Also as before I shortened the length by 3 inches and the back length by 1/2 inch. ...

I love playing with sweatshirts - they are cheap and a lot of fun to "decorate".  Sweatshirts are so versatile and you can do just about anything to them.  When you want to sew and don't have a lot of time or don't want to spend a lot of time sewing you can start with a sweatshirt. I am coffee lover and have a friend that is a coffee lover also so I had her in mind when I started this sweatshirt - I was going to surprise her with this quick and fun gift,  Did you notice the "I was".  I decided I couldn't part with this one after I made it.  Oh well I will make her another. How I Did It I started with a basic $6 or $7 sweatshirt that looked similar to this one (I forgot to take pictures of the hot pink sweatshirt before I started altering it).  The white streaks you see on the sweatshirt are the sunlight shining through the window. The embroidery design I used is from Urban Threads Coffee Break Design Pack .  This is the first time I...

Life thru me a curve ball this week as it sometimes does.  When life throws a curve ball I have to run to my hiding place - the word of God and prayer.  Sometimes reading the word of God and prayer can be a struggle when you are confused, discouraged, and lose your focus.  During these times I have to bombard my mind with the word of God thru music and run to my secondary hiding place - sewing. I am currently ahead of my one of my sewing goals.  I am working on February's sewing goal of making at least one clothing item for myself.  I went thru all of my patterns, sorted them, and then selected the ones I would sew for this year. It is so hard not to buy new patterns and fabric but I am determined to use my current stash of patterns and fabrics.  For February I have selected Vogue 7762.  I bought this pattern years ago when I was much slimmer but am hoping it will still be flattering on me.  How I Did It As usual I have to make adj...

Ok I cheated a little bit.  I started this pattern months ago and decided to finish it for January's sewing goal - make one clothing item for me.  I wanted to encourage myself early. This is the second dress I made from this pattern so I won't reveiw it in detail here since I did a review for the first one in September 2015 ( review of first dress ). How I Did It I did not have the same struggles with the first one of course and there were no design features (collar opening is on the correct side this time).  The only thing I did different on this one was add triple stitch top stitch to back seam and around the waist using Sulky 30wt Blendable thread.  After I did the top stitching around the waist I realized no one will see it because I will be wearing the belt - oh well. What drew me to this pattern was the collar. With the first dress I wasn't sure that it look so good on me but when I wore it to church I got a lot of compliments. The belt is ...