New Militia Denim Jacket: Completed

Sometimes, things take me far longer than I actually wanted them to. Case in point: This jacket.

I designed a 5-jacket collection in 2008 with the intent to sell them on Etsy. They were awesome. Needless to say, I bit off more than I could chew at that point and although I made all 5 jacket patterns, I only ended up making 3 (out of 5!).

They weren't hard to make or confusing, I guess I just got quite intimidated.

Looking back, they all should probably have lining with the exception of this baby who has regular jacket facings. I'm kind of in love with this denim one I deemed "New Militia". Obviously, it's a military-based style with a mod/retro spin.

I initially went up to my sewing room to work on the sewing patterns for the Tower Midi but was too spent from my day job to even think that day. So I looked at this jacket, decided to see if my buttonholer wanted to work that day. It did!

The little chest pocket things are mainly for decoration, but you might be able to (sort of) fit your hand in them. They're just in an odd spot.

Back view.

I actually used green thread on this one. Oh no! You can still see some chalk marks near the buttons! Dummy me.

So in the closet this one sat for about 5 years. It was completed with the exception of buttonholes and buttons sewn. Why did it sit for so long? I have no idea. But there was a period of my life where I quit fashion design because I didn't think I was any good at all (no, seriously!).

I almost wanted to keep this one for myself, but she's looking for a new home! I'm posting her up on the Etsy store tonight or tomorrow. She's finally ready to see the world! Stop by the Etsy page - $50, plus shipping.

She can be all yours! So hard to let it go!

Latch Hook Rug Update

A little under a month ago I received all of my supplies to take on one of the biggest long-term projects I have ever taken on - a self-designed latch hook rug. I don't know why, but I am clearly nuts. So beginning today I am posting photos each month, (preferably on the 1st of each month) progress of this gigantic shag rug. See how I started it here (scroll down past posting of my $10 dress). This is a photo of it today: Yes, I used the candelabra for scale. Haha. This rug is really soft and is fun to run your fingers through. It doesn't look like much was accomplished, but though the number of packages we have gone through of pre-cut latch hook rug yarn already I have calculated that we've used over 2500 strands for this ie.) 8 packages. I also just ordered 10 more packages of lime green since that's what I ran out of first and 6 more packages of straw yellow. There is still quite a bit to go, but you see the blue row squares? Each of th

DIY Trapeze Dress

I'm a pretty big fan of tent dresses (or trapeze dresses - call it what you want). They're simple, easy-to-make and you can have many variations of them. These are a fun style to wear for spring and summer! See this DIY from a Good Housekeeping Crafts book from 1971 - photos at the end of my own trapeze top from a while ago! (Bear with me on the photos here - this book is quite cumbersome and hard to scan.) Applique patterns, in case you wanted the dress to look EXACTLY like the photo. (But why?) How to cut the fabric efficiently. (This is actually pretty important cost-wise for you - especially with something this big.) Using pattern instructions from my patternmaking book from college, I created this swingy trapeze top a bit ago. I used sweater fabric from a thrift store find for the collar of this top. I also opened up the back on the pattern to have a diamond shape. It can easily be belted like in this photo fo

How Print on Demand Sites Helped Me! And Pros and Cons

I don't know about you, but I don't always have a ton of time. Well, ok -- maybe that was before the pandemic hit. But one of the things I have learned over time being a designer of sorts and loving fashion design was that it seemed I never had enough time to do/make everything I wanted to have available within a product line to sell. Especially not when I was working a full-time job either! Bags! Shoes! And yeah, duh -- clothing! It seemed most of my friends who are designers made all of their own items from scratch on their machines and I just didn't want to sit at my machine after working 40+ hours a week. Maybe for myself only but not as a side hustle. But I always had requests from people - "Can you make me something? I want something designed by you!" I really appreciated the sentiment, but often times it was just as confusing/hard for me as it was for them. I would sit there and go "How should I adjust this for them? Am I even gonna find that fabri

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