Sew U: The Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe

As one that has never been schooled in fashion, I’ve been an avid fan of how-to books that teach you how to sew. I’ve amassed quite a collection of books about sewing and patterns in general, and I simply had to get a copy of Sew U by Wendy Mullins and Eviana Hartman when it came out in September 2006.

The book is an elegantly spiral bound book that lies flat – easy to refer to and work with at the same time. The back holds three full Simplicity patterns printed on brown tissue paper, which unfortunately, I found a little flimsy. There is a work-around this though, and I find myself copying my size onto other paper, as I would need to refer to it often and didn’t want to risk tearing the originals. The pattern offers sizes from 0-12, and XS-L, so if you’re looking for a pattern for larger sizes, you might be a little disappointed.

Wendy, who is the founder of Built By Wendy, an independent womens and menswear designer based in NYC, aims to take the fear out of sewing a complete outfit for beginners, and starts off with introducing the machine, preparing your workspace and getting to know the tools of the trade. Her tone is short and clear, making it a no-frills book that’s easy on the eyes. The book progresses through making a skirt (beginner), a shirt (intermediate) and pants (advanced).

Her instructions are broken into clear points, with lovely illustrations showing every step of the way, which I really appreciate. The book is priceless for the basics alone, a lot of which are covered in the first few chapters. The patterns are simple, but the strength of the book lies in Wendy’s no nonsense lessons that are suitable for all levels of sewing.

The book is not entirely crafty, as the projects featured are limited. But for beginners who are looking to sew an outfit and are boggled or just mystified about how it should go, the book is a godsend. The most important thing to me is that she offers lots of other ideas to jazz up your creation, and inspires by encouraging others to try and build upon her basic patterns. With this in mind, how far you can go (or sew, for that matter) is entirely up to you!

Magpie & cake - love this blog - always super great links to fun things. Some of my latest fave posts include a link to crochet spaghetti and knitted New York.

Emily sent in a link to a story on penguin jumpers.

Jumpers are being knitted especially for the Australian fairy penguin population. The clothing is used when the birds have been exposed to an oil spill, absorbing the oil off their feathers and keeping the animals warm in the meantime.

If you’re a keen knitter, you can make a penguin jumper to add to the emergency stores. Here are knitting instructions from the Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs Harbour, who are gathering jumpers for the cause. There is a pattern and more info here.

[The news story is 2 years old but this is an ongoing issue.] (edited to add: please read the readers comments for the latest on this)

A Whiptips post from Reese Dixon about her log cabin quilt that looked like a swastika once pieced, was a reminder of the importance of testing a pattern BEFORE you cut out all of the pieces. I know, I know, I know. You finally have fabric you like and a pattern you can’t wait to make so you’re dying to get going and you just want to cut it all up and sew it together. Resist the urge. Test it first.

Some people advocate using graph paper and colored pencils to test how a design will look. I think it’s a lot more practical, especially if you are using patterned fabric, to use a digital camera, a color copier or scanner. Here’s what you do: Cut up just enough fabric for one block or a small section of the quilt. Using a digital camera, color copier or scanner, print out several versions of the block and arrange them as you intend to in the quilt. You might also find that you want to adjust the scale of the block or its arrangement. This is the time to make those adjustments. Follow the Ten-Foot Rule looking at it from ten feet away to see how the colors work and if any awkward patterns (such as swastikas) are forming. This may seem like a time-consuming step but what it takes in time it saves in heartbreak.

Here’s the final quilt as it appeared in American Patchwork & Quilting in June 2006.

Yesterday I found a bunch of mislaid photos, cut outs and brochures from Sweden. It was wonderful to find it all again – it made me relive the highlights of some hot and inspiring summer holidays at Öland a couple of years ago where one of the absolute top peaks was a visit at VIDA - the modern Museum of the island housing a permanent exhibition of works made by the glass artists Bertil Vallien and Ulrica Hydman-Vallien. Especially his metres-long, sand-cast ship forms totally took my breath away. Looking deep into these sealed boats of massive glass is like having a glimpse of eternity or the very existence of mankind.

The Valliens have been married for more than forty years – and have been glass makers a little bit longer. The couple lives out a dual role as both industrial designers and free artists.

They happen to have a big exhibition HE and SHE right now Marts 30 – July 8 at Rockford Art Museum in Illinois. Go and see it - and get youself an extended view on what can be expressed in glass…

Fun fresh artist whose work is inspired by music and fashion.

My name is Dallas shaw, currently my work is in the Art Fusion gallery in the Miami Design District - but if you are a design blog fan you may have caught it last week at designsponge, poppy and bloesom! This month my work is featured on nest and prettydarnswell and part of the proceeds from those prints go to charity.

Smaller than an ATC and with wonderful wearable possibilities, fabric charms are worth exploring. The photo above is from this blog and if you look at this photoset from Ruth Rae you can see the charms in detail. Her work is due to be featured in the May/June issue of ClothPaperScissors.

You’ll find a tutorial here from Sue Bleiweiss and the results of an Australian swap here.

Participants in the Just Simply Charming swap show their work and some processes here.

The World of Flowers in Wool, written by Lily Simons, published by Sterling.

Before seeing this book I never would have thought of making flowers from wool as such an amazing art. I had of course seen simple shaped flowers like this at knitty before. But never the intricate life like wild flowers from around the world that are in this book. Learn to make Geraniums with closed and open buds, bright red with green leaves, get a life like stamen and petal. Or what about a Waratah, a gorgeous Australian native flower, or what about a fern or African Violet, water lily or forget-me-not.

The instructions include a picture of the final woolly flower and a few sketches of how to get there as well as instructions on how to make the separate parts and attach it all together. The instructions are perhaps a bit sketchy, I certainly could use a bit more detail. But once you have have the basics I imagine that doing all the variations would easier.

The design of the book is really simple and elegant. A double page spread for each flower with a section at the beginning explaining the techniques and basics, such as making leaves, learning the various knots and casting on methods as well as the tools which basically include a stick and some wool! (The stick is a whittled stick which has a notch in the end). There is also a brief section on flower terminology, a bit sketchy, I know its not a natural history book, however I would have appreciated a bit of information (history, location etc) about each flower on the flowers page.

I was pretty skeptical about the concept of this book at first, however after going through it numerous times, I have fallen in love with some of these flowers and an urge to get the wool out and make some woolly flowers is coming. I particularly love Australian wild flowers of course so the Waratah and the Gum tree are especially calling me. But I also really like some of the other unusual types like the blood-twig dogwood, cat-tail and salt cedar. You can probably tell that I love this book - its a bit of a surprise winner for me.

Pink chalk studio - free-form log cabin style blocks utilizing wavy seams piecing.

Ana Ventura wrote a post about Teresa Cunha and her gorgeous embroidered slippers.

Ana Ventura escribió un post sobre Teresa Cunha y sus preciosas zapatillas boradas.

Whiptips craft advice column for readers to ask questions or offer advice by leaving comments. Whiptips archive here. Questions to whiptips@gmail.com.

Devina is looking for 2 patterns. (1) a skirt made from men’s neckties and (2) a skirt made from a pair of pants/jeans.

Thanks!!

Jessica wrote in introduce her blog, “How about orange…” which features inspirational design and craft projects, free downloads, decorating tips, and some nice photography. She has a a tutorial for making decorative fabric-covered thumb tacks for gifts, or to brighten up your cork board.

bitter betty has done it again with a cute tutorial on a decoupaged Embroidery Hoop

sew mad has written up a tutorial on how to draft a pattern for a simple skirt.

Biz Box - A group blog written by small business owners for small business owners - contributers include our very own Susan. Susan recently wrote about Diversity as Capital

The following quote is the beginning and the end of the article - you will have to read it all to see how susan manages the challenges of a running a small business.

Capital is more than money. Capital is also ideas, creativity, and people. … Raising capital can mean raising awareness for the dormant creative resources, nurturing of relationships with mutual benefits, investigate synergies and making the most of any diversity that you can champion. Discover the hidden treasures in your company, your organization and in yourself – it’s the creative capital you can’t buy.

<

Sew what! Skirts. 16 simple styles you can make with fabulous fabrics, by Francesca Denhartog and Carole Ann Camp. Published by Storey publishing. distributed in Australia through Capricorn Link.

Do you really want to make your own clothes? Do you have a fear of zippers or always wanted to know how to draft your own patterns? Then I recommend this book for you. I love to make my own clothes, not like my grandmother however who would spend weeks making tailored jackets or fitted blouses or lacy evening wear (she even made her own underwear!). My style of sewing is more like if it can be finished in a day then I will do it - if not then the chances of it getting finished - ever - are really diminished. So sewing simple skirts has always been a bit of a fad of mine. And while I know how to draft my own patterns using old favourites, and I while am not adverse to a zipper or two I certainly could use a few tips and tricks to make the process easier.

For all of those reasons and others I really enjoyed this book, and I know it will be a useful edition to my craft library. This book takes the mystery out of waistbands, splits, darts and pleats.

All the patterns are based on a couple of basic skirt designs, the A-line, the half-circle and the tiered skirt. As I am a totally a visual person - the choice of fabrics used in the styles really make a difference for me, and taking that and the simplicity and design of the skirt into consideration, my favourite patterns that I am definitely going to try include the breezy wrap skirt based on the a-line, the front pleated skirt in Asian inspired fabric, and the tourist tablecloth a-line skirt. There are no patterns as such in the book, rather recipes for making your own pattern to fit you. If this seems a little daunting, don’t worry it really explained very well with good illustrations and directions.

For the most part the design of this book is great - really eye-catching with a practical spiral binding to allow it to lay flat where you need it while sewing. Its slightly retro styling is funky, there is a bit of incongruity, I thought, with the choices of fabrics for some of the skirts. The books seems to be aimed at the young - young-ish, urban chic, but some of the patterns were a little country and others a little old fashioned and seemed out of step with the rest of the book.

crafting chaos has a tutorial on making a needle case using that plastic canvas.

This months whiplash theme is ‘cozies’, any sort of cozies you can think of - and you have until the end of the month to make and upload your project.

I have gathered some inspiration and help from around the web to get you started and get you motivated.

Image: cake tea pot cosy by Donna Wilson

have some fun and try your own character cosies

Image: Key cosy by moonstitches and glass cosy by twelve22.

small and quick cosies such as this pot holder cosy and coffee pot cosy :: adorable ipod cosy and keys cosy :: teacup cosy and coffee cup cosy (both previous whiplash entries) :: lovely chai cup cosy :: sunglasses :: adorable eggcup cosies :: beautiful hot water bottle cosy :: beer bottle cosy :: mug cosy by linda bloomfield :: water bottle cosy with handle ::

Image: eggcup cosy by Lorraine Linton and knitting needle cosy at lizards in the leaves.

bigger but still practical cosies such as this felted ottoman cosy ::

cosies for your bodies bits like the penis cosy (uhmm yeah…) :: very cute nose cosy :: neck cosy ::

image :: tampon cosy by Sherri Wood 1999

conceptual cosies :: bathroom cozy :: grenade cosies :: knitted house :: tampon cosy :: car cozy and motorbike cozy :: vibrator cozy! :: computer cosy ::

pineapple teapot cosy by Yarnstorm

You might also like to check back at whipup to some of the wonderful things we have posted about in the past :: felted bottle cosy from whiplash gifts and decorations :: get the book ‘by hand’ and find out about Robyn Love, who makes knitted memorial cozies, for statues for grave stones and sign posts. :: knitted graffiti cozies for public spaces by knitta please :: sewing machine cozies :: cozy for your head (thats right a beanie) :: bella dia’s bottle cozy :: who could forget the ipod squid cosy :: and the knitted tank cozy :: baby bottle cozy from the very first whiplash :: the knitted house - a cozy for everything ::

I am talking about tea cozies, ipod cozies, water bottle and coffee cup cozies. A cozy for anything or everything in any medium you can think of. You can choose to show your finished project or make tutorial and show us how you did it. Either way good clear photos are a must. To find out how to enter check out the whiplash competition page - link in the sidebar.