The Shy Gardener

From first glace, I loved my friend's homemade tote bag. Her fabric choices were subtle yet playful and the bag was a great size to use as a purse, project bag or for ANYTHING. I love bags and was really drawn to this one. Often sewn with bright, fun fabrics, but with the option to tailor them to any mood or personality, I was totally tempted by the Bucket Basket Tote. Using the pattern by Very Shannon, my friend, Jeanne, has sewn many wonderful totes. She now has an Etsy sho

I found a pattern for a Sweet Seasons purse in Simply Stitched with Applique by Yumiko Higuchi and a Poppy Garden Embroidery pattern at Purl Soho. Inspiration struck when I realized I could combine the two and make a poppy pattern purse. First I by cut out two purse panels from natural colored linen. I covered the edges with masking tape so the linen would not unravel while I did the applique and embroidery. The Poppy Garden pattern was meant to be a larger wall hanging so I

Reverse-Applique Study in Gray My latest in a series of reverse-applique projects is a river stone shirt design. I was intrigued to work with a range of grays in this simple color palette. I love smooth stones and the fabric patterns reminded me of them. For the design, I drew a group of stones over-lapping one another. I was curious about the challenge of working with multiple layers in the reverse-applique style. I also planned to wrap the design around the shirt from front

Making my first wrap skirt was exciting experience. I learned to make binding, machine sewed my first button hole, customized the pattern and practiced hemming. I used a pattern from my favorite Improv Sewing book and modified the binding at the waist into longer wrap around ties. For this project I used a lovely light green jersey fabric with a delicate pattern. I cut out three identical panels adding an inch to the bottoms for hemming. In the future I will also add 3/4 inc

I added a custom reverse-applique design to an off the rack shirt, to create a one of a kind piece. The idea began with two green shirts I picked up on sale which, in turn, inspired the fern motif. After completing my design, I practiced the embroidery stitches which were new to me. Then I took a piece of the under fabric for the reverse-applique and ironed on fabric stabilizer to give it more weight. Transferring my design to the front of the shirt, using chalk tracing paper

Making a Watercolor Linen Wrap Using the unique Watercolor Linen from Purl Soho and their pattern for the Watercolor Linen Wrap, I completed this simple sewing project that produced an elegant result. I began with one yard of the linen in the shade Wisteria Stem. This fabric is special because it uses one color as the warp and another as the weft giving it subtlety, depth and beauty. First I trimmed one raw edge of the fabric along the grain line. From this straight edge I cu

Making a Reverse-Applique Skirt I have been wanting to try reverse-applique for awhile. My inspiration comes from a great book, Improv Sewing, that helped me overcome my fear of making clothing. I picked the reverse-applique skirt from their projects but created my own floral design. I selected a grey jersey for the body of the skirt and paired it with a lupine flower. The bloom gradually changes color from light to dark blue in the ombre style. After deciding on the position