Online Sewing Crazies…er, Enthusiasts

Just because I like to see what others are doing, I’ve been checking out a couple of sewing blogs. I haven’t looked at them before because in the past I’ve been focusing on knitting, crochet, spinning, weaving and surface design/art quilting. For some reason I thought that might be enough to occupy me! The hard part is how to limit the choices out there. Here’s a couple though, in no particular order:

http://sewintriguing.blogspot.com/ Liana doesn’t post too often. She’s currently sewing lingerie, which is something I might conceivably get into. Not so frou-frou though.

http://imadethis-asewingblog.blogspot.com/ Kathryn documents her projects really well. I hope to learn to emulate that.

http://couturearts.wordpress.com/ She’s got a little more of that personal style I admire (but can’t always wear).

http://behindtheseams.wordpress.com/ Gigi shows a lot of construction detail photos.

And of course the hilarious http://selfishseamstress.wordpress.com/  Elaine recently posted this obscure link to the sadly-defunct BurdaFashion archives! Make use of it quick before these links too go bye-bye.

There’s lots more of this type of blog of course. Too bad I don’t have time to check them all out! For listening while you work, there’s a podcast Sew Forth Now which is pretty informative with lots of interesting interviews. I unfortunately have a problem with Lori’s voice and the general sound quality. Might just be my hearing problems, but I find it seriously irritating and have to be in the right mood to listen. That said, there’s an excellent interview with Connie Crawford on this episode.

Connie has a couple of excellent sewing textbooks out and designs patterns for Butterick which are especially drafted for the older and/or fluffier body. (You unfortunately can’t really tell from the pattern envelope how good these basic patterns are! Bad Butterick.) According to her sizing I’m only a Medium in the bust but the waist and hip still send me into XL territory. Naturally I covet her books, The Guide to Fashion Sewing and Patternmaking Made Easy. They are pricey but I’m betting they are worth it. Not so much interested in her 3rd book on draping, though I’m sure it’s excellent also. I can get the first book through Amazon Canada (a new 5th printing is due shortly and I have it on pre-order) but not the second one which I have just ordered through her directly. A total of US$200+ is a lot but you’d probably justify spending that much on a 3-day workshop, wouldn’t you? This is a whole college course and luckily for me, I learn well from books especially ones with so many illustrations.