Sharon Sews

Sew It All Volume 8 will be on newsstands June 17. Inside you'll find dozens of projects to sew - including three of mine.  I haven't seen a copy of the magazine yet, but the editors sent me the images of my projects so I could share them with you.  I really like how they styled the garments for the photo shoots. My favorite project is these wide-legged, silk, border-print pants.  You'll find the instructions for the "What a Waist" pants in the magazine and can download the pants pattern from the Sew It All website . Next is a striped skirt sewn with alternating bands of solid and print cotton fabric.  You won't even need a pattern for this one.  Complete instructions for the "Show Your Stripes" skirt are in the magazine.  The third project is a t-shirt refashion. It will fit you perfectly as you start with two t-shirts in your size.  The magazine instructions will tell you where to cut the shirts apart and how to sew them into this ruffl...

Remember the bound buttonhole I mentioned in my last post ?   Well, my project for this week's challenge at The Sew Weekly has been posted so I can now share it with you! Just look at that lovely bound buttonhole!  It belongs to my new 60s era velvet capelet.  She's named "frankly my dear, I don't give a ..." in honor of Scarlett O’Hara’s curtain dress . Um, Sharon? You do know this isn't a dress, right? And that it's not green? Yes, yes, I know.  But, it IS cotton velvet and it DID begin  life as a bedroom curtain.  Pretty resourceful, huh?  Just like good ole' Scarlett. The idea came to me when I was hemming a new pair of bedroom curtains.  After seven years I decided it was time for a bedroom redo that involved more than just painting the walls.  As I tossed the old cotton velvet curtains in the washer to prepare them for the donation bin I took a hard look at them and realized there was a lot of usable fabric there!...

Near the beginning of the summer season, I saw an adorable menswear top at Anthropologie. It was a simple strapless cami with an elastic waist and ruffled edge. When I saw the price of the top (originally $68, now marked down to $29.95) I immediately thought that a similar strapless cami inspired by the design could easily---and more economically---be sewn using a men's dress shirt. So here you go. A super quick tutorial on how to refashion a men's shirt into a cami. One man's dress shirt + elastic + bias tape + thread + a few hours = ruffled strapless cami. Begin with a men's button front, long sleeve dress shirt. Best to choose a size L or larger. Lay the shirt on a flat cutting surface. Draw a horizontal line from underarm to underarm. Cut the shirt along the line you just drew. If your shirt had a breast pocket, carefully remove the remainder of the pocket. Don't worry if a bit of the stitching lines still show as it will be covered by the...