Burdastyle Charcoal Wool and Navy Leather Winter Coat
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Charcoal Wool and navy leather 1 2011 126 Burdastyle sewing pattern winter coat

 Last Octo­ber, I made a navy cash­mere and leather coat for one of my dear­est friends. I would not call it a suc­cess. Since this first coat did not turn out as I had hoped, I sim­ply had to design a new ver­sion of the win­ter coat! The new coat was first going to be an orig­i­nal and mod­ern twist on a par­tic­u­lar vin­tage style. (I’m being vague in my descrip­tion because...

The Cascade Champagne Silk Wool and Silk Charmeuse Dress
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Silk Wool charmeuse champagne long dress crossover cascade gown Cascade Champagne Silk Wool & Silk Charmeuse Dress I really don’t know what I was thinking when I decided to enter Burdastyle’s pattern challenge and downloaded their cascade dress pattern. Not only did I think I would have time to sew the dress, but I also planned to embroider its top crossover edge.! Fortunately, I was able to bypass sleep and finish sewing the dress just before the deadline. However I was unable to finish the embroidery. At this point, I’m not sure if I will add its embroidery.. (I think I will save it for a dress I know I’ll wear more often.) I don’t particularly like this dress. There are too many details going on. And I really don’t like the ruffle on the shoulder. Perhaps I’m boring, but I feel like I’m a mermaid with a seashell on my shoulder. (I had one sister laugh and call it a croissant, while another sister called it a perogi.) If it weren’t a Burdastyle pattern challenge, I probably would have eliminated the ruffle, (with no hesitation). I recently received this really special Christmas gift from my aunt. It’s a necklace with a photo of my babcha (grandmother)on one side and photo of my dido (grandfather) on the other side. The top bodice is lined with ivory silk charmeuse. Originally the skirt was lined with ivory silk charmeuse too, but I ultimately eliminated it. The two silk layers did not fall nicely together and it created more bulk at the hip. (This was a headache considering I had to seam rip everything apart and then hand-stitch the skirt edges again!!)

I real­ly don’t know what I was think­ing when I decid­ed to enter Bur­daStyle’s pat­tern chal­lenge and down­loaded their cas­cade dress pat­tern. Not only did I think I would have time to sew the dress, but I also planned to embroi­der its top crossover edge! (Vote for your favorite dress here) For­tu­nate­ly, I was able to bypass sleep and fin­ish sewing the dress just before the dead­line. How­ev­er I was unable...

Custom Pieces for My Nieces
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burdastyle 147 09 2013 Dress Red Blue Floral Cotton Dress Girls Summer Spring button down

Here are a cou­ple dress­es I made for my niece Gigi and my (not-yet-here) niece (which I’ll call) “Kiki.”  My sis­ter snapped a few pho­tos of Gigi in the dress­es. (The dress sizes are 12mos and 6mos, so they are a bit big on Gigi.) I used Bur­dastyle’s Baby Pat­tern #147 Dress 9/2013 for the dresses. The beau­ti­ful flo­ral print dress is for Kiki. I absolute­ly love this dress! This design not only fits...

Pray for Ukraine
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Ukrainian Catholic University Benefit Chicago Ruslana Lyzhychko Maidan Anagrassia

Last Sun­day, my mom and I attend­ed a Ukrain­ian Catholic Uni­ver­si­ty fundrais­er in Chica­go, Illi­nois. After singing both the Unit­ed State’s nation­al anthem and Ukraine’s nation­al anthem before the cer­e­mo­ny, my mom shared some­thing inter­est­ing with me. She said, “When we sing the nation­al anthem in Amer­i­ca, we thank God for our free­dom, while the Ukrain­ian nation­al anthem prays for free­dom: ‘We’ll lay down our souls and bod­ies to attain...