Category: sewing

I Made Furniture From Fabric Scraps

Do you ever look at an item you want to buy and think, how hard can that be to make? Well, that’s exactly how we got here.

Floor Culture

I’ve been moving my sewing room around, I took down my sewing table and moved to the floor. Which I know sounds extreme, but seriously, sitting on the floor is underated. My back and hips don’t get tight and my posture is improving. In the West, I think we have been foolish to move away from sitting on the floor and should acknowledge how wise other cultures are to sit on the floor for health and posture.

I have a wicker chair that is good for sitting in when I want a break from the floor, but what I was missing was an in between piece of furniture that I could move depending on my needs. I settled on a floor cushion that could be used as a seat, a workspace, folded up in a cushion or rolled into the corner for yoga to add more stretch breaks to my life.

Quick Fix

But here’s the catch, I decided I needed this piece of furniture on a whim and that’s what I am trying to remove from my purchasing decisions – less impulse purchases. I want to become less of a consumer and use what I have, so I thought could I make what I want? Similar cushions for sale online were 100-400 USD and with the tarriffs looming, I was feeling a bit nervous to buy something.

But then I remembered my Mom made a pouf, she knit the cover. I’d watched Morgan Donner make things from her scrap and fashion a mattress from braided fabric. I had also begun saving my fabric scraps and sorting them into bags that were taking over my crafting closet. I just had to settle on the cover fabric and design.

Design and Materials

A large rectangle seemed like the ticket with corners I could sew crisply and easily stuff at the end. There was this one extra wide cut of fabric I bought from Joann’s last summer which caught my eye. It’s a fabric I bought because I enjoyed the design but didn’t want to wear it. It looks a bit like denim and had a lovely swirl pattern that I thought, would compliment the lavender paint of the room. With the fabric sorted, it was time to tackle the pattern and stuffing!

I measured the fabric into two large rectangles and four slimmer sections to form the sides. These I sewed inside out to leave only one end open to stuff. I sewed this by hand over the course of a day, I’d say in total the sewing portion of this project was the easiest part. What lay ahead next was tricky, blister inducing  and stressful.

Stuffing and Scraps

I had bags upon bags of scrap fabric in varying sized pieces ready to be repurposed into stuffing, but the thing with fabric cabbage is that it’s not uniform. Which means there will be a lot of cuts to make. This I foolishly chose to do with my old fabric scissors, instead of using my rotary cutter and mat. I wish I had. The repetitive cutting motion wore a blister on my thumb and aggrevated an old injury on my finger joint.

My hands were tired, weak, and wrecked by the end of day one. Worse the cushion was 1/3 full. Not what I was expecting! How could it take that much stuffing?! With my bags of fabric scraps depleted, I moved on to new sources of cushion comfort. Such as yarn that I was given secondhand, which I had no creative plan for. This yarn was a super bulky, acrylic yarn, about 300 yards left, and perfectly fluffy for stuffing. I cut this into pieces and carried on auditing my stash.

I repurposed some old clotbes into stuffing, a blanket Mia’s little bunny chompers had chewed into swiss cheese, and more leftover yarn floating around my sewing room. Yet, I still lacked the floof I was after so I broke down and browsed the interweb. I knew polyfill was an option, but it’s also polyester and the point of this was to repurpose and use up things, not go to Walmart for polyfill, which happened to stretch very little. When I made a bolster pillow for our couch out of an old sheet, I went through 5+ bags of it. Whuch made me wonder, are there alternatives to polyfill on the market? There are! I found a small business, selling cotton filling that shipped. This got me to comfortable fluff, I still need a bit more but I’m going to revisit it later.

Voila! A piece of furniture made (mostly) from what I had in my house that used up some trash in the process. I am pleased. 😁

Structure and Flow: Sewing in Two Minds

Like I said in my 2025 So Far Has Been a Creative Slump, I am sharing the projects I’ve hidden away in my closet and the photos buried in my gallery. It’s time to catch up on this blog on what I’ve been sewing, because it’s been a journey of new discoveries.

Go With the Flow

In 2022, Kyle gave me a unique birthday present. He curated a mystery box of fabric for me to do my own “Project Runway” challenge – one of those fabrics was this sheer wheat colored criss-cross fabric. It has lived in my stash ever since. It was a fabric that scared me but intrigued me. It’s a stretch mesh burnout pattern, and for over a year, I was baffled at how to sew it without destroying it.

Even so, after I sewed it into a garment, how would I apply it? Would it be a garment that would be sewn layered on top of an opaque fabric? What would that look like? Should I use a high contrast fabric or something similar in tone? It stumped me. I lived with it a bit more in my stash, and it came with me through the move and into the fall once more. In 2024, after two years, I had an idea – sheer layering. A garment I could wear under or over other pieces to add dimension and disguise the oatmeal color that I was concerned would wash me out.

My decision was to make a shirt. I thought making it a “basic” would provide the most opportunity to style it in my wardrobe. I sewed the delicate fabric with my machine very slowly. I relaxed the tension of the thread and progressed delicately, ready to hand-sew at any moment of panic. It was not terrifying; it was possible.

Structure of a Bodice – Armor

Many years ago, back in 2021 (four years ago, what?!) I crafted a structured dress, based on Lizzie Bennet’s dress, when Charlotte Lucas announces her marriage to Mr. Collins. It was a vest and a skirt, with buttons and a collar. It was ambitious but rubbish, yet a project I can’t stop thinking about how I could have made it better.

Enter this fabric and this bodice shape. It looks like an armor piece made of vintage ditzy flower fabric, lined with muslin. I wanted to reclaim what I learned in 2021, but try again in 2025, since the failure of my early projects made me shrink back to “easy” projects. I’ve made things that have challenged me a little bit, but not a true experiment. Constant growth is painful. Think of your body after consistent workouts, you’re going to hurt. It’s part of the process of getting stronger, and it feels at times like a negative experience. That feeling ground me down. I was tired of the learning experiences that felt more like loss and waste than an expression of crafting and artistry. It’s human, it’s passion, how can we not want the fruit of our labor to produce something good?

I made this dress slowly, over several weeks, while working on other projects, while being sick. It was a slow, steady, careful process to make a dress that would bring me joy from the creation and the wearing. The other thing I had to wrestle with, in this project, was shaking off the demons of my Lizzie Bennet dress. It was a dress I felt pretty in, but that I took a lot of crap for my appearance when I wore it out. It was structured, fitted, and flowy. The waist was not perfectly matched to the small of my waist, due to my lack of tailoring knowledge. This dress prompted a stranger to ask me when I was due, and then doubled down that I looked pregnant. I wasn’t pregnant, so to her, I looked fat. Thanks lady.

It was rude and such a breach of boundaries. Don’t ask random strangers if they are pregnant; wait for them to clearly tell you. It feels like a slap in the face for so many toxic culture reasons, the main one is the unwanted comment on your body with the double standard of “pregnancy being the most beautiful,” but don’t look pregnant, aka don’t be fat, because the zeitgeist is fat-phobic. I got rid of the dress and don’t have any photos saved of the dress; that’s how much this experience ruined the dress for me. I lacked the confidence to brush it off. I didn’t understand my body’s proportions and lines, therefore, I blamed my body and myself for the dress not working, instead of my tailoring skills being the problem.

2025 Style – Layering and Reclaiming

I chose to confront this feminine dress style once again. I knew it would clash with the natural lines of my body. I don’t have an hourglass body shape, which this fit and flare dress calls for. I’ve been scared to wear it, but I am challenging myself to try. I layered the sheer shirt I made in 2024 with this dress and a belt to create balance. It’s going to take time to get comfortable, for sure.

The dress not only has this flowy skirt, but it is fully lined, and the front gathering has been tracked down with stitches to reduce waist bulk. I also added eyelets and lacing at the back of the garment to define the waist, Lastly, I added a belt to my waist, which I don’t enjoy wearing, but the effect of pulling the eye to the waist should reduce unwanted comments, I hope. I like the contrast of these garments together. They have flow and structure. Together they create a complete thought, and in my opinion, look like designs with a point of view, which is what I am aiming for in my designs 2025.

Potato Technology’s 2024 Autumn Winter Collection

This collection was about upcycling, trying new techniques, and making things that expressed what I like wearing based on previous designs I have made, but with a twist. The items I designed were 75% sourced from existing materials. They were upcycled from items in my closet, hand-me-downs from my mom or grandparents. They were made from destashed yarn I acquired or fabric that had been in my stash for a long time. I focused more on creating with natural materials like wool, linen and as always, I love cotton.

Vests were made from pillow cases and flannels. I re-worked a sweater from the existing sweater and leftover yarn. I dyed denim, deconstructed denim, and made some interesting new shorts and skirts. I combined leftover flannel from Christmas stockings to create a plaid and denim kilt. I used the cut-off sleeves of flannels from my vest projects to create a skirt from four flannel sleeves. I dove deeper into the world of trousers with two new patterns – a floral and railroad stripe. With each pair, I experimented with fastenings and pockets. I constructed my first “Mr. Darcy” shirt from teal linen using Bernadette Banner’s instructions for the body. I put my own spin on the collar, choosing a wider collar similar to a sailor collar that is popular in anime and J-fashion.

This was the first season I experimented with colorwork in knitting. I made a knit star motif hat from yarn that was leftover from my Magic of Scrap Yarn Cardigan. I made leg warmers, a squirrel motif mitten, and a melange of acrylic and wool to create this ear flap hat that reminds me of medieval European helmets. Although this season of creation was chaotic, I’m not sure if I even included all the projects I worked on, it was a time of great learning. It taught me that fashion design is more than taking raw material and cutting it into a new form.

Great design utilizes new and old. Fashion is about reusing, not wasting, and making things beautiful with careful craftsmanship. It does not mean it needs to be expensive, or need to be made by a great master couturier, it just needs to serve a purpose. We have lost sight of the purpose of fashion, but these projects of upcycling have reminded me that fashion is more than shopping, it is more than consumption, it is about the materials, the vision, the function.

Crafting in 2025

To and fro my footsteps roam, upon the miles of white, fluorescent aisle – vast, void, verigated, vexing wanderings. Where to next? Weaving textiles. Fiber miles spin, spun into nothingness. A paywall of digital footprint. Add to cart.

My Three Favorite Sewing Tools

What are three objects you couldn’t live without?

I’m modifying this prompt slightly to focus on one aspect of my life – sewing. These are the three tools I can’t imagine working without. After four to five years of sewing clothes and trying out various tools and techniques, these are the cream of the crop for me. This is my just opinion. Depending on your sewing style and personality, this list would probably change. I’m sure if I was a sewist who went to design school, I would also have a different list.

Fabric Clips –

When I started sewing, I had no idea fabric clips were an option. I bought a Dritz tin of straight pins and a pin cushion. This is where things began to get uncomfortable. No matter how careful I am when I use pins, I stick myself. When I use pins for a fitting, the pins slip out of the fabric and scratch my skin. I find the pin tins spill easily which is terrifying if you don’t notice it because you are then surrounded by pins in a spill around your feet. When I found fabric clips, my sewing experience improved 180 degrees. I don’t get stuck and the clips stay in place. I can try things on my body and the dress form, without the discomfort of pins sticking or the annoyance of the pins slipping out of place.

Sashiko Adjustable Ring Thimble –

I’ve tried two kinds of thimbles. The first was the cylindrical metal thimble, which I found hard to use. It fell off my finger or I simply struggled to find the correct finger to place it on for my sewing. I tried another metal thimble that looks like a fencing mask, with an adjustable back. It stayed on my finger just fine. I could make it tighter or looser or move it to a different finger but it still felt odd. I noticed the thimble wasn’t providing the support I needed to push the needle through the tough fabric and in turn, was putting stress on my finger joints.

I was introduced to the Sashiko-style ring plate thimble through the account Geri In Stitches and was hooked. The idea of pushing the needle through dense layers by the palm of your hand instead of your fingertip made more logical sense. This has transformed my hand-sewing experience! I can sew longer without hand fatigue. The ring is comfortable. I hardly notice I’m wearing it until I’ve walked into another room with the thimble still in my hand. This is a Japanese thimble, for the sashiko technique, I am using it for general sewing, but the thimble and sashiko have a rich history of their own that you should check out.

Hand Sewing Needles –

I started my sewing journey by hand sewing before I purchased a Singer Heavy Duty Sewing Machine in 2022. It was my preferred method until my hands started showing stress and my mind was fed with how long garments were taking on a deadline. The switch to a machine was fantastic! I quality garments quickly. The only wrinkle was sewing machine maintenance and gremlins in the machine. Sometimes machines have attitudes. Sometimes you can’t get in sync without your equipment. Sometimes you drop the small screws into the machine and you are in a panic. It’s a wonderful asset but also a source of great frustration for me. For that reason, hand-sewing needles will always be by my side because they are easier to manage, and sometimes you and your machine need some therapy. Also, some projects call for the delicacy of hand sewing. It’s an art form that cannot be fully eclipsed by the machine. For example, how can you attach a button or hook and eye closure without a hand-sewing needle? It’s best to keep them handy.

Remaking My First Sewing Project Four Years Later

Last September, I felt this aching in my creative heart to make what I didn’t make well the first go around. A project that some would say was insane to attempt as a beginner because of the difficult nature of velvet and the frustration that is sewing with stretch fabric. The dress pictured below was my first wearable garment. I saw the same purple stretch fabric on sale for Halloween at my local Joann’s and my heart skipped a beat. It still exists – I could try again!

You see the first dress I made was constructed so poorly that I ended up cutting it down into a skirt because I was embarrassed to continue wearing it out. After all, the bodice was bunching up and gathered strangely in the back. I lacked the confidence to keep going and try to alter the dress for success. I see now that it would have been an easy make to take out the gathers and bunches of fabric for clean seams, but that kind of thought came with trial and error. I needed a bit more experience and patience to make it right, and at the time in 2020, my younger self was not willing to wait.

But what if I am living in the past? My mind thought, maybe I should let it be and let the dress be a learning experience. I put the purple velvet down and left it, it was not on sale, it would be a sizeable impulse purchase at 15.99 a yard for 4 yards. I can’t justify 60 USD for a passing whim, that would be a poor use of money. So I left the daydream and moved on. Still thinking about that fabric. Another few weeks passed, finding myself in my local Joann’s again. It was my favorite place to explore. I went to the shopping plaza over the weekend where Joann’s remains live boarded up with the lights still on. It was eerie. I found myself thinking about what was blocked off inside? Was the fabric slumbering in the bolts, waiting to be made into something new? Would the yarn ever find a home in a fiber artist’s hands? It felt like a mistake, a bad dream, but it was not. It is over and now it is just a memory.

Anyway, on the second trip to Joann’s during the Halloween sales, I found my purple beloved. The bolt was still full, now marked down to 7 USD a yard. But this time I couldn’t get the project out of my mind. I’m glad I did give in to the creative urge or this project would be left without an ending. At the time, I had no idea Joann’s was going to go under. I thought I had plenty of time to remake this when in reality the window was closing. As I worked on this dress in 2025, I followed Joann’s story with frustration and weight of expectation. This remake is the final try, for this fabric I will never find again.

I made a different dress from the original and that surprised me. I believed going into the remake project that I would duplicate the same dress but with better technique. Instead, it was a project of feel. This time, I had a dress form I could drape the garment on. I had fabric clips with securely held the the slippery fabric together while on the dress form or for a quick test of fit on my own form. This time I understood proportion and where this dress would fit into my wardrobe instead of making a dress that only went with my moto jacket. I reinforced the shoulders and was thoughtful about my stitching, to make the garment strong. I added darts to pull the dress in where it was fitting baggy instead of leaving it like a velvet sack.

It became something new and I am okay with that. None of us are the same as we were years ago, we grow and evolve with every passing year. Making a dress for now, with the spirit and the fabric of my first garment, but with a new neckline and a new fit I think is an inevitability of learning and growth. I had the patience this time to try on the dress, mark what was not fitting right, and go back to work until it was correct. That was not something I was willing to do when I started, because it was all so new and confusing, but with time and practice, those new concepts became a familiar old friend. Like this tan carpet. It wasn’t until I looked at the 2020 mirror photo and the 2025 mirror photo that I saw it. The carpet in the house we bought looks just like the carpet in our apartment in Meadville. How random is that?

I have one more section of the purple velvet left over that I plan to make something with, possibly a mini dress, a blouse, or maybe a jacket. I think knowing this fabric is a relic now, makes me feel unwilling to finish this scrap project, because once it is done. I’m going to feel like my time experimenting with fabric from my first craft store is done. A chapter of my sewing life is over, and I hate saying goodbye. I’m a sentimental person. When things end, I take it hard. I dwell on the loss and muse on it. It might be unhealthy. It certainly makes life harder as a person who wants to keep things alive that are gone, it’s why I think I was drawn to study history in college.

As I keep making things, some of these projects become an archive of crafting past. What are some things in your own life that have moved from the present to part of your past? Does it surprise you to consider these things as your history instead of your current story? Thank you, reader, for joining me again down this sewing memory lane. I hope you have a wonderful day!

#69 – Joann Fabrics, A Crafter’s Thoughts, LYS

We are in a clickbait world, with insane thumbnails and exaggerated headlines. Over time I’ve learned to stop clicking, stop believing, to wait and see if there is an ounce of truth to the “news” on the screen. That was my strategy for the ongoing Joann’s bankruptcy story. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2024, which raised many red flags in my mind, but I wasn’t allowing myself to worry. Bankruptcy happens, it should be fine. I decided to wait and see with a cool and calm demeanor. In the meantime, I would craft and mind my business.

In the fall of 2024, a news headline caught my attention – Joann’s was closing a few stores nationwide, one of them being my local Joann Fabrics. What a weird coincidence! But only a few stores nationwide, my mind pondered, that must signify this is okay, right? They’ll close my small store and a few more, not a big deal. No need to be concerned. I have other Joann Fabric locations within driving distance, I’ll go to those!

As the news cycle went, I continued to see thumbnails of a concerning nature as we entered the new year, questions of Joann’s future, and whether they were closing their doors for good. What an odd way to get traffic, I thought. They filed almost a year ago and the consequence was a few stores that would shut down, are these creators making a mountain from a small pile of dirt? I ignored them and carried on my way, thinking of the projects I’d like to make and the yarns I’d plan to use from the ever-growing list of inspirations I have saved.

I love Joann’s Big Twist line along with their collaboration with Eddie Bauer. They have been my two most used yarns aside from Knit Picks in 2024. I use the Eddie Bauer for sock and accessory projects, while the Big Twist has been my go-to yarn for wearables like sweaters due to its soft not scratchy acrylic structure, which gets softer with wear and washing, it is such an affordable yarn that has helped me create in lean times.

I have the same affection for Joann’s fabric department! The amount of inspiration I have found from Joann’s clearance section has been a huge blessing to my sewing journey. It has provided an affordable way to try new fabrics and hone my fabric knowledge without the pressure of learning by sewing expensive fabric for these experimental projects. Some of my favorite makes have been possible because of the clearance section. I also adore their lightweight quilting cotton fabric for summer. It makes a great sundress and no, people don’t automatically see that it is quilting cotton like some sewists fear. The ribbons, the notions, buttons, zippers, thread, interfacing, patterns, embroidery thread, not to mention Halloween decor!

Over the weekend, my alarm bells rang out while watching a new TLYarnCrafts video, because Toni is not a clickbait creator. She and her mom, Gwen, went to their local Joann’s for one last trip just in case of closure. That’s when it sunk in, Joann Fabrics filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy again in January 2025, calling for its sale and possible liquidation by said buyer until Joann’s is gone. I began tracking the updates on Reddit this week and the news was grim with each passing day. My fellow sewists and yarn enthusiasts seem just as heartbroken and confused as I feel by this ominous development. I truly thought Joann Fabrics was turning the financial woes around by closing just a few stores, but I was wrong.

It’s a staple for me to shop there. My local yarn shop and local fabric shop where there isn’t a small local business to support in my area. Joann’s filled that void. It was my first fabric store experience and will always hold a special place in my heart for supplying access to items that gave me purpose through crafting when my life needed a new direction.

On Wednesday, the updates became utterly ridiculous. An official document from Joann Fabrics named 500 of their 800 locations across the United States marked for shutdown. Including all the ones in my area. After I sat with the news I began to feel despair, not for me, but for all the workers who were getting the rug pulled out from under them. I’ve been laid off in the past and it is such a bizarre feeling. You’re not losing your job for a better opportunity or because you screwed up, nothing about the reason which led to your layoff was connected to you. Yet it directly affects your life and it leaves you feeling empty, in my opinion.

There has been a lot of bad news here in the last two months – fires, plane crashes, Tulsi Gabbard being confirmed, etc. The air is ripe with change and I hope that every employee who is being affected by this can transition to their next step with as little stress as possible. You guys did nothing to deserve this, the leaders of your company are taking away a great resource for the crafting community due to their mismanagement, not yours. What a weird year this is and it’s only February.

So this is my little reflection on what Joann Fabrics has meant to me and I hope this is not the end. Even with the sale looming, I hope they will not get rid of the company entirely, it serves a good purpose that cannot be filled by Michaels or Hobby Lobby. This will be a new adventure for me to find other yarn and fabric stores, not local to me but a local small business for someone. Thankfully the internet does exist so who knows where this will find me.

What will never be the same though is the ability to go look at fabric and yarn in person in a store that had it all in the same place, only catering to creative endeavors at an affordable price. It was a third place to be around others who liked the same crafts as me. I’m going to miss the connection to others and the lovely fabric-cutting humans who more often than not had more sewing experience than I had years lived that helped me numerous times formulate my sewing plans. Even if I didn’t agree with them, they were usually right when I went rogue and used fabric not meant for that project. I’m going to miss that.

Checker Board Pants: Making Pants From Your Favorite Jeans

In 2024, I was inspired to start making pants. I had attempted making pants before and they were successful but I struggled to make them feel like more than just a pair of lounge pants. Part of this was caused by not choosing a good bottom-weight fabric, and instead opting for a lightweight summer cotton that draped beautifully but didn’t give me that tailored look. I also tried an ill-fated scuba fabric in 2023 that crashed and burned because my thread tension was off. Enter this checkerboard denim print I purchased at Hobby Lobby. It was denim but lighter, not too heavy to be a problem for my sewing machine. But how would I find the right pattern?

I had a pants pattern in my stash for menswear trousers, that I considered using on this project. It’s a solid pattern and would make a straight-fit pair of jeans, maybe not the style I was going for though. I considered buying a new pattern, but then I fretted that the pattern would fit me weirdly or might not fit at all. The current style in 2024 still featured that tapered-in waist on pants that favor an hourglass figure, not my rectangle athletic build, so should I risk it? A big reason I chose to make pants in the first place was that I was sick of shopping and trying on pants that made me feel weird about my body. The men’s section was my go-to for their up-and-down pattern cutting, compared to the extreme tapering and high waist silhouette of women’s pants. Even low rise was stuck in mid-rise inseam, not the true low waist inseam I was accustomed to in the 2000s and early 2010s that helped me find good-fitting jeans because they favored my shape not the post-bbl world of fashion. I digress, my point is that buying a pattern someone else drafted felt like a risk because the fit is such a personalized thing.

My solution was to take a pair of pants in my wardrobe that I liked the fit of and to trace that pair of pants to gauge the shape. I did this with a pair of jeans that were high waist but had a nice loose fit through the hip and leg for the K-pop-inspired baggy jeans style I was interested in making with this 1990s Vans checker board print. This worked swimmingly! So much so that I traced the jeans onto a piece of brown craft paper for a quick pattern to reach for on future projects.

I chose to record this project, start to finish in video from instead of video to have a memory of how I did this to learn for myself and remember what I did but to also inspire others to try this. Pants are intimidating, especially from a paper or PDF pattern. The written instructions and diagrams have puzzled me in past projects but truly, pants are simple once you see how its done. I wanted to help others feel that freedom to create because at least in my American fashion market, fast fashion has destroyed the craftsmanship of pants and standardized sizing. I referenced this in a previous post, Shaping Up where I had to confront the dressing room terror of things not fitting and seeking to not be defined by my jeans size, when trends and pattern cutting shape shift sizes, but to take control of it on my end and get healthier in 2023.

This pants project was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects of 2024. I faced my fear of sewing denim, inserting pockets, and fastenings. I chose to not attempt a fly into I had more pants sewing experience, instead I planned to make what I knew I could achieve under my skill set. I opted for a side closer with a drawstring to have an adjustable fit since the denim had zero stretch. The denim containing no stretch was a feature I sought because I believed it would be easier to work with as it was my first project of this kind, and I wanted a crisp tailoring from the woven fabric. A key thing to note is that the jeans I used for my template also are non-stretch denim. For an accurate this is paramount or else the project will not work. Either you will cut your project too large or too small. It is also essential to leave a seam allowance on your pattern pieces. When self-drafting it is your responsibility to take charge of the seam allowances and plan ahead.

I messed this up with the crotch line and had to make a quick fix. My fix was a diamond gusset. Popular in women’s leggings, this diamond gusset shape piece allows for greater mobility while maintaining the strength of the seams.

The second challenge I faced was the problem of a narrow bolt and an all-over pattern. This fabric was quite narrow and because I was cautious with my seam allowance, I cut my pieces large. This meant that I was not cutting from the longest side, but the most wide. The pattern pieces were cut out missing length on the leg. My solution was to add on to the bottom and pattern match. It’s easier to match than people say, it just takes patience and intentional sewing. I’m pleased with how seamlessly I got my pieces to match up.

The pockets were a challenge. How do you place them? How do you insert them with strength so the pockets can be used without pulling the pants down or ripping? I chose to place them angled on the sides, aligned with my hips so that they would be practical and not create weird bunching at the front of the pants. No wonky crotch fit here!

Would you make your own pants? I hope I inspired you to get creative and go for it if you are sewing-inclined. Thanks, reader, for joining me once again on this quest to grow my fashion design skills. Have a wonderful day!

Bunny Plush Keychain

Recently, I shared a Knit Star Plush Keychain Pattern, but that wasn’t the only keychain I’ve been working on. Behold, a knit bunny keychain made from repurposed fabric! This keychain was inspired by my Skzoo Quokka plush keychain which I have styled on my purse and belt loop. I was tempted to buy more as this trend has been all over my feed this year, but that’s unrealistic. So I thought, in Jeremy Clarkson fashion, how hard could it be?

This key chain was made by repurposing a pair of underwear, that was weirdly made without any stretch. They had no purpose but to be trashed, which I didn’t want to do because they were brand new and I liked the pattern and color story. So I wondered, could I translate this to a plushie and I could make this plushie into a keychain without buying any materials beyond the keychain hardware? The answer is yes!

I used a pen to draw pattern pieces onto the underwear by designating the fabric into four ear-pieces, two head-pieces, and a rectangle piece that would be used to connect the keychain hardware. The rest of the fabric was cut into small cut pieces that would be used as the stuffing. This worked like a dream!

I chose to sew this item by hand because of the small nature of the project. The pieces were too small and delicate to sew by machine with any semblance of control or care. It was a quick make and took one day to complete. I sewed 90% of the ears, turned them right side out, stuffed them, and then set the ears aside. Next, I repeated this process with the circle for the head and stuffed it. When I was certain that all the stuffing was divided between the three pieces adequately, I sewed closed the ears and head. Next, I attached the ears to the head. Finally, I sewed the rectangle and threaded it through the loop of the keychain before attaching it to the bunny plushie. I opted for an abstract look so I did not decorate the bunny plush with a face, therefore if it spins around it doesn’t matter what side is facing out.

Overall, this was a quick and thrifty project with the hardware coming in a pack of two for $2.99. I used the other clip on the knit star plush project. This type of plushie could be made with any scrap fabric you have and could be adapted into other animals. It would be an easy DIY gift too!

Were My 2024 Fashion Predictions Accurate?

At the beginning of January 2024, I made a post for fun predicting what I thought would become popular trends in 2024. Now that it’s December, how well did I do? I accurately guessed 6 out of 10 of the predictions I made! So what were these trends that I predicted and what did I get wrong? Let’s jump in!

Gameday Outfits

The NFL had a moment this year with the spotlight of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and her gameday outfits became a source of public fascination. This created a wave of gameday outfit inspiration online, sparked by Blokecore in 2023. This carried on through WAG fashion and trickled into the mainstream. The Paris Olympics created fashion buzz, as did the movie Challengers. There was a rising fascination for F1 in the US. Not to mention the popularity of the team-branded baseball cap and Adidas soccer shorts paired with a button-down shirt. This one was a big deal and was unifying to be honest because who doesn’t like at least one of these sporting events? There is something for everyone.

Patches and Visible Mending

This definitely became a trend as DIY fashion and upcycling continue to grow in popularity online for sustainability and creative expression. Mending and learning to sew continues to rise in popularity as people choose to opt out of the fast fashion loop in search of clothing that will last all while standing out in a crowd. I think we can agree there was a hive mind within fashion since the Tik-Tok “core” aesthetics took off at the beginning of the decade and we are all looking for original ideas again.

Colorful Knit Accessories

Similarly, knitting along with crochet has continued to grow in popularity as hobbies and as a way to create DIY fashion by hand. It was so popular that chatGPT patterns and AI-created crochet and knit images cluttered the creative space. With Balletcore being popular, so were leg warmers and slouchy socks. Fingerless gloves, colorful hats, and brightly colored vests made 2024 what it was – a fiber artist paradise.

Exaggerated Tailoring

This was seen on the runway, with tailoring having a moment with trousers, vests, and blazers finding popularity once again. Dramatic shapes were popular on the runway. I also saw vests and dramatic trouser shapes in mainstream stores. I think this should always be in style so let’s keep in that way fashion trends. It’s a classic.

Resurgence of the Flip Flops

Yes, these were hailed the “It girl” shoe of the summer after Gisele Bundchen (yes I know I’m missing the umlauts) was seen wearing them. The specific flip-flop brand Havaianas, was the iconic style of 2024, but luxury brands tried to corner that market with $900+ flip-flops. I think it makes sense for these to come around again after how long the Birkenstock sandal has been the favorite choice, followed by Tevas, it’s the next logical evolution from clunky to delicate. Personally, all three of these drive my feet nuts but I’d probably choose the Teva for comfort or flip-flops for sheer chillness. Flip-flops were also worn by athletes at the Paris 2024 games.

Jersey Shore Nostalgia

Indeed Ed Hardy and Von Dutch did trend again this year! Mainly with teens and tweens, but this styling returned to the runway with Kim Petras’ Spring 2024 collection which featured Ed Hardy’s iconic designs. I’m excited for this era of fashion to return because I enjoyed the late 2000s-early 2010s fashion and the over-the-top spectacle of it. I’m certainly more for this than the mob wife styling of early 2024.

Parasols for Sun Relief

This one I thought, was a long shot but it made sense for it to become a trend because of how practical they are while protecting skin from UV damage. They are technically better for the planet than single-use sunscreen. I was not wrong. This market is projected to grow from 2024-2032 as the parasol or sun umbrella market is anticipated to grow globally. In 2024, there was significant growth as a trend for Japanese men. That’s a result! 🙂

What Did I Miss the Mark On?

  • ARMY-core was not a thing even though all BTS members were in the military this year, no trends emerged from this across the K-pop sphere. The only popular examples of camo I saw were from Chappell Roan’s ‘Midwest Princess’ camo hats from her tour and the Harris-Walz campaign hats which copied the same style.
  • Gilded Age Finery did not take off like I hoped. The only instances I found were Bad Bunny’s Met Gala look and Paris Fashion Week using late Victorian and Regency era opulence as inspiration for glamour.
  • Bonnets this was a flop except for two key shifts. One I hope I explain right because I am not familiar with the hair culture. According to a few articles I found black men styled bonnets as a protective hair style in 2024. Secondly, hats became popular again with rope hats and pillbox styles being the most talked about.
  • Cosmic Cowboy or Sailor Cowboy would have been accurate if I had dropped the qualifiers. Cowboy was the most iconic aesthetic of this year with cowboy styling, media, and country music being a key player in pop culture. Americana in general had a moment which is odd but hopefully a turning point for unification in my divided land.

What were your favorite style moments of 2024? And did you participate in any of these trends?

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