PR Hacks - Split Cowl Dress

I know what some of you are thinking. "I say Heather, that dress looks verrrry familiar."  You're right!  I was a sneaky knock off artist this month. Muhaa haa!

It probably won't surprise you to find out that stuff designed for slim 20 older old's doesn't fit me right. There's a lot of things I can let slide, but bad fitting garments isn't one of them. Therefore I had to take matters into my own hands and draft my own version of this dress.  Of course I documented it all to share with you.

Using the PR Winter Street dress as a base pattern, I'll be showing you how to alter the bodice to add a waist inset and change the skirt shape. After that we'll do a little free hand drafting to created the cool color and the waist tabs.  Pop on over to the PR blog to get the details.

Bonus Husband Comment - "Heyyyyy First Lady!  You can wear that when I get inaugurated."

PR Hacks - Decorative Darts

Mid August already, how did that happen?  I certainly must be getting old if all I do is exclaim that, "Time is going so fast!"  Soon I'll be pinching children's checks and saying how much they've grown.  Anyway, things continue to be quiet on the sewing front because my sewing mojo is still no where to be found.  I think it took a nice European vacation without me.  In it's absence I've been knitting socks and ...... cleaning things. Good god it's come to that! My husband is happy, but I started missing having a new dress to wear. To scratch the itch I dusted off the sewing machine and come up with a new dress and pattern hack to share.

The month the base pattern is McCall's 7279 and I'll be teaching some dart rotation principles to spice up the bodice.  The hack shows how to rotate the waist dart into the shoulder and split it into 4 darts of varying lengths.  Then you can leave them as is or top-stitch them like I did. Hop on over to the PR blog for all the details.

PR Hacks - Flutter Sleeves for Summer

It's officially Summer and for a lot of us that means things are busy, busy, busy.  Currently I'm trying to keep Desmond occupied while tracing patterns and baking an ungodly amount of Nutella Brownies. (Recipe here. Warning, they will haunt your dreams.)  With that in mind I decided to write a quick and simple hack this month.  Using the Sewaholic Renfrew pattern as a base, I'll be showing you how to draft two different types of flutter sleeves.

Type #1 is the Gathered flutter sleeve.  So named because you gather up the sleeve head to create the fluttery goodness of the sleeve.  These are set in the standard scoop neck Renfrew body so all you have to do is draft the sleeve and you're good to go. (I've paired the top with Colette Beignet in case you were wondering.)

Type #2 is a Half Circle Flutter sleeve. Here the fullness is added by slashing and spreading the short sleeve pattern. This increases only the hemline of the sleeve, leaving the cap set in normally.  In this version the V-neck Renfrew body was used and I drafted a facing for it in the same manner as here.  And because I like to entertain myself, the Lady Skater skirt was added create a dress.  I simply must complicate matters if at all possible. ;)

For all the drafting details pop on over to the PR blog. I can guarantee that you can draft one of these sleeves in no longer than a hour.  That way you've got plenty of time to still take the kids to the beach....or sit on the couch and eat your Nutella brownie. I think you all know which one I'll be doing. :)

PR Hacks - A Trapeze Dress Two Ways

Hey everyone, just a heads up that my monthly PR article is live.  For May Deepika and I wanted to create a simple to sew, simple to wear project.  We ending up turning the Grainline Studio's scout tee into a trapeze dress. But you know, I just can't keep things simple for myself.  It's both a curse and a blessing. ;)  Because of this I decided to do not one, but two variations on the hack.

Version 1 -  Rayon knit Jersey with V neck and cap sleeves.  I call this one the keeping cool while running errands outfit.

Version 2 - Rayon Challis with a higher neck and a bit of a racer back.  This one's the night out on the town outfit.

If you'd like to know more than pop on over to the PR blog. 

PR Hacks - 50's Style Shirt Dress

After a month's hiatus I've got another hacking article posted over on Pattern Review. Sometimes a girl has to take a month off to sew 3 Easter dresses, you know how it is. The April post features a 50's style shirt dress hack based on McCalls 6891. In the article I talk about how to convert set in sleeves to kimono sleeves and how to redraw the neckline. Nice thing about this hack is that you can mix and match either one of those new design elements with the original pattern. You can even switch up the skirt portion for a slightly different look. Ahh shirt dresses, they are the best.  If you'd like one too then hop on over to the PR blog and read up.  

PR Hacks - Linda Top with Extra Ruching

Hey Guys,  I started February off with a bang of startitis and quickly found myself muslining 3 different projects. The sewing area looked like a tornado of tracing paper had hit and my brain had a similar feeling. I can juggle 2 projects pretty successfully, but 3 was a bridge too far. So either you'll see a ton of FO's at the end of the month or I'll be hiding in the other room with some knitting pretending the trace paper situation isn't insane.

In the meantime I do have a fun piece of business to share, this month's PR hack of the Linda Top.

It's Linda's birthday so Deepika and I decided to celebrate by giving her a new twist.  This version has a scoop neckline and ruching on the sleeve. The hacking skill level on this one is easy! It shouldn't take you more than an hour to adjust the pattern. So if you just want to dip your toes into some pattern manipulation than this one's for you.

As usual all the details are on the PR blog.  Hack on my friends.

PR Hacks - Upgrading Butterick 6169

Hello everyone!  Hope those of you also on the East coast are keeping warm and safe during the "Blizzard of 2016." We've got at least a foot of snow on the ground already and the storm is not expected to stop until sometime in the wee hours tonight. I foresee a shit ton of shoveling in my future. At least I've got my Froggie pit crew permanently on hot chocolate making duty.  In the meantime let's procrastinate on all that shoveling by talking about this month's pattern hack.

After two months of knit garment hacks it seemed right to give woven fabrics their turn.  I took some inspiration from PR "Best Patterns of 2015" contest entries and finally dusted off my copy of Butterick 6169. Seemed like a great way to finally sew up at least one of those pleather fabrics lurking in my stash. (Let's not talk about how many more are left.)

Butterick 6169 is one of those patterns that is the perfect base for pattern hacking.  So many different design ideas popped into my head that some severe editing was needed. There's only so many weeks in the month for sewing after all.  In the end I went with adding a yoke, changing the front hem line shape, and drafting a collar.  Oh and I changed the in seam pockets to zipper inset pockets.....because I like to torture myself with pleather. ;)

To get all the juicy drafting details hop on over to the PR blog. 

P.S. Sewing all that pleather was a nail biting experience so I decided to have a little fun with the lining. Meoooow, behold my Jungle January insides! 

P.P.S. - This morning I was a little out of it and accidentally deleted my December PR hacking post.  After spending way too much time googling, "How to recover blog pages," it occurred to me that having all these posts in one place would be very helpful.  I've added a "PR Hacks" tab to the header and will gather all the article links there. That should make finding a specific hack easier in the future. 

PR Hacks - The Nettie Christmas Dress

As usual in December I disappear off the blog due to a flurry of Christmas preparations and the germs my child sneaks home in his pocket. However froggie is happy to report that all the Christmas present sewing got done and he helped me wrap the last box up. Such a helpful amphibian. We also did some semi-behind the scenes sewing for this month's PR pattern hack column.  If you follow me on IG you probably saw several poorly lit muslins of this dress show up on my feed.  Finally the reveal day is here and I can show you some decent and seasonal photographs.

This month's hack was inspired by a vintage jersey dress that popped into my own IG feed. The original was a feisty leopard print and which of course grabbed my attention.  I thought it was a nice combo of a sultry silhouette paired with the practically of pockets and comfy knits. So I went to my trusty copy of the Closet Case Files Nettie pattern and hacked one for myself.  Now you can find out how to do it too over the PR blog.  Happy hacking and a slice of pie for you all.

Pattern Hacks are Back

Those of you who have enjoyed my various pattern hacking posts in the past will be pleased to learn that I'm back to my old Frankenstein tricks.  As of today I'll be writing a monthly pattern hacking column for Pattern Review. Eep.

To start things out I decided to go super simple and modify the Lark Tee from Grainline Studio. The neckline was changed to a be much higher with a folder over facing.  The hem is also modified to have a facing with side seam split. You can get all the details here over on the PR blog.  And if you want to see this same shirt in a solid just take a gander at my previous post.

Going forward I'm hoping to write more complicated pattern hacks and to use various pattern companies, both independent and the Big 4. Just as long as inspiration cooperates with my plans. :)

If there's any sort of pattern hack you're dying to see in the future just let me know here or over on the PR blog.  Happy hacking my friends. :)