Let’s talk spring sewing, shall we?
I haven’t given you a proper introduction to the new Lisette and Little Lisette spring patterns even though they’ve already been released, so I aim to remedy that issue starting right now.
We have two new Little Lisette patterns this season, and they’re both designed for part of the market that’s been overlooked a bit. I’ll introduce one today and the other tomorrow.
Today’s style is Little Lisette, 1893.
I get lots of requests for sewing patterns for older girls, in part because many of you are looking for age-appropriate pre-teen options. Little Lisette 1893 is designed for those older girls. It comes in girls’ sizes 7-16, which means that if your daughter or granddaughter has expressed an interest in learning to sew, this might be a good place to start. Maybe the two of you (or she alone, if she’s feeling ready) could stitch the patchwork bodice.
There are two patchwork bodice versions to choose from. One is made of simple strips, and the other (shown above) is a pretty starburst effect. The best part of sewing these jumpers is selecting all the coordinating prints for the patchwork effect and deciding where each print will go. And since the piecing is simple straight seams, it’s completely do-able for a beginner and great way to get their feet wet.
At our house the patchwork part is just enough sewing before a certain seven-year-old loses interest (and patience), so once that’s done I take over and finish the jumper. But if you’re working with an older girl the two of you could work together to sew it. Either way, this is a simple style and it allows lots of opportunity for embellishment and personalization. I think the View C (without the patchwork bodice) would be fun to embellish. Or just let a single great fabric set the tone, as we did with the paper boat print here.
Next up: a mother-daughter dress combination!
We’re happy to announce that our new sewing patterns for Spring 2012 are now available!
This season we’re releasing five new items: two Lisette garment patterns, one Lisette handbag pattern, and two Little Lisette styles.
We’ll have a preview of each style in our next newsletter (you can sign up on the main page of the website, if you haven’t already) and on the blog over the next few days. In the meantime, you can see all the details on each style, and place your order, from each item’s product page:
We hope you enjoy sewing with these new styles!
Scarves are a fashion essential these days, and it’s so easy to make the two simple styles that I showed you recently with a cotton lawn fabric. Lawn is lightweight and crisp, so it has just the right amount of body and drape to make a beautiful scarf. Plus, lawn is just sheer enough that the print shows up nicely on the wrong side of the fabric, which means that you don’t need to back the scarf. It’s just a single layer.
To make both styles of these scarves you’ll need two yards of fabric. But you’ll only need half of the width, so you can actually make two scarves from the two yards.
To begin, trim the selvedges from each edge, and cut or tear the fabric in half lengthwise.
Rectangular Scarf
For the rectangular scarf, simple fold each edge of one rectangle to the wrong side twice, each time by 1/4″ If you want to be very accurate in your folding and pressing, you can run a basting stitch 1/2″ from the raw edge of the fabric and fold and press the cut edge the first time so it meets the basting. Then fold and press again, this time using the basting as the folding line. Edgestitch the innermost fold, and remove the basting stitches to finish the scarf.
Infinity Scarf
For the infinity scarf join the two short ends of the rectangle with a French seam. To make a French seam, first pin the short edges with wrong sides together and stitch with a 1/4″ seam.
Then press the seam open and trim the seam allowances to 1/8″ (half of the 1/4″ width) before folding the seam so the right sides are together. This time stitch the short ends with a 1/4″ seam to encase the raw edges and give the seam a clean finish inside and out. (Aren’t French seams easy and neat?)
Now the scarf is a tube shape, and you can finish the scarf by folding and pressing the long edges twice to the wrong side, each time by 1/4″, just as we did for the rectangular scarf. Edgestitch the innermost fold to finish each side of the scarf.
Easy, right? Enjoy your scarves!
This week’s Wear Your Style Friday trades in our usual Brooklyn backdrop for one a bit warmer and more sunny. And it provides a first peek at our new spring pattern line!
Last month I spent a weekend in Palm Springs as a guest teacher at one of Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing workshops. In honor of our location, I thought I’d make up one of the new spring Lisette patterns, the Diplomat Dress, in one of our spring prints.
The dress comes in three lengths (mini, just above the knee, and maxi dress) and three sleeve styles (sleeveless, short-sleeves, and three-quarter-sleeves) so I mixed it up a bit and added the three-quarter-length sleeves to the maxi dress for a caftan style ensemble.
This pattern, along with the other new spring styles, will be available on our website within the next day or two. (We’re waiting for that nice FedEx man to arrive at the warehouse; he’s supposed to be there later this afternoon.) We’ll be showing you more of the spring styles in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that.
Spring must be just around the corner!
For those of your living in Australia, we’re happy to announce that Lisette fabrics are now available at all Spotlight stores! Yesterday was the official “in store” date for the line, so you should begin seeing the collection hit shelves at your local Spotlight over the next few days.
Spotlight is debuting the Lisette collection for the Australian market with our Spring 2012 line (which is also available at all Jo-Ann stores in the USA) and with a selection of the most popular items from our Fall 2011 collection. In all stores you’ll see sample Lisette garments made from the new Lisette fabrics, and coming soon you should see some special promotion in the pattern section featuring the Lisette patterns as well.
To help launch the line, Spotlight has published a nice little interview with Liesl in the current issue (issue #6) of Get Creative Quarterly.
You can pick up a copy at your favorite Spotlight, or download the interview here.
It’s too cold in New York to be wearing spring clothing right now, but I’m ready to start wearing our spring prints and wanted to find a way to incorporate them into my winter wardrobe. It’s nice to have a little color in your life, especially in February! So while I’m busy sewing up the new spring Lisette patterns to show you soon, I’m wearing our cotton lawns as scarves.
Both of these scarves are quick and easy to make, and I’ll show you how to sew them next week. Two yards of lawn will make two scarves, so you can even give one to a friend.
Have a great weekend!
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