Calling all Seamstresses!

Thank you all so much ladies! I have all of the testers I need currently, but thank you all immensely for your interest! You don't know how encouraging it is to me to know how many people out there want to try out my pattern. You all had better keep your eyes peeled sometime in February, as the pattern should be ready to be released around that time. 
-Brigid, the Middle Sister and Singer



Calling all seamstresses! Calling all seamstresses! I have a request to make! If you all remember, a few months back I did a post on my Palazzo pants that I had drafted for myself. Well, after much interest in the pattern itself, I've decided to turn it into a PDF pattern to sell, but before I can actually introduce it to the public, I need some pattern testers! Sound interesting? Then read on for further details!

Basic Patterns for Your Stash

Hello dearies! How has your week been thus far? I have accomplished a lot more than I thought I would in the past two days, including some prepping for an exciting blog event that will hopefully show up sometime in December... But today I have a few tips for all you seamstresses out there regarding patterns!

What I Made // Palazzo Pants

Hello Dearies! I hope you all are having a splendid week thus far! Over here in Ohio there has been nothing but gray skies and rain, with some peeks of blue skies and sun every so often. I want to thank you all for your encouraging comments on last week's post! You all are such a blessing to me. Today, my dears, you have the pleasure of seeing not one, but two completed projects! My first "failed" attempt at Palazzo pants, and my second, very successful, pair of Palazzo pants. Are you ready?

What's on My Sewing Table // Palazzo Pants

Hello dearies! Sometimes things just do not work out the way you had planned them. I had planned on writing up this "garment making process" post in expectation of showing you the finished product next week, but alas, that shall not be. At least not in the way I had planned.

What I Made // Buffalo Plaid Dress

Hello dearies! I am so glad the past two days' worth of rain has finally passed and that sunshine is on its way! When I first was contemplating the fact that we had to do a photoshoot for this dress in the rain, I wasn't so pleased. Until Charlotte captured the absolutely gorgeous gray beauty that exists in a rainy day (it helped to have a fun red filter of course. :D). But you didn't come here for commentary on the weather did you? Well if you did, then toddle along, because the weather report is over, and the sewing report is about to begin...

Remembering WWII // The Outfits

Hello Dearies! I can hardly believe it's Wednesday! It seems as if it should be Tuesday, but I suppose that is because half of my Monday was stolen by some much needed sleep after the long car ride home from Remembering WWII. Oh, what a splendid, fabulous, never-going-to-forget time we had down in Tennessee...
If I remember correctly, one of the things y'all wanted to see the most from our trip was our outfits that we wore for the reenactment! Well then, without further ado...

Contemplations of an A/W Wardrobe

Hello Dearies! How's the weather out there? Here in Ohio it's been chilly in the mornings, pleasant at noon, and just chilly enough at night to make you want to wrap yourself in a cozy blanket. Such weather has started my mind to contemplating what my Autumn/Winter wardrobe will look like this year, since quite a bit of that portion of my wardrobe will not last me another winter.

How I // Learned to Sew

I have been making things; doo-hickeys, what-nots, and thing-a-ma-bobs, for as long as I can remember. When I was younger they were made from paper cups and pipe cleaners, wooden beads and scraps of fabric.Yes, these were the unsophisticated materials of the creations of my 5 year old self. One day, though, I wanted to make a doll. On the sewing machine. That didn't happen (my Mom ended up sewing it for me). Then I wanted to make clothes for my china dolls and my barbie dolls, and so did my sisters. So we got a book from the library and Mom helped us make some doll clothes. Those were glorious times, but I wanted to know more than Mom could teach me. So one day, after a bit of deliberation and discussion with Dad, Mom took me to my first ever sewing camp.

My world would never be the same.

WWII Reenactment // Prep Work

Hello dearies! It has been all work and play over here at the BFS studios (that's what comes of having a business that you love. :D ). Since we're gearing up for a few different upcoming events, I thought I would share with you all a peek into that process; specifically getting everything (non-singing related) ready for our trip down to Tennessee for Remembering WWII.

Zipper-Free Half Circle Skirt // The Construction

Hello dearies! Well here it finally is! The construction tutorial for the zipper-free half circle skirt. Are you all ready to see the assembly side of things? Trust me, it's stinking easy. Plus, I added some brief instructions for suspenders at the end, since I made some for my skirt, and I knew you all would probably like to know how I made them.

Outfit // Barefoot Summer Days, Birthday Skirts, and Expectations

Hello dearies!
It seems like an age and an age since I've been on here. Funny what a week of no internet can do! We've been having such lovely weather recently. Well, I should rephrase that. We've been having nice alternations of burning, smothering days, stormy, cool, gloomy periods, and the nicest days of all: those coming just after a storm. Those are the best! The skies are clear, the ground is ever so slightly damp, and there are just enough clouds in the sky to create intermittent shade throughout the day as the sun warms the earth.

Zipper-Free Half Circle Skirt Tutorial

Hello dearies! I hope you all had a stupendous weekend! We certainly did; and today we're going to be celebrating Charlotte's Birthday! I'm actually more excited for her birthday than I am for mine! :)
Well, today's the day that you all get to see the tutorial for how I made this skirt!
I have to say I'm rather nervous about putting this post up, because: 1) I've never put up a pattern drafting tutorial before. EEEKK! 2) I've only made this skirt once, so I haven't been able to test out my troubleshooting that I figured out as I made my skirt. You've been forewarned! If you have any troubles, or something doesn't make sense, do let me know and I'll see if I can help fix the problem. Well, now on to the tutorial!

What I Made // Elastic-Back Half-Circle Skirt

Goodness! Two "What I Made's" in a row! We did intend to put up the last part of the Q&A 2014 series up yesterday, but we had some technical difficulties, so you all will have to wait... hopefully it will be worth it! Anyways, I am super-duper excited to share with you all today's make because guess what? On Monday (Lord willing) I'll be sharing the tutorial on how I adjusted the pattern to make it! Whoop whoop!

What I Made // Graduation Dress

Hello dearies! I am so pleased to finally be sharing with you all the dress I wore on my Graduation Day, and the short story behind it. It seems like Graduation was ages ago, and yet only five weeks have past. Thankfully, though, this dress will hopefully serve me well over the next several years, reminding me of that lovely day. Shall we move on to the details?

What I Made // Spring in Ohio

Hello Dearies! I have been busy as a bee lately fixing up my Spring/Summer wardrobe, making everything from T-shirts to skirts, and even fixing up last year's swimsuit. Well, today you get to see the items I made in May! Enjoy the video, and see below for the details on each piece.

What I Made // That Everlovin' Ric-Rac

Hi all! Brigid and I had so much fun creating this little film for you all (and I had too much fun editing it ;). The dress that I featured is a new favorite that I constructed from Mrs. Chancey's impeccable 1958 Party Dress Pattern. Oh my, oh my I seriously can't get enough of this pattern! Believe me, I've already made 3 dresses (including this one) and have one ready to be serged & constructed. I think if I were motivated enough I could whip one up in a day :) There are no set-in sleeves, complex details, it takes little fabric; and there is SO much room for customization! I think it's safe to say that this pattern is a sure-fire staple for me :)

What I Made // The Basket of Flowers Dress

Hello dears!
You'll remember that I alluded to a new project I was working on in this post. This dress is that project. A few weeks ago I realized I wanted a new dress for Easter, but since I had a big commission sewing job coming up, which would take up my machine for practically the whole month of April, I had only two weeks to make the dress from muslin mock-up to the last stitches on the "costume"* slip. Well, I did it! And I even used a vogue pattern too!

Gütermann Thread Giveaway! [CLOSED]

Hello dearies! Remember how we mentioned earlier that there would be another giveaway this month after the lovely Sense & Sensibility giveaway? Weeellll, this is that giveaway! After seeing this inspiration post on our blog, the director of Gütermann of America (the American side of the German thread business), contacted us asking if we would like to host a giveaway for some of their thread as they are celebrating their 150th anniversary this year. Of course we said YES!!!

HSF: Bodice // 1940's Atomic Blouse

Due to unforeseen events we are going to postpone our regular scheduled Classy on Sunday until next week. In the meanwhile please enjoy the following post.*
Yay! Another Historical Sew Fortnightly project complete! For this fortnight our challenge was to make a bodice. We could abide by the strictest historical sense (as you can see in The Dreamstress' blog post here) or we could interpret it in a more general sense. I chose to go way out, almost on the edge of qualifying, I think, and made a blouse.

[CLOSED] 1958 Party Dress Pattern Giveaway from S&S Patterns!

This month we are so thrilled to welcome Jennie Chancey and her delightful company, Sense & Sensibility Patterns as an advertiser! We are great fans of the patterns, nostalgic sewing books & inspiration which S&S produces, and we are SO excited to be hosting a giveaway for you to win one of Mrs. Chancey's delightful creations: The 1958 Party Dress ePattern!