Hey guys! I need your help with a trench coat I’m working on. I’m having trouble with the armhole and need to adjust it to accommodate a larger sleeve.

I’m also trying to create more fullness at the bottom. I originally considered adding a cage structure or horsehair braid between the lining and the outer fabric, but I’m concerned that might make it too heavy.

Now I’m thinking about redrafting the bottom portion as a circle to create more volume. I’m still figuring out where that fullness should begin—possibly about 6 inches from the center front, including the facing.

What would you suggest for adjusting the armhole and creating that fuller shape at the bottom?

Because of my job I get a ton of fabric samples and decided to finally put them to a good use! It’s not perfect but it busted some scraps and makes me happy!

The back is an envelop style closure using some twill fabric.

This is the Lilly pea coat pattern from Annelaine Patterns. I used a corduroy for the outer (not sure the content - it’s from Whatnot) and the lining was printed on poly satin from Spoonflower. Buttons I think are from Michael’s. Made for my preschool daughter 💕

-Years ago I found 6 blocks of the purple/white fabrics (I think they’re English paper pieced). I knew they would be great for making quilted clothing without cutting up a vintage quilt and being haunted by the ghost of the quilter. They ended up being perfect for this project! All cotton fabrics, polka dots from my stash and the stars and spider webs I bought for this project
-I bought the socks new and thrifted the rest. So excited to wear this next week and always have a backup costume!
-pattern/tutorial by Prairie Misfit

I just finished my door curtain and I love the way it turned out! I was worried the colors would seem to autumnal so I added the white linen and I think it balanced it out. Once I figured out the dimensions it came together pretty quickly!

Details:

- I followed a picture of another curtain I found online for a rough lay out and determined I needed mine to be about 30x42. I drew a grid using 7 rows and 5 columns and then colored in each square with the fabric color it would be. I did cut some of the squares in half to make it less grid like.

- Seam allowance was 5/8 added to each side and then I flat felled all the seams. I ended up cutting about an inch off the bottom and adding it to the top for the curtain rod pocket so I didn’t lose as much of the green since they were already smaller panels.

- Fabric is a linen cotton from Etsy plus a white linen I had in my stash. I used yellow thread and struggled a little bit with keeping track of right sides and wrong sides since the wrong side ends up with 3 stitch lines. Some needed up on the front and that’s ok.

I made this jacket using the Grainline Studio Tamarack Jacket pattern, but changed up the pockets for hand warming pockets instead of horizontal welt pockets, and added my own hood instead of paying extra for their hood pattern add-on, using a different hood pattern I'd traced from another piece. I used a batik quilting cotton for the outer, lightweight cotton batting for the insulation, and cotton flannel for the lining. It all came out pretty good but I'm noticing that with these hood clasps (last photo) there are 2 issues I'm noticing. 1 is when you have your hands in the pockets it's very easy to unlatch the bottom clasps when moving your hands around, and 2 is because the attachment loops aren't fully closed sometimes when they move around a bit the loops that secure them to the jacket can come off the ends. Does anybody have any suggestions for either of these issues? I'm wondering if I can just crimp the hooks a bit more closed to make them more secure but am worried then they'll be too hard to get on and off.

Edit: ok so based on a suggestion from @DanderMuffling I tried switching the direction of the clasp and I think that's gonna be the answer for this piece. It's way more secure in this orientation and the UI isn't bad, the only tradeoff is you can then see the loop, but I don't think it looks bad. https://imgur.com/a/clasp-mod-FWaFYpw

I made the Cardamom Quilt Jacket for my daughter and it’s so cute. I made the 12 month size and she’s way too small for it right now but it turned out awesome. Fabric was from a repurposed quilt my mom bought me for Christmas but didn’t work out on my bed.
I plan on making the adult one for me with more functional pockets but it’s so cute!

Sewn this leather jacket using a cowhide rug I thrifted! I did the old tape the dress form and draw your pattern piece method! No lining. Will recreate again. This was definitely more of a rough draft.

I want to design a horse jacket inspired rain jacket for my dog. I want her to be able to wear the jacket all year long. We have cold winters and hot, humid summers. She only shows signs of being cold at around 25-ish degrees, looks hot around 85.

I'm thinking about using this fabric for the outer layer, but I'm open to suggestions.

Was thinking about doing a thin polyfill layer but I'm not sure if it'd be too hot in 75+ degree weather

Sorry - it’s a bit wrinkled because I didn’t iron it, and the fabric is cotton-linen twill :/
The seams aren’t perfect (I’m a beginner), but I’m pretty proud of how it turned out.

I followed this pattern that I found on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1694931969/the-clover-set-v-neck-front-ties-top-and?sh_rv=1&ref=shop_home_active_12&crt=1&sts=1&dd=1&logging_key=65e3f0976a62616bbe3e4c2fecfe062be6863fc8%3A1694931969

I bought 2 sweatshirts and used a twin needle to stitch the black one over the red one then cut away excess. When my twin needle broke ( 🥲 ) I just used a zigzag stitch.

Hello everyone, I hope everybody is doing well!
I just got a beautiful, green knit fabric with a gorgeous drape and I was looking to recreate Donyale Luna’s iconic jumpsuit that she wore in Skidoo. As I looked for how I could go about drafting the pattern for this, it seems that a kaftan pattern looks like the best option for the silhouette of the design. Forgive my ignorance but is a kaftan specifically cultural and would this be inappropriate to make and wear?

Thank you so much for everyone’s time🙏🏼

Hello 👋 Please help a newbie in distress. I cannot for the life of me figure out why my gathers are so few compared to what it's supposed to look like. I've tried and tried to rearrange and distribute them evenly and it always just turns out as a few obvious peaks. There's no one around to ask so I've turned to the internet, I'm really sorry if it's just a matter of "redistribute them better".

sorry for the word salad! my friend would like a hat for their newborn like in the picture. I read that the average newborn‘s head circumference is 35 cm, so if I made a cone with a circle base circumference of 35 cms, that should be fine? Make it like 4 inches tall?

I’m planning to quilt a small checkerboard quilt top directly to some felt to give it body, then finish the edge with bias binding and make a tie. Just in case this comes up, I know ties aren’t baby safe but this is a photo prop, not something that’ll be given unsupervised.

I recently began sewing and would like to start making garments but I'm having trouble finding fashion cotton. My local fabric shop is predominantly quilting cotton and some polyester fabrics.

Where can I find cotton or natural fibers meant for garments? The more affordable the better!

location update: BC, I'm outside of Metro Vancouver but could do a day trip

Drove myself absolutely crazy redoing topstitching over and over and over again to make it perfect. And if you look too close you'll see that it's still not perfect lol but I am very very proud of myself! For the base denim jacket I used the Jan jacket pattern by sewingmachina. Flowers added from my brain

I understand bias cutting garments to a degree, but I have some questions. Thanks so much in advance! Sorry this is gonna be a bit wordy 😂🖤

I am making this trench coat thing out of duck cotton cloth. I want there to be some flow and drape to the garment but duck cotton and canvas materials are not recommended for bias-cut. Is this some sort of rule? Or just a guideline based on what types of garments these fabrics are typically used for?

Can/should I bias cut my duck cotton fabric [or at least parts of the pattern?] to create a better drape? There is an upper back panel on this pattern - would cutting that on the grainline and the rest on the bias result in a structural point on the back with flow from the rest?

Regardless of the answer to that, I was also wondering a few things about bias cutting in general. When you bias cut the front and back of a garment, you flip the pattern for the grain to wrap correctly, I understand that part, I think.

Do we always flip it based on front/back to fit opposing grain? For a jacket do we also do that, or since the front is open/zipping/overlapping do we do that differently? When cutting a single panel sleeve on the bias do you cut the grain in regards to the bodice's?

hi folks! more and more i think a dress form would be a helpful tool for me. i know there's pros and cons, and not everyone feels like they're helpful. here are my thoughts:

visualisation (pro) - i would really like to be able to step away from my own body when sewing. i'm comfortable with fitting things to my body, so i wouldn't be using a mannequin to try and tailor garments (as i know this can be an area where they aren't so helpful). i just love the idea of being able to look at my garments from a distance. i play a lot with trims, decorative details etc. i take lots of photos and videos, ask my sewing buddy, but i really would love to be able to just look at my pieces as i'm making them. i'm absolutely the kind of person that would use it as a display also.

photography (pro) - i run a small business and make mostly utility wear for others (think holsters, military rigs etc). this is a smaller aspect, but it'd be nice to be able to show my work on a somewhat body-shaped form. i currently lay them out on my desk but my pieces often have lots of details/pockets/belts etc and would be a lot more readable on a a mannequin. i'm also working on a dressmaking portfolio for uni, which would be a lot easier with a dress form.

body shape (con) - i have a non-standard body shape, which may be an issue for a dress form. working from commercial patterns, i generally have to reduce the waist length by 2", do a 2" FBA, lower the bust apex 1.5", grade to a size up for the waist and hips, occasionally narrow the shoulders 1". i'm also quite squishy so i often need to have practically negative ease on skirt waistbands for them to stay up.

skirts (pro) - i make a LOT of very fabric-hungry skirts and dresses. they often end up quite heavy, and are usually circle skirts of some kind. letting them hang and leveling the hem is an absolute nightmare, but absolutely necessary. my sewing buddy has mobility issues and can't really help me with this, and it's very difficult to do on your own!

i know you can get adjustable mannequins but i know these aren't perfect either. with my body shape i imagine i would have to get a size down and pad up the areas that need it, especially with having a lower bust apex. my question is, what's the best way to go about this?

is the mannequin being adjustable necessary? or just a bonus? in terms of padding, would you put a t-shirt over the form to hide the padded areas? i have heard of bootstrap forms, i've heard mixed reviews on how they come out practically though.

i know you can make your own but i'm not really savvy like that. i don't think i would want to make a duct tape form. with it coming up to christmas as well, a dress form would make a really nice gift. i'm awful to buy for so my mum keeps suggesting that she gets me one for Christmas 😅

any advice would be very welcome, thank you so much!

One of the areas of my profession (speech-language pathology) that I'm learning more about is augmentative and alternative communication - methods of communication other than spoken language for students who, for whatever reason, aren't ready or able to communicate with exclusively verbal language. As a result, it's time to make a shirt for it, with icons common to AAC systems on it.

Features:

1. Fabric: This is a pattern I made with AAC icons on it, printed on a cotton poplin weave on Spoonflower.
2. Buttons: The buttons are fabric-covered with specific AAC icons communicating "All done", "I", "Make", "It", Do", and "More". My *intention* was to use them as regular shank buttons, but my machine has some disagreements with that (more on that later), so I ended up removing the shanks and gluing them to KAM snaps.

General Construction: This shirt was made using the “Simon” design from FreeSewing.eu, modified to have a single piece back instead of yokes, a small facing panel instead of a collar stand to obscure the seam allowance from the collar and top of the shirt, and short sleeves.

Lessons learned with Shirt 45:

1. If You Do Not Schedule Maintenance, Maintenance Will Be Scheduled For You: I was mostly done with this shirt - just needed to finish the plackets and sew buttonholes - when my machine started to make funny noises. I think it's the motor, which sucks. Good news: My daughter has a starter machine that I can borrow. Bad news: The starter machine is mostly butt at anything but straight stitching and *completely* butt at buttonholes. So I'm limited in what I can do, at least for a while.
2. I've Definitely Gotten Better At This, So I Need To Start Making New Mistakes: I'm now two shirts into "haven't needed to rip out and redo a seam", which is awesome for both my confidence and my sewing speed. I *would* say this would mean you'll see more from me soon, but... first, see Lesson 1, second, I have like 40 shirts and kind of need to find something else to sew because putting more money into shirts doesn't seem like a great investment.

Pattern: One Shoulder Top from LaBavareseShop on Etsy
Fabric: knit. Probably a poly cotton blend bought at Joann’s so I can’t find the exact listing anymore.

Super easy and chill project from this weekend.

Honestly I've just been showing off this fix to everyone who'll look since I finished it, sorry if completed repairs aren't for this sub. These pre-ripped jean joggers are very comfy and the only fitting "jeans" I currently have, but they split off one of the pre-ripped holes very badly and I finally got around to properly fixing them. Long strip taken off a sacrificial t-shirt zig-zagged under the tear and sewn in place with a backstitch. Added some quick and dirty decorative stitches in white embroidery thread after the fact because it looked kinda empty after taking all the safety pins out. I'm obsessed with the texture of the patch and how it looks more purposefully rough but is a lot sturdier. I'm thinking of doing another beneath the knee to tighten the fit back up too.

Cannot offer that much info for the fabric given the t-shirt was a secondhand off a friend and had the labels cut out (and sorry for the awkward angle on the first photo my short arms were not letting me take one standing orz).

Hello! Has anyone made this simplicity 4597 Shirley botsford tote? There's a piece of the instructions that I'm very confused about. I've basted the bottom edges of the pleats as instructed, but it then says stitch pleat folds and I'm not quite sure what that means. If anyone has made this or knows what I'm supposed to be doing, I would appreciate you circling the part and the instructions or pointing me in the right direction.