needleturns, tank top hacks, and sewing space reorganizing

plus a peek at the kids patterns, and a bunch of links and recs

We are finishing up our kids patterns: reviewing tester feedback, making tweaks, getting excited. It’s been so fun to see all the pictures of the tester group kids wearing them, and hear how some of the kids participated in the projects: choosing fabrics, fit preferences, etc.

Amy has been sewing samples for a photoshoot, and we thought it was so cute seeing the little flower print bias tape on necklines. As a fun contrast, and because you don’t need to buy/use as much fabric if you use a different fabric for binding. Plus you can use a thinner fabric than your main body of the shirt, to make the binding easier! This flower print is a cotton lawn that Amy made a big batch of continuous bias binding with — so nice to work with, and fun to see it appear in different projects across time.

The patterns are coming in the spring, for the northern hemisphere crew: a good time for shorts and the short sleeve top. Or the pants/long sleeve for if you’re sewing for fall in the southern hemisphere. We’re excited to share them with you!

A M Y: I brought my long-standing needleturn applique project out again to cut a few more blocks to take out and about with me. I am pregnant for the third time (!) and have needed lots more downtime than usual. I needed a good sit in a comfy chair and stitch project, and applique always scratches that itch for me. I want to make a special quilt for this baby too, so planning some patchwork projects too. All the quilty ideas are flowing! The applique quilt I’m making will likely take years, and I love it for that. I keep one block at a time in a little zip pouch that I keep in whatever bag I’m schlepping everything in that week, and pull it out to add a few stitches as often as I can. Still, it’s very slow-going and soothing in its inefficiency. Much like growing a baby!

Third pregnancy has been exhausting, and it’s been hard to get down to the studio. I’m due in September, so I am dreaming up some dresses for late pregnancy in the summertime, things that will be easy breezy and have space for a big belly. Any favorite patterns to recommend? I might just make another few of our box top wrap dress hack — that’s been a fave in pregnancy and postpartum for me and for a friend I loaned it to for her postpartum this past year! Traveling dresses are so special, homesewn ones especially!

A M E L I A: This winter has been about making creative space functional after moving house. My current studio/office is a room where I do computer work, writing, art and illustration, and sewing. I’m fitting in a lot of different ways of working, and a lot of stuff: art supplies, computers, sewing machines, notions and fabric, reference books, wooden spoon carving supplies... A few weeks ago, I reorganized the studio in a big way. Moving tables and desks and bookshelves around, and bringing a new table in to make an L-shaped sewing workspace. I moved the standing desk (I’d had it so I was facing the darkest corner! lol why!) to a better spot. Now I’m standing with windows to either side of me, a sunbeam in the morning and afternoon. Glorious. And we swapped out the overhead light and added a dimmer switch. It all feels way better!

My latest sewing project was hacking a thrifted t-shirt into a cropped (raw rolled hem) tank top, and used the fabric I cut off the sleeves and bottom to make a facing for the low, deep armholes. Sewing the under-stitching was my favorite part (besides wearing it). So satisfying to wear it to yoga and be like, yes, this feels exactly right.

I’ve also been inventorying fabric and notions as part of the big re-organize. I pulled out all my fabrics into piles on the floor. I’m grouping them by color, type, and by uncut yardage, big scraps, and little scraps. It was a lot of fun gathering the littlest scraps into color groups, for stuffed animals and/or doll clothes. And I’ve been making lists of the things I want to sew, in Obsidian. And drawing little sketches of them on paper cards too, and moving those around on my sewing project pinboard — which I wrote about here! I’m focused on prioritizing what I really want to wear, what’s almost done, and what we need for the house. By energy/excitement and practical need!

Amelia and Adam’s newest zine-making software from ANEMONE is here! It’s called Layout Department, and there are versions for Mac and Windows. If you have access to a home/office/library printer, it gives you many options for turning PDFs into the print files for making books/zines, printing double sided on letter/A4 sized paper. For example, you could use it to shrink down A4/Letter sized sewing instructions into a printed half-letter/A5 size booklet — we do this all the time for instructions we want to reference repeatedly. (Here’s our video on how to bind a booklet/zine.)

Amy is hosting a virtual writing workshop called “A Poetics of Birth” on March 28th, and there are only a couple of seats left! Here’s the link for more information and to sign up!

People who like risograph/zines… Ripe Ink Press in Atlanta is organizing a Southeast USA regional catalog (a companion to the West Coast and Midwest versions). → Submit yourself or other riso-related things. Also new+fun: ​​artbookfairs.com!

Reading… Pseudo Press newsletter, out of Berlin. Transformed by Birth by Britta Bushnell — best pregnancy/birth book out there in Amy’s opinion. Amelia is starting to read The Wizard of Earthsea.

Listening…. Wild by Tourist. Eric Bibb’s One Mississippi. Electrelane’s The Power Out was the soundtrack for the focused work of exporting all the tester files for the kids patterns. Thich Nhat Hanh meditations and qigong self-massage videos from the Plum Village app.

Eating…. flatbread pizza, vanilla ice cream, other pregnancy cravings. Pita from Good Things. Frozen soup dumplings from costco, along with snake/accordion cut mini cucumbers with salt, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Momofuku-style soy sauce eggs.

Looking for… maternity friendly sewing patterns to try for Amy — please leave a comment if you have recs! :)

The weather is… finally shifting toward spring in Pittsburgh, with some wild wind. Worryingly warm springy in the Washington mountains for a bit, but then we just got two feet of snow, and it sounds like floods next as it all melts off with a heat wave. (How’s your weather? Do you also need some climate emergency reading recs?)

Links… The inside info on sewing machine brands from a sewing machine shop. Why zines are popping up at protests. The loon square! Instead of a diet, try sewing. 21 hours over 8 days to sew a pair of jeans. Amelia’s dream. The Cloth Purpose. Rage and rules. A tip for turning sharp corners. State the label’s pattern hanging method. GENDER FREAK: a queer quilt collective (organized by the St. Louis Trans Quilt Project).

And a quote from an essay on sewing pattern history:

In recent years, the meaning of sewing has shifted again. Within slow fashion spaces, making your own clothes is often presented as a feminist and ethical act, a form of resistance to fast fashion and mass production. While that reframing has helped elevate the cultural importance of sewing, it also risks keeping it in the realm of ‘hobby’ or personal virtue. The skill, knowledge, and labour involved can still be softened or overlooked, just under a different set of ideals. The paper pattern industry has always depended on women’s expertise and effort, even when that work was minimised or taken for granted. And that raises a bigger question: when something is associated with the home, with women, or with pleasure, why do we find it so easy to stop seeing it as real labour?

Yours,

Amelia & Amy

P.S. — Should Amelia write a “hack your own cropped tank top” tutorial? Leave us a comment if you think that’s something you’d find useful. Or, if you’d like, just leave us a comment with what you’re sewing right now / sewing thoughts. :)