You decide! We’re having a class in June taught by the lovely Lucinda from Sew Wrong on Gertie’s Sultry Sheath. The name of the dress might be a little misleading, because you don’t have to make a sheath dress and it doesn’t have to be sultry. I, in fact, am making a sweet blue gingham picnic dress with a circle skirt using the bodice pattern. You could even do a dirndl skirt or little pleated number. The sky’s the limit, my friends.

I’m doing the standard sweetheart neckline, but you could always round it out, raise it, or make it into a straight V-neck. Whatever your heart desires. Cool, huh? This is a great class for practicing fitting techniques and customizing your sewing projects. Those are two of the reasons we make our own stuff to begin with, right? Getting a better fit than clothes off the rack and having a one of a kind item that no one else has.

Special, beautiful, and perfect, just the way you are. Clothes are nice, but it’s you I like, sweet sewists.

John drove me in to work today and, in my pre-scone hunger state, I sniped at his driving. Almost immediately after, I felt like a buffoon. Really, Sarah? Is that how you want to spend your morning? Your life? Nope. So I am going to make a concerted effort to not let stupid little things get to me and to be more appreciative of what I gots.

I have sort of struggled with writing a post like this because often when shops/etc. write about tragedies it feels like they’re cashing in somehow. I mean, I get it, peeps gotta pay the rent, but it can still feel exploitative. So all I want to say is: carpe stuff. The day, your passions, your beau/belle, your cats and dogs: be grateful and pretty much hug them to death. I’m going to make sure I snuggle my pups, kiss my husband, and seriously chill with my friends at Crafty Foxes Sewing Club tonight. To all of you: thanks for being you.

Here’s a perky song by Little Miss Higgins called Beautiful Sun that may help you to jumpstart your carpe-ing; I know it’s helping me:

Doesn’t that sound like the name of someone who teaches herbology at Hogwarts?? Well, it is actually the yummy gin drink I invented for the Colette Party. In the next post, I’ll announce the winners of the Laurel drawing and share more about the party itself, for now I have only one thing on my mind: booze. Ok, that’s not true, it’s just the most *fun* thing on my mind.

We named this drink after Sarai’s cat (and Kristen’s too!) Basil. I stole the cat in the picture from Andy Warhol, but I think he’d be ok with it since it was for a party. It was green originally, but Cats von Basil are both grey and I only have a black and white printer, so it all worked out. Ok, enough chit chat! Here’s the recipe:

2oz pomegranate juice, 2oz lemon juice, 4 large basil leaves: muddle these together

1oz agave nectar (or simple syrup if you prefer, we just happened to have agave)

4oz gin

4 dashes orange bitters

Shake and serve cold!

John might have surreptitiously added some more pomegranate juice, since he thinks that I over-lemon things, which might be true: I can pretty much drink straight lemon juice. We were probably a little less-than-scientific with the amount of basil and bitters as well, but this is the basic idea. Let me know what variations you use when you make it!

Molto rinfrescante!

Step one: visit Greyhound Friends in Hopkinton
Step two: choose a lucky dog
Step three: give a dog a home!

Here’s the Dart we inserted last Monday:

Dart is a happy-go-lucky soul who loves to play with squeaky animals and is getting along with our serious little Spindle just great. You should see them run together; it’s magical.

Greyhound racing is a pretty scummy industry on the whole. Sure dogs like to run, but do they like diseased meat or being shot in a field when they don’t perform well enough? Yuck. Adopt one of these sweeties today and you’ll never regret it.

So that’s my tutorial on how to add a Dart.
Happy April Fool’s Day, darling sewists

Colette Patterns is having a snazzy contest in conjunction with their new Laurel Dress pattern, which we currently have in stock.

I’ve finished one so far and am starting on another presently. I personally prefer the sleeves without the cuffs; I just think I’d wear that more often.  I have some dark teal batik on the cutting table at the moment. Maybe I’ll make the shirt version? So many choices. This would also be a great chance to make a sweet little Peter Pan collar, per Gertie’s tutorial.

We are helping to sponsor the “use of color” category! Yay! Enter! Win stuff!

The generous lovelies at Colette also make a free ebook to give you even more ways to sass up your Laurel. Click here to see the wondrous variations! The keyhole neckline is speaking to me right now. I’m kind of getting analysis paralysis thinking about all the options, so I really need to just start cutting and see what happens.

If I thought things through to a properly prudent level, I might not end up with any clothes at all. I’d probably also still be a floundering academic instead of opening this shop! So, three cheers for not thinking too hard!

A fun party with Sarai from Colette Patterns is going down on April 6th, starting at 5pm. Drinks! Discounts! Designers! Who could ask for anything more?
Be there or be square! Drop me an email to RSVP. Can’t wait to see you, sassy sewist.

Here’s a gratuitous picture of Spindle cavorting in the snow to tell you to stay home and stay safe! All that snow will be melted in a day and then you can come visit the shop. See you!