In happier news, I finally finished my Colette Iris shorts for the Black and White Challenge…and I absolutely love them!

As I mentioned when I shared my muslin, I made several changes to the pattern:

• added 1/2″ length
• moved the pockets to the side seams
• moved the invisible zipper from the side seam to the rear
• graded the hips down so the shorts will fit me in the waist and fit my narrow hips

All that work with the two muslins paid off! They’re a perfect fit.

I love this pattern so much, I’m planning a shorts wardrobe overhaul for summer! Once I sorted out my adjustments, making them was pretty straightforward. I really like the clean front and the invisible zipper, as it makes these slightly dressy.

With the custom fit, they are incredibly comfortable too!

Have you ever made shorts before? What’s your favorite shorts pattern?

Well, I was barely a half-mile into my run when I hit a tiny lip in the sidewalk and SLAMMED into the ground. Thankfully RH was with me, and—after giving me a moment to recover—he helped me up and walked home with me before running to CVS to stock up on antiseptic and bandages.

I have some pretty horrible scrapes on my left hand, elbow and knee. And they all hurt like heck!

Thank goodness I was wearing running tights. The scrape on my knee is even worse than my elbow. It’s neon red! I can’t imagine how bad it would have been without a layer of clothing between my knee and the sidewalk!

My scrapes will make for a rather interesting look when I’m finally able to finish my shorts.

Oh well, I suppose I should be grateful that I haven’t had a spill like this before. I’ve done one marathon, three half marathons, several 10ks, and this is my first fall—on a casual evening jog through my neighborhood.

It could be worse, right?

Maybe I can find some stylish black and white bandages to match my new shorts. Hmmm….

Meanwhile, I’m going to check out Jesica’s injury prevention for runners series on rUnladylike. It looks like I could use the help!

I’ve decided to use some black and white fabric from my stash and tackle the Colette Iris shorts. The fabric I’m using has a pretty black and white floral print and has some stretch to it, so I thought it would make a nice pair of shorts. If I have enough left, I’ll try to make a pencil skirt too.

I’m making several changes to the Iris shorts, so I’ve made two muslins so far. That’s commitment, people! I really don’t want to muck up this fabric because it’s really nice, and since it’s been in my stash for a while, I’m not sure I could buy more. So I’m being extra-cautious and have made two muslins to try to get the fit and my changes just right.

I’m making the following changes:

• adding 1/2″ length
• moving the pockets to the side seams
• moving the invisible zipper from the side seam to the rear

I have pretty narrow hips, so I’m also grading the hips down so the shorts will fit me in the waist and not look like clown-wear in the hips and thighs.

I’m sure to an experienced seamstress, these tweaks would be a piece of cake. But for someone like me, who is still very much learning, they’re KIND OF A BIG DEAL.

I think, with this second muslin, I’m now ready to transfer my changes to my pattern and cut into my black and white fabric. I’m still a little nervous about getting the facings and the zipper to work out just right, and I can never quite turn up a straight hem, but we’ll see how it goes.

Wish me luck.

A few years ago, RH, my mom and I went to Seoul, Korea, for my uncle’s 70th birthday party. This is a photo of my uncle and his pretty family. The beautiful, colorful gowns my aunt and cousins are wearing are hanboks, or traditional Korean dresses.

Hanboks are worn for special occasions, and my mom has wanted to buy one to wear for Korean Thanksgiving and other cultural holidays. For Christmas, I gave her one! Actually, I gave her a future hanbok, as I told her I would sew her a custom dress in the colors of her choice.

I’ve bought the fabric for her dress: a pink satin for the jeogori, or jacket, and a navy blue taffeta for the skirt, called the chima. I decided to use the Folkwear #141 pattern after searching high and low for the Simplicity version to no avail.

I’m excited to make this for my mom soon, but I have a bit of a reprieve since there aren’t any hanbok-wearing occasions coming up. I’m glad that I’ll be able to take my time with the project and not rush it! I’ve traced the pattern onto Swedish tracing paper and cut out almost all of the fabric pieces. That took much longer than I expected it to, but I’m trying to be extra careful so the final product gets the Mom seal of approval.

Do you have any special sewing projects on your to-do list?

Allow me to introduce you to…

Do you like the logo?

As Diane says in her post announcing the group:

The idea is to pick a project (same pattern, similar trend) and share our individual results (and problems along the way). Also, sometimes we all need motivation, and having a virtual group will help to make sure projects don’t sit for too long!

Sounds like fun, huh?

Our first challenge is to make something inspired by the spring 2013 trend of black and white.

Haven’t heard about the black and white trend yet? Check out this striking Pinterest board by Laura Elkeslassy.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about exactly what I want to do for this challenge, but I haven’t made a decision yet. One of my goals is to use both fabric and patterns that I already own, since I’m trying to use more fabric than I buy this year.

I won’t be able to start on my black and white project for a little while as I’m just getting started on a very special sewing project for my mom. I’ll have more to share on that very soon!

If you’re into sewing and would like a little sewcial support (tee hee), check out Diane’s post for info on how to join our little group!

One of my favorite sites for inspiration is Oh So Beautiful Paper. Besides featuring a range of gorgeous paper projects from business cards to wedding invitations, Oh So Beautiful Paper is also “dedicated to the lost art of handwritten correspondence in everyday life.”

When editor Nole recently posted a giveaway for a set of calligraphy stamps by Kathryn Murray, I jumped at the chance to enter. Lucky me…I won! I received my “S” initial stamp and custom-inked return address stamp, along with some blank notecards and envelopes and an ink pad, and happily began stamping away.

These stamps are brilliant because they are clear! You can see everything which allows you to line them up perfectly. Crooked stamping, begone!

And oh—Kathryn didn’t send me an address stamp with weird blanks spots in it. I’ve Photoshopped my address for a false sense of security. This is the internet, after all.

Thank you so much to Kathryn for her lovely gift and to Nole at Oh So Beautiful Paper for hosting the giveaway. I know I’m going to get a lot of use out of the beautiful stamps!

There are definitely differing opinions on the topic (here’s one—and here’s another), but to me, the jury is still out. So I hope you’ll cut me some slack if you notice me using the terms interchangeably, or perhaps even making up my own sometime.

I am sure of one thing: I am grateful to have the means to pursue hobbies like sewing. My complaints about lacking a dedicated craft room and not being able to visit Mood Fabrics in person often enough are classic #firstworldproblems.

Last year, I made my first microloan via Kiva, to a farmer in Cambodia who used her loan to buy a cow, maintain her rice field, and buy stock of merchandise to sustain her selling business. After that loan was successfully repaid, I decided to fund a microloan to a seamstress named Maria Julia in El Salvador.

Kiva says this about Maria Julia:

For several years, Julia has been earning her income by manufacturing skirts, shirts and dresses. She lives with her 4 children, 2 of whom still depend on her because they are studying (ages 22 and 20). Since she started working with Integral loans, her small business has improved; it now has an additional sewing machine and she has hired a person on a commission basis, paid per piece of clothing, so she can meet the demands of her customers, who order from her due to her quality work. She is asking for this loan to purchase more fabric in order to manufacture garments to offer to her customers.

I love the thought of taking a small amount of money—something I would easily spend on a fabric shopping spree—to support someone who sews to support herself and her family. Perhaps if I’m successful in accomplishing my sewing goal to use more fabric than I buy, I can support a few more seamstresses in need this year.

If you’d like to see what microlending is for yourself, you can make a $25 loan for free on Kiva. That’s an offer you simply can’t refuse.

I sewed something with knits. Hooray!

I’m enrolled in Meg McElwee’s Sewing With Knits course on Craftsy, and I recently tackled the first project: a fleece hoodie. I wore it on a trip RH and I took to the North Georgia mountains after Valentine’s Day.

This photo was taken during a hike at Fort Mountain State Park. Do you see the heart carved into the tower?

A park ranger told us that it was carved by the romantic stone worker who was madly in love with a woman he ended up marrying after proposing to her at the tower. They were married for 59 years!

We stayed at the cutest bed and breakfast and spent a lot of time in the common area, called the Council Room, drinking tea, reading and playing Words With Friends.

The Council Room was bordered by bookshelf after bookshelf of hardbacks arranged by color. I particularly liked the blue books—especially because they matched my new hoodie!

I’m so happy to have conquered my fear of sewing with knits! I’m really happy with my hoodie, although I still want to add a pocket to the front. The next project in the course is a feminine t-shirt, and I’m looking forward to tackling that one soon…and eventually graduating to the final project, a comfy surplice dress.

I realize that now that there’s nothing to be afraid of when it comes to sewing knits. It’s just like anything else that’s new to me: I just need to dive in, make my mistakes, and learn from them.

For you creative types, hobbyists, and makers, do you have any creative fears?

I love my Wiksten tank so much. It was one of the first articles of clothing I made, and it was thrilling to wind up with such a nicely finished piece! The Wiksten tank introduced me to French seams as well as proper printing scaling, because I think I got the scaling all wrong when I printed the pdf and it’s is a little larger than I’d like. This was also the first time I made and used bias binding.

The fabric for this tank was thrifted from a sundress I bought at Salvation Army. It’s lovely—lightweight with delightful drape. And I adore the print. I’ve worn this tank with everything from shorts and flip flops to jeans and a blazer, and it’s simply perfect.

My fellow sewists, have you made the Wiksten tank? If not, I highly recommend it!

One of the Piola employees gave us a rundown of their approach to pizza in his very cute Italian accent. Then we donned aprons and spent time with the chef—who didn’t speak any English—in groups of four. He used his very best charades skills and showed us what to do, step by step. Once we’d selected our toppings, the chef placed them in the oven, and two minutes later, we each had a pizza!

We were all quite impressed. The pizza was very good! In fact, I think the pizza was far better than the restaurant’s appearances made me think it would be. This was definitely a lesson in not judging a book by its cover. I suppose I’m used to finding great food at far ends of the spectrum: rundown holes in the wall or upscale, chef-driven restaurants. I was pleasantly surprised with my experience at Piola, and I would definitely go back for a pie!

Have you had an experience like this before—where you judged a book by its cover and were pleasantly surprised?