Kaoru Marie

Not one. Not two. But three Sewaholic Tofino PJ Pants ! Even though I finished the bottom two this past weekend I'm not counting these as part of my 2014 makes since I should have finished them in 2013 considering two of them are Christmas gifts! Well, better late than never! Back in November 2013 I had this grand plan to make my friends PJ pants for Christmas out of some ridiculous cat print. Two of my close friends and I are huge cat lovers and we appreciate super cheesy stuff so I thought they would get a kick out of this horrid Timeless Treasures cat print. Howeva, I wasn't loving the price tag of the fabric at about $10/yard. I was also concerned with the size of the cats' heads. I wanted the first handmade garment I made for someone else to look nice, so I opted to use a "nicer-looking" flannel print from Jo-Ann Fabrics. I was hesitant about buying the Tofino pattern because did I really want to pay that much for a pajama pants pattern???? Well, i...

I finished a Sewaholic Cambie Dress months ago (I think mid-2013, maybe June or July) and have never worn it with the exception of fittings and for this blog. I immediately put it in the closet after making it because everything felt so anticlimactic when I finished it. I had some design issues with this dress, which is why I'm so underwhelmed with it, but none of the issues are attributable to the pattern. The pattern is fantastic, I'll get to it in a minute. My first issue is that I bought a very see-through voile from Hawthorne Threads (by the way, totally love that shop!). I loved the print when I saw it online and was so excited to buy it, but then I received it in the mail and was so disappointed with how thin it was (I guess that's voile for you). It also doesn't help that the fabric is basically white....not sure why I didn't think about that before purchasing it. After I got the fabric I became very concerned about how well it would work with a dress (a...

I made this top in 2013, October I think, but only just finally got around to photographing and blogging about it. As I noted in my round-up of 2013, this top is my favorite make to date. I absolutely love wearing it; the fabric and fit are spot on and there's not much I would change. I made this top in the middle of struggling with another project that eventually became a disaster after taking up way too much of my time. It was nice to get something finished in the midst of such a "down" period of sewing. Sometimes you just need an easy project to get you through a rut to remind yourself that you can do this! *I can sew a garment I am proud to wear in public!* I can do it!!* I knew I could rely on  Sewaholic patterns  to get me through a rough spot. I was at Jo-Ann Fabrics one day to pick up some Simplicity patterns during the 5/$5 sale and stumbled upon a red dot apparel fabric sale section. I'm usually drawn to colors first, then I make my purchase decision bas...

I was *so close* to sewing this skirt in one day. So close! I know it's not a race to get a garment finished, but for some reason I wanted to finish it in one day because I usually end up drawing things out for days even if I only have one or two things left to do. Regardless, this skirt is done! Done! and it feels so good! I've had the Colette Zinnia Skirt pattern in my stash for a couple months and I'm glad I finally made it. I opted to buy the pdf pattern because I initially intended to make this skirt ASAP after purchasing it.....that was back in November so obviously I didn't *need* the pattern as badly as I thought I did. But I am glad I bought the pdf version because the instructions come in a pdf as well so I was able to view them on my kindle, which I really enjoyed being able to do. I eventually got around to printing and cutting the pattern once I bought a thin-waled beige corduroy back in December. I always wanted to make this skirt out of corduroy a...