Kaoru Marie

I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but I'm so thrilled with some of the stuff I made this year. After several years of struggling with sewing and fit, I finally feel like I got it this year. I definitely have a lot to learn and my fitting isn't spot-on, but it has improved so much from when I first started sewing. Here are my Top 5 Garments of 2014 in no particular order. 1. Butterick 5526 Pink Plaid Flannel I love, love, love this shirt! It doesn't even fit perfectly, but I love it. It was meant to be a muslin since I bought a cheapish flannel from Jo-ann to test the pattern and my plaid-matching skills. But I've been wearing it almost every weekend since I made it and I want to throw it on as soon as I get home from work. Why did I wait so long to make a plaid flannel shirt? I'll be bummed when the weather warms up and the flannel won't be as comfy. 2. Deer and Doe Pavot Jacket I love this jacket! I love how it looks casual, but can still be sort...

At the beginning of April I found myself between jobs by choice (I suppose I was technically unemployed.) I had over 4 weeks of outstanding vacation days at my old job so I decided that I could "afford" to sit around and do nothing for a week and a half before I started my new job. My husband and I entertained the idea of road tripping up the coast to the Bay Area and hitting up Hearst Castle and Carmel on the way, but the dates didn't really work out well with his schedule. And besides, I was secretly hoping to sew ALL WEEK LONG!!! The idea just sounded so heavenly! So instead of an awesome road trip we decided to spend a couple days in Vegas, which still left me with about a week of free time to do as I pleased. I spent most of the days working out in the mornings, grabbing lunch at a new spot, and sewing. I primarily worked on the Deer and Doe Pavot Jacket, which took way longer than it should have only because I decided to finish the seams with handmade bias tape (...