We're on Flickr! We were thrilled to learn this week that an intrepid sewist named Layla has launched the Stitch Magazine Creations
group on Flickr.com, a popular free photo-sharing site. Anyone can join
and upload photos, as long as they're "creations based on patterns and
tutes from Stitch
Magazine."
It's so wonderful to see the things that our readers make from the magazine, because it's pretty clear that Stitch
readers get very creative. And since that's part of the mission of
Stitch -- to help readers to take sewing instructions and patterns and
creatively make them their own -- it totally motivates us to keep on
finding great inspiration and great designs.
Britt Willis, who blogs at Scrapyard, has added photos to the Flickr group of her Spring Tote, from our Spring 2009 issue. Take a look at the original version (designed by I Heart Patchwork author and designer Rashida Coleman-Hale) on the left, and Britt's version on the right:
Britt's note says, "I used a vintage twill stripe for the bottom and lining. I bought the
fabric at Music City Thrift about 4 years ago. It's treated with
Scotch-Guard. Weird! I incorporated part of the selvage in the inner
pocket. The handles lace through grommets. It was very scary cutting
holes into an item that I'd just spent hours sewing, but they turned out
fine! I like the vintage look of the other fabrics, but they are
certainly not vintage."
I love that Britt combined a stripe and two floral prints, yet they
all work together beautifully, and it's terrific that she took the leap
and tried grommets for the first time. Using the selvedge as an inside
detail is very fun, too:
Even experienced sewists sometimes have a hard time departing from
the original version of a design, or taking a different direction, but
it's really not difficult. Some ideas to make a design your own:
- Change the color palette. The same design can be sweet in pastels,
sophisticated in black combined with natural linen, trendy in turquoise
and brown. If you're in a color rut, check out thousands of color
palettes at ColourLovers.com for ideas.
- Use a different kind of fabric. Britt substituted Scotchgarded
ticking for linen; you could even try silks for this bag. It takes some
practice to learn how to adapt your sewing strategy for different
fabrics, but projects like this one are perfect for experimentation.
- Add embellishments. You could take this same bag and make it in
solid colors, but add embroidery, lines of handstitching in embroidery
floss to follow each seamline, a row of organically-shaped pearl beads
along a seamline, or ribbon trim. Or gather a strip of fabric and insert
into one seam for a ruffle detail; if you cut the ruffle strip on the
bias, you can leave the edge unfinished for a deconstructed effect.
- Make the bag larger or smaller; if you're making a garment, you can
explore different proportions and make some of the details larger or
smaller.
- Add pockets in interesting shapes or sizes.
- Add button trim with vintage buttons, a row of different buttons
that are related in color or style, many small buttons, or one bold
statement button.
These are just a few ideas. Leave a comment and tell us your favorite way to make a pattern your own!
Happy stitching!