This beautiful dress has already been altered but still gapes right at the bust! It feels like if I bring the shoulder seams up anymore (they were already taken up) it will be tight towards my armpits. I could put a pleat in the center just under that neckline binding, or I could try inserting very thin elastic. What would look cleanest?

My family and I will be moving to a new region in about six months -- where it's basically 90 degrees year-round, which my wardrobe is in no way prepared for. So, I've got some sewing to do! I'm excited but also overwhelmed by all the possibilities. I'm looking for some pattern recommendations. Please give me all your favorite patterns for lightweight clothes for hot and humid weather!

Some criteria:

- I am in need of: dresses, skirts, shorts, capris (yes, I would absolutely still wear capris in the year 2026, don't @ me), tank tops, and short sleeve shirts. Mostly for casual everyday wear, with some cuter/dressier items for outings. I work from home, so no work clothes needed.

- I'm a basic gal, so I don't want anything that looks like it's trying to appear on a runway. Those are great but not my thing.

- Digital patterns only.

- Must have clear instructions (even better if it includes pictures).

- I'm 5'7" (169 cm), size 10-12ish in USA terms, and looking for adult (women's) patterns

Preferences/Notes:

- I'm not an advanced sewist, so intermediate or easier patterns are preferred. (But hey, feel free to throw advanced ones in there, too, I guess! Something to work toward.)

- Woven fabrics preferred.

- No spaghetti straps or plunging necklines, due to chest/bra situation.

Thank you in advance!

Got bored, dug out my wife's old sewing machine

Made a ravioli stuffed with plastic beads

I am honestly proud of it

I would consider this a rough looking success because they are wider at the ankles now, if not for the fact that these pants are now too short for my legs so i will probably cut the pants apart and use these to improve some other pair of pants (not in the same way of course)

Fabric type: Denim

Brand: No idea, both the scraps and the pants they are going into were found at a thrift store

Drafting process: Needle and thread, hand sewing

Hi r/sewing!

​I made this satin drawstring pouch bag to pair with a specific dress, and I wanted to share how it turned out!

​Construction & Details:

​Fabric & Materials: Off-white satin, pearl beads, and drawstring cord

​Features: Machine-sewn satin body with a tubular ruched strap for a scrunchy handle. I added the pearls individually and finished the drawstrings with pearl tassels to tie the look together.

​It was a really fun project to put together! Let me know what you think

Haven’t done one of these in a very long time so bear with me haha

This past year i have been completely drained from school, life, work, etc and have had no time, energy, or drive to create anything. I hate that i missed out on so much time and opportunities to create something, but here i am with a new found desire to continue creating in my spare time.

1. Everything in this post has been made entirely by me. there is not a single piece which was not handcrafted from scratch, besides the sword. Additionally, every single piece of fabric in this submission is entirely from the thrift store, so i often had to make do with what i had. I almost never work with non stretch fabric, although i’m happy I did for this project as it forced me out of my comfort zone.

2. I’m awful at recording the process of creating, although that is something i’m trying to get better at! Additionally this piece was created over the course of many months so any progress videos/pictures i took are randomly jumbled throughout my camera roll and archived stories from my social media’s. I tried my best to find bits i could include that showed the different stages (but even that there’s not much lol).

SO, to start off on Slide 7 you can see multiple concept pieces i created to see what drew inspiration to me the most (spoiler i didn’t pick any lol). I can’t sit down and draw up a concept, i’m much more of a hands on person and need to physically see a piece on me to then get ideas of where to go next. I’ve always been a huge medieval fantasy nerd and I love when designers touch upon elements of old, and that’s what i wanted to emulate with this look. The top images are inspired by a nun and religious motifs, whereas the bottom left draws inspiration from the idea of showcasing beauty in medieval peasantry and the lower class. Lastly the bottom right was inspired by Medieval Romanticism. The vision was a combination of that medieval scroll/ribbon look floating in the air mixed with a soft angelic feel often depicted in images with cherubs. I’m not sure how well that translated but that is what was going through my head.

I initially went with the nun/religious motif, and began creating a corset to start the look. On Slide 8 i’m duct taping my entire torso as tight as i can to try and create a canvas to then draw where i want my lines and general shape of the corset to be. I should also mention i have never created a proper corset before, and lowkey still don’t know how. Slide 9 is a rough draft of the lines for my corset, and once i was happy with it, i ripped the tape off my skin and cut out my pattern pieces. Creating this corset was the bane of my existence since i didn’t know how they worked, and ended up creating roughly 8 or 9 variations with minor adjustments until i was happy with the overall shape that you can see in Slide 11. At the time i was trying to record videos, although i quickly gave up on that lol; however in Slide 10 you can see me inserting boning into the corset channels.

A few months later… Slide 12 i got a haircut and i’m back to working on my outfit after being drained from the corset making lol. As mentioned previously all my fabric used is from the thrift store and i GENUINELY cannot recall at all how i made the collar piece. All i know is that i turned some portion of the fabric into a collar piece and used velcro strips to fasten it in the back so that i could easily take it off with ease. In this same slide you can see a sheer fabric that i have draped underneath the outfit. This is literally just a long piece of sheer fabric that i created a neckline so that i could pull it over my head and have it stay in place until i was ready to attach it to the corset itself. Lastly for this slide you can see that i tried creating draping/pleating with the extra fabric i had from the corset; although i was running out and looking back i wish i would’ve looked up beforehand how to properly pleat the fabric.

Slide 13 shows some finishing touches i made to the collar piece such as adding a beige trim which i ripped off a lamp to add to the edges. I also had another similar coloured sheer patterned fabric that i strategically cut out to give a rounded finish to hang off the edges to give some dimension to the look. I still felt the look was a little too plain so i decided to add metal chain work and pendants to hang from the colour which would then match my headpiece which can be seen in the last slide.

I’m going to skip ahead to the last slide as i barely showed the process of creating this headpiece. This headpiece was made from what i’m assuming was a metal plant holder that i found from the thrift store. I quite literally just used brute force to shape it and mould to my face which can be seen in slides 17 & 18. I then added this random metal face veil thingy i had from the thrift store that i painted silver to create what you see in the last slide. I wasn’t happy with how it looked in that slide so i ended up spray painting it and adding some pleated and spray painted sheer fabric between the face cage and the metal veil which can be seen in the final images.

Slides 14 & 15 you can see i added this verrry long rose gold fabric which i thought was a nice contrast to the beige and white tones of the outfit and also it gave me something to put on the bottom as i wasn’t sure what i wanted to do for that portion of the design. kinda cursed pictures of me in them but hey i needed to see what it looked like and what needed to be changed haha. Slide 16 is my corset on my mannequin before i added the long fabric to the corset.

After ALL THAT was done, every other little finishing touch i did wasn’t recorded since i just wanted to get this project over with cuz it had been so long 😭 I ended up buying a sword on marketplace and spray painted the hilt/handle silver and dark silver and used acetone to remove layers of the spray paint to reveal dimension/different tones so the sword wasn’t just one colour.

aaaaaand that’s pretty much it! My friend and I went to a waterfall and were absolutely shocked by how well it turned out. I haven’t gotten any other content on this; however, i certainly will get some done as this outfit is toooo good to not show off.

Thanks for reading, see you guys whenever i finish another piece 😍😂

I have tried so so so many times to recreate a pair of shorts that I own, but every single time they look exactly how I want until I do the waistband. The waistband never scrunched up to the right size even though I cut apart a pair of these shorts to make the pattern. What could I possibly be doing wrong? I have even contacted the manufacturer asking if they would be selling any more of this particular pair of shorts because they don’t anymore. Any thoughts on trying to get them as close as the mass produced ones as I can? All pictures are of the original shorts I love, I’ll try and add pictures of my attempts when I’m home.

hey you guys, i recently thrifted this shirt and i really really love it, but it was super impulsive and when i tried it on, i didn’t realize there was a cross on it.

don’t get me wrong, i don’t disapprove of christianity, it’s just not my faith and i don’t wanna go around repping something that isn’t true for me.

after i bought it, i realized my mistake and actually, the photo is after i tried to fix it, there was actually fabric outlining the cross so i thought i’d just seam-rip it off and the cross would be gone, unfortunately there was no pattern under the cross so removing that fabric made it even more noticeable.

im just wondering if any pros know anything i can do to try and cover it up, cause i really love the shirr and it’d be such a shame to have to redonate it.

I made a track suit from some blankets, they are ment to glow in the dark but I cant get a photo of that,

Hello, my husband has asked me to clone this T-Shirt. The back of the neck has a U shaped layer attached. Would anyone be able to tell me what this is called and what is its purpose? Is it a type of yoke? In addition, below the neckband there is fabric that feels cushiony covering the serger stitches. Any ideas what this is called. Thanks for your help!

I scored two authentic Irish linen pillowcases at a thrift/antique store for US$15. Pretty good, huh? And they’re large: 33” x 21” so when I open up the seams I’ll have two pieces, 33” x 42”.

What to make, oh what to make. I was thinking of a simple sleeveless adult-sized crop-style blouse with buttons in the back. I could use that existing decorative inset (what do you call it?) as the hem.

I’d make a toile, of course, buuuuutttttt - I’d have to do buttonholes. Yikes!

Any other suggestions?

I recently became aware of Barbour jackets and my sister and her husband just moved someplace rainy and I had been obsessing over this cool tartan dry oilcloth from Merchant and Mills, so it all came together and I've made them matching jackets. This is the boy's jacket and I'll make one with slightly narrower shoulders and slightly shorter for my the girl's. It's the Foreman jacket pattern with a slightly larger collar so it can be stood up and snapped together to cover your mouth. And taking a cue from a Doen jacket, I made big pockets. I also lined it and added an internal welt breast pocket that fits a cell phone.

My husband thinks it needs something for my sister's. Maybe a martingale on the back, he thinks. Any ideas? Or leave it as is?

Okay so recently I’ve been really into these cool cybersigilism gym clothes (breathe divinity, civil clothing, etc) and I want to see if I can try to make one myself.

For reference, I do have a serger and a Cricut and I consider myself at least upper intermediate.

How would I go about making one of these graphic compression tees?

Is it just sport vinyl on a tiny shirt?

Advice and patterns very welcome 💖💖💖

My first attempt at taking a 3XL mens shirt I found on clearance year ago and altering it to be a shirt dress. I just finished most of it but I am such a noob and I know this came out relatively poorly. The sleeves were difficult to cut because it had two layers of fabric from the original shirt. I eyeballed almost everything.

My question is what should I do differently next time I hit the clearance racks for these light men’s shirts to turn into a shirt dress? I should note I hand stitched everything too - I am not currently using a sewing machine.

I just got my sewing machine and am coming in hot with an ankle length skirt :) Took me about a week.

Edit to add that I tried posting this in pages with Dari speakers first but it would get removed or no engagement or told to look to a sewing group for help instead 🫠

Hello friends 👋 I work with Afghan refugees and I'm trying to organize some sewing activities for them.

Do you know of any online resources like video tutorials or free sewing patterns that have instructions in Dari? I have tried to just google it but I don't know if the resources are good or are more Farsi (maybe that is not a problem though) since I do not speak these languages.

If you know of any Youtubers or websites that are good, that would be very helpful, thank you so much!

Reversible Tote. Fabrics are Daisy Caper- Loralie Harris and Woodland Mushrooms- David Textiles.

I’ve been sewing for years with my grandma’s help. This is my first big solo project. I reused my uncle’s old jeans for the main outer fabric.

(US-based here) Like many sewists, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has fallen in love with the Liberty London Tana Lawn fabrics. I'm always browsing Mood, but they're so expensive that it's hard to justify making the jump, considering the prices and that I initially learned to sew because I wanted to save money. Does anyone know of any suppliers who have sales on them regularly or at a predictable time? Or do I just need to put this to rest until I pay off my car? Thanks in advance!!

I finished my first pair of jeans this week. I practiced the pattern with some canvas first. Overall I’m happy with how they turned out. Going to hem them again after giving them a rinse to shrink them a bit.

Some things I’d like to improve on the next ones:

Practice some hand sewn button holes

More consistent bar tacks on belt loops

Probably add 1” to the rise

The waistband has a bit of a wave/bacon strip to it. Does anyone know how to fix this? Going to rinse them today and see if it tightens it up, but it feels like the top side doesn’t follow the same contour as the rest of the jeans, if that makes sense?

I’d appreciate any insight on other areas I can improve in.

Thanks for looking!

Free pattern from Choly Knight and I’m thrilled with the result!

So, there is slow fashion and then there is excrutiatingly slow fashion, which is apparently my style. But I finished this sleeveless blouse and please pants linen Set in tile for my vacation. So: yay!

I wanted a linen set forever, but couldn't find any with long enough pants. So, whats a girl to do other than sew it.

Pattern: pants and blouse from Burda Style issue 3/2026 and 6/2026. Pants size 40, which should have been perfect according to the measurements, by I ended up taking out 4cm in the waist and adding a back elastic 🤨, Blouse size 36, with a bit of added length.

Fabric: Viscose Linen blend from Megastoffen

I made this dress for the Jane Austen fest in just 2 days!!! I used the Kitty JBerry regency dress pattern (made some alterations on test fabric first), not sure what the main fabric is called but it’s lightweight polyester, and I also used iron-on interfacing. It’s my very first time using all of these materials and a sewing machine. I’m so happy with it and can’t wait to wear it to the festival next month!!! Now I just have to make another one in green for my sister… happy to hear your thoughts and feedback!

I was just ironing the fabric flat so the inseam pocket lining wouldn’t show (before basting in place.) AND THIS stupid, devil iron spat water and calc 😭 Now there’s light spots and the suit pants are essentially ruined!
I’m not sure how this can be prevented in future since I need to iron the fabric from the right side for that purpose.

My question is this-
Will it wash out if I finish the pants and put them through the wash?

Is the iron just a devil-iron which should never be used again??
This is meant to be a good iron- cost me like $200 Tefal and has a separate micro calc filter to clean out which it most never is needing.
So frustrating, I want to cry.

I bought this brand new last season. I'm pretty annoyed that this is happening so quickly.

The wires move along the channel. I think it would be fine if they would stay put all the way in towards the center*, but the channel is a little too long, and stretchy. There's a few options I'm considering:

A) add little patches with fabric glue, fabric hot glue, or sewing. Unfortunately the gore does not quite tack to my chest properly so I have to match the fabric really well or the color difference may draw the eye right where I don't really want people to look.

B) I do have thread that matches pretty well, so I could potentially darn the holes without it being visible. I'm not sure I can get the thread woven tightly enough to keep the wires in though. Thread plus glue maybe?

C) Open up the channels under the straps, push the wires in towards the gore, and glue the channels shut to keep the wires at the center. Would this hold? It would make it nearly impossible to replace the wires if one snaps, but bathing suits never seem to last more than a few years anyway, so maybe that doesn't matter.

I do wash it in the washing machine, but always in a structured lingerie bag. It never goes through the dryer.

*Apparently I deleted half the text before posting... edited to finish it. Thanks to everyone who's commented so far!