The Cottage Revolution

Category: Sewing, Knitting & Crafting

  • Quilt No. 2

    My friend had her first baby! He is a precious child, and I don’t throw baby compliments around. Apparently tiny humans are my only excuse to sew (see: here, here and here). The quilt I made for her new baby evolved from something totally flat and lifeless into a piece I ended up really digging. It…

  • My Fear of Children (and a Mobile)

    Baby projects are so sweet and perfect, but they kind of freak me out. When my niece was born, my sister and I made her a quilt. I checked that thing a million times for needles. When I gave it to my brother on the day my niece was born, I asked him to triple…

  • Inside January

    I’m not a resolution person, but going into 2016 I said I wanted a better work/life balance. Last year was great for professional growth — I wrote some serious grants and got some serious money for great causes, created some scripts (for corporations, not for creativity’s sake), got some super-cool marketing pieces in place and…

  • The Alphabet Shoppe

    During the summer of 1998 I worked at a summer camp — not as a counselor or any of those  roles one might someday remember fondly. I was the Dining Hall Steward. What’s that, you ask? It’s the person who makes meals run smoothly by calming hundreds of screaming kids and introducing each menu item.…

  • The Princess and the Pea

    My sewing machine has been on a shelf since I made the McCall’s 6442 jacket in January, and my blog has basically been on the shelf since then too. But when the temperature fell below 50 degrees earlier this month I got out some yarn and knitting needles (my crafting gateway drug), and the sewing…

  • McCall’s 6442

    Models and sketches on the front of patterns from conventional pattern makers (McCall’s, Butterick, Simplicity, etc.) are notoriously comical. Seldom have I found a pattern and thought, “That’s something I must make!” Take McCall’s 6442, for instance.Take it all in, but focus especially on those boots. And the steely gaze from the girl on the…

  • A Fox, a Lamb and an Owl, Oh My!

    Normally Christmas brings with it a flurry of crafting. I usually can be found huddled over my sewing machine for weeks leading up to the day as I try to perfect something for each family member. This year that didn’t happen, and I have a feeling no one minded but me. While making gifts for…

  • Simple Quilted Coasters

    Lately I have been awful about working on projects. I started a jacket a month ago. It has been sitting on our dining room table in a stack of pieces all that time. I’ll put  a sleeve on, and then take a sleeve off. I’ll top-stitch a hem, and then rip it all out. It’s…

  • First Birthday Fun

    I’ve never made pin tucks. I’ve never made button holes. In fact, I tend to steer clear of anything the least bit fussy. But when I was looking for a dress pattern to make for my niece for her first birthday, I landed on the Family Reunion dress from Oliver + S and kind of…

  • New Look Skirt 6899

    I have entirely too many skirts, but I didn’t come to this realization before I cut into my most recent project: New Look Skirt 6899. I used Anna Maria Horner’s Little Folks collection in Village Path, Berry. It has such a great, light weight to it and the hand is so silky. It’s a big step…