We made garments from our fabric scraps and we reveal them to each other ON THE PODCAST! We chat about how we decided which scraps to put together, our patchwork techniques, and how we feel about our scrap stashes now.
The transcript for this episode is on this page at the end of the show notes.
Show Notes:
From the Listener Feedback Section:
Previous Episodes Mentioned:
- Episode 206: Sewing Ergonomics with Rose Parr
- Episode 285: We Sew Eyelet
- Episode 291: We Sew Fashion Trends
- Episode 298: Building a Sewing Business with Sydney Graham
Helen’s Patchwork Dress:
Caroline’s Patchwork Jacket:
The Origins of Caroline’s Scraps:
- Red Block Print Top
Other Mentions:
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Transcript:
Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.
Caroline: Hello and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns.
Helen: And I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.
Caroline: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew, and it’s literally all we want to talk about.
Helen: We made garments from our fabric scraps and we’re about to reveal them to each other on the podcast! We’ll share how we decided which scraps to put together, how we patchworked them, and how we feel about our scrap stashes now.
Caroline: If you love to sew, this is your show. Bonjour, Helen!
Helen: Bonjour, Caroline!
Caroline: Comment ça va?
Helen: Ça va bien, et toi? Et tu? Wait, my French is deteriorating already.
Caroline: This will make sense in a minute.
Helen: How are you, Caroline?
Caroline: I am buzzing. I’m so good. I’m so excited to find out what you made with your scraps…
Helen: I know.
Caroline: And to show you what I made. It’s gonna be epic. I know. It’s gonna be epic.
Helen: Yeah. This is our last We Sew episode this season and we saved it for last because we knew it was gonna be a beast to sew. ‘Cause sewing with scraps is not always easy.
Caroline: No.
Helen: So I’m excited to hear what you made and also talk about sewing with scraps. ‘Cause we all have them. We all have so many of them.
Caroline: We really do. Yes. And I’m also really excited, but before we dive in, we wanna remind you all that the best way to support Love to Sew is by joining us over on Patreon or Apple Podcast subscriptions.
Helen: Yes. You get access to bonus content every month and we have so much fun catching up with you all on those more casual bonus episodes. We talk about things like these projects that we’re working on. We talk about other things we’re sewing, things we’re loving right now, TV shows, podcasts, and we just get to chit chat and get a little behind-the-scenes peek at our lives, which is really nice.
Caroline: Yeah. I love recording those episodes with you and it really means so much if you all are able to support us over there, even if it’s just for a month or two. And honestly, if that’s not in the cards for you right now, we totally get it. So no worries. But we always like to just let you know that we love seeing you over there.
Helen: Yes, we do. And you can also support us for free by rating and reviewing us on Apple Podcasts. We haven’t asked for reviews in a little while, so we’d really love some more recent ones on our show. So if you have a minute and you’d be willing to do that, that would be absolutely amazing.
Caroline: And above all, thank you all so much for listening, for cheering us on. Go over on social media this week and let us know what you think of our scrap projects.
Helen: Yes, there will be photos on the website, too. You can head to lovetosewpodcast.com right now if you just wanna see these projects, you can’t wait.
Caroline: Yeah. You kind of have to see them while you’re listening.
Helen: It’s true.
Caroline: But not if you’re driving. Wait till, wait till you’re not driving.
Helen: Caroline, when you see my project, you are going to choke. You are gonna need your epi-pen. You’re gonna expire.
Caroline: Let me go grab it. Hold on. Pause, please. We’re both just gonna pass out from just being so impressed with each other’s projects.
Helen: I feel it.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: Okay, we’re gonna kick off today’s episode with a little bit of feedback, although it’s not coming from a listener today, it’s actually coming from me, because I had a very interesting discussion with the good people at Discovery Fabrics the other day about seam sealing. We were talking about rainwear fabrics on the podcast, making waterproof garments and things this season, and I’m working on a raincoat pattern. I went up to Discovery to get some fabric and I was chatting with them about seam sealing and they’re so knowledgeable, first of all. If you’ve got questions, they’re amazing. But basically they told me, don’t bother…
Caroline: Yeah. That’s so interesting.
Helen: Which was kind of a relief, honestly. I’m still gonna experiment with the various options and make some tutorial content, some resource content around the pattern. But what Leslie said, Leslie’s the owner of Discovery, is that seam sealing is almost always unnecessary and/or not worth it, particularly with the tape. It takes a lot of time and it is almost impossible to do well at home because we just don’t have the same commercial grade welding machine that heats and cools the tape as it goes along, that actually adheres it properly to the fabric. You can do it at home with a mini Clover iron, those tiny little itty bitty irons, heating the tape. And then she said, best to let it cool and set overnight. So it’s quite a slow process. You’re gonna have to do several rounds of this. And then the mini iron is necessary because a larger plate is gonna damage your fabric at this heat level. You need it to be hot, hot, hot. So it’s risky with the fabric. It’s difficult to do right. It’s especially hard to do properly on curves. So chances are you’re gonna put in this work and it’s not necessarily gonna be sealed.
Caroline: That’s so interesting. I hadn’t really clocked that, but it’s so true that rainwear fabrics are often made from polyester or nylon, which can scorch and burn and melt under high heat, so that makes a lot of sense. I also wasn’t aware of the welding machine. Like, a welding machine. What is a welding machine? A commercial welding machine?
Helen: Honestly, I haven’t looked, I haven’t looked into what that machine does, but that’s what they use when they’re manufacturing rainwear garments and tents and things. And it properly adheres the tape and cools it. And obviously we’re not gonna have access to that, so we can mimic that at home, but to varying degrees of success. Obviously, you wanna do tests and stuff when you’re trying to do these kind of applications and see what kind of results you’re getting. Don’t do it right onto your finished garment, please.
Caroline: Yeah. So true.
Helen: Not saying that it’s impossible by any means. And if you’re really interested in it, I think it’s totally worth pursuing. I’m still curious about it. I got some tape, I got some liquid seam sealing, and I’m excited to give it a go. The seam sealing liquid can be messy, but it is a little bit easier to apply ’cause you just brush it on and it kind of fills the holes from the needle. But what Leslie did tell me is that, far more important than sealing your seams, is using a proper size needle and proper size thread. If your thread is not big enough to fill the hole that your needle leaves behind, that is how the water is gonna get in. If you use a proper size thread that can actually fill that hole, not a lot of water is gonna get in there. Even if you topstitch, ’cause they make rain wear garments there as well, for sale, like, ready-to-wear, they have a little garment section at the front of their store and they topstitch all their seams and they don’t do seam sealing. Like, they just use really high-quality waterproof fabric. They use the right thread, the right needles, they topstitch their seams. So there’s, there is, like, extra holes along there but, like, the seams are double stitched so they’re nice and secure. So most seams are not even gonna let in the water. Unless you’re out in some kind of crazy downpour for a long period of time. So it does depend on what you’re planning to use the rainwear for. If you’re gonna go on a hike in the rain, then yes, you may want that extra protection. But for most of us, dog walking, going to work, grabbing our groceries, living our lives in a rainy climate like we do here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s not necessarily gonna be worth it to go and seal all your seams unless you’re really excited about it.
Caroline: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, this is really cool information. Thank you for sharing, and thanks to the folks at Discovery Fabrics for giving you that intel. I love getting that, like, real-world experience.
Helen: Exactly. They’ve made so many garments and they’ve worked with these fabrics and they have beautiful rainwear fabrics that are really nice and waterproof. So it was honestly a bit of a relief because I was like, I need to include in the pattern all this information about how to properly rainproof these fabrics. And then now I’m thinking more, I wanna make this accessible to the home sewist and then have resources available on my website if people are interested. But I don’t necessarily need to be telling everybody, you have to seal your seams. ‘Cause that also makes it feel like quite an undertaking of a project, you know?
Caroline: Yeah, totally. It might deter some people who are looking for something a little bit easier and don’t want to be intimidated by this, like, new sort of technique that you would have to learn.
Helen: Yeah, exactly. And new materials that you might need as well, which can be quite expensive. So yeah, that’s a little update on rainwear. And if any of our listeners have sealed seams and have experience with that, we’d obviously love to hear from you if you have thoughts on that, as well. So let us know.
Caroline: Yeah. Leave us a voicemail like our next listener, Jamie, that we’re gonna talk about. Who left us a lovely voicemail.
Jamie: Hi, this is Jamie from California. I love the show. I just was listening to the episode where you said you were on your 250th show. Apparently, I’ve listened to a hundred shows, says my podcast app, so I still have lots and lots to catch up on. This is a very silly comment, but I just wanna say that when I got into sewing, right, there’s, like, a few French terms that are like, you know, sound really fancy and exciting, like “couture,” you know? Like, I love the way that that’s pronounced. And there’s this word, H-A-U-T-E, which I was like, oh, this must be a very fancy French word, but I don’t know how you say it, ‘cause I don’t know how to pronounce French. And then I very recently learned that it’s pronounced “oat” and, like, as an American, that is so unexciting and so un-fancy. I thought it was like “hot” or “hoat” or something, but no, it’s “oat.” Oat couture. And I just think it sounds ridiculous, but yeah. All right. Love you guys. Bye.
Helen: Oh my gosh. That is hilarious.
Caroline: I know. I love it. “It’s so unfancy.”
Helen: “Oat. Are you serious? Oat?”
Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It’s, it’s pretty hilarious that you’re disappointed by how haute couture is pronounced. I’ve never really thought about it, but it does kind of sound like the thing you’d make porridge with. But this voicemail gave us kind of a fun idea, ’cause there are so many fashion and sewing terms that are borrowed from the French language. And I am a French speaker, so I was thinking maybe I could help with some pronunciations.
Helen: Yes, you really need to sell Jamie on the pronunciation of this. Maybe if you say it with the French accent, they’ll be like, “Haute! I get it!”
Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. ‘Cause I, I don’t mind the word “haute.” I think it’s a nice word, especially when you pair it with “couture.”
Helen: Yes. Maybe it’s the pronunciation of “couture” you need to have nailed down. This is why Caroline’s gonna do it and not me. ‘Cause I, I hear it. It’s not quite right.
Caroline: And I am a French speak speaker from Quebec, which, the pronunciation of words in Quebec is, like, slightly different than French from France. But anyways, I will pronounce these words how I know to pronounce them. Um, but yeah, let’s go through, maybe I’ll say the word and you can say what it means.
Helen: Ooh. And how, maybe, it’s somewhat often pronounced by non-French speakers.
Caroline: Yeah. You could do, like, your version.
Helen: I’m really gonna ham it up.
Caroline: Yes. Okay. So, kind of continuing on with “haute,” there’s another word that is: “couturier.”
Helen: Yes. A “coo-ture-ee-er.”. This is someone…
Caroline: This is gonna kill me. I love it.
Helen: This is somebody who makes haute couture.
Caroline: Okay.
Helen: I’m trying, I’m trying.
Caroline: I know you are trying. I love it. “Atelier.”
Helen: I would say “atelier.” Add that hard R in there.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: This is a studio or a workshop.
Caroline: Mm-hmm. “Entredeux.”
Helen: “Entredeux.” That’s nice.
Caroline: You do this, like, oh my gosh, this “eur” thing.
Helen: Have you ever watched the Great Canadian Bake-Off? You know, one of the, one of the judges has a very thick Quebecois accent and I love it.
Caroline: I know.
Helen: So, “entredeux?” Is that good? That’s a type of embroidery stitch used to join two pieces of fabric in heirloom sewing,
Caroline: Okay. The next one is “toile.”
Helen: “Toile.” I know that one. That is also known as a muslin or a test version of your garment.
Caroline: Yeah. I’ve seen people say twall.
Helen: Oh, twall. Yeah. Yeah. I think “toil” is funny because it does feel like you are toiling.
Caroline: Yeah, it’s true. Okay, so the next one is “voile,” which also I think people say v-oil. Yeah.
Helen: Yes, I have said “voil” for many years. I’m trying to correct that one. Lightweight, usually sheer cotton fabric.
Caroline: Plissé.
Helen: “Plissé.” That one I haven’t heard. That means “pleated” in French. It’s usually used for permanently pleated synthetic fabrics. Those ones that are kind of like little scrunchie accordions.
Caroline: “Broderie anglaise.”
Helen: “Broderie anglaise.” Another word for eyelet fabric.
Caroline: “Prêt-à-porter.”
Helen: Ooh, that makes me think of Prêt à Manger.
Caroline: Mm-hmm. Yeah, it’s true. That’s the name.
Helen: Which is “ready to eat,” right?
Caroline: Yes. Yes. I think that’s also, like, there’s like a restaurant called Prêt à Manger.
Helen: Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I mean. Yeah. Very popular. That’s “ready-to-wear.”
Caroline: “Bouclé.”
Helen: “Bouclé.” A nubbly, highly textured, woven fabric used for suiting, like in classic Chanel suits.
Caroline: “Charmeuse.”
Helen: Oh, I’m definitely just saying “sharm-ooze.”
Caroline: Charmeuse. Yeah.
Helen: Sharm-use! A lightweight, fluid, satin fabric. Wait, say that one again, Caroline.
Caroline: Charmeuse.
Helen: Ooh. Chills.
Caroline: Okay. The next one, I think a lot of people have heard of: “jacquard.”
Helen: Ooh. Yeah. ‘Cause most people do put that D in there.
Caroline: Yeah. Jac-ard.
Helen: Jac-ard. Yeah. Specialty woven fabrics like brocades and damasks are often made on a jacquard loom.
Caroline: “Jacquard.”
Helen: Jachard. Ja. No, I’m putting the D on. Oh my gosh. I need to not do this on a podcast.
Caroline: We’re definitely gonna offend some people. And for that, I am sorry.
Helen: I am representing the segment of listeners who doesn’t know how to pronounce these words and is learning today.
Caroline: Yes. Okay. Okay. The last one we have today is: “crêpe de chine.”
Helen: “Crêpe de chine.” That one has a little cute little accent hat, what do you call that?
Caroline: Circonflex.
Helen: Ooh. Yes. And that’s crepe fabric with a pebbled texture and a lot of beautiful drape.
Caroline: Yes. And that was really fun.
Helen: It was. And we should say that I don’t think anyone’s gonna bat an eye if you don’t pronounce these words the French way at the fabric store. But it is fun to know and learn and practice correct pronunciations of things. So hopefully we all learned a little something today. I know I did.
Caroline: I would argue that people would bat an eye if you do pronounce these words the correct way.
Helen: You should endeavour to confuse people…
Caroline: Like, in North America. Yeah.
Helen: With your correct pronunciation.
Caroline: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. Well that was really fun. I think though it’s time to move on and get a little scrappy, ’cause I am just so excited.
Helen: Me too. Me too. Me too. Me too.
Caroline: Alright, Helen, are you gonna reveal yours first? Because I can’t wait.
Helen: Yes. Okay, I got, I can’t believe this moment has come.
Caroline: I know. The anticipation is killing me. Oh my gosh. Okay. Wait. Oh, it’s so pretty.
Helen: Thank you.
Caroline: The colours are so good. Wow.
Helen: I know. We’ll get into that, ’cause there’s a reason why all the colours go so well together.
Caroline: Wait, Helen, it’s so pretty. There’s a reason why the colours go so good together? Did you, like, dye them or something?
Helen: Oh my gosh, no. Can you imagine? No. This is the new Fableism Watercolour Wovens collection. So they were designed to go together. I had a bunch of leftover scraps from cutting out the bunting for my wedding, and I used every single piece that was left over to make this dress.
Caroline: What? Of course, that’s why it’s so many triangles or, like, off triangles, like half square triangles. Is that what they’re called?
Helen: Yeah, exactly, yeah, half square rectangles.
Caroline: Wow. Helen, it’s so pretty. I love it. Wait, what pattern is this?
Helen: It’s the Syd Graham Skyline Dress which, for those who aren’t familiar, has three tiers. The bottom two tiers are rectangles and then the top tier is a bodice, but it’s also gathered into a bias binding finish around the neck and arms, and it makes, like, a spaghetti strap. So it’s very flowy, A line, breezy, beautiful summer vibes, and it’s a midi length. And the Watercolour Woven collection is, like, earthy rainbow, I would say? Like, it has this, like, beautiful warmth to it, but it does include the whole spectrum of the rainbow. So it is a very eye-catching piece.
Caroline: Okay. Helen, sorry. You look so good. Like, you’re, like, glowing in this dress. It looks so good on you. The pattern looks amazing. The colours are perfect. I love your, like, matching shoes. Helen’s, like, in…like the blue sky, like, beachy. You must be near a beach. It’s sandy. Oh my gosh. It’s so, so perfect. I love it. I love it. It looks so good. This is so fun. Okay, are you gonna wear it all the time this summer? Also so seasonally appropriate. I love it. We’re going into summer.
Helen: It does feel very appropriate for summer and I think after I finished it I was like, okay, this is so gorgeous. I’m gonna toot my own horn. It’s so gorgeous. I love it so much. It’s a real showstopper. So I think it’s probably the dress I’m gonna wear to, like, my family welcome dinner before the wedding.
Caroline: Oh, yay. It’s so perfect.
Helen: But I had a moment where I was like, is this my wedding dress? Am I wearing this? This is incredible.
Caroline: It’s so beautiful. I love the, the piecing that you did, you used smaller triangles around the top and then sort of medium-sized through the middle, and then at the bottom they seem maybe a little bit bigger and, but then you also have strips at the bottom so it brings your eye, like, up and then down and oh, I love it. I can’t wait to hear about how this was put together. Wow.
Helen: Yeah, that was a conscious choice, for sure, to have the sizing go from tighter at the top to larger at the bottom, to kind of create that vertical flow down the dress. And one of the things that I loved about this project is I sort of made it as I was going. I was like, I think I’m gonna make a dress for my patchwork project and I’m gonna use these fabrics. And I started putting them together, ’cause first you kinda have to make fabric from your scraps. And then I was like, I think I have enough to make this pattern. And it just kind of all started to click. And I was like, oh, I could do the top out of the little ones and the middle out of the medium and then the stripes on the bottom. And it was really fun to put together. And I ended up using every single leftover piece. Every single piece.
Caroline: Wow. Oh my gosh. Incredible.
Helen: So it’s truly satisfying.
Caroline: It looks so good. And even though all the little blocks are not the same, like, the little, where the triangle hits is not the same. Sometimes it’s like a small triangle and a big triangle. Sometimes it’s even, it’s still, the motif repeats, the, like, angles kind of repeat. So it just works. And I, that’s the beauty of, like, working with scraps, right? Like, you kind of have to make it work with what you have.
Helen: Yeah. You can take your scraps and cut them into uniform pieces, but in this case, I took my scraps, which were relatively uniform, I will say. I had mostly, like, chunky wonky triangles left ’cause I was cutting triangle bunting. So I had long strips from the top of the fat quarter and then I had weird little wonky triangles from the sides. and I put them together just as they were. So like you were saying, the angle on the half square rectangles is different. Like, they don’t match up. The points are not all perfect, they’re all kind of over the place. They’re wonky, they’re kind of funky-looking. But as a whole, once you put it all together, it just works. And it doesn’t matter that they’re not perfect and that they’re not, like, all lined up perfectly. So I was really happy with that. I also had a moment where I almost unpicked the bottom tier because I noticed that the angles on the half square rectangles were going in the opposite direction.
Caroline: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Helen: And I was, like, looking at it on my table being like, oh no, I messed this up. Like, everything’s going to the left and then this tier’s going to the right and, like, it’s ruining the flow of the whole dress. And I was all in my head about it, but honestly, I was just like, I’m not unpicking all of these seams at this point. It’s just not happening. So I just went ahead and finished it and it doesn’t matter. It still looks really cool and it adds a little visual interest.
Caroline: It really does. Yeah. It kind of highlights that there’s this, like, bottom gathered tier on it. I just keep wa, I’m watching your video on loop ’cause it’s so, so beautiful. So you sewed everything with your serger so that the seams would be finished, as well?
Helen: I didn’t go with the machine at all. I just ran everything through the serger. ‘Cause I was like, I need to expedite the process, first of all. ‘Cause it’s, like, so many pieces to sew together. There’s a lot of tiny pieces. And then I figured, yeah, they would all be finished. ‘Cause otherwise I’d have to, like, line it or something. And this way it will stand up to being washed. I’ll still probably wash it by hand and hang it to dry just so that it doesn’t get super, like, wrinkly in the washing machine and dryer. But, yeah, going in with just the serger I think is a good way to approach scrap projects sometimes. ‘Cause you just need to make sure the seams are finished and the serger is, like, if you have your tension correct, will hold that seam nice and strong.
Caroline: Wow. I really wanna make this pattern now, too. It’s really cute. It’s really cute.
Helen: Thanks! I know, it was so cute. Okay, I wanna talk more about the pattern, but I, first wanna see yours. I wanna see yours so bad.
Caroline: Okay. Okay. Lemme send it to you.
Helen: Okay, I just saw the preview. Ah! I’m dying. Oh my gosh. Stop. Caroline, this is huge. I mean, not huge size-wise. I mean monumental.
Caroline: Well it is huge size-wise, as well.
Helen: A quilted jacket! You quilted!
Caroline: I know, I think I made you proud with this one, or I was hoping I would.
Helen: You did! Oh my gosh. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Okay. I am looking at a quilted jacket. Tell me everything.
Caroline: Yes. So this is the Rue Quilted Coat from Spaghetti Western Sewing. And the fabric used for the coat is several nine square block quilts that I made. And all of the squares are made from scraps. So I went with, like, a tonal kind of colour scheme, mostly browns, different tones of browns. And I used, like, pops of that sort of chartreuse-y green and red and some blue and denim and cream. So it’s kind of a mix of, like, solids, a few prints, yarn dyes. And I used all woven scraps. I used scraps from many past projects. I’m gonna have fun pulling pictures of all those projects and I’ll, I’ll put them in the show notes and maybe we’ll do a post about them. But I also ended up dipping into our scraps at work, because we generate so many scraps at work and often we just donate them. So I thought it would be fun to go in and just to be able to stick with my sort of colour scheme. I could use some of the scraps and like flawed bits and bobs at work to sort of supplement. So, yeah, it was a beast of a project, Helen.
Helen: Right? Not only are you patchworking, but then you had to sandwich, quilt, like, you went for it. Oh my gosh.
Caroline: Yeah. I fully quilted it. I’ve been in a sewing hole for the last three weeks, basically just working on this project. But I am so, so happy with it. I love it. I love how it fits. I feel like it’s gonna be this, like, heirloom piece that I’m going to keep forever. Like, it feels so special and I’m really proud of it.
Helen: It’s gorgeous. I love the size, too. The fit looks really cozy and like something that you can wear even if your size changes. It’s not gonna be too small or anything. Like it’s, it’s a nice oversized fit that doesn’t look like it’s too big.
Caroline: Totally. Yeah. The pattern is designed to be oversized and I even kind of sized up. I just knew I wanted it to be, like, big. I was like, I wanna swim in this. I want it to be cozy. I wanna wrap myself in it when I’m cold. Like I just, I really did not wanna risk it being, like, tight around the hips or anything. And I didn’t wanna make a muslin, so I was like, I’m just gonna go big. I’m going big. And it totally worked out.
Helen: It looks great. How big are the patches in your nine patch?
Caroline: So they’re two and a half inch squares.
Helen: Finished or started?
Caroline: Started. Sorry. Yeah. So finished it would be two inch, ’cause I used a quarter inch seam allowance. And then, yeah, six inch or six and a half inch unfinished squares for the bigger brown ones.
Helen: I love that you alternated the solid squares and the nine patch. ‘Cause it really makes it have this checkerboard effect and it’s like a checkerboard within a checkerboard, which is really fun. And then I also just absolutely love the colour combination and the way you’ve mixed prints and solids. ‘Cause it really adds some amazing warmth to the project. Like there’s so much depth there because of all the little flowers and other little motifs. I can’t see it super up close, but it is so cute. I can see all your little prints in there, ginghams, ah!
Caroline: Yeah. I thought it would be too busy to do only nine square blocks for the whole thing. And similarly, yeah, I was like, it’ll be too busy if I’m only pulling prints and stripes and, like, ginghams and stuff. So I, I really wanted to mix the solids in. But the solid red is, like, from my We Sew Eyelet top, the lining. There’s, like, a little brown check from my We Sew the Trends top. There’s actually brown poplin. A lot of the brown popin that I use in here is also from the We Sew the Trends skirt that I made. And then there’s, like, a linen check from a project that I made, the, um, oh my gosh, I forget the name of the pattern, but it has, like, little ties, on the, at the waist.
Helen: Yeah, I remember that one.
Caroline: And, there’s, like, some scraps from a Sabrina Skirt sample that we made recently for the photoshoot. And lots of other little ones. And, like, lining from my Thompson Coat. So lots and lots of…even the OG red block print top that I made, the, like, Wiksten hack a while ago. I found scraps from that. So I really went diving for scraps. And I had a lot of fun picking things that worked together. Luckily, I am pretty predictable with my colour choices in my wardrobe, so I was able to find a colour scheme that really worked.
Helen: The way you’ve combined it is really impressive. It’s so cool. Like, I feel like I would’ve been tempted to go all brown or all cream, but the pops of red and the pops of, like, icy blue really make it. Like, and that’s a bold choice, ’cause there’s not a ton of them, but you’ve mixed them in so perfectly.
Caroline: Oh, thank you. I’m really happy with how, how it worked out and I’m excited to talk about the process with you as well.
Helen: Oh, I bet. Wait, uh, first I just have one more question, ’cause I wanna talk about the quilting. Like, you quilted in the ditch of the nine patch, it looks like?
Caroline: Yes. I ended up quilting in the ditch. Yeah, so it created that grid pattern on the bigger blocks as well.
Helen: That’s what I was gonna say, yeah. So cool.
Caroline: And it’s not perfect. Like I’ll maybe, I don’t know that I have any really close up pictures on my phone, but I’ll definitely share some. But like, I’m not perfectly in the ditch for every block. Like, things shifted around. I really tried not to be too precious with it, ’cause I was like, it’s such a big project. I can’t be a perfectionist. I’m already not the biggest perfectionist with my sewing but, like, for this, I was like, I know these quilt lines are not gonna be perfect, and I’m accepting that. And I just went with it and I was like, I know it’s just gonna all blend in the end. And it did, so.
Helen: It does. Yeah. I think quilting in the ditch can be really challenging. It’s so hard to get it right in the ditch, and oftentimes people don’t get it in there, or don’t even try to get it in there, but they still go in the ditch and, like, it wobbles a bit, but from a distance you never see it. And then, even up close, I think it adds a nice level of handcrafted feel.
Caroline: Yeah. Totally.
Helen: Incredible. You must be so proud of yourself. This is amazing.
Caroline: I am really proud. Thank you. I’m so proud and I, I am so excited. I mentioned the seasonality of your dress because I’m sad that we’re going into summer and I’m probably not gonna be able to wear this jacket until, you know, later this summer. But that being said, I finished it a few days ago and it was kind of cold and rainy the next day, so I wore it to work immediately and I, like, didn’t take it off all day. I was like, I am getting wear out of this jacket. And we’re heading to Montreal this weekend and it’s gonna be a little bit chillier there, so I’m gonna bring it along. I’m gonna get as much wear out of it as I can. It’s always a good sign when you finish a project and you just wanna put it on. Like, I just wanna wear this jacket, so I know I’m going to rediscover it in the fall and get tons of wear out of it, so.
Helen: Oh yeah. You’re gonna be wearing this jacket all the time. Even now. I mean, it’s unseasonably warm here right now, but it’s gonna get cool again. And evening walks, you know? It’s so cozy. I feel like quilted jackets are a great transitional piece because you’d think they would be really, really warm, but actually they’re really breathable, especially if you make them out of cotton. And you know, with the lightweight batting in there, they keep you the right level of warm, I think, depending on the situation. They don’t tend to, like, hold heat or moisture too much, so they can be really great for this time of year.
Caroline: Yeah. I think it is the most comfortable thing I’ve ever made because it’s, it’s like I’m wear, I’m literally wearing a blanket, but the fit is so… it doesn’t pull or, like, constrict in any way. It just feels like a big hug. And it makes me really happy to like, look down and see it, too, when I’m wearing it. So, yeah. No, I’m, I’m pretty obsessed. I’m obsessed with yours, too, though. We need to talk about this. So what else do we need to cover for this, for your project? Because, yeah, what made you choose this pattern?
Helen: So obviously, we had Syd on the show this season, so I was really excited about the idea of choosing one of her patterns, specifically this dress. ‘Cause in my head I was thinking, I would love to patchwork a bunch of fabric together to make a dress, and there’s lots of dress patterns that could work really well for this. But this one in particular is really popular for patchworking. If you go to the hashtag for the Skyline Dress, there’s a ton of patchwork versions. There’s even some patchwork versions in the product photos for this one. I think it works really well because the bottom two tiers are big rectangles, so it’s obviously challenging when you’re working with scraps to make the fabric to make the project out of. It’s like a two step process. You have your scraps and you have to make material, fabric, and then you can cut out the project. So if you’re just making a rectangle, it’s a little bit easier to patchwork the fabric together into a square, rectangle shape, than into an actual pattern piece kind of -esque shape. So with the pieces I was working with, I knew that rectangles would be super easy, and then I only had to worry about cutting a pattern piece out of the top tier part, which was a little bit stressful. When I was cutting it out, I was like, ’cause you put all the time patchworking it together, and then you’re like, oh, I’m cutting it. Oh! But this dress is really forgiving. Every tier is gathered into the next one, including the bodice is gathered into the bias binding. So I knew that no matter what, I would be able to adjust the fit of the bodice. And I cut it out, I stay stitched and gathered all of the neckline pieces, and then I just pinned on some straps so I could double check that the fit was gonna be correct before I did the binding part. So it was relatively easy to adjust as needed because it’s gathered. So you could make it wider, you can make it narrower. It’s really easy. So I think that’s one of the reasons why this pattern is so great and why it’s been so successful in the community. It’s quick to sew, it’s easy to make. The fit is forgiving, the instructions are good and the result beautiful. What more could you ask for?
Caroline: Yeah. Totally. It is like the perfect pattern for this project, and it’s a really good point that the tiers are just rectangles. So when you’re quilting together fabric, it just takes a little bit more of that guesswork out.
Helen: Yeah, exactly. And I even made my tiers, like, they weren’t quite the same size as the tier in the pattern, but as long as each tier is bigger than the last one, you’re fine.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: You can adjust. If you want more volume, you can make them bigger, you can make them longer, narrower. You can adjust it to fit what you have on hand. So it makes it really flexible. And yeah, I mean, I live in dresses like this all summer, like around the house and going out swimming. That’s the perfect, like, throw it on, go to the beach. So I am definitely gonna be wearing this one. And I am hoping for compliments when I’m out and about in it. I think it’s a good one.
Caroline: Oh, I am sure you’re gonna get compliments. It’s so cute.
Helen: Oh my gosh.
Caroline: The colours are so beautiful.
Helen: It was really fun to make and it, I kind of made it in a whirlwind. Like, I feel like I cheated a little bit, Caroline, I’ll confess, because using scraps from a fat quarter bundle means they all were kind of uniform and they all went together. And they were fresh scraps. Like, the concept of a scrap project to me, I was like, oh, I have all these scraps that have been in my stash for years, but then all of a sudden I was, like, cutting out this bunting and I was like, wow, look at these scraps. They’re so beautiful. And I was about to start my scrap project and I was like, I’m just gonna use these. And it was the fastest I’ve ever sewn up scraps.
Caroline: Yeah. Quick turnaround.
Helen: Like…
Caroline: That’s a testament to Fableism.
Helen: Quick turnaround. Yeah, exactly. They were irresistible. But I do have a lot of linen scraps. That’s one scrap that I pretty much always save, is washed linen or everyday linen, heavyweight linen. All those scraps I have tons of. So I might make a dress 2.0 with the linen scraps. ‘Cause now that I’ve kind of tried it with this, I’m itching to do another one, for sure.
Caroline: Yeah. Well, I would just release that feeling of cheating because I think the purpose of this episode, to me at least, was to, A, use scraps. You did that. B, inspire people in the community to also go dipping into their scrap stash and make something fun and show that you can make really cool things with scraps. So you did that as well. And whether it’s a new scrap or an old scrap, it’s still a scrap. And really, you made something that you love and that you’re gonna wear. And that’s really important, too, I think, so.
Helen: Yeah. It’s true. And I used every bit of that bundle, which felt really good. Like it was, it’s so beautiful. And to make use of every little tiny piece, just, like, was so satisfying. And one thing I will say to encourage people out there, if they wanna experiment with making a scrap dress like this is: the pieces don’t have to be this small. Like, these pieces were pretty small and I quilt, so I was like, I got this, you know, looking at a pile of like 500 pieces of fabric and being like, I could sew those together. But like, you don’t have to go that small. There’s tons of versions of this skyline dress made with larger pieces, like, you know, 16 inches wide by 20 inches tall, and you just put some of those together and you get a really similar effect. So you don’t have to go this tiny to achieve this look.
Caroline: Yeah, totally. And a lot of the time, scraps aren’t tiny. Sometimes you end up with a big chunk at the end of a project that you want to use that for something, and maybe it’s not big enough to make a whole new garment out of that one fabric. So that’s the perfect use case for something like this.
Helen: Totally.
Caroline: Yeah, speaking to the scraps, in my case, I don’t know if you remember, but when we decided on this episode, when we were doing our brainstorming, I had just done a huge clean out of my sewing room. Remember when I told you I, like, purged everything? And I had actually brought all of my scraps into the warehouse, all of them. I was like, I’m getting rid of all of these scraps. Like, they’re haunting me. I don’t need these anymore. And…
Helen: “I’m never gonna use these.”
Caroline: Yeah. Caveat, like, we are really lucky because in Vancouver we have Fabcycle, which is a textile recycling and reuse center. And so, at Blackbird, we collect every single scrap and we try to use it as much as we can. So our in-person shopping days we do fill-a-bag where people can go through the scraps. We save all the slightly bigger ones or flawed pieces of fabric for that. And then anything that’s too small, we donate to Fabcycle. So in my mind, I was like, this isn’t going in the garbage. It’s going to either be recycled or, you know, go into the fill-a-bag pile or whatever. But then we said we were going to do this episode, so I had to go back to the warehouse and go into, we have this giant u-line cart, like a rolling kind of almost laundry cart. It’s enormous. That is just filled with fabric scraps. And so, ’cause we hadn’t done like a pickup in a while, so I had to go through and find all of my bags of scraps so that I could pull out…’cause I really wanted to, like, genuinely use my scraps for this project, at least for the most part. So I had to go through and find all of my old scraps, which was hilarious. ‘Cause I was like, they’re haunting me. Like they’re, they’re, I have to go back. But in doing that, I was also able to go through a lot of the other scraps that we, at Blackbird, were gonna donate, that were quote unquote, you know, unusable, that I was able to, to pull out and, give them some new life. So that was exciting, too. Yeah.
Helen: That must’ve been so funny and amazing that, that you tried to get rid of them, but they just came crawling back.
Caroline: Yeah, they just came crawling back. And honestly, I kind of have a new outlook on scraps now because I thought so much about different projects that I could make with scraps. And so now I’m gonna try to be more intentional about what scraps I save so that they don’t feel overwhelming and they maybe have a little bit more of a purpose. Because I would love to make just an actual quilt out of scraps, really similar to this jacket. ‘Cause I love how it turned out so much. And I basically made a quilt in five pieces.
Helen: Yeah, exactly. You can do it.
Caroline: ‘Cause I made five panels for this jacket. So if I put them all together, it’s, it’s a huge quilt. And I think I could totally do it again as a little project that’s ongoing. I was actually really inspired by Sienna, @notaprimarycolor on Instagram, because she was working on a nine square kind of scrap block project years ago and I remember loving what she was coming up with. And so when I was thinking about how to use my scraps, I was like, oh, I want to go find these posts on her Instagram and see what she did with them. And I’m pretty sure she made a quilt with them in the end. But she kind of did it over time, like, accumulating the scraps and making blocks. And I sort of condensed that into just a few weeks. But very, very inspiring, her project that she ended up doing with that. And then for the colours in the coat, I was, I was really inspired by @whatabbeywore’s version of the Rue Coat with, it’s mostly brown and it has some pops of red and blue in it. And so when I saw that, I was like, ooh, I want to do a similar colour scheme. I ended up incorporating more colour into mine, more kind of varied tones, but that was kind of what put me over the edge of like, that’s the project I want to do.
Helen: Oh my gosh. Great inspiration. It turned out so beautiful. Like, I know I said that already, but I’m just looking at it again. I’m like, this jacket is so beautiful.
Caroline: Yeah, next time I see you, you can try it on. ‘Cause I feel like it would look really good on you, too. It’s, yeah, I don’t know if I talked specifically about the details of the pattern, but one of the things I love about it is it has this, like, retro kind of collar, like, it’s like an oversized, not really like peter pan collar, but it’s like a nice curvy collar. It’s, it’s very nice. And it has these, like, side splits at the hem. And it’s all finished with bias tape. And there’s some patch pockets. And so, yeah, it’s, it’s a really nice design, an easy to fit design.
Helen: Yeah. The pockets look kind of similar to the Wildwood pockets, and it’s my favourite style of pocket for a jacket because the angle to put your hands in the pockets is perfect. And that’s what you want in a quilted coat. ‘Cause you wanna be able to just cozy up and stick your hands in at the right angle. And it works. It’s so cute.
Caroline: Yeah. I also slightly adjusted the shape of those pockets ’cause they had a couple of right angles in them and I didn’t want to sew binding around a right angle. So I just cur- I just, like, smoothed it into a curve so I could just do a continuous curve around.
Helen: That’s why it looks even more like the Wildwood pockets, then.
Caroline: Yeah. Because the Wildwood pockets are perfect. So yeah. I, I definitely wanted to change that up. But the only other change I made was lengthening the coat by a couple inches. ‘Cause it’s actually drafted for 5’2” height. I’m 5’8”, so I probably could have lengthened it more, but I think the length that it is is pretty perfect on me, so, yeah.
Helen: That’s great. I also lengthened mine ’cause I’m 5’9.5”, so I just added a little bit to each tier. I don’t even remember how much, just a little bit to each tier to get it to be a little bit longer. And then the only other change I made was that I anchored my inseam pockets. ‘Cause it has a classic inseam pocket where the bag is like a teardrop shape and so it can go to the back or the front. When it’s inside, it kind of flaps around. And when it’s possible, I love to anchor that into a seam so that it’s always facing forward. So I made the pocket a little bit longer. It’s, like, comically long on the inside, but from the outside you can’t tell. And then it’s anchored into the waist seam. so that was the only change I made. Just a personal preference, but it was easy to do and otherwise the pattern was great.
Caroline: Amazing. Did you employ any little changes to your setup and your sewing room or, like, techniques to sew your blocks together to make things more efficient? ‘Cause it’s such a beast to, to, I’m saying this from my own experience too, but such a beast to put together so many little pieces of fabric that you almost have to like, optimize your setup. Right?
Helen: Yeah.
Caroline: So how did you set yourself up when you were working on this?
Helen: I definitely cleared off my entire work table. So I have a four by eight table. So I cleared that all off so that I could lay out all the tiers. And I was able to mostly fit everything on the table, kind of laid out flat so that I could visualize the different tiers of the dress. Looks almost like lego blocks when it’s not sewn together. So that was helpful. Obviously, having a big work surface like that is extremely helpful. And then, yeah, I was just serging, so I kind of went a little like, I don’t know, I went off into, like, another place when I was making this project. Like, I had all these scraps and all of a sudden I was like, I’m making this dress. And then I spent the next two days, just, like, three hours or so at a time, just, like, lost in this project, like, serging pieces together. ‘Cause it’s a lot of legwork just to connect all the pieces.
Caroline: Were you chain piecing with the serger? Were you going, like, one after another?
Helen: Yeah, I was just chain piecing. I, like, paired all the triangles together. I wasn’t paying too much attention, but I was kind of looking for contrast. It’d be, like, a lighter-ish one with a darker-ish one. And then I would just, like, put them, I made a little stack of pairs and then I just ran them through as fast as I could. It was definitely a speed project, for sure.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: Did you make all your nine patches first? Like, did you plan them all out?
Caroline: Yeah. so I cut all of my squares, but then I ended up having to cut, like, two more sets of the squares. Like, I didn’t go in planning the area enough. Like I was, like, I just kind of visually was like, that looks like enough, you know? And then I ended up having to cut so many more. But yes, I cut all my little squares and then I would lay out as many blocks as I could fit on my table at home. And then I looked up a video on how to chain piece nine square blocks, which is not like a perfect chain situation. But there was, like, a way to do it so that I could do, like, the three rows and then the three rows were connected. I could iron those and then go in and, like, just do those, the cross seams. I used, like, my quarter inch foot on my machine for those. And I ended up setting up my iron right next to my machine. Not the most ergonomic. I know Rose Parr would probably tell me I should be getting up in between, but I just needed the efficiency. So I put my iron and my ironing board, like, right next to my machine so I could, like, do all my blocks, wheel over, do all my ironing, wheel back, do all, you know, finish all the blocks. And then I made a big stack of all the blocks and I had all my other, like, solid squares cut out. And then I started laying out my, basically, like, panels. I made five panels and put together the panels to make, you know, those little things. And then I ended up doing the pinning, like, the sandwiching of the quilt at the office so I could have a little bit more space. And I just used a cotton lawn print lining. I did not quilt my lining. It would’ve been too much. I thought about it and then I was like, Caroline…
Helen: Just to, like, use scraps for the lining, too?
Caroline: Just, yeah, yeah, exactly. But I was like, it’s okay, you can give yourself a pass.
Helen: It is okay. And it’s also probably not ideal to have a bunch of seams in the lining, ’cause it just adds bulk.
Caroline: Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So I gave myself a pass on that one. But yeah, then I pinned everything together. One game-changer for me, ’cause I don’t know if you remember, Helen, but I’ve made two quilted coats previous to this. I was joking with people at work about how I have, like, quilted coat amnesia, because every time I make a quilted coat, I know now, after this, that I hate it. Like, in the moment, I hate myself. ‘Cause I’m like, this is so much work. And I remember in these previous projects being like, I’m never doing this again.
Helen: Oh my gosh. Okay. Wait, question, at what point in the process does that feeling kick in? Is it when you’re patchworking the fabric together? Or is it the actual, like, sandwiching and quilting part where you’re like…
Caroline: It’s the sandwiching and the quilting. I think I went through eight spools of thread.
Helen: Yeah.
Caroline: And on the, like, fifth one when I, like, had used every bit of brown thread in my sewing room and I had to drive to the office to get more thread, I was like, why did I do this to myself?
Helen: Oh my gosh.
Caroline: But what I was gonna say is, this is the first quilted coat I’ve made with a walking foot on my sewing machine. I ended up investing in the walking foot for my Bernina a few years ago, and, game-changer, complete game-changer. ‘Cause that was, I think, one of the stressors for me in making quilted coats, is like, when you’re actually quilting the sandwich, things move around. The backing doesn’t stay straight. You get the, um, I don’t know what it’s called when, like, everything sort of looks like, it’s, like, angled, like, pulling in the wrong direction, which I, I know that I have to sew all my lines in the same direction. But even when you do that, sometimes you get the roping and the weird folds and just things don’t line up properly. Like, the bottom layer moves at a different pace than the top layer. And I remember having to kind of almost wrestle with my machine to get it through properly, and the walking foot made it so much easier. I had none of those issues and I just feel like it looked way better in the end. So that made the process less stressful. But yeah, it was like, I felt like I had overcome this huge obstacle of like, okay, I have now quilted all these panels together. And then I was like, wait, now I have to cut out a jacket and make a jacket.
Helen: And sew it. Yeah, it’s two projects, I’m telling you.
Caroline: It’s two projects. So yeah. And I cut out and that was, like, similar to you, like, stressing about when I was putting my pattern piece on these little panels. I was like, okay, placement. Like, am I gonna stress about placement? Like, I tried not to stress about those details too much with this project.
Helen: Yeah, I think that’s wise, ‘cause it’s gonna look good no matter what.
Caroline: Exactly. Yeah. I was like, I knew I wanted the, like, front to at least, like, line up, the quilt lines and stuff, or the pieces, but I realized even after I was finished that I was like, oh, I could have lined up my side seam. Totally didn’t do that. But it doesn’t matter. My arm covers it.
Helen: That’s under your arm.
Caroline: It’s under my arm. And yeah, it, it came together pretty well. Like, the pattern itself came together well, so there were, there weren’t any, like, dramatic hiccups or crash outs or anything other than me just being like, I wanna be outside in the sun, gardening. And all I’m doing is, like, just quilting. Yeah. How did I get here?
Helen: Oh my gosh. The nice thing about quilted coats is, like, once you do get to that point where your pieces are cut out, it’s not a hard project. It’s usually fairly straightforward. There’s binding, but other than that, you know, the pieces are pretty simple, so it can come together quickly. But yeah, I mean, I am kind of happy to hear that it’s the quilting part that makes you frustrated, because that means you could still make a quilt and just get a long armer to sew it for you and, boom, problem solved.
Caroline: 100%. And I thought about that, too. I was like, I think that I would really enjoy the piecing portion of a quilt and then I can just send it off and I’m not worried about it. And then it comes back and I just have to bind it. So yeah, I, I totally have that on my radar as a future project. And speaking of binding, I got to use my simplicity bias tape maker, bias tape making machine. And thank goodness for that thing, ’cause she was a workhorse. I have a video of it just making miles and miles of binding.
Helen: Miles.
Caroline: And I was really, it was worth it, yeah, to have that tool in my…
Helen: Because you need what, probably like 10 meters or something?
Caroline: 10 meters, yeah.
Helen: I think Wildwood needs nine. Yeah.
Caroline: Yeah. It was a lot of binding. Yeah. But thank goodness for that. Thank goodness for my big tables at work, too. Like, cutting, even cutting out all the strips of binding, I ended up doing that at work ’cause I could just do it in big, long strips instead of having to, like, you know, do it in smaller strips, so.
Helen: Yeah.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: Speaking of future scrap projects, I have seen lots of sewists in the community utilize the strategy of cutting your scraps into usable size pieces immediately. So if you’re cutting out a shirt and you have some leftover cotton, cutting it into whatever size it is that you are doing for your project. So five inch squares, 10 inch strips, whatever it is that you think you might wanna do with it, and then having that stack of squares or whatever set aside so that when you do wanna do your project, you don’t have to take all these like wrinkled, weird shaped pieces and cut squares out of them, ‘cause it’s kind of annoying.
Caroline: Yes. I think one of those, like, flat, like, project boxes from, like, Michael’s would be really awesome for something like that. ‘Cause you could just cut out your squares, set them in that box, you know, file that box away, pull it out, and then when the box is full, make some blocks and, like, kind of move through it that way. But that’s what Sienna did, too. I, I remember her posting, like, as she went along, you know, cutting all those little pieces and saving them for that future project. So it’s a really smart way to approach it, I think.
Helen: Yeah, totally. Having it ready to go. I would love to make some more scrap projects, though. I’m definitely feeling inspired and, you know, materials are expensive these days, so making use of those scraps to make incredible projects. I mean, we both made things that, I’m gonna speak for you here, but, like, are some of the most beautiful things we’ve maybe ever made, out of just leftover materials, so that’s incredible. Like, to be able to make such a beautiful project using stuff you already had on hand. Hell yeah.
Caroline: Yeah. this is one of my favourite projects I’ve ever made, for sure. I just, you know, when you just get that feeling when you finish a project, you’re like, oh, this is a good one. This is a fave.
Helen: This is a good one.
Caroline: And also, I think the most involved project I’ve ever done, other than my wedding dress, I’m gonna say that. Yeah.
Helen: It was? Oh, good for you.
Caroline: It was, yeah. Yeah. I’m, I feel very accomplished. And you can, too, if you wanna make something with your scraps.
Helen: I know I would love to see people tackling scrap projects. And I actually had an idea the other day for our next season of Love to Sew. I’m gonna pitch it to you right now.
Caroline: Yeah, tell me, what?
Helen: Let’s announce these ahead of time so that our listeners can join in and make things before the episode.
Caroline: That’s a really great idea. We should totally do that. Yes.
Helen: And we can have a little online party and see everyone’s makes and it’ll be so fun.
Caroline: Yeah. That sounds really good. Like a little community, not challenge, but you know, event. Yeah. Yeah, we can post the, the season’s We Sew projects and then we can all celebrate together.
Helen: Exactly, and then we can all do it together. ‘Cause I am finding it so motivating. Like, I don’t think I would’ve made this dress. Like, I would’ve maybe thought of like, oh, I could sew all these scraps into a dress. Would I have done it? Probably not. You know? Like, it was the motivation I needed to have that reason to do it.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: So I really appreciate that.
Caroline: Yeah. No, me too. Any other thoughts about the project? I’m looking at my notes to see if I missed anything.
Helen: I don’t think so. I’m so excited to share. I’ve got some little, like, in-progress videos as well, so we’ll put up a couple of videos each on our Instagram this week. So stay tuned to see our works-in-progress and see the finished makes.
Caroline: Yeah.
Helen: We’re so, so excited to share.
Caroline: We really are. Great job, Helen. What a great We Sew to cap off the season.
Helen: Thank you. I know, you did amazing, too. That was so much fun. I can’t believe what we made. We’re so good at this.
Caroline: Yay. We’re so good at this. Pat ourselves on the back.
Helen: Yeah, exactly.
Caroline: Oh my gosh. Well, thank you all so much for listening. I mean, pretty much all sewists have a stash of scraps, so let’s all start seeing them as an opportunity rather than a burden.
Helen: Yes. I love that. It’s like free fabric, after all. Right? Sewist math.
Caroline: Yes, I love sewist math. That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me, Caroline, at Blackbird Fabrics and BF Patterns, and Helen at Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co. And we’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.
Helen: You can support Love to Sew and get access to bonus content by subscribing on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. You even get access to the back catalog of bonus episodes. That’s over a hundred hours of Love to Sew. Go to patreon.com/lovetosew or check out our podcast page on Apple Podcasts for more info.
Caroline: You can head to lovetosewpodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. If you’d like to get in touch with us, leave us a message at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at hello@lovetosewpodcast.com.
Helen: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant and Jordan Moore of The Pod Cabin is our editor. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.
Caroline: Bye-bye.
Helen: Bye.
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