"Flannel" Shirt is Finished!

Hope you all had a simply marvelous Christmas season. It was a great time of joy and fellowship for our family with many blessings given and received by all!

I am very excited about 2014 and sewing. In the next couple of days I will be posting a list of some Sew A Longs that I have found. I just love these as an avenue to boost one's sewing skills and knowledge. It is so much fun to do these and get to know other sewers and see their work. It was exciting to see my Cooper Bag made the final round of voting over at coletterie.com. Wowsa....the bags those ladies made blew my socks off. There are some really talented folks at there.

A few updates: The "Flannel" Shirt for my husband is finished! The day before Christmas Eve I was sewing on the buttons. He absolutely loved it. Now this is real joy, friends. To make something for a loved one and they don't ever want to take it off! Love.

The funny thing about the fabric used for his shirt is he chose it simply by feel. I had 4 or 5 choices and he hardly even looked at the design of the fabric. He just started touching and ultimately chose this linen blend from Robert Kaufman which is currently selling for $6.48 per yard at Fabric.com. I actually thought it was not that great of a choice but he thought it would sew up to be the softest and most comfortable! It sewed up so easily and beautifully. In the end, I was glad he picked it!

Perfect fit! 

This was THE best Sew A Long (SAL). Put simply, I learned a ton and Kelly is just great! She is knowledgeable and very willing to help and answer questions. She has kept all the links and information up on her SAL so anyone can hop over there anytime and take advantage of her wealth of knowledge. I highly recommend you do so if you are wanting to sew tailored shirts.

Very proud of how well the collar turned out. Please excuse the tailor tacks!

Back yoke and collar. Although it wasn't necessary with this fabric, I went ahead and cut my outside yoke and collar on the bias  for experience and to see the effect. 

French Side Seams

Kelly is now offering to help those who are enrolled in Kenneth Cole's  fly front coat class on Craftsy. If you have been thinking of taking this class, now would be a great time to do so and to have Kelly help you if you need it.

And finally I just have to share this wonderful gift I received... my very sweet Christmas present from a very sweet family. A used Viking Designer SE!! Oh my gosh, I have been sewing the dickens out of this beauty. I have never had a machine so nice and that does so much. Sooooo grateful.