Archive for the ‘Sewalongs!’ Category

Briar sewalong wrap up!
March 6th, 2013

Megan Nielsen Briar tshirt with elbow length sleevesMegan Nielsen Briar tshirt with elbow length sleevesMegan Nielsen Briar tshirt with elbow length sleevesMegan Nielsen Briar tshirt with elbow length sleeves

Well my friends, with February over i think it’s time to wrap up the Briar sewalong!

There are still a few variations i really want to share tutorials for – but i think i have to cut myself off at some point or else i’ll be posting about nothing but Briars all year long hehehe. Never fear though – there will still be some coming, i think we’ll skatter them over the next few months as time permits :) I still really want to make the hoodie sweatshirt, and i theres a different style of dress variation i’m dying to make – plus we will also have an awesome variation tutorial from one of the pattern testers! Darn it i love variations!

Here’s a little round up of all the tutorials we covered during the sewalong!

And if you haven’t already picked up the pattern – today is the last day that you can get 10% off with the coupon code BRIAR at checkout!
AND if you haven’t had a chance yet – don’t forget to upload your Briar’s to the Megan Nielsen patterns Flickr pool! There’s tonnes of ideas over there (i spied someone who made a Briar from woven fabric, so awesome right?!)
AND AND we’ll keep updating the Briar pattern Pinterest board with lots of variation and styling ideas as well as cool fabrics and projects you’ve made.
That’s it! Thanks so much for sewing along with me!!
XOXO

Megan Nielsen Briar tshirt with elbow length sleeves

Top: Megan Nielsen Briar with elbow length sleeves & square pocket
Shorts: Forever New
Sandals: Zomp
Necklaces: Vintage locket of my mothers & Merl Kinzie // Clydes Rebirth
Bangles: Vintage 

The easiest knit neckline around
March 1st, 2013

The easiest knit neckline (shown on Megan Nielsen's Briar pattern)

Believe it or not – this is my absolute favourite knit neckline. Why? Super easy, super quick. End of story :)

This is the neckline i recommend in most of my maternity patterns, because it’s really the most straight forward and least fuss way of doing it – and its not confusing.

Here we go

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briar variation: the easy way to go sleeveless
February 28th, 2013

A quick way to make a sleeveless Briar top // Megan Nielsen Design Diary

I really love this sleeveless Briar – it’s quickly found itself in heavy rotation (right after my tribal print version) and it’s also Chris’ favourite version!

I kept this nice and simple – and so in the end this version took me something like 1/2 an hour including cutting – and used up 1/2 a metre of left over fabric.

That’s kind of awesome right?!

Here’s how to make a quickie sleeveless Briar!

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Briar variation: Leather elbow patches
February 26th, 2013

I really adore elbow patches – which is why it’s kind of weird that i’ve only done one project so far with elbow patches. Really weird.

I thought that should be rectified during the sewalong. So Briar with elbow patches here we come!!

If you subscribe to the Megan Nielsen Patterns newsletter – then you would have seen a link to a freebie pattern download at the end of January for elbow patches – well today we’re going to use them!! If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter yet, you can download the pattern piece by clicking here.

Ready set sew…

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Briar Variation: the dress
February 25th, 2013

I knew i needed to make a Briar dress. It really had to happen. I’ve been obsessing over the idea since i started planning the sewalong. I actually still have two more i want to make, a maxi and another that’s a surprise :) But i might wait on those for a few weeks, because otherwise this sewalong will just run on forever and ever with all the variations i want to cover.

I spent quite a while choosing the right fabric to buy – i wanted to use a Ponte/Ponti knit, so that it would have a bit more structure and not be too figure hugging or clingy. I’m really happy with how it turned out! This is the Sprite Ponte from Tessuti fabrics. The customer service is truly fantastic – i highly recommend them.

I did make a bit of a boo boo and made it a bit too short in the front (oops), but i think with the length the original length as i describe in this tutorial (before i hacked a bit more off! ha!) would be perfect. Made in a black, navy or more subdued colour – i think this would be ideal for the office. I still like mine, but it doesn’t work as well for every day wear as i’d hoped in this length – but it does make a rockin’ date night dress :)

You’re going to fall over when you see how easy this was…

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How to sew a knit neckline binding (the standard method)
February 22nd, 2013

As i mentioned earlier in the Briar sewalong – my method for binding a knit neckline is different to the standard or more traditional method. So incase you’d like to try the normal way, today i’m going to show you how!

Just to make things easy we’re going to use the binding pattern piece from the Briar pattern – but if you did this on another pattern, you’d just want to cut a binding strip that was either the same length as the circumference of your neckline (along the stitch line, not raw edge), or an inch or so shorter. I prefer to make it a bit shorter, i find it conforms to the curve better, but most texts/instructions will tell you to cut the exact same length for a binding.

(and remember, a neckline band is a different thing. i know, too much stuff to remember!)

Okie dokie lets get going!

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