At the end of January, I participated in the Winter 10 x 10 Wardrobe Challenge. At the surface, it's an exploration of the creative possibilities of the clothes you already own. That said, there are many other lessons (and questions) that came up for me during the process. I highly recommend you try it! Here's what to do: Pick out 10 of your favorite items of clothing (or little worn, or thrifted, or handmade – you choose the criteria) and one pair of shoes, and mix and match your chosen items for the next 10 days. You can choose to... Continue reading

Welcome, new readers! You can find more of my fiber philosophizing over on my Instagram account, and I'd love to offer you a 20% discount in my pattern shop for joining my newsletter community here. I strongly believe that sewing is self-care, and should be viewed through a lens of mindfulness. I'm glad you're here! I've come to think of my body as an artistic canvas. I get to drape it with fluid fabric of any colors of my choosing, I get to form that fabric into shapes that I find interesting, flattering, and comfortable. I recently expanded the canvas... Continue reading

One of my favorite slow fashion practices is also my one of my most creative – figuring out how to make use of small bits of leftover fabric from my own clothing projects to make dresses for my daughter, Sadie. She only wears fancy dresses, of course. ;) I'm always smitten with the results: truly unique pieces of wearable art. The canvas for Sadie's dresses is almost always the Geranium pattern from my dear friend, Rae Hoekstra. It's my tried-and-true Sadie pattern, and when Rae released the Geranium XP a few months back, I was excited to add sleeves, bows,... Continue reading

The Carrie Cardigan shown layered over my upcoming pattern, the reversible Metamorphic Dress, which drops on November 1st! Be sure you're on my mailing list to get the 30% release discount. When I first see a sewing pattern, a few questions pop into my mind: Is this a good shape for my body? (Wondering what works for YOUR body? Stasia's Style School is a transformative experience in self-love and acceptance via the art of getting dressed in the morning. Sign-ups for the new session are today!) How can I layer this and mash it up with what is currently in... Continue reading

One of my "things" is helping everyone feel capable of sewing with knit fabrics, especially sewists who don't own a serger. There are just so many benefits to sewing with knits - forgiving fit and blissful comfort to name a few. Some kids (my boys included) will often balk at wearing anything else. I highlight some of my favorite sewing-with-knits tips in my latest pattern, the Stasia Dress. But this time, I have something else up my sleeve. Literally. It's called Eloflex, an elasticated thread from Coats that has really blown my sewing-with-knits mind. This stuff acts like regular thread... Continue reading

I mother three little people, which means my leisure time is, well, rather skinny. The LAST thing I want to do with my precious sewing time is assemble and tape together 42 pages of a print-at-home PDF pattern. It makes my knees hurt just thinking about it. Fortunately, I'll never have to do it again, thanks to a new printing option I discovered recently. While print-at-home patterns have their place, particularly with smaller children's patterns, most independent pattern companies have started including larger-format copy shop files in their digital patterns. The idea behind the copy shop file is lovely -... Continue reading

A knit dress that feels like wearing secret pajamas. Optional pockets. Multiple sleeve and length options. A close-fitting tee perfect for layering. A pattern-hacker's canvas. Tons of tips for sewing with knits. And a lot of love - wrapped up into one amazing pattern! Find your PDF pattern here for 20% off with coupon code: STASIALAUNCH. Friends, this dress is so close to my heart. Many of you know that I was designing patterns and very active in the sewing blogger community before we learned that my second son, Lachlan, was to be born with a very serious heart defect.... Continue reading

Growing up, it was understood that my dad would spend a certain amount of time in front of the television during football season. My mom supported it (he needed to relax after busy work days). The same football ritual was upheld and supported by countless females in the family. The women tended to household responsibilities and children while the men relaxed. I'm not writing to pass judgment on sports. As my mom recognized, it is a valid way to wash away the worries of the world and engage in some fun. What I'm wondering is, does society bestow upon me,... Continue reading

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Sadie's "unicorn dress," made with Coffee and Thread's Eleena Dress pattern, has fast become a new favorite. She asked to sleep in it as soon as it was done, right before bedtime, and refused to wear anything else for two days. (Which, as you know, is the highest compliment a three year-old can pay a sewing mother.) I loved sewing it - the instructions are concise, the design is flawless, and it produces an sturdy and lovely finished product. I'm honored to be part of the Coffee and Thread blog tour, featuring a panoply of design inspiration from all around... Continue reading

Somehow I have a boy who is a few months short of eight! No longer can I make him cute little bubble pants to cover his ample diaper. Nowadays, he mostly wants to dress like a ninja, which has understandably put a kink in my sewing mojo. ;)But we were both super excited when the inimitable Rae Hoekstra (of Made By Rae) asked us to participate in her Sidewalk Fabric blog tour. You see, when Finn isn't climbing a tree, you're likely to find him drawing, which is why he picked this super cheery Art Class print. Now, I told... Continue reading

Certain things change when you have a child with a serious heart defect. I immediately saw through the veneer of certain societal norms : time spent staring at a screen to escape reality, time spent doing something that doesn't bring joy for the sake of getting ahead, time spent away from my kids in order to make more money. It suddenly all became just that: Time Spent. Spent and gone. That precious, precious Time. If there was any doubt in my mind that I would homeschool my kids before Lachlan's diagnosis, it was completely erased post-diagnosis. There would be no... Continue reading

There are always good moments. Moments when they are cuddled up together reading a book, times when they are helping and encouraging each other, coming up with some funny game, or giggling about an inside joke. Then there are the other times. You know, sibling jealousy stuff. Little behavioral outcries for connection. Totally understandable, right? I mean, could you imagine having to share your partner, your one-and-only, with two other people who are angling for his/her affection? And can I just bemoan, for a bit, the lamentable fact that there are only TWO SIDES of my body while sitting on... Continue reading

In the past year, we've slowly emerged from a period of time during which I couldn't take my three kids out to hike by myself. When Sadie was born, Lachlan still very much needed to be carried after a short period of walking. He can tire easily (he only has half a heart!), but sometimes he just didn't feel like walking – something he shares with most kids of preschool age, I imagine. And when a preschooler doesn't feel like walking, well … you shift your ideal to accommodate your reality. My ideal is being able to enjoy multi-day backpacking... Continue reading

Not until I had slightly older children did I come to understand the amount of effort and love my own parents put into making the holidays sparkly and memory-worthy. There were pies. Special outfits. All the books. Crafts. Choral concerts. Epic skiing adventures. Hot chocolate. Tree cutting and decking the halls. Gingerbread houses. I just got tired writing that. I'm sure it helped that, by the time I was in elementary school and solidifying memories of my family's traditions, I was the only child still living at home. My brothers are older and had all gone off to college or... Continue reading

Perusing the Internet, particularly in the wellness community, you will bump into oodles of declarations about the importance of getting enough sleep. You'll also find a wealth of articles shouting out the amazing benefits of getting up early, particularly for mothers: Set your alarm, they say, for well before your children wake. Enjoy the gentle music of the birds as you sip on your cup of tea. Center your thoughts and fortify your emotional response with 20 minutes of seated meditation. Then take time for your intellectual and creative pursuits – write, draw, sew, or get some much-needed work done.... Continue reading