Sweetbriar Sisters

Adorable Sewing Patterns

Free Sewing Worksheets for Beginners

I've recently been talking to quite a few people who are learning to sew.  Most adults I've talked to are intimidated to start simply because they're worried they're not good enough to make a real project.  I've guided them to some great beginner projects, but the fear remains.  I can't blame them!  It's frustrating to invest time and money into picking out a bunch of sewing material, only to get ... View Post

Friday Faves: Sewing Apron

I don't know about you, but I constantly find myself in the middle of running an errand only to look down and realize I've been walking around town covered in thread and fabric scraps.  Plus I have this habit of sticking pins in the fabric of my pant legs to keep them handy while I sew.  Which works great... when I'm in my sewing room.  But it's kind of a weird fashion statement when I forget ... View Post

The Little Yellow Duck Project Launch

I am so excited to help announce The Little Yellow Duck Project on it's launch day!  It's founders have been working double time to get this very fun, and also super important awareness campaign moving and I was so lucky to be a part of it. A month or so ago I heard about an opportunity to design a pattern for an organization promoting organ, blood, tissue and bone marrow donation.  Since my ... View Post

Friday Fave: Top 2 Time Management Apps

  I finally gave into the Smart Phone Craze last Fall.  My pattern business had gotten big enough that I started receiving customer service questions all day long.  And packing my laptop with me to the grocery store just wasn't all that fun :) So, the phone plan was upgraded.  I'm not very good at doing anything half way, so once I took the dive I went all in.  After all, I'd just spent ... View Post

How to Give Your Handmade Project a More Professional Look

We recently talked about how paying attention to an item's  Visual Weight can help make your final products more beautiful.  I'd like to delve a little deeper into that concept. When a designer makes a product, he'll often pay attention to it's '3 reads'.  The first read will be the thing the viewer sees very first because it has the most visual weight. (If you have no idea what I'm talking ... View Post

Friday Faves: Reinforcing Patterns

A while back I wrote a post about how to reinforce your patterns by spray mounting them to card stock.  Just recently a lovely sewist shared her take on the idea and I loved her idea!  I just had to share. She mounts her patterns, just like I do.  But instead of mounting them on paper, she goes to Walmart and finds the cheap, $.98 place mats (she says she finds hers by the canning/kitchen ... View Post