Last weekend was the Murray Hill Art Walk in Cleveland’s Little Italy neighborhood.  We were delighted to be invited to present a trunk show at our friend Nan’s shop, Murray Hill Bolt & Spool located in the Old Schoolhouse.  If the flattery in the invitation wasn’t enough to make us giddy, we were positively ecstatic to see the Clever Charlotte looks that Nan put together.

In the year since it opened, Nan’s shop has become one of my favorite places in Cleveland.  It is always bright and sunny, even when the weather outside would dictate otherwise.  The charm of the space is equaled by the quality and variety of the fabrics–you will find something for every sewing need here:  Liberty cottons, fantastic wools, linens, corduroys and other apparel fabrics, fine silks, velvets and gorgeous ribbons for fancier occasions, fun quilters cottons and lots of lots of sewing books and patterns.

The looks that Nan put together from our patterns really showcase her taste in colors, fabrics and design details.  Doesn’t this flannel shirt version of the Chickadee Blouse look positively cozy?  She paired it with the Chickadee Skirt fashioned in an olive-y~brown corduroy and lined in a fun tiny floral print. The Kestrel Coat to the right of the Chickadee is in black velveteen with a very sophisticated gray/yellow damask print quilters cotton.  Devine!

Now for the first look above–Nan’s creativity really shows through here, no?  She’s used green grosgrain for the contrasting tie on the navy Raven Hoodie.  LOVE how she’s carried the ribbon through to the pockets and pantlegs on the coordinating pink corduroy pants.  Isn’t this a perfect 3-season look?? So fresh and girly.

Carla and I also had plenty of our own looks on hand to show off this weekend.  Remember this one?

We’ve got one more Charlotte look to share with you next week and then some non-apparel Christmas-related projects.  Thought we’d change it up a bit before the holidays.

PS Be sure to visit Nicole’s blog this weekend for a Kestrel Coat giveaway!

Happy Sewing!
~ Erin

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Carla and I have many things to be thankful about this year, Charlotte being one of them.  So we thought a special shout-out to you, our readers, followers, customers and fellow sewing enthusiasts, is particularly in order today.

We also wanted to highlight some of your wonderful fall Charlotte creations from around the www.  To see even more, head on over to our Flickr group.

Skirt As Top + Pattern Giveaway!

Kristin of skirtastop is graciously hosting a pattern giveaway to accompany her first Clever Charlotte project–the Kestrel Coat.  She even gives us a mini-tutorial on how to modify (i.e. simplify) the sleeves from 2 pieces to 1.  While you’re there, be sure to enter the giveaway by leaving a comment on her blog by this Sunday. Gobble gobble!

Charming Charm Stitch

A great eye for fabrics is just one of Laura’s many sewing talents.  She seems to produce new looks on her blog in her sleep.  So far, she’s sewn up 2 Chickadee skirts and 2 Raven Hoodies!  See them all on her blog and make sure you check out her great online fabric store for a lovely selection of Japanese imports and other designer fabrics.  [PS She's got a 10% off sale going on right now.]

Madame Mother of 5

Nicole of Down Under has sewn up every one of our spring/summer patterns at least once for her (count them 4!) daughters and has many well-photographed tutorials to go with each look.   She just finished up 2 posts detailing different ways  to line our Starling Dress and she’s already scheming her look for the Kestrel Coat.  So stay tuned and visit her site often!

Queen of the Flies

Melanie from Queen of the Flies tries her hand at the Eider Tunic.  She does tiny prints so well, the Eider was a perfect choice for her.  Seems Melanie has also learned the critical photography skill of candy bribes for photo shoots!

Thank you all for a great inaugural year and have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Sewing!
Erin, Carla and Charlotte

It is possible that my choice of Little Red Riding Raven Hoodie for Once Upon a Thread is a bit obvious, but with all of the recent renditions of Little Red Riding Hood popping up, I just could not help but give this little girl an update too, Clever Charlotte-style of course. (Click here if you missed Carla’s OUT look earlier this week)

So, here’s my modern inspiration:

[left] [middle] [right]

And here’s my finished look:

What sealed LRRH as my choice was a certain vintage curtain that I purchased 10+ years ago at the antiques fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The fabric is double faced with a red and white damask pattern. I’ve been looking for the perfect use for it since I found it, and I knew immediately that it would look great as our Raven Hoodie with faux fur trim. To complete the wintery look, I chose a heavy creamy velveteen to make a pair the Finch Shorts.

I made a few basic changes to the Raven and Finch patterns–nothing too tricky, honest.

First, I added the aforementioned fur trim to the hood of the Hoodie. To do this, I first sewed one long edge of the trim in between the main and lining layers. Once the Hoodie was turned to the right side, I turned the other long edge of the trim to the inside of the hood, tucked in the short ends and hand sewed everything to the lining layer to secure it in place.  This was the first time I have sewn with faux fur and, but for a short coughing fit caused by the small amounts of fur that floated into the air after cutting the material, it was remarkably easy to work with.

In lieu of the pattern’s waist ties, I used a satiny ribbon at the top of the front center opening to tie the neck closed–again, the ties were sewn sandwiched between the Hoodie’s two layers before flipping it to the right side.

For the Hoodie’s lining, I used the backside of the curtain fabric which had been woven in the reverse.  I had to get creative with my cutting as the curtain was badly faded in certain areas, presumably from hanging in the sun for who knows how many decades.

For the Shorts, I skipped the side and front tabs and added a creamy grosgrain ribbon along the side seams for a tuxedo’d, tone on tone look (inspiration here).  (In case you were wondering, I sewed the sides of the shorts first, so that I could sew on the ribbon before sewing the crotch seams.)  I also used buttonhole elastic in the back waistband and lined the waistband in an off-white Duchess silk.

So here are some more shots:

Is that the big bad wolf lurking about? Nope, just Lola, our Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier:

See the versatility of this outfit? It is just right for work…

and play…

I am pleased as punch how this look came together, as was Nora.  I think this look has “visit with Santa” written all over it–which unbelievably, is in just a few weeks!

Happy Sewing!
~ Erin

PS In case you’d like to know, Nora’s shirt is from Target and her super-comfy and stylish boots are by Kenneth Cole Reaction available from Nordstrom’s.

We’re back with some more looks from our new collection.  These are some before school shots of the Eider Tunic we sewed up for our girls last week.  Carla’s version is a great colder-weather version in a mauve corduroy (the same source as our dark teal corduroy).  The solid corduroy provides a nice backdrop for the patterned fabric used for the contrasting yoke and waist tie–

The version I sewed for Nora uses two of the fabrics from our fall collection–the Etchings fabric in mustard and the white herringbone for the yoke.  I like how the white shirting fabric visually breaks up the intensity of the mustard fabric.  For an added pop, I used a woven blue ribbon.  Unfortunately, in my haste, I didn’t zigzag the ends of the ribbon to prevent it from fraying, so Nora spent most of her morning at preschool shredding it.

I am putting together a quick pictorial about attaching the yoke to the tunic and will have that ready for you little later this week.

Happy Sewing!

~ Carla and Erin

It was non-stop sewing in between trips to the post office at the end of last week. The costume deadline was Saturday afternoon for the school party and I just made it:

As most of you already figured out, the young Miss Nora is a monarch butterfly.

The monarch was not her choice, really, but mine. Here’s the very sophisticated inspiration for her costume:

Source

In the end, she was thrilled with her costume and repeatedly told me so throughout the day.

Minus the black elastic holding on the wings, both costumes came together entirely from my own stash (though the spectacular orange silk dupioni was originally from Carla’s fabric collection) AND, even more remarkably, I sewed both without a pattern. This is practically unheard of around here, as you might have guessed.  (I plan to share some more details on the making of these costumes a little later.)

JR’s choice to be Obi Wan had me spending hours in front of the computer figuring out all the different layers to the Jedi Knight’s attire.  In the end, I think I got it pretty close.  Really, the costume was just his ploy to get permission to take his light saber out in public, but to his credit, JR handled his weapon responsibly.

Here’s Nora flying away to the party–I think her hair gives you a sense of the excitement.

First up, the Bat Cave,

Then Our Zoo to You, complete with angora rabbits, armadillos and baby groundhogs:

An American Gothic:

Some other Halloween antics,

and finally, the post-face painting, donut eating sugar crash:

Hope you have a nice All Hallow’s Eve!

Happy Sewing!

~Erin

Good morning!  Firstly, thanks to everyone who has placed an order for the new patterns–it looks like this season is going to be a popular one! As promised, we are sharing the 3 winners of our Pre-Order Giveaway this morning. Each winner will receive a free Clever Charlotte pattern.

1. Karen of Victoria, Australia

2. Monica of San Jaun, Puerto Rico

3. Melissa of Frederick, Maryland

Congratulations to each of you–we’ll be contacting you by email to find out which pattern you’d like.

In other news, we are on track to begin shipping the new line by the end of the week, and even though the giveaway has ended, the shop is still accepting pre-orders.

We are behind on getting the fabric and notions for AW11 up for purchase, but we promise this week!!

Lastly, because no post is any fun without a picture, I thought I would preview what I worked on this weekend–Nora’s costume for Halloween (complete with smudged windows and a view of our very soggy backyard as backdrop). Can you tell what she’s going to be?? Carla and I will be sharing more photos of our recent Halloween sewing endeavors later this week.

Happy Sewing!
~Erin