In tribute to Valentines Day next week, Carla and I created not 1 but 2 warm and cozy looks for wintery V-Day. First up is this one:

In this ensemble, we’ve paired our complete Raven look (hoodie + front pintucked pants) with our Chickadee Blouse.

The hoodie is soft and scrumptious in this faux rabbit fur, aptly lined in a delicate white + red dotted Swiss. You remember when we used the same fur for the lovely little cape featured here?

The tie on the hoodie is a simple wide grosgrain ribbon sewn into the seam (rather than on the outside of the fabric), and a small purple glass button closes the collar on the blouse.

Normally, we do not use quilters cotton for our kids clothes but here we made an exception for the perfect mix of Valentines colors of this pattern.

Finally, the Raven Pants are a fine wale corduroy (yes, they really are that red).  We added some coordinating fabric on the back pockets to tie it in with the blouse.

Happy sewing!

~Erin

We’re truly mixing it up with today’s Collar Project. An, of StraightGrain, gives us a taste of her European styling with the Chickadee Blouse!  She’s sewing knitting, if you can get your mind around that one, piped with my all time favorite Liberty print (Mitsi).  

Unlike the Peridot Blouse, the collar on the Chickadee is sewn into the neckline, but as An shows us, don’t let that stop you from playing around with the design and materials of the collar.

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Hello everyone! I’m An from StraightGrain, and I’m honored to guest post here at Clever Charlotte. When Erin invited me to her Collar Project, I took the opportunity to finally make something which had been on my wishlist for a long time: the Chickadee Blouse. I decided to remix this gorgeous assymetrical blouse by using a hand-knitted piece for the collar.

My original plan was to knit a piece especially for this project, but some very busy weeks at work forced me to use a knitted piece from an unfinished project which had been lying around for over a year.

Here is how I made the collar. First, I cut the upper collar pieces out of interfacing, and ironed them on the wrong side of the knitted piece. Next, I cut out the pieces, stitched them together, and stitched the piping on the edge. Then I just followed the regular instructions for assembling the blouse.

I made the blouse in a taupe linen, and for the collar I used a light blue/greyish 100% cotton thread (Phildar). The Liberty of London piping is from La Droguerie (bought here).

This was first time I used a hand-knitted detail, but definitely not the last!

Thank you, Erin and Carla, for having me in this inspiring series!

~ An

We thought it would be fun to show some mix and match looks using our patterns from multiple seasons in spring colors.  It is so much fun approaching a project like this with a view to creating an entire wardrobe.  I think this shows off the versatility of individual pieces so fabulously.

We’ve already shown you this season’s Kestrel Coat, lined in the same fabric shown here for the Chickadee Blouse.

Of course we couldn’t leave well enough alone–the temptation was just too great to not throw in a few changes here and there.  Like the ruffle on the front of the Chickadee Skirt.   Or the short sleeves on the Eider Tunic, above (we kept the pintucks on the sleeves).  We also opted for a purchased belt to close the Tunic, rather than the cinched waist tie provided for in the pattern.

Or the fun, oversized cuffs on the Raven Pants (again, front pintucks intact)?

Lastly, for the Raven Hoodie–if you can still call it that since we dropped the hood just for fun–we used a contrasting thread color for a decorative touch, added a front pocket flap, sewed the waist ties into the side seams so that the ties could be tied off center (and allowing the front opening to overlap slightly) and left the outer edges exposed and frayed for, well, an edgier look (pun intended).

Happy Spring Sewing!

~Erin

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

Erin and I weren’t quite ready to be done with Halloween so we have taken up the Once Upon a Thread challenge over at No Big Dill this week:

For those of you not already familiar with “OUT”, the challenge is to make clothes inspired by children’s literature.  We’ve added our own requirement to incorporate our own Clever Charlotte patterns in the chosen look (of course!).  Erin’s look will be coming up later in the week.

One series on high rotation in our household is Mo Willems’ Knuffel Bunny (one, too, and free).  Recreating Trixie’s eclectic look was a no-brainer for my daughter, Evie.

To recreate Trixie I had to venture no further than my own fabric stash.  I pulled an off-white quilters cotton with a little paisely print to use for our Chickadee skirt.  After cutting it out, the skirt took me less than a half hour to sew (it is extremely easy!).

The long sleeves of the ‘undershirt’ is made from this bizzare mesh knit with embroidered plastic circles that came from the now defunct Haight Ashbury fabric store where I used to work.  Full disclosure:  I didn’t make a shirt–I just made a tube to slide over each arm…Cheating?  Not when you have two young children, a small business, a household to run, and an endless list of holiday sewing to accomplish.

The green T-shirt is from Target. Since it’s hard to find a short sleeve shirt in Cleveland in November, I had to hem the sleeves of a long sleeve shirt.   The star fabric on the shirt also came from the stash.  Due to a non-functioning zig-zag stitch on my machine, I used a straight stitch to adhere it to the shirt. The Knuffle Bunny sidekick and leggings came from Evie’s own stash.

Evie makes a great Trixie, no?

Happy sewing!

~Carla

PS don’t miss Design Mom’s recent interview of Mo Willems!