duck bucket sewing

I've been experimenting with making plain t-shirts lately, preparing for the day when my beloved Esprit t-shirts finally kick the bucket. (Why did you have to close all your US stores, Esprit, why, why, whyyyyyy...?)  I made a size medium short-sleeved shirt from Alabama Studio Sewing + Design , using black rib knit from Jo-Ann. (Used my machine. Sorry, Natalie.) Love this fabric, although I get '90s Banana Republic flashbacks when I use it. My super-fancy sewing blog pose. Guess I need to work on that. It's got a bit more ease than this long-sleeved version, also size medium, using Alabama Chanin medium-weight cotton jersey fabric from one of their garage sales: Although I do love the bell sleeves:   And my husband says, "Woo, I like that," every time I wear the Alabama Chanin version.  Let me just put in a plug here for the Alabama Chanin fabric, though -- it sews like a dream, and it's really soft, especially the lightweight cotton

Catch-up post! (And I made some ACTUAL GARMENTS and they turned out OK, so I'll post about those later. Very exciting. But first, gifts!) I made Cation Designs' awesome all-purpose plushie pattern in Very Serious Bunny and Stoic Doggie as Christmas presents for my niece and nephew. Serious! Stoic! Bun bun and doggie tail. I absolutely love this pattern. It's ingeniously drafted: One body pattern + various switchable ears, paws, and expressions = 7 different animals. It took an afternoon to make each, mostly because I couldn't get the hang of the ladder stitch -- lame, I know. After several tries, I wound up just topstitching the opening closed with matching thread. To the review: Pattern Description:   Cation Designs' free All-Purpose Plushie Pattern , downloadable as a PDF. Pattern Sizing:   One size with switchable parts Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? They looked more