Today’s post is a deep dive into how to make bust adjustment to a pattern with a side dart. The objective of the bust adjustment is to make the dart bigger or smaller so that the shaping fits your body better. I share details on what a full or small bust adjustment is, what you might want to make one and how to do it. I show how to calculate a bust adjustment and how to make the adjustment to your pattern. I’ve included illustrations, written instructions and videos for how to do a full bust adjustment and a small bust adjustment.

Nice looking patch pockets are all about precision. That starts with cutting and continues to placement and stitching. Over the years, I've gathered a few tricks and tips to help you sew patch pockets with ease. If you're just getting started with sewing, I recommend using a stable woven cotton fabric for your first project because it's less likely to warp and will press nicely. With a sturdy fabric, you won't need too many tricks but the more drapey the fabric is, the more likely it is that you'll want to reach for a special tool or trick.

Hello sew-friends! Today, I have a new hack of my Eva Dress to share with you. If you're not familiar, the Eva Tops and Sundress, they are semi-fitted with a square neckline, side bust darts and are fitted at the back with a combination of narrow elastic and criss-crossed lacing. This pattern is size 0 to 32 with three cup size options for EVERY size. The cup sizes are A/B, C/D AND E/F.

For this hack, I took the dress version and made three major changes plus a handful of small changes. First, instead of the lacing at the center back, I used elastic shirring. Second, I added ties at the waist. And lastly, I made ruffled elastic straps. I have separate tutorials for how to draft and sew each part of the hacks. Read on for all the links and details.

Hello sew-friends! Today, I have a fun tutorial that will add an extra ruffle and a bit of stretch to the straps of your dress or top. I'm using my Eva Tops & Sundress pattern but any pattern that has a separate pattern piece for the strap should work.

For this design, the fabric for the strap works as a casing for elastic. The ruffle is created by making the casing a little wider than the elastic and topstitching, like you would do for a paper bag waistband. In this tutorial, I'll show you how to draft the pattern piece and sew the straps.

Have you ever wanted a dress or top to be a little more fitted at the waist, but you don't want to add darts or change the seam lines? A simple solution is to add ties at the waist. Waist ties are quick to sew and can be added to the side seam of any dress or top. Plus, they’re adjustable! When I was younger, I remember so many of my dresses and tops had ties that were pulled to the back and tied in a bow. The tie is easy to adjust, easy to sew and adds a cute bow detail. You can also make longer ties that wrap all the way around the body or even tie in the front.

Hello sew-friends! Today, I have a new, very summery DIY to share with you. I used my own Eva sewing pattern with one minor, but significant adjustment. It's not quite a hack because it's so simple. It's more of a variation. I essentially made the Eva's view B, the peplum top, but I cut the peplum really short so that it's more of a ruffle hem or mini peplum. I think the ruffle hem gives a very sweet, cute look to the design. And it's a little more flirty than the longer peplum.

Hello sew-friends! This week I have a fun and simple hack to my Eva Pattern. Often pattern hacks can be more complicated than sewing the original pattern. But today's hack is actually easier and faster! In this version of the Eva Crop Top, I replaced the lacing at the center back with shirring. Not only is this hack quick to sew, it's really comfy too.

Welcome to the fifth installment of the Sew DIY Eva sewalong. Today’s video is a more minimalist take on the sewalong video. Instead of voiceover, there is a music audio track with captions for the steps. This is a great video, if you just want to see the process without a lot of extras. Or, if you just like to watch fabric transform into a garment, this is a great video for you too!

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Sew DIY Eva sewalong. In today's post, we will sew the Eva we'll be sewing the skirt and peplum. We will make the gathers, sew the peplum or skirt to the bodice, sew the hem, and the pockets. There are time stamps in the description, if you want to skip ahead to a particular section.

If you're not familiar with this pattern, it is a zero-waste friendly crop top, peplum top and sun dress. The pattern features a square neckline, bust darts at the side seams, shoulder straps and is fitted at the back with narrow elastic and loops and ties. The peplum and skirt are both gathered at the waist and the skirt has options for a gathered ruffle and patch pockets. Check out the link below to get your own copy of the pattern or learn more in our intro post.

Welcome to the third installment of the Sew DIY Eva sewalong. In today's post, we will sew the Eva bodice, from start to finish. This pattern has three views, a crop top, a peplum top and sundress. If you are making the peplum top or sundress, you will need to come back for the next installment when we sew the peplum, skirt and patch pockets. If you are making the crop top, you can follow along with this video, then hem the bottom, add the lacing and you will be finished.. Let's get started.

Welcome to the second installment of the Sew DIY Eva sewalong. In today's post, we'll talk about measuring yourself and selecting a size. Then we'll print out the pattern and I'll show you two different methods for cutting out the rectangular pieces of your sewing pattern. And finally you'll cut out all the pattern pieces and interfacing. Let's get started.

Welcome to the first installment of the Sew DIY Eva sewalong. Today, we’re going to be talking about fabric, notions, tools and supplies. We’ll share our favorite fabrics to use with this pattern, the fabrics we used in the samples and a few of our favorite online fabrics picks. Plus, we’ll talk about the notions needed to sew the Eva and tools and supplies we recommend having on hand to make sewing the Eva easier.

In today's video, I'm going to be showing you how to understitch. Understitching is a technique that is most often used when sewing woven fabric garments but occasionally with knit fabrics as well. It's mostly used when you are sewing a facing, a lining or an in-seam pocket. The purpose of understitching is to keep those parts of the garments hidden and out of view.

This week's video tutorial teaches how to sew gathers. I've heard that sewists are sometimes intimidated by gathers, so I'm sharing my favorite methods for sewing stress-free, evenly spaced gathers.

Gathers are a common design detail found in a variety of garments. Most often, you’ll find them in skirts or sleeves. For my Miri dress hack, I made a simple gathered skirt using rectangles of fabric. It's a really easy way to add a skirt or peplum and is zero-waste friendly.

I’m sharing the traditional method of sewing lines of basting stitches with thread. There are other ways to do it but I’ve always had success with my tried-and-true methods. Scroll on to watch the video and read the written instructions. Happy sewing!

Today, I'm continuing my series of pattern fitting videos with how to lengthen or shorten the bodice of a sewing pattern. The same techniques can be used when altering the length of a blouse or shirt. In the video, I use my new Miri Tank pattern to show how to make the pattern adjustment. Plus, I share some tips for when you're lengthening a top into a dress.

In today's video, I'll be showing you how to fuse iron-on interfacing to fabric. Interfacing is an extra layer of fabric that is used to make certain parts of a garment thicker and more sturdy. You'll often find it used in button plackets, collars, waistbands and facings. In the tutorial, I'll share all my tips for how to adhere iron-on interfacing to your fabric and prevent puckering or separating.

In today's video, I'll be showing you a simple pattern adjustment that you can do to move along a side or waist seam. Darts are most often used to shape the bust or waist and are usually found in side or waist seams. Because we all have different bodies, you’ll sometimes get a better fit if you move the dart just slightly. In the video and diagrams, I'll show you how to move a bust dart up or down along a side seam and how to move a waist seam dart to the left or right. (Note, there are more complicated pattern adjustments where you can pivot a dart to move it to a different seam. I’m not covering how to do that in this post.)

Hello sew-friends! Today, I’m happy to bring you a video tutorial for how to mark and sew darts. Darts are most commonly found in fitted woven garments. They are simply a little wedge of fabric that is folded and stitched in order to make the fabric more three-dimensional and to fit the curves of the body. You’ll most often find darts to shape the bust and waist. It’s really a fairly simple feature to sew and it’s worthwhile to practice and become comfortable with it.