Last week I bought some new Kwik Sew patterns during the Presidents Day sale at Hancock Fabrics.  Kwik Sew patterns are one of my favorite pattern companies.  The patterns are well designed and they have excellent instructions with them.  They also offer a lot of beginning type of sewing patterns for the new seamstress that have easy to follow directions.

The Kwik Sew patterns are a bit more expensive than other pattern companies which is one of the reasons I buy them on sale when Hancocks has them for $6.99.  In my opinion they are worth it though.  They come with a slightly heavier pattern paper and you can easily trace it using pattern drafting paper or interfacing so you can use multiple sizes in the one pattern.  This is great if you sew for others and need more than one size.

I am looking forward to making the tops, as seen in the top photo above, for spring and summer.  The jacket pattern in the second photo is something I hope to complete in the next couple of weeks.  I found a nice french terry fabric in a beige heather color to use for that pattern.  There are two versions of the pattern – one with a hood and one without.  I think I am going to make the hooded version.

Currently I am finishing sewing another pair of jeans using the Kwik Sew jeans pattern I have had for many years.  This is one of the greatest patterns for jeans and I love the fit and the easy to follow directions.  I think this is the fifth or sixth pair of jeans I have made in the last five years.  I prefer to sew my own jeans that way I can get the fit the way I want them.  The process of sewing jeans really isn’t that hard if you do a little here and a little there.  I can usually get a pair made in about a week just sewing an hour or two a day on them.

I don’t think Kwik Sew sells the jeans pattern anymore in their current line of patterns but you can find sellers on etsy that sell vintage or out of print patterns for reasonable prices.  I also recommend the Craftsy class Sewing Designer Jeans with Angela Wolf.  I took this class a couple of years ago through Craftsy and loved it.  It really teaches you how to make your jeans look professional and lots of tips for getting the fit right.

What kinds of projects are you currently working on?  Let me know in the comments.

-Kimberlee