Some of them are a bit meh but occasionally I come across a real winner.
I LOVE this lady! She is a bit like me, measure? Whatever, just cut it out and GO!
The placket she shows here is really clever, my favourite part is the end when she trims up all the layers and neatly folds the very last bit of raw edge into a tidy invisible finish.
Remember that “measure twice, ah forget it just start cutting” image from c-ster? Story of my life, haha.
Now that was pretty neat! I love beautifully finished insides…
Wait! Outside precise quilting people measure??? Now you’re going to tell me they precisely iron and such too LOL I learned to sew as a wee toddler but my real sewing education was from a crotchety old lady in Italy that made exquisite gowns she would never let me touch! My education was hold this up like this and rip! some pins or clips to see the draping and such and then go to town on sewing!
That for decades is why I didn’t get into quilting! I now appreciate quilting when I am in the zone of precision and cutting and such, but, had always looked at it as sewing where precision counted where my whole life sewing was how fabric fell and you could rip out and resew chunks and bits and finish it all off into something beautiful in the end
I had the opposite experience! My mother’s niece was a designer in Japan that had clients that spent over a million a year on custom made clothing. She came to visit us in Panama when I was still a teen and taught me how to pattern draft and make the most beautiful bound buttonholes. She was very precise and meticulous and would make me sew a snap or hook and eye over and over until I got all the stitches perfect! lol
I am not sure I could just cut and drape right into designer fabric without having a heart attack…lol
Oh my education was that as well and that was all I was allowed to do, eventually, on the lower end items LOL A lot of hand sewing undergarments and clasps, button holes, finishing off seams and such. Though back then I really really wanted to now I would have heart failure ripping down $350 yard material with hand sewn beading and embroidery!
When I visited her in Japan, she was retired and had lots of leftover fabrics in her studio. I had to buy another suitcase to get it back home. We had to remove all of the price tags to get them through customs without paying crazy fees. I still have not been able to cut into those fabrics…they are wrapped in archival papers and stored…I did manage to gift the Italian wool I got in Italy to a friend…it was purple but I knew I would never use it…
This might be the year, though, as both @edel and @magpie have inspired me to “Use the good stuff!”
Yes Yes Yes!!! Use the good stuff…I say this with a bin full of Batiks made by a small Afrian village. A friend gifted them to me each is the size to make a full to king sized quilt tops out of 1 piece, so not small! They are gorgeous! And I have used NONE of them YET!
We need to use the good stuff!
We should do a “Use the Good Stuff” craftalong to make us all accountable! lol
With that said, I am going to pick out one fabric and make myself something…it will either be good enough to wear or a failure, but, it won’t be in a box…
Do eeet!!!
Ohh, yes. This is a thing. I would be able to start something in the fall when our summer rush is calming down. Or @Edel would maybe like to start it now, but I rather think she’s be a bit busy with that new house…
Just a bit busy, but I have a craft room and a craftalong is kinda self perpetuating. So I’ll get it started and tag you guys in it. I’m sure some of the good stuff will appear when I start properly unpacking.
Part of the reason I started the cranes was to crack into fabric that I love but don’t have ideas for.
Just cutting into it is the important step.
And I’m blind with envy at the the thoughts of African batiks and fancy Japanese cloth not being used. Find their projects and share their completion. 
I’ll have to dig them out to share them at least! Each batik cloth is hand made, they do a process in the sun to dye them and only produce these in a 2 week period once a year then sell the whole cloth. A friend has our mutual friends quilts she made from these. Unfortunately the friend who gifted these to us has gone legally blind and can no longer quilt. But, she did amazing quilts and had most to a point they just needed binding and never got the chance 
I haven’t tried this interesting way to insert a zipper but I’m going too, looks so precise!
It’s very similar to making the placket for a bound buttonhole! Nice if you want an exposed zipper! Not sure I would use if for a garment…I like the invisible zippers or a placket zipper.
I do like how the ends are done…good for pouches and inside pouches for sure!
Let us know if you try it and how you like it!
7 zippers, this is a great reminder.
I liked how she put in that invisible zipper without the special feet!
This one is great! Not sure where I’d ever use that first pocket but good to know anyhow.
I don’t know where else to post this so here it goes; youtube tutorial for folding ironing mat!
Nice idea, but it was hard for me to watch since she doesn’t iron the wrinkles out of her fabrics before she starts sewing them… 