Literary Sewing Circle Project: a Penny

Reminder -- Today is the last day to share your projects for the Literary Sewing Circle round featuring The Excitements by CJ Wray. Please add a link to our wrap up post or tag me on Instagram or Patternreview so I see your projects!

So onto my own project! I decided to go with my first impulse & chose to make a Penny shirtdress by Sew Over It.

I already owned this pattern & so I also went through my fabric stash to see if I could match it up with something. I found a rayon that I thrifted a while back & thought it had a suitably vintage feel. 

And then I used some tiny emerald buttons that I harvested from a thrifted cardigan to top it off! 

My inspiration was the character of Penny -- her name & her propensity for jewel thievery ;) My buttons are referencing the notorious emerald ring that plays quite a role in the story. And I like that the style harks back to past decades.

I made some changes to this pattern. The original has a full circle skirt but I didn't have enough fabric for that. I decided to use the skirt from an 80s dress I have made before -- it seemed to be the right style. I really like how it turned out. 

The one thing I didn't like as much about this pattern was the bodice placket. I found it confusing -- I actually stalled on the project for a couple of days because I couldn't visualize the process. I have never seen this technique, in which the facing is sewn to the front edges & then folded to make the placket. It worked but not a new way to do it that I'd likely try again.

Otherwise it's comfy, I like the pretty print & it suits me! I can carry it over into this cooler weather with tights & a sweater or blazer. What a fun Penny!

New & next

 I have finished my project for the Literary Sewing Circle! I will be sharing it on Friday once I get some photos. 

So what now? Right into the next one of course! I am starting a dress for my next Fabricville blogger project & using a beautiful quilting cotton. 

These colours are so gorgeous to me. I love the stained glass effect & can't wait to get started! 

Weekend Review: All Panic, No Disco

 

All Panic, No Disco / Emily Wall 
Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, c2026.
272 p.

Ok, I picked up this book from my library, because how could I not? Look at that cover! I thought this would be a fun one to read, and I was right. The projects are both cute and amusing, and the instructional content is also strong. This one is a winner, especially for younger stitchers who are looking for something contemporary. 

It has lots of opossums, raccoons, hedgehogs, disco balls, and lots of sayings to stitch. There is an intro to basics - techniques and supplies -- and a stitch guide for the stitches she uses in the book (a limited range, which can do everything here). And then there are the projects. 

Twenty detailed projects are included, with contemporary flair. One of my faves is the cover image but there are so many different ones - I also liked "Panic at the Desk-o" which is very work related LOL. Each project has the full image, an explanation, then a stitch guide with colour suggestions and stitch directions on the image. It is a very thorough way of sharing the project and makes it really accessible to newer stitchers. 

She also uses some interesting threads and stitches that add a lot to the pieces. The disco ball technique is used a couple of times and I learned from it. The order of stitching and stitch choices, plus metallic threads, give a great result. She also includes tips about how to best work with different kinds of metallic threads to help out the reader. 

In her stitch discussions, she gives the best explanation on how to do long and short stitch that I've ever seen. Not just the technical how-to, but extra hints about how to stagger the stitches for best results - you can tell she is speaking from experience and wants everyone to benefit from what she knows. I think she'd be a great teacher in person. 

I'm always interested in lettering in my embroidery projects, and in this book she usually recommends 2 strands and backstitch for most of her wording but has a few exceptions for when you want to emphasize something or fit more words in or something like that. I often use stem stitch for my lettering but that stitch doesn't appear in this book; backstitch works quite nicely and I will probably try that sometime as well. 

I found this book entertaining -- the projects are quite funny -- but it's also very solid with instructional content. The projects are so extensively laid out! Any ambitious beginner could use it, and because of the fresh and contemporary feel of it, I think it would be great for beginners who might be interested in modern embroidery. Definitely recommend this fun book. 

Literary Sewing Circle reminder!

One more week to finish up your projects and share them -- whether on your blog, Instagram, PatternReview, or any other place that you usually share. And please do tag me or drop a link in the comments of our wrap-up post so I am sure to see it! You are welcome to share your project whenever your finish it, but to be in the draw for our two pattern prizes, entries have to be in by next Friday, Nov 13. 

Here's a sneak peek of the project I'm working on (not quite finished yet!) 

November Sewing Plans!

 

It's already November! How does the time go by so fast?? But making plans is still useful even if time escapes us. 

My November plans include finishing up the Burda tracing that I mentioned in my previous post & I hope to get at least one of those projects sewn up this month, too. 

I have the 80s Vogue corduroy dress from my 2026 MakeNine plans -- I really want to complete it this month -- it's kind of a perfect November outfit. 

And I have to work on a project for Fabricville, from the prettiest cotton print! That will be a surprise for you.

Alongside the urge to clean & organize my sewing nook I think that will keep me quite busy over the next few weeks. Don't need to add on any new projects quite yet. I think I am already starting to wind down my ambitions for the rest of this year!

Weekend Review: Richly Stitched Landscape Embroidery

 

Richly Stitched Landscape Embroidery / Cassandra Dias
Lafayette, CA: C&T, c2026.
160 p.

This is a recent book I picked up via my library. It's a gorgeous look at thread painting, creating full coverage landscapes that look realistic (the size of these are 3" hoops, to make them manageable, it looks like a lot of work!) 

This book is a great workshop, essentially. It starts with an introduction to tools and materials, and basic embroidery techniques like transferring, basics of thread painting, hooping a piece etc. There is also a section on design -- working from a reference photo and creating your own designs. This is all handy info for anyone who is not a pattern follower. But for those who are, or who want to start with a pattern, there are also lots of those! 

The book then provides a stitch guide to 9 stitches, and 10 tutorials for the various landscape elements -- grasses, rocks, trees etc - so that you can get used to the techniques for each of them. After that, 7 complete patterns are shared (traceable in book, or downloadable). Each of these patterns has a stitch guide and instructions on order of stitching and so on, each one quite lengthy and complete. I feel like the instructions would be easier to follow if you had a bit of stitching experience, though eager beginners may be okay. 

While this is not my usual style of stitching for myself, I really enjoyed looking through this and learning some new techniques. It's a beautiful book and if you like gentle, realistic landscapes in stitch, you're going to love it. I thought it was very well done, and just right for a stitcher who wants to up their skill level a bit. 

Literary Sewing Circle: The Excitements Wrap Up!

 

Today is already our final day of the Literary Sewing Circle focusing on CJ Wray's The Excitements!

I hope you've had the chance to read the book, and both the first and second inspiration posts, and are getting lots of ideas for a project of your own.

This is our final and roundup post. Share links to your projects here: as soon as you are done your project, just pop a link to your post into the comments and we will all be able to visit your blog/instagram etc. and explore your creation -- remember, it can be sewn, or knitted, crocheted, embroidered... any textile art that you practice. Or you can just tag me, @sewmelwyk on IG and use #LiterarySewingCircle as a hashtag.

We've discovered more about the author and this book in the author feature post. If that sparks any comments, please share those, too! 

My thoughts on this book are that it was a fun romp -- an enjoyable adventure. There's a lot happening with the timeline switches, and at times more details could have been given to flesh out the characters a little more. But I still really enjoyed the three main characters a lot -- Penny, Josephine, and their relationship with Archie was the core of the story for me. 

I also found the lighthearted silliness of parts a good balance to the more serious issues of wartime events. The jewel heist subplot and the side characters involved there could be its own book; there were a lot of characters and threads here to follow. That's where Wray's next book, Bad Influence, comes in I guess! 

Here are a few questions for you to ponder as you share your own final thoughts: 

How did you feel the sibling relationship was portrayed? Did you think any of the side characters were particularly important to your experience of this novel? How did the setting and the description of the various locations affect your opinions of the book? Was there any moment that felt especially engaging for you? 

Please share your thoughts on the book, its themes, characters, or anything you noted about it -- either in the comments here or on our first Book Talk post, or on your own blog with a link to your longer thoughts in the comments so we can find it. I love to talk about the experience of reading so feel free to comment no matter when you're reading this post; if you've read this I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Also please share a link to your project in the comments -- if that doesn't work for you, please email me or tag me on IG so that I can see and share your project. Thanks so much for reading and sewing along! 

You have two more weeks, until Nov 13, to share your project, if you want to be included in the round up post & have a chance to win one of our prizes from our sponsors, Victory Patterns & How to Do Fashion.