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I love the trend of using fabric as a trim, and I often see the French using home sewin...

Shirring is a sewing and decoration technique for adding two or more rows of gathers to...

Marcy Tilton and Gwen Spencer share a super simple and quick way to make a drawstring, ...

Here is Gwen Spencer's rendition of Katherine Tilton pattern Butterick 5881. The pattern calls for 2 separate tunics/layers to be joined together. Gwen separated the two, wears them together, but also wears the white under layer separately. The collaged fabric started with playing around with a small piece of fabric when she was at the Design Outside the Lines retreat. That small section lead to the final combination of fabrics and stitching. The narrow yellow green strips are cotton cut on the bias. The glass buttons are vintage. She added a bit of black machine stitching on the bias neck bands to tie things together. Gwen left spaces in the stitching on the twill tape, then threaded the yellow-green cotton bias strips over and under.

I want to sew more like Gwen Spencer. Her projects never cease to inspire me, each with a distinct sewing and personal style. You may know Gwen from our booth at the Puyallup Sewing Expo or from the Design Outside the Lines retreats where she will be a teacher.

For me Core Travel Wardrobe Series, I'm working with Vogue 9329, AKA ‘the stop-me-in-the-street-dress’ (because people stop to ask about it). I used two co-ordinating black and white dotty prints. I chose the fabrics because they work nesting under and peeking out from the vest and the Italian poly/lycra knit has a smooth silky hand.

Marcy Tilton and Gwen Spencer show how to make a quick easy clean finish on a curved he...

One knit. One knit and woven. Two completely different styles are in the pattern envelope. Both are easy to sew and fit, with a wide variety of fabric possiblities...these are essential layering piece for all seasons, and so practical to pop on over a t-shirt, tunic or dress.

Perfect for any season, these two new patterns, a shirt and pant, which pair together beautifully, are great for updating your spring-summer wardrobe and mix well in colors or neutrals.

Large scale prints are a fast moving trend and so are panel prints. From an Italian mill, the base fabric is a superb quality ivory stretch cotton denim with crosswise stretch which feels good and washed like a dream. The digitally printed photograph is a soft warm black and the two side by side images morph across the width with no visible line where the image joins. Dubbed 'Easy Rider', each panel is 1 1/4 yards long x 54" wide. See the scale of one panel in relation to the dress form in the photo below.

Making a Vogue Pattern Prototype with Gwen & Marcy — When it is time to get down to business and sew the final-final prototypes for a future Vogue pattern envelope, Gwen Spencer puts a closed sign on the door of her studio and makes the 5 hour drive from Corvallis to my studio in Takilma. We had planned a weekend in December, but there was an ice storm, so pushed the date into January. The due date to Vogue is January 15, so this is cutting it close, and there are 2 patterns due; a pant and a jacket. The pant was partially done, and pretty straightforward, so this 3 day sew-a-thon was all about the jacket. These two patterns are for Winter/Holiday, a season that includes the holidays, but also casts a look toward spring, so the choice of fabrics really spans two seasons. I want to show two versions, one for holiday, another that could work for holiday in warmer climates and have a trans-seasonal more casual appeal.

Marcy Tilton and Gwen Spencer, self proclaimed sewing-geeks share their passion for all...

Join me on a fabric buying expedition! In this video, I share how I choose fabrics for ...

Experience seven magical, inspiring and artful days in Paris with Marcy and Katherine Tilton. Our intimate small-group travel experience is tailored for women who enjoy design, fashion, textiles and art and want to explore and encounter the magic of Paris with a designer's eye.

When I want to make something fast and reliable, I make a t-shirt using a tried and true pattern, and, as my friend Mary says, 'a little sewing makes any day just that much better.'

As I prepared for the Tilton Sisters new Craftsy Class, The Artful T-Shirt, I made a se...

Worn by men, women and children, beloved by skateboarders, athletes, students and the uniform of tech geeks, the hoodie is a garment so universal it can almost render a person invisible. My hoodie pattern keeps the functionality with a feminine dash of sophistication. Visiting Vogue patterns last month, I was honored to discover that Vogue 9244, a hoodie, is the #1 best seller.

Nothing says spring like dots or stripes or a fresh cotton shirt. The fashion world is having a love affair with stripes this season and so are we! Gwen Spencer combined all three elements using a dotty stripe from our Japanese Wovens Collection paired with Vogue 9174 shirt and added one more stripe-y dotty feature to make it sing.

I sent Gwen Spencer our Moderne Cool Combo to experiment with - called first to see if she was willing - she replied instantly with a big YES, so we shipped off the fabric. My only request is to use any current Tilton pattern, and as you can see, she rose to the challenge!

What exactly is ponte? Why is it desirable? What about pilling issues? I've been getting this question in my newest Craftsy Class and on internet sewing forums.