My name is Karina. I'm a passionate seamstress, wife, mother and midwife. I love all things sewing and sharing all the little tips and tricks I have picked up through my decades of sewing. I have a Youtube channel all about sewing called Lifting Pins and Needles.
I’ve been sewing patterns from “new to me” pattern companies lately. What better way to spice up sewing, especially when there’s A LOT of that happening right now! There’s a brilliant way to try a new pattern company, and it’s by downloading their FREE pattern/s if they have […]
To be honest, the last time I made myself woven trousers was back in 2012 or 2013. I had a pattern I had been using for over 10 years. It was a similar style to the Duet Trousers , but had been traced from a Burda Style magazine. […]
The Rhapsody blouse & dress from Love Notions has been a firm favorite pattern of mine for a few years already and today it’s been re-released to include sizes 4XL and 5XL, as well as going through re-testing and re-drafting. *Along with the re-release, the Rhapsody blouse & […]
Traditionally and historically, I have never been a Hoodie wearer, including the time of my life when teens rock the sporty looks. When I was a teen, I was always dressed in my own me-made dresses and skirts. This has continued through the decades and I have to […]
The Sylvia Robe from Sew Over it is not a new pattern and the 5 versions I have made are not new either. In fact, they are 3 years old! I’ll explain why I went back to them now in a tad. This pattern is super simple, 4 […]
A few years ago, I declared publicly (on my sewing channel) that life was too short to be making jeans when I could just easily purchase them. Gasp… how I regret those words. Oh well, there we’re coming from the context I was in and mainly related to […]
I began making my own Sybil Illusion skirt collection last year, and I’ve made quite a collection! This is actually the name of this fantastic pattern from Love Notions that includes 7 comfortable knit skirt styles in one. Get ready to see an explosion of fun prints and […]
The Willow wrap dress & Peplum was my second pattern test for Love Notions patterns back in 2018, I loved the line art posted on the testing call and all the options that were available for the pattern. In this post, you will see all my 4 versions […]
A bust point, or height, on a pattern, is different to the one on my body and has been a discovery I have made decades ago. This bust height used by pattern companies is based on a standard they consider to be more common, or average, usually always […]