Lori with Girls – and boys – in the Garden.
(Originally posted September 6, 2015)
In the summer of 2006, Lori Van Maanen stumbled upon a few sewing and decorating blogs, which led to many hours at the computer. She was hooked on the format, and she thought blogging would be a great way to keep track of her sewing projects. She could look back on her posts and use the information to improve her next garment.
Lori lives and works on her Missouri family farm, and is very involved in the family’s agricultural business. She works full time at their livestock market — so time to sew can be an issue. And she had to think long and hard about making the commitment to writing her own blog.
She knew her area of blogging would be mainly sewing, but didn’t want to limit herself by putting sewing in the title. One day, while weeding her flower garden with her daughters, she looked at them and the name of her blog came to her: Girls In the Garden. As the mother to four girls, it was perfect — close to her heart.
Although Lori does all kinds of sewing — her passion has always been fashion sewing. With so many girls in the house, there is always an occasion or event requiring a new outfit. Lori is inspired by fashion magazines, fashion blogs and Pinterest. Once she gets an idea for a garment, she likes to search Pinterest for variations and details to make it her own.
Lori is fortunate to have a dedicated sewing space — but it’s in an unfinished basement, tucked under the plumbing pipes and behind the furnace. She doesn’t really have a “stash” of fabric (maybe 10 yards on hand at any one time). When she is inspired to make a garment, she goes online to buy the fabric. The Mood Fabrics website is her favorite place for fashion fabric — so it was a huge honor to be invited to become a part of the Mood Sewing Network in January, 2013.
When asked about her favorite sewing inspiration, Lori said, “When the twins were babies, I took a smocking class. My favorite magazine was Australian Smocking and Embroidery and each month I would find at least one dress to make. One issue had these smocked black corduroy coats with leopard faux fur — and I was hooked on those coats. It is a wonder I didn’t wear out my magazine just looking at them. AS&E offered kits with everything but the pattern, so I checked the kit price and the exchange rate. With four young girls, money was tight and it took me a week of debating if I should buy not one but two kits. In the end, I did order the coats and never regretted the purchase. I made the coats a bit bigger and since the shape was flared, the girls were able to get three winters’ wear.
Leopard Trench Coat
The most recent thing I was inspired to sew was my leopard trench coat. I saw several leopard trench coats on Pinterest. I found the perfect fabric at Mood and had the perfect Vogue pattern. I have worn this coat many times, it just goes with everything and it is one of those ‘feel good’ garments.”
Your best sewing advice?
“Whenever I am having a problem, the first thing I do is rethread my sewing machine and change the needle. That solves the problem 90% of the time. And don’t forget to change the needles in your serger, too! My go-to sewing book is Sandra Betzina’s Fabric Savvy. It is an excellent reference book and I often refer to it. I only use SCHMETZ needles, and I ALWAYS have a good supply on hand.”
What does sewing bring to your life?
“I cannot draw or paint but I can take a piece of fabric and turn it into a garment. Sewing is my creative outlet and it gives me such fulfillment and joy with each garment I make. Sewing has also brought many friendships with women both near and far.”
Lori’s blog: www.girlsinthegarden.blogspot.com/
Mood Sewing Network: www.moodsewingnetwork.com
When she started Goodbye Valentino, Sarah had no idea about the sewing world that existed on the Internet. As it happened, she enjoyed writing the blog as much as sewing her new clothes. After three months, she told her husband what she was doing. He was incredulous and quickly became her biggest fan. After five or six months of blogging, Sarah began to receive comments from other women who had been inspired to sew by reading Goodbye Valentino.
Goodbye Valentino convinced them that they could do it, too. In January 2014, Sarah decided she needed to go back on the wagon, so she started another RTW fast. This time, she invited her readers to join her — and 277 of them are along for the ride. To follow their progress, there is a page on the blog, “2014 RTW Fasters”.
