Raglan Sleeve Blouse

I've been making a raglan sleeve blouse. Unlike other attempts, I have finally succeeded in creating decent raglan sleeves and a drawstring neckline.

Here's how I did it.

I made the bodice of the blouse as wide around as the width of my shoulders. I sewed up one edge of the blouse leaving a slit wide enough to accommodate my shoulder where it meets my torso. I cut a slit of similar width on the other side, since the other side of the blouse was a fold, not a seam. I added the sleeves on the sides, as per this photo. Note that the ends of the sleeves point downward, not sideways. Gathering the top produces the look in the first photo. 

Finally, I sewed a casing for the whole top of the blouse, including the tops of the sleeves. I threaded white yarn through it to gather the top. 

What's next? Now I need to hem the bottom and sew casings in the sleeves. I intend to replace the white string in the top casing with elastic and add elastic to the sleeves. Before adding the elastic, I hope to sew on some lace to create a frilly look. 

floor cushion

So I've been making this floor cushion since some time last summer.  I got all the main sewing done, but the real challenge has been finishing all the embroidery.  I (perhaps foolishly) decided to do a line of embroidery over every seam.  Yeah, takes forever, but it's a good excuse to try out new stitches.  Besides, it'll look very pretty once it is finished.  I just hope it holds up.

As you can see, there are plenty of seams to embroider. It is nice and large, but not as large as some floor cushions.  I only have so much fabric.  Pretty much all of the fabric I used I got either free or at a reduced price.  The multicolored batik was being given away free, as was the green and the pink.  I got the black at a yard sale, and the gold satin was a scrap from another project.  I was fortunate; fabric is so expensive nowadays.  

Here's a side view.  You can't really see the embroidery here, but I've already embroidered over all the side seams.  I've toyed with doing mirror embroidery on the cushion too, but I'm not sure I want to get that fancy.