Jess: All about me!

Hi all! This is Jess from Gracious Threads. I’ve been helping out here at Fleece Fun for about 6 months now and I wanted to share a little bit more about myself. My passion is sewing and design, and some of my favourite projects I’ve designed for Fleece Fun have been the Sunshine Softie, the Halloween Dress Up Vest, and the Sheepy Purse.

I live in northern Alberta, Canada. It is cold here for about 8 months of the year, so we are often wearing soft snuggly fleece! We have a dairy farm and love gardening, animals, and the country life. I was inspired to learn how to sew by my mom. She was an incredibly talented sewist and sewed almost all the clothes for myself and my 7 siblings. Although she is no longer here with us, I know she would be so happy to see the clothes I sew for my own children. I have 2 girls (age 6 and 8) and 2 boys (2 and 5 months) and love sewing for them all!

Teaching is my profession, and designing sewing patterns is an amazing way for me to combine my two loves of teaching and sewing. My patterns are designed for beginner to intermediate sewists, and I include detailed instructions and diagrams so that everyone can be successful and create a beautiful garment. I wanted to share with you a few of my favourite patterns…

The Star Anise Dress is my newest pattern. It is special because it was designed with the help of my 8 year old daughter. She doesn’t fit store bought clothing very well (she is super petite) but wanted a sophisticated dress for her piano recital this Christmas. This is what we came up with! It features puffed sleeve caps, elbow length sleeves with cuffs and a knee length skirt. The darts in the bodice continue into the separate waistband and into the skirt as box pleats.

My most popular pattern is the Lazy Days Lounge Pants. It is a beginner level pattern and a super quick sew. It includes side seam pockets, bottom cuffs, and a knit waistband with an optional drawstring. It is a unisex pattern and my daughters and toddler son wear these all the time.

Lastly, I wanted to show you my favourite pattern for the boy in your life. The Everest Pants are fully lined (you can leave the lining out) and include a paneled leg, articulated knees and front and back pockets. It is such a versatile pattern; I sewed them up in linen for my son’s church pants but I’ve also done ripstop pants lined with knit for a splash/puddle pant.

I’m currently running a huge sale in honour of launching my new blog and website. Use the code ‘ANEWLOOK’ for 40% off your whole cart!

Thank you, Angel, for having me here and I look forward to bringing you many more fun sewing projects!

Jess