I’m so thrilled to have been a guest on today’s episode of The Martha Stewart show! Wooo! It was super fun taping the segment earlier this week, and I can’t say enough thank you’s to the staff and crew at the show. They are truly a gracious group of folks who were lovely and kind to work with, making the whole experience a pleasure from beginning to end.

Sewing alongside Martha was fun and not as freaky as I thought it would be! It’s funny, when you see someone on television so often, you start to feel like you know them in a way. So standing next to her in real life was sort of just like watching her on TV, except that I was in the TV with her, which, well, I guess I was. So it was kind of strange yet totally normal at the same time. Know what I mean?

Anyway! I thought I’d give a little more in-depth information about the project we made together, since we had to move so quickly in the segment. The photo above shows the skirts from the show — the top two are the samples the four-year-old little girls were wearing, and the bottom right is the baby-size version I made during the demo. Martha made an identical baby-size skirt but in a blue snowflake fabric, which isn’t shown here.

And this is the original skirt from the my book, Sewing in a Straight Line–as you can see, it was originally an adult skirt. This pattern is written so that you make the skirt to any body measurements, so you really can make it to fit anyone from a baby to an adult. I’ve actually made almost twenty different versions of this skirt by now, in all different sizes and fabrics, and you really can do almost anything with it, and get a zillion different results. The book sample was made in a cotton-linen blend, which was nice because it was soft and drapey, yet it still had body.

This sample from the show was made in taffeta, which made it a bit more stiff and poufy, for more of a party skirt effect. Then I stitched some metallic gold ric rac along the hem stitch line, and glued on a beaded applique. Instant party! This skirt was for a little girl but I would totally wear it in my size! As you can imagine, you could embellish this skirt in a million ways. I love the idea of adding pom pom trim along the hem or stitching a cluster of jingle bells in a random spot for the holidays. How fun would that be?

This version was made in an Echino fabric, which is an amazing Japanese fabric line that features gorgeous, whimsical prints. Kooky fabrics like these are perfect for this simple skirt–the skirt is so plain that it really allows the fabric to shine. AND an interesting print makes the skirt look really impressive and eye-catching, so it tricks people into thinking you’ve made something really spectacular, even though it was super easy. I love crafty trickery!

And here’s a close-up of the actual skirt I made on the show. It’s made from a simple quilting cotton, which is a good choice for babies because it can stand up to a lot of washing and will get softer and more comfy the more it’s worn. I think this would be so cute over little leggings for the winter, or worn alone or over bloomers in the summer.

So you see, this skirt really can be made in any size and in almost any fabric. And yes, I even went here:

…it can be made in kitty size too. But Fifi wasn’t terribly impressed with it. She is giving me some serious stink-eye in this shot.

The full instructions for this skirt are posted on the Martha site here.

Anyway, if you’re new to my blog today, hello! And if you liked this skirt, please check out my book, Sewing in a Straight Line. The book has over 25 patterns, from clothes and accessories to home decor and gifts, that are all made by sewing straight lines only. You’d be surprised how many great things you can sew even if you only have basic skills!

And if you weren’t able to catch The Martha Show today, I’ll post the clip just as soon as I can! xoxo

Fun news! I’ll be on the Martha Stewart show this week!

Yesterday I visited the Martha studios to tape a segment demonstrating how to sew the One-Hour Skirt from my book, Sewing in a Straight Line. The thing about this skirt (like all the clothing in my book) is that you make it to fit your own body measurements, so it can be made for a person of any size, from baby to adult. Martha recently had her first grandchild (a baby girl), so the producers wanted to show how to make the skirt for a baby or child.

So, Martha and I got down to business and sewed up two tiny baby skirts. It was great–we laughed, we cried, we sewed, we made French seams. The episode will air tomorrow, Friday December 16, at 10am on the Hallmark Channel. So tune in then to see how our skirts turned out!

Here is where I would love to show you a zillion amazing behind-the-scenes shots, but tragically I barely took any pictures–there was just too much going on. But my mom (who came with me for the taping, hooray!) did get a few…

The producers, crew and I prepping for my segment. We sewed on these amazing vintage-reproduction Singer machines which aren’t even available to the public yet.

two little four-year-old girls modeling my skirts

The set was a winter wonderland!

Martha answering audience questions after the taping. Fun fact: she wore yoga pants with her sweater and heels, since her legs aren’t visible during the show (and I assume the heels for height/posture). Another fun fact, she was spotted in her office/dressing room doing yoga before our taping.

So tune in tomorrow, 10:00am on the Hallmark Channel, to watch me sew with Martha! Eeeep!

If you’ve been thinking about buying a sewing machine, or if you already have one but could use some new tools, then tune in to ShopNBC this Tuesday, April 26, for a sewing bonanza! I’ll be live on-air three times throughout the day demonstrating a great collection of Singer sewing machines and Simplicity sewing tools — there will be loads of good bargains and some really excellent products to check out.

For the past few months I’ve been working with the machines we’ll be demonstrating (a great computerized machine, a heavy-duty mechanical machine, a serger (!!!), a bias tape maker, rotary cutter machine, bobbin winder — and more — and I gotta say, these are all really excellent tools. Well-designed, easy to use and understand, and really great for anyone from a beginner to a more advanced sewer.

So! Flip your dial to ShopNBC Tuesday, April 26 at 8am EST, 1pm EST, and 7pm EST. The complete program guide is here so you can check the air times in your time zone. And here is a preview of the items that will be up for grabs.

Three full hours, completely live, packed with hundreds of demos and sewing machines as far as the eye can see? It’s going to be crazy for sure. Wish me luck!

Hi all, I’m super excited to tell you about a new project – I’m happy to announce that this fall I will be the spokesperson for the Land’s End FeelGood campaign! Hooray!

It’s a really wonderful campaign where Land’s End will donate 5,000 pounds (yes, five! thousand! pounds!) of its FeelGood yarn to Warm Up America, a charity that provides hand knit and crochet items to those in need. Warm Up America will distribute the yarn to knitters and crocheters (like you), who will make simple 7″ x 9″ squares. The squares will then be sewn together into big,warm blankets and donated to those in need.

AND, we’ve got something really fun planned to kick off the campaign. On Wednesday, September 29, I’ll be appearing on the CBS Early Show to kick things off… and we’re inviting hundreds of knitters and crocheters to come along for the ride! We’re going to take over the Early Show plaza with our own knit-out, to show viewers just how HUGE knitting and crochet are.

So — please come and join the taping! The more the merrier, and we’d love to have you there. Here are the deets:

WHO: You and all your yarny friends. Bring knit/crochet groups, school groups, anyone at all – as long as they knit or crochet, or are willing to learn at the event.

WHAT: Land’s End FeelGood Kick-Off on the CBS Early Show!

WHERE: The CBS Early Show – the plaza of the General Motors Building at 59th Street and 5th Avenue in NYC

WHEN: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 from 7-9:00am

WHY: To show the Early Show viewers how awesome knitting and crochet are, and make lots of squares for Warm Up America

WHAT ELSE: Free yarn will be provided! After the taping, we’re all invited for a private tour of the Early Show studio, and then we’ll keep on stitching in the plaza to keep the fun going all day!

RSVP: I really hope to see you there! If you can come, please RSVP to knitwithbrett [at] g mail [dot] com so we know how many people to expect.

PS: More details about the FeelGood program, like how you can help and how you can get your hands on some of that free yarn, will be announced on the show on Sept 29, so be sure to tune in!

Thanks to everyone who tuned in to watch the Knit and Crochet Today marathon this past Saturday on the Create Channel! A bunch of peeps contacted me via Twitter and Facebook to ask where they could get the pattern for the crochet ring I was wearing in many of the episodes.

I’m glad you asked! The pattern is available free right here, on the Crochet Today website.

I highly recommend stitching up at least one of these rings. I made mine in no time at all (like, less than an hour), and I get tons of use out of it. It’s the perfect little crafty finishing touch on many outfits.

PS: Did you know the new season of the TV show is now airing? And in case you didn’t hear, the name has been changed slightly – it’s now Knit and Crochet Now – but everything else is the the same. Same producer Candi Jensen, same cast of awesome experts. So check it out on your local PBS station, or on the Create Channel!

xoxo

Something really exciting happened last week. Really, really exciting. Like, I-can-now-die-a-happy-woman exciting.

I got to be on the Martha Stewart Show!

A friend got a bunch of tickets to a taping of the show, and invited me to come along. It was a special crafts-themed episode, and everyone in the audience was asked to bring a craft they’d made.

Since it’s Easter season, and since I know Martha has a thing for Easter eggs, I decided to bring a Ukranian egg I made a couple of years ago:

Before the taping began, the audience was corralled in a waiting area, and producers came around to look at our crafts. Everyone buzzed in their seats, waving their projects wildly in the air, hoping to be noticed. Next thing I knew, a producer came over to talk to me, asked to take my egg backstage, and a few minutes later I was being fitted with a microphone to appear on camera and show off my craft!

After hyperventilating, I dug around in my purse for lip gloss, texted my mom to tell her to turn on the TV (the show was LIVE, people!!), and took my seat up front.

Do not drop the egg, I told myself. Do not drop the egg. For the love of Martha, do not drop the egg.

And before long, the egg and I were safely on set with Miss Martha herself, Rosie O’Donnell, Martha’s daughter Alexis, and her friend Jennifer Koppelman Hunt:

(I’m the blurry purple one on the left. Really, I swear it’s me.)

The ladies asked me about my egg, how it was made, how long it took me, etc. Rosie was really into it and during the commercial break, Rosie and Alexis cornered me to talk eggs. I invited Rosie to come over to my place to learn the technique anytime. I’m still waiting for her to call.

If you’d like to watch a video of the segment, go to Martha’s web site, and click on the “audience chat” segment in the video box at the right of the screen. (It’s the box that says “The Crafts Show”, and you have to click “next” to get to the “audience chat” segment.) Just don’t blink or you’ll miss me – I’m only on for about 50 seconds!

This is Martha cruising around on-set during a break.

Now I know that after all this, what you really want to know is, how can I make an egg like that myself?? Well, I’m working on a Ukrainian egg dyeing how-to, so check back soon for a fascinating step-by-step!

If you’re looking for something yarny to listen to tonite, tune in to the Getting Loopy podcast, where Candi Jensen and I will be the guests! We’ll be joining hostess with the mostest Mary Beth Temple to chat about the TV show and all things crochet.

The cool thing about this podcast is that it’s broadcast live over the internet, and you can actually call in to ask questions on-air – just like a good old radio show (I love radio). So click here to tune in at 9:00pm eastern time, and give us a jingle!

If you miss the live broadcast, you can download the show and listen to it anytime!

I’m very happy to say that at long last, Knit and Crochet Today is finally hitting the airwaves, and you can click here to watch a video preview of the show!

Chalk this up under things I never thought I’d do: this past weekend I went to the EMMY’S!

Knit and Crochet Today was nominated for a regional Emmy in the instructional category. Turns out it’s true what they all say – it’s an honor just to be nominated. In the end, the prize in our category went to an informational program about breast cancer, produced by ABC News. Like, who could compete with that?! But we were honored to even be up there with the big people… and actually I’m kinda glad we didn’t win. Wouldn’t want to peak too soon, you know? :)

Candi Jensen (the show’s producer) and I took every opportunity we could to pose with Ms. Emmy…

There was a big Emmy ice sculpture too, which was really my favorite part of the whole thing. What can I say, I’m a sucker for food items fashioned into novelty shapes. Omg, if they’d had an Emmy-shaped cake I would have passed out.

Back at TNNA, we threw a little Emmy Nom party and struck a pose with all the fabulous people who will appear on the new seasons of the show. From left: Candi, me, Drew Emborsky, Maggie Pace, Robyn Chachula and Kristin Nicholas.

Fun, fun!

This lovely lady is my other bff. Our amazing makeup artist, Amanie. She’s won Emmy’s for pete’s sake! It was such a treat to get beautified every day by this pro. Plus she made me laugh so much that my eye makeup kept running. But then she would fix it. Really, what more could you ask for?

Amanie also taught me what my hair has been missing all this time: teasing! Who knew? When it’s flat and lifeless, tease it a little bit! I’ve been saying for a while now that hairspray gets a bad rap – and I think I can now say the same for teasing. Why these useful hair tools went out of style, I’ll never know. I mean, don’t expect to see me rockin’ a beehive anytime soon, but if you notice that I seem to have good hair days all the time from here on out, it’s the teasing.

Here’s another shot of our crew and cameras. They’re usually much more intent-looking, but this was actually during a break. Each camera has a teleprompter attached to it – so those screens are actually all cameras. Sneaky!

Here’s miss cutie pie Robyn Chachula with our fearless leader, Candi Jensen. What you can’t see in this pic is that Candi’s left ankle was as big as a grapefruit. She twisted it, but just kept on truckin’. What a trooper.

Here I am with the most popular man in crochet-dom, Drew Emborsky, The Crochet Dude! We couldn’t resist a little cheesy sitcom pose, what with all that makeup and bright lighting.

That’s Kristin Nicholas, my new knitting hero. Girl lives on a sheep farm, has her own line of luscious yarn, and does the most amazing colorwork ever. She’s also a great blogger, and super nice. In fact, check out her blog this week for some great posts about Detroit – she managed to make it to some arty venues, and she’s done a great job of reporting on them.

This crazy lady is Maggie Pace, founder of the amazing company Pick Up Sticks. She’s a felting maven and I was so inspired by her gorgeous designs.

That’s me with the crew, just after we finished 26 episodes. You can’t quite tell but they’re holding the cue card that says “wrap”. Awww.

And then, I collapsed.