Sewing stories and hand-stitched nostalgia

I've been thinking a lot about sewing and memories and nostalgia lately. Partly this relates to my 'real work' on sewing, where I've thinking about the stories we tell and share about the garments we make. I love that social media has enabled the sharing of our sewing experiences more widely, and that sewing has moved out of the private sphere and into the public - our memories are now not only stitched into the garments we make, but are also woven through the digital stories we tell about them. 

But this little wander down memory lane has also been sparked by a recent inheritance - my Mum's handmade bridesmaid dresses!! Mum was helping Grandma clear out some cupboards recently and I happened to be talking to them both on Skype at the time. The dresses were destined for the secondhand shop where goodness only knows what would have happened to them. I just couldn't let them go! Mum made them herself (and I think her wedding dress...she will no doubt correct me if I've gotten that wrong) and they are genuine 1970s delights! I actually wore the wedding dress itself at high-school in a play (we did the Sound of Music and I was Maria, so I wore the dress to get married on stage. Rather weirdly, the guy they got to play the priest was an actual priest, so it was all very authentic! Poor Mum - I also wore another of her 1970s creations as Maria's "ugly dress"...it was brown with floral and lace. In actual fact, it was probably lovely, and is very likely back in boho fashion now, but in the late 1990s, seen through my teenage eyes, it seemed an ideal Maria look), but I'd never seen the bridesmaid dresses. 

Here they are in 1977 at their original appearance (my two aunts are wearing them - Barbara is the aunt in the yellow, and Joy is wearing the green). 

I can only imagine how giant the heels my Aunty Barbara was wearing...she's under 5ft and that dress is long even on me (at my statuesque 5ft3)! You can see how gloriously late 1970s they are - the high neckline in particular is fabulous. I think Mum's dress was the same pattern. 

Mum and Dad divorced when I was around 11, so to be honest, the dresses don't necessarily have the happiest of memories attached to them in that sense (Grandma was trying to blame the dresses for that bad marital luck, but I'm less convinced of that argument!). 

But I do love that they are a piece of my Mum's (and now my) handmade history. The dresses are so carefully sewn - you can see it in the zigzag stitching along the inside seam allowances and the beautiful rouleau loops and covered buttons Mum made - I just couldn't let them end up rotting away in some second-hand store! 

                             

So now they're mine! What on earth I'm going to do with them I haven't the faintest! I had originally thought perhaps to make a sundress out of the fabric - there's plenty of it. But now I'm not sure I like the idea of cutting into Mum's handiwork. Do I really need a sundress in 1970s poly crepe, or would they be better kept for posterity?! Or is it adding to their story to refashion them into something new? I'm not yet sure. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome! 

While I decide, here are some pics of me dressing up 1970s-style! (I'm wearing the highest wedges I had in my wardrobe and there's still a good 4 inches of fabric on the ground! I couldn't fit into the yellow one. My Aunty Barb is super tiny)

Are you looking at me? Step back! (Getting my 1970s Fierce Side-Eye on)

Ohmygod Mulder - it's a UFO!

No, that's a UFO no more!

When I had my sewing crisis of faith a while back, I properly tidied my office/sewing room (which at that point had literal piles of fabric in heaps on the floor and desk, patterns and sewing magazines stacked precariously in the gaps in between, and random threads and zips floating about). It was actually a little scary. In the cleaning process, I rediscovered my box of UFOs and decided that I either needed to accept defeat with them (was I really ever going to wear this?) or finish them. Some were beyond help and are now cut up into pieces I can reuse for other things. But others I decided I should finish, and when I did that, I rediscovered one dress in particular that I've fallen back in love with.

I had great hopes for this fabric when I bought it - I loved the bold deco print and was determined to carefully pattern match it perfectly. But somehow when I started this dress (probably a year ago), I got into a total hissy fit over it. Yelling and rage. I felt that despite all my best pattern-matching efforts, I'd made a massive cock-up and it looked shit. So I threw it in the UFO box in disgust and have ignored it ever since.

But when I 'found' it again, I realised that, actually, it wasn't so bad. It was...maybe...good, even?! Ok, maybe not perfect, but the centre front is pretty damn good and for the rest of it, well, who the hell cares?! Have you looked at the pattern matching (or rather total lack thereof) in RTW clothes? Clothing retailers don't care, so why the hell should I kill myself for perfection when I'm not much bothered either? This fabric is bold and different and I like it. All I needed to do was hem it and finish the necklines and armholes (because in the UFO phase, I lost the sleeve pieces. I keep losing sleeve pieces! Must pay better attention).

Yay, insta-dress!

I also finished off a test version of the Anna dress that I'd hacked onto a Megan skirt. This is a pattern combo I think I like, but I don't like this particular version (the fabric is a bit blergh). Still, it's nice to have finished it and know that for sure. And the fit of the bodice with no alterations is bloody perfect (ignore the weird neckline - that's a facing problem). I just bought some new fabric to make my first 'real' Anna dress and I'm very excited for it!

And the last finished UFO. This is henceforth to be known as my Rat Bastard Top. It's the ill-fated Wren dress which I adjusted with some bust darts, and then shortened. Initially I shortened it to an above the knee dress but I still hated it, so figured it might work as a top with jeans and a cardy. It's ok. I have so much hatred towards it though (hemming this bastard was a total nightmare of snapped threads and snagged fabric and general cursing). But it's a decent-enough top if you don't look too closely. And at least it's finished.

I find there's a catharsis to finishing things that have long languished in a box. It's not just a new dress and a new top. It's given me a sense of satisfaction and quiet, and I needed both of those this week. It's been an up and down week work-wise (mostly great swooping downs), but sewing has been a little pocket of creativity and calm in the middle of all of that. I'm grateful to have that in my life. 

In which I rediscover my sewing groove

So it's been a while.

In part this is because I've had 2 back-to-back nasty colds (one of which is still lurking, dammit to lurgy hell) and so I didn't really have the energy to be sewing, or blogging. Blowing my nose has occupied an inordinately large amount of my time lately.

But in truth, the bigger reason for my radio sewing silence has been that whole 'sewing nothing but horrible shit' thing. It also got worse after I blogged last (the details of my latest utter balls up will be fodder for another post - I'm hoping to find a fix before I post on that!), so I really was in a total fury.

There are lots of blogs and magazine articles out there which talk about how to find your sewing groove again (they tend to call it 'finding your sewjo' but that term makes me feel mildly nauseous. Ick), and going back to a tried and true pattern is meant to be a good approach. So I ordered some fabric I liked with the plan of making a new Moneta, and sure enough, it has HEALED me! Here's the remedy garment for my sewing blues:

I completely love it. I had to cut a straight rectangle of fabric for the skirt, rather than using the Moneta skirt pattern as it is curved and I really really wanted the lines at the bottom to form the hem. Because that meant the skirt was a bit more narrow than normal, I omitted the pockets which is probably the one thing I'm sad about (because I lurrve pockets. Pockets on everything I say). So. I'm Healed. Jess got her groove back.

Since then I've been finishing off some UFOs (which I'll blog about another day) and that's felt quite good too - productive and efficient. And at the weekend, I was lucky enough to be up in Leeds visiting the lovely Shauni of Magnificent Thread who kindly took me around the fabric shops in town. I got some lovely teal knitted jersey which was intended for a cardigan, and on my drive back south, I called into Fabworks fabric mill shop (because it wasn't far off my route so what choice did I have!?) and there I got the softest, snuggliest brushed cotton fabric. I had no plan at all of putting the two together - but they are a born match! The outfit combo was obvious as soon as I got them home and looked at them. Love it when that happens!

So, I normally work from home quite a bit, and particularly so at the moment as I'm on sabbatical. I joke about working in my pjs, but in all honesty, I do always get dressed. But pjs are comfy, you know? I basically want clothes that offer the comfort of pjs without looking like you're actually in pjs (because the postman just doesn't need to see that everyday!). In summer this is easy, because I can wear jersey dresses, but at the moment I find it's too damn cold.

The Seamwork Moji pants offer pj-like appeal but because of their tapered leg and pockets, they're just a bit more stylish I think - I wouldn't be embarrassed answering the door in them. And to match, I fancied a cardi. I do have the Jenna cardi pattern, but I haven't yet printed it or pieced it together. But this month's Love Sewing magazine has the pattern for a McCall's cardigan - hurrah, no pdf to deal with! It's not actually my usual style tbh, but it's perfect for snuggling up in at home (and NO PDF. Win).

I'm really pleased with the whole ensemble, and the fit of both garments. I took an inch out of the body pieces and sleeves of the cardigan, plus I left the cuffs off (because even with an inch off the length, the cuffless sleeves were still long enough). The instructions were a bit spartan compared to my Indy-pattern norm (I'm so spoiled) but I'm quite proud that I managed to get it all together without drama. I also set the sleeves in flat because who can be arsed with easing in jersey sleeve heads?!

The Moji pants are a straight size 6 and I just put an elastic waistband on instead of draw-string because while elasticated waists are the least attractive thing in the world, they are comfortable and quite frankly, they keep your damn pants up. I only bought 1m of fabric so I didn't have enough to attempt pattern matching, but I don't really care! The cat sees me most and she doesn't appear offended by my mismatched plaid.

Hurrah cosy warm clothes that are super comfy and don't look entirely like pjs (ok, they look a wee bit like pjs, but I promise not to sleep in them!)!

And here we have the academic-on-sabbatical in her natural habitat. 

My "Meh" Makes Round-Up

Right. First things first: this is not one of those posts that's all aspirational and motivational with glowy photos of professional looking garments. If you'd hoped to find some sewing inspiration, then you should just turn your fine self around and head another direction! Sorry about that - nice to see you!! (it also includes quite a bit of ablogogising and overuse of the word 'meh': you have been warned!). 

I toyed with the idea of not writing this post, because obviously it's a bit shit to write a post full of crappy sewing projects, but then I decided to just charge on ahead because, well, I think it's important to present a fairly genuine picture of my efforts here. And sometimes, let's be honest, sewing doesn't turn out how you planned! (especially so for a beginner - and I still consider myself that!) So in the interests of trying to be an 'authentic' [oh god, did I really just type that unironically?! what have I become] sewing blogger - here are some terrible pictures of some very MEH makes! (accompanied by distinctly MEH photos of my dressform indoors, at night. Sorry about that. I have been trying to include myself in pictures more often, but I'm currently sporting a nasty and disfiguring allergic reaction to dry shampoo all over my face, so in the interests of not horrifying you further, I'm hiding. In summary: I look MEH as well as making MEH garments. What a winning week!)

First up in the crappy-makes honour-roll, we have: a Colette Wren Dress! Ta Dah!

Just look at that terrible bagging around the armscye! WTAF?! Seriously - I could tuck an extra couple of boobs in there. If only I were a 4-boobed martian. Alas, I have but the two boobs, and they can't fill up this much saggy fabric! Sigh....

To be fair, I did ignore the instruction that clearly said "before you finish the armholes, check for fit and make any adjustments". I ignored it because it's so much easier to hem armholes flat...and because I sew my Monetas up without adjustments so I foolishly (arrogantly) assumed that I knew better and that this dress would be the same. FOOL! I should have done as the pattern suggested. More importantly, I should have read a few more reviews online before making this because it seems the bodice block is totally different than Moneta and lots of folk have had major armscye issues. Anyway. Not to panic. This was always intended to be a wearable toile, so at least I made the mistakes on my draft version.

A pretty simple dart ought to fix the problem I think (I've pinned it here). I could do a band to finish the armhole, but I think that would ruin the softness of the neckline drape. So a dart it shall be!

I also made this version with the 6-gore panel skirt instead of the gathered skirt, and I have now decided that's not the right style for me. I was planning to make this dress in the wool fabric from my last post, but...maybe I need to make another less expensive toile first?! Anyway. This is not a wearable toile. I could maybe lop off the skirt and make it into a surplice top?? Or admit defeat and bin the whole thing? MEH.

Next up in this Blog Post of Glory...a Seamwork Mesa dress! I have to confess that this is still unfinished - it needs a neckband and that'll pull the ridiculously wide neckline in a bit. I was inspired to make this after seeing so many lovely versions online (like this one by Beth), and I figured it would be an easy pattern to knock up and have a lovely wearable, casual dress. And it might yet be that...

 ...but...but...what the HELL is going on under the arms?! Let's look closer....

Can you see that sagging armpit?? It doesn't look as bad here as in real life - there's SO much excess fabric. It's not even really in the armscye area - though it looks it here. I think the actual sleeve block is too big?? And I could afford to lose a handful of flab on my upper arms, so it's not my 'scrawny' arms that's the issue. Maybe it needs a dart too? I don't know. MEH. At least it didn't take too long to sew I guess...

As I'm not really a competent knitter (to date I have made a hat and some fingerless gloves), I've been dying to sew a cardigan and start getting some good layering pieces - to complete the me-made wardrobe! I thought the Seamwork Wembley cardy would be a good start (yay cheap patterns) and I had this lovely hacci sweater knit from Girl Charlee UK which seemed a grand match. Here 'tis:

I don't really know what to write for this one. It's ok I guess. Weird, maybe? I don't like the lower back/front thing - I know that's the shape of the pattern, but it seemed much more pronounced in my version. I also hate the sleeve cuffs. And the sleeves are really baggy. Hey - maybe this is a Seamwork sleeve block issue? Maybe I need to narrow them? Or maybe this fabric is just too loose a weave to really use in this pattern. It was a bit of a pain in the arse to sew, so maybe it's my fault. *shrugs* This is just a meh make.

And finally - my LONG awaited Maria Denmark Rachel Wrap Dress. This one was started in late summer if you can believe it! My sewing machine HATED the fabric. Like sworn enemy 'death to you and all your family' level hatred. It took me 4 needles and about 8 stitch attempts to get half way through the first seam (which still ended up snapped and broken and useless) before giving up in rage-fuelled defeat! (Truth: there was a lot of swearing and flinging of fabric). But then I got my beloved Elna and thought - maybe there was still hope?! And so there was. That gorgeous overlocker just zipped through the seams and boom - the dress was done! (so fast!).

A close up - to better see the blue colour - it's much more obvious than the main pic shows.

I totally messed up the front panel instructions as I couldn't work out from the graphic drawing what I was meant to do (total spatial awareness/visualisation fail), but I get it now so next time will be fine. Why then, is this dress meh? Well...I hate the fabric. I thought I liked it, but it's so busy and mad - it's all just waaaay too much of everything. Also, I think it lacks the right amount of stretch for this particular dress. It's weird fabric. The print is sort of painted on to the fabric, rather than being knitted/woven in? I am failing in my description, but the print basically restricts the stretch of the actual fabric. So it's unlikely to be worn, if I'm entirely honest. But of all the meh makes, this one holds the most promise. I do need a good wrap dress pattern, and this one will be worth another shot. 

And there you have it. My Meh Makes round-up! I've joked a bit here, but actually, it's really frustrating to have so many makes that I won't end up wearing. Such a waste of time (and money), and with no real reward. It's really messing with my motivation and creativity. I need to go back to a tried and true. I fancy making a Megan dress but it's so cold at the moment that cosy stuff is what I'll actually wear so maybe I'll make another Moneta or Linden? One thing is for sure: I need a win! 

Sewing Plans

My head seems to be full of sewing projects at the moment. This happens quite a lot, of course, but I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by it! So - it's time to make a list! Here's what I'm thinking for the next week while...

Anima Pants

I finally cut my first attempt at these out last night, so now all I need to do is sew them up. The faux fly front is wigging me out a bit, but otherwise they seem pretty straight-forward. The fabric I'm using is fugly light grey sweatshirting that I bought when attempting to match grey to my earlier Liberty Linden, so they're not going to be pretty but hopefully they'll be a wearable toile. I'm hoping if it works that I can get some nice jersey to make a pair I could leave the house in, and then I plan to blatantly copy Katie's woven Anima's because I'm desperate for trousers that aren't jeans, but aren't trackies. Fingers crossed...

Next Up...

Liberty Dress
I got this beautiful Liberty cotton/wool mix (it's like a lightweight twill maybe?) in Glasgow just before Christmas. I love it a lot - it's got gorgeous drape and enough heft to wear much of the year round, and the pattern is - I think - amazing. I'm either going to make another Megan dress (because a sleeveless Megan is the most comfortable woven-fabric dress I've ever worn), or a Colette Phoebe dress. Can't decide. If I go with Phoebe, I'm going to need to make a practice version first because I don't want to be wrecking Liberty. I'm lazy, soo...let's call this a Probable Megan.

Another Linden
I know, I know...I promised no more Lindens for a while, but then Lauren at Guthrie and Ghani only went and got a special delivery of a few Liberty sweatshirt fabrics so what was I meant to do!?! Argh. I knew they were going to sell out super quickly, so avoided my usual humming and haaing nonsense and just snapped up this bad bad of gorgeousness. So much love for this. It's definitely going to be a Linden...probably with grey raglan sleeves again. I'm so boring, but I give no shits - I love these jumpers so much!

Surprise Fabric Gifts
My lovely Aunt in NZ went to that shop I got all the gorgeous wool fabrics at when I was home in June last year and got me fabric treats! It was such a nice surprise to get such a beautiful gift! She's sent me two pieces of merino jersey fabric - one in a pattern, and another plain. Neither one is my normal colour palette (being that I'm a boring blues and blacks kind of girl normally) but they're much too pretty not to use.

The patterned one is a medium weight jersey with quite a bit of stretch. It's SO soft and snuggly - it'll be like wearing a hug! She has given me 2 metres I think which is AMAZING. I can definitely get a dress from this, but I can't decide whether to go with my TNT Moneta pattern, or whether to try a Myrtle. I think a Myrtle may actually look better in this. Granted it seems mad to make a sleeveless dress in wool jersey, but let's be honest - I live in Britain, so it's not like it ever really gets hot enough that I couldn't wear it in summer. And in winter, I can layer another top under it and/or a cardi over the top. The biggest hurdle for this plan is that I haven't yet stuck the PDF together and it's like, A THOUSAND PAGES *sigh* (ok, 60. But still...).

With the plain piece, I only have a metre. It's incredibly fine - so fine you could hardly believe it was wool. I'll either make a lovely bright teeshirt (Oh hello Emmeline...did you miss me?) or if there's enough, I'd love to start trying to make some cardigans. I have the Jenna cardi (cropped style) in mind.

PHEW. That seems quite a bit. And it doesn't include finishing the wrap dress I'm almost done with, or the Secret Valentine Exchange gift I need to get my arse into gear and make. Or the baby sweatshirt I promised my friend. Or the breastfeeding appropriate top I promised her as well!

To the Sewing Machines!

Teeny Tiny Clothes for Teeny Tiny Humans

I'm not quite sure how or why I got it into my head that I wanted to make some clothes for my friends' new baby. The lovely Zoe (of So Zo What Do You Know) and Marie (of Stitching Odyssey) have both been sharing super cute tiny makes lately, so maybe that's where the idea started.

In any case, since my sweatshirt madness abated, I decided to spend some time making little things. Oh what fun. HOW CUTE ARE THESE?! Argh! The overwhelming adorableness. I can hardly stand it.

The first thing I made was this 'test' version (calling it a toile seems an overstatement!) with some Ikea fabric from my stash. I used the free Little Geranium Dress pattern from Made by Rae. She has a version to buy for older bubs, but has made the infant version free which is so lovely of her. This fabric is way too cutesy for the parents in question (who run to more of a modern aesthetic) and even for me if I'm honest, but even still it is pretty damn cute. I may yet hem it and take it up to the baby in question, just in case...

Once I knew the pattern was ok, I got some fat quarters and plain cotton and made this wee one. Awww. And pockets. Because of course tiny babies need pockets for all their swag!

And then when I was at the craft store (which I've never bought fabric from before because it's all quilting cotton and not really me), I found this amazing fabric with retro VW campers on. My friends have recently bought a vintage camper themselves, and so I thought it would be a perfect fit. But a gathered skirt didn't seem like the right style for this fabric, so I hunted around online and found this lovely pattern on Etsy by Puperita (who seems to specialise in adorable kids patterns). Anyway, I was even brave and used piping for the first time (made it myself), and the dress is fully lined which isn't even something I've done for my own garments yet! It's a really quick make, and I'm utterly charmed by it! I just hope it fits!

I've also been attempting to make some cute baby sweatshirt garments, but they've gone a bit pear-shaped. I have left them for now and may come back to them later, but I've learned that crankiness with a pattern tends to mean I should step away for a while! It only leads to mistakes and more crankiness. So, for now, it's just adorable dresses for my new tiny friend. 

In which I make ALL of the sweatshirts

Ok. I think I have a Linden problem. I have made more, sorry. But these ones are fab and I'm so pleased with how they've turned out. Exactly as planned, yay!

I got some gorgeous Liberty terry sweatshirting when I was in Glasgow just before Christmas (I love Mandors fabric. I can't tell you how much I wish we had a shop like that in Northampton!), and I had to have it. I had in mind that it would look good with grey sleeve/accents, but damn if it wasn't impossibly hard to get a matching fabric! It turns out it's not so much grey as one of those greys that are freaking magical colours that match nothing else. I have bought a LOT of grey sweatshirting online this week trying to find a match (I'm going to have to make some trackpants or something with all the failed match fabric). But eventually I got one that is a pretty close match - it's not perfect, if I'm entirely honest, but whatevs. Close enough. I got 2 metres of the Liberty, so I actually have lots left after making this - thoughts on what to do with the remainder?? 

I ended up going down another size in this jumper, plus I took off an inch in body length, and cut 2 inches off the arm pieces (stumpy arm alert) - I think it helps a lot. So I'm down to a size 6 in this pattern now, and I started out with a 10 (based on boob size). I think because I would normally do an FBA on a fitted pattern, with a boxy knit pattern like this, I probably should go with my upper bust measurement, rather than full bust? Dunno, but the smaller size makes a nicer jumper I think. Less hermit looking, more 'functional person capable of leaving the house and not scaring people'. Just the look I was hoping for!  

(I even went bravely outside into the snow this morning (our first all winter!) to take pics. I felt a bit of an arse, to be honest, but I'm trying to work on my posing skills. As you can see, those still need quite a bit of work!)

The sensible you-can-actually-see-the-garment pic

The second jumper I had in mind was something a bit dressier. I realise that sounds oxymoronic when we're talking sweatshirts, but my sister-in-law always has these cute, slightly dressy sweaters that just fancy-up a pair of jeans. So I spotted this lovely floral ponte on Girl Charlee and got some matching black for the sleeves hoping to replicate the look. (Ponte de roma is funny, isn't it? The label seems to cover a massive range of fabrics that seem completely different. This "ponte" is quite slinky and thin, and the black has almost got a sheen to it. In this case it's totally fine because that works perfectly with the sweater style I had in mind, but if I'd bought it for something like a Moneta, I'm not sure it would have worked? It's gorgeous fabric, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't have the heft that I expect from a ponte normally).

Anyhoo: here is my new fave fancy Linden!

Leanin' on the lamp-post at the bottom of my garden...I totally slipped and almost fell on my arse in the snow seconds after this was taken.

I wore this out for Sunday lunch yesterday and it was cute and cosy without looking like I was wearing a moomoo. Yay! Whereas I did something slightly weird with the neckband on the Liberty Linden (I don't think the grey had enough stretch, so I cut a bigger size and now it's quite a wide neckline), this version turned out perfectly. I'm so pleased. All knocked up on my beloved Elna overlocker, of course. 

I really must learn to stand so that I don't look like I have massive love handles. I don't. Small ones, maybe, but not as big as they look here. 

I think that will be quite enough Lindens for a while. Although I met with the lovely Charlotte of An English Girl at Home this week, and she was wearing a gorgeous Linden that she'd made into a dress. Sweater-dress cuteness!! So maybe I'll have one more before I'm done (ooh, I wonder if I have enough of the Liberty to make a Linden dress...?). This really is a lovely pattern. All the love for all my sweatshirts!

Now, it's freezing...let's get out of here! 

Getting to Grips with my New Machine

I got seriously spoiled for Christmas this year. My lovely partner Andrew bought me an overlocker!! Crikey! It was completely unexpected, and way too generous of him, but OH WOW how I love it.

He wanted me to help choose the actual model so we trotted off to our lovely local sewing machine shop (Sew Northampton - they are so lovely in there. They take such time with customers - letting you try out a bunch of machines and giving you as much info as possible. No hard sell or pushing, just lovely helpful people) as soon as they reopened after Christmas and spent aaaages trying to decide which one to buy. In the end, we went with the Elna 664 Pro. It had a lovely sound when using it, and it's got this super handy wee stitch display dial thingy.

Look how lovely it is! Since we brought it back from the shop, I've basically done nothing but play with it. I will admit that I haven't yet needed to rethread it, so I should probably do that soon (SCARY) but otherwise, I've been zooming through seams and allowances like nobody's business! Why was I so afraid of these? I used to be filled with fear even thinking about overlockers (I actually prefer the word serger. I know I'm a Kiwi who lives in the UK, so I should only use 'overlocker', but serger sounds onomatopoeic somehow...) and I think it was all the threads and dials - they just seemed intimidating. Plus knowing that you're cutting as you sew made it seem like there was no going back if mistakes were made (and let's face it, mistakes are always made). But it's been totally fine so far! *touches wood*

I've used this as an opportunity to work through a bunch of ugly fabrics that have been lurking in my stash, so the things I've made have not been wildly pretty (or wearable outside the house!!) but they're great practice. I've made 4 (!!!) sweatshirts - 1 Astoria and 3 of the Grainline Linden. I have been humming and haaing about buying Linden for MONTHS but finally just sucked it up and did it. So glad I did. It's lovely - super quick to make, great fit, great instructions, and the perfect getting-to-know-your-overlocker projects! I've also made 2 pairs of Seamwork Moji pants which I made on my normal machine and finished on the overlocker. One of those pairs has been a sort-of success, the other...not so much. I might blog about those another time - I've been trying to create the perfect 'lounge pants', and had hoped Moji would be the winner. Not sure it is.... 

Anyway. To the sweatshirt projects! 

First up is the Astoria, in the most obnoxious fabric the world has ever ever seen (trimmed in the last shreds of my blue merino wool sweatshirt from the earlier Astoria). Truly, the photo does not do justice to the insanity of this fabric. I bought it after having seen it draped in a shop and I could only really see the flowery panels. So I knew it was bright and a bit crazy, but I did not know it had asymmetric stripes and random shapes as well. I realised as soon as I got it home that it was probably too garish to do much with. But it kind of works here. Kind of. Sorry if it hurts your eyes. 

The first Linden was also made using shitty shitty fabric. Fabric that prompted Andrew to suggest that when wearing it, I'd have no trouble attending a high school in our old home town. Mean. Totally right, but still....mean. I thought that by trimming it with some other contrast fabric, it might make it less 'school jumpery'. And then I sewed the neck binding on back to front so it all went a bit pear-shaped. And the jumper is miles too big. But good practice, good to make mistakes with shitty fabric, and it's fine for wearing at home when I'm doing DIY or something. It's warm if nothing else (you can see I've already worn it around home - it has a freaking grease spot on it, hello Friday burgers. I'm so classy). 

But once I realised that I could use the overlocker without destroying things, I set about buying ALL THE FABRIC from the internets. I'm not even joking. My bank account looks sad. The first lot to arrive was some lovely sweatshirting from Guthrie and Ghani - in navy blue and bright fuschia. I had in mind that I could mix and match, and that's what I've done! 

The first pink/blue one is ok. I went down a size from the original green monster, which has helped, but I still need to lose some length in the sleeves and possibly go down just one more size to get the fit I was hoping for. Again, it's fine for 'round home (which, given I'm about to start my sabbatical, is pretty much all the time), and it was a lovely thing to wear to hand-made clothes to yoga yesterday. 

My final Linden is the best so far (I have at least 2 more planned). I used a slightly bigger seam allowance, shortened the length and sleeve-length, and I'm much happier with the colour blocking. And no mistakes! Hurrah! 

Victory leap. Nailed the focus *sighs*

And one where you can actually see the jumper. And less of the messy house.

It's starting to look like I have a terrifying number of sweatshirts, but the green one will not last long before it gets covered in paint splatters, and the scarily bright Astoria is really not wearable except as high viz running kit. These are great garments to practice overlocking with, and frankly, when you work from home a lot, what's wrong with having lots of jumpers?! My next two planned involve some amazing Liberty sweatshirting I got in Glasgow (squeeeee!!) and some lovely ponte roma from Girl Charlee. 

Christmas Catch-up

Well 2016, here we are. 12 days in and scarcely a frost to be seen.* My hopes of a delightfully cold white Christmas were thwarted, but despite that, we had lots of food and drink and plenty of laughter. Quite a bit of blobbing on the sofa watching TV too, if I'm honest, but that was really what we desperately needed. Semester 1 (Oct-Dec) was a bit mad last year, so I felt properly wrung out by the time Christmas rolled around.

I didn't do very much sewing at all for Christmas. I'm not a homemade gift giver (sewing for others still fills me with fear) but I did manage to make myself a super cheesy Christmas dress! I bring you, the Christmas Moneta dress! Ta dah!!!

It really is quite cheesy, being only a step up from a Christmas jumper, but I actually really like it!! It's a bit mad, but properly festive and thanks to the lovely Moneta shape - it's pretty and feels a bit fancy. Plus...stretchy fabric on Christmas day with the illusion of a waist-line?! WIN! It's funny fabric - slightly furry. I wouldn't call it a fleece, but it's on its way to being a fleece. I suspect it was originally fabric intended for adult onesies or something awful. It has now been packed away for next year, but it did Christmas proud!

Here's a pic of it in action on Christmas day...

I had also intended to make a more chic Christmas dress to wear as well out of some gorgeous Liberty lawn in a pretty berry pattern that I bought. But Christmas arrived really quite quickly, so that fabric will have to be put to another use. Maybe a summery Anna dress - it's pinks and reds and greens...that doesn't have to be Christmassy.

Anyway, that's the extent of my Christmas sewing, but here is one more pic of me doing some Christmas cake icing (I decorated the cake as a present with a red bow), wearing one of my Coco dresses (layered over a RTW black merino from NZ). Not sure if I've blogged about this dress or not, but I do rather love it.

And so we leave 2015...a year of lots of sewing, quite a bit of progress and exciting work developments which relate to sewing. I'm happy with my efforts in 2015, although I think I need to push myself a bit more in 2016 - I want to work on my fit skills, and try to develop a couple more skills or techniques. I got into a bit of a knit fabric/jersey habit this year, which has been wonderful because I've realised how much I love wearing comfy fabrics, but they do allow me to be lazy with fit issues. Here's hoping 2016 will be the year of the fabulous fit!


*snow is forecast for Thursday. I am stocking up in the hopes of a proper snow day! 

Winter clothes

When I went home to New Zealand in June, it was mid-winter there and the shops were full of lovely cosy winter clothes. But knowing of my new-found sewing obsession, instead of exploring the world of wintery RTW, my aunt took me on an outing to the most amazing fabric shop. Oh that place. I could have spent days (and many many hundreds of pounds) in there. It was massive, and had such wonderful things - different than a lot of what I see in Britain. But the best part was that they had loads and loads of gorgeous merino and wool-blend fabrics, in all sorts of patterns and types. I got a beautiful petrol blue merino wool sweatshirt fabric - looks just like a normal fleece-backed sweatshirt but it's WOOL so it's freaking toasty as can be. I heart it. I just knew it would be perfect for another Astoria jumper...and so it is! Ta da!

This time I added a good couple of inches to the length, so it's perfect now. It sits just at the top of my jeans/trousers' waistband - no unfortunate stomach flashes, and just ideal for wearing around home. I'm in absolute love of the colour and I'm pretty much already living in this. Next time I go home, I will be bringing back a bloody suitcase of merino sweatshirting I think!

I also got some crazy teal wool with ducks on it. That sounds mad. It is a bit. I'm not really quite sure what to do with that. I love it, but it's quite bonkers. I think a wee capelet or something would work, but I may not have bought enough. A winter skirt, perhaps. And I got some super soft and drapey jersey wool fabric in purply grey colours. I desperately want to make another Moneta out of that, but no matter how I place the pattern pieces, I cannot make it work. I bought too damn little *sobs*. Until I can reoncile myself to making something other than a Moneta with it, it'll stay in the stash too.

But I have had one more NZ winter wool fabric win...and that's with this new dress!

I love this so very much. It's a thick tweedy sort of fabric with wide woven colours in blues and purples and foresty greens. It frayed like an absolute bastard, so I decided to underline it straight away. I had initially thought I'd line it normally, but the underlining worked really well - made the fabric so much more usable. There were still stray threads ALL over the house before I was done, but hey ho!

The pattern is a Colette Laurel although it doesn't really look it. I really need to revisit my sizing on that pattern because I always seem to end up taking out about 3-4 inches overall. Hm. Anyway, when removing the excess width, I decided to add a bit of waist shaping and flare the skirt ever-so-slightly, and I'm glad I did. I think the shape works. I had to do my normal back dart adjustment (all the way up to the neckline) but I think it looks ok and it fits bloody perfectly! I asked the kind folks on Instagram about this excess shoulder fabric/zip ripple business I keep getting and the advice was to stabilise my zip allowances. That may well prove a winning tip, but I'm unconvinced that was the problem in a dress like this. The wool fabric here is the thickness of a coat, and I underlined it so it's really really thick and stable. I think in the new year I might sign up for a fitting class somewhere and see if I can't find some more answers to this...

Anyway. I also added cap sleeves AND...(drumroll please) I finished the neckline and armholes BY HAND!! Boom! *does victory dance*. This is seriously noteworthy because hand-sewing anything gives me a freaking headache and I loathe it with my ever fibre. The loathing stems from my total incompetence, but still, the hatred is real. However, I will begrudgingly admit that the hand finish really does look better. DAMMIT!! Now I'm going to have to hand finish everything aren't I? Doom...

So. Those are the main things I've made lately. Doesn't seem like much, and it's not but that's because work has been craaazy this past month. I don't have huge plans for December, with the exception of Christmas bunting (which I failed to do last year), and a dress of some description to wear on Christmas day. I have yet to decide on what that dress will be...will I go all out kitsch-festive, or be a little more classy? Who knows...tune in soon to find out!

Last weekend's projects

I fancied some quick makes last week, so I decided to have a day of super-speedy sews! Fun!

First up was an Astoria Cropped Jumper from Seamwork magazine. I've discovered cropped cardigans are particularly useful with the dresses I've been making and wearing lately, so I had it in mind that the Astoria jumper would be equally great. It promises to be a 1hr sew. Seamwork patterns can all be made in 3 hours or less, and while I've only made a couple of them so far, I'd have to say that they really are true to that. The jumper took me a little over an hour. I found hemming the cuffs to be a total pain in the arse. Next time I'll hem them before I sew the sleeves up...it was impossibly hard to fit the tiny sleeve into the machine! An easy enough thing to deal with next time though.

The main issue I have with the jumper is that I'm really not at all sure how to wear this!! While I love the fabric, the colour and style are wrong with my dresses (with the exception of one plain black Coco Dress) and it's too short to wear with jeans (because - belly! No!). So, um, yeah. I don't know?! I'm going to make another one, but I'll add a couple of inches to the length so I can wear it with jeans. It's really comfy and it fits well, but it's just too short (which is fair enough - it's cropped. Maybe I'm what's wrong?!). Not sure whether to chalk that up as a win or not? A maybe...

The second make was a super fast Mabel skirt using remnants from my first Moneta. I have actually already made a Mabel in a plain black jersey that's sort of flocked or something. I have no idea what that fabric actually is, but it works really well as a Mabel and I wear it a lot. Looks v cute with tops tucked in and a blazer over for work - a mini pencil skirt. So, yeah, this is my second Mabel. I love the look - the fabric works well pattern-wise (I had to cut with the stripes vertical because I didn't have enough left to go the other way, but I think it works). It's a bit more clingy in the butt-area than the other Mabel, but it'll still get worn. I don't think my butt isn't that big, so it's probably ok if my skirt clings to it!?

And finally. My favourite make of the day is another (yes, I know. I'm addicted) Emmeline Tee. I luuurve it. The fabric is some gorgeous drapey viscose I got at an outing with my girlfriends at Guthrie and Ghani (and apparently Hobbs has garments in the same fabric, so aren't we posh?!) Anyway, normally the pattern uses binding made from the fabric, but I thought that black edging might look cute with this - sharpen it somehow. So I just used some store-bought black bias binding I had in my sewing box (also a big win for laziness!), and I'm really pleased with the look. I've already worn it to work with the original Mabel skirt, in fact.

All three garments were made one Saturday - although I did the cutting out the night before. I reckon three garments is a pretty good outcome for a day of sewing! Happiness!