Fair warning: This is a very, very long post!
I got disillusioned with blogging, and stopped in 2016. No one is reading my blog apart from me so what's the point?
Turns out, I find it helpful to record project notes, adjustments, fabrics, patterns... so while I have a Maker's Workbook notebook in my sewing desk that I record into at the end of each project, it doesn't have space for any in-depth details. (But is well worth getting anyway, I've just bought my second volume.) I also feel like I haven't actually done much this year apart from be in work, which this post proves is ridiculous as I've still managed to make and do a lot.
Last year we bought/sold and moved house. I now have a beautiful sewing room, which is technically our spare room. I'm very, very lucky. It has a huge desk, so I get to look out over the valley, see the seasons change [read: freeze in the winter, sew in undies in the summer as it's in the attic!] and best of all the room has fitted furniture so all of my sewing stash hides away neatly.
I also found a surprise vintage Singer sewing machine in the cellar! Unfortunately it had several broken parts which were £40+ each to replace, so I bought a second machine (pictured below in its wooden frame) for £30 on ebay instead - which came with a coffin top box, original manual and key!
I managed to squeeze in a pair of yellow, grey and brown striped socks from The Knitting Goddess' stripe sock yarn club before Christmas. Oh, and meet our new cat Tyler! Unfortunately Minerva went missing in July and never returned :(
After not sewing anything for over a year, in October 2017 I was asked by an Australian locum friend in work to shorten some trousers for her. We got on brilliantly and as she sadly moved away to a new job in November 2017 I made a small bag for her to take on her travels, along with a pair of hand knitted socks. She crochets as well, so we used to have lovely chats and I still think about her often. She kickstarted a year of sewing, after (kindly) telling me off for not having touched my machine in over a year and telling me to get on with it!
While I was at it, I made a second bag for a dear friend in SF and posted it out to her, as a surprise Christmas present. When she visited in 2016 (oh dear) she picked out some fabric and then I packed everything away for when we moved house.... Finally got round to it.
Seeing as it was our first Christmas in the new house, we ended up hosting. So we bought two 6 foot folding tables and went to Ikea for 12 folding chairs. While there I decided to buy some fabric and made two white tablecloths, 12 placemats, 12 drinks coasters and two table runners to run the length of the tables. I finished these by sewing until gone 11pm the week before Christmas, in between working various shifts etc. I also handstitched a Christmas wall decoration.
Jemma came over for a few sewing sessions this year too, which was a lot of fun. Jemma was given a sewing machine last year by her Gran and wanted to check she was threading correctly etc, as she was teaching herself. We had a sleepover in January with wine, then made a lovely cushion the next day, before she went to work for her 4pm-midnight shift.
I also squeezed in another japanese knot bag for portable knitting projects.
We also had to say goodbye to Nigel this January, he had severe kidney disease as a result of being FIV positive, which we had never known about as he wasn't considered at risk and therefore had not been tested. I still miss them both so much.
After that I decided I wanted to make something to wear. I had been seeing loads of people posting pictures of beautiful Cleo dungaree dresses from Tilly, so I plucked up the courage. I used 1.5m of wine cotton twill from eBay, for £9.98 and was really pleased with it! I took 5 inches of ease off the waist, redrew the facings to match and redrew the hip curves to be more A-line rather than tulip. Unfortunately I learnt the hard way that that fabric needs overlocking, or at least an overcast stitch as the hem literally disappeared in the first wash right down to the zig-zag stitch and I would have liked to add a second line of stitching to stop the hem from falling down. Ah well.
I made that dress in 3 days and wore it to a hen party in Bristol at the beginning of February. While we were all drunk a few of the girls commented on my dress (which is always lovely!) and in our joint drunkenness Sam and I decided to strike a deal. She makes the most amazing pork pies from scratch, so we agreed I would sew her a Cleo and she would make a pork pie, and we'd swap! I love a skill swap!! I literally pulled off the Cleo there and then, thankfully Sam is the same size as me.
Sam chose royal blue with dungaree buckles and I made it from the same fabric off eBay. Conscious of making something for someone else, it was hands down the best I have ever sewed! I took so much time and care over it, the white contrast topstiching is beautiful! I overlocked all the insides too so it looks just as good on the inside.
While sewing Sam's Cleo I started a corduroy royal blue version for myself, so that I could practice the steps on mine then do hers. My wine coloured one only had buttons, so I wanted to practice the buckles at least. I love my corduroy version the most and it's the most worn me-made than I own! The fabric is slouchy and relaxed, comfy and the colour cheers me up. I feel awesome in it.
I marked Sam's hem at the wedding, then sent it off in the post for her. She brought the pork pie with her to the wedding rather than posting it. It was huge!!
Thankfully she loved her dress! In between making the two Cleo's, I also offered to help the bride with any decorations she wanted and make hundreds of hessian penants, then strung them all up on twine for bunting. I tried applique for the first time, learnt that you can get splinters from hessian (who knew?!) and used nearly 500m of thread! I took my machine in for a service not long after, as it had worked bloody hard!
A friend in work gave me some hessian tablerunners so I hemmed those and they were gratefully received too. In return, Sian put me in a gorgeous bridesmaid dress from Motee Maids which was a pleasure to wear and dance in. We got to meet the owner of the company and find out how they hand bead each dress, which was lovely.
That takes us up to April!
In early March I discovered a sewing school in Bridgend, entirely by chance online. They were running a jersey dress class which I really wanted to do but was sadly fully booked. Instead, I signed for a mini quilting course in April which ran for 4 weeks. I bought a gorgeous Makower Floral Splendor FQ bundle from Higgs and Higgs, along with an insane number of other fat quarters - it's hard work buying quilting fabric online and trying to guess if that grey is exactly the right shade...
We were offered 3 patterns to chose from, so of course I went for the most fiddly one which was hard work to get done between shifts! On the day of the last class, I happened to be off having worked the weekend. I still didn't have a fully pieced section, let alone a fully pieced quilt top. So I got up early like I was going to work and sewed solidly from 9am to 5.25pm, with half hour for lunch and a 15 min break in the morning! Hard work, but I got it done, just in time to jump in the shower and drive there. I wanted to have it all done so I could try quilting and binding, which I managed to do. The finished article could be neater (Note to self: you really DO have to be accurate and put your ruler on the edge, not 1mm in from the edge as it throws everything else out!)
Gemma runs a fab class, so I signed up for a cami top two week course which involved purposely picking trickier fabrics like viscose or voile. I bought a lovely, buttery soft but slippery as hell viscose from Minerva Crafts. You don't normally know the pattern in advance, but I was really pleased that it turned out to be the Ogden cami top as I actually own it and have been meaning to make it for ages! I lengthened it by 2 inches and graded up 2 sizes from the bust to hips. Unfortunately I fell behind as I could NOT get the hang of using a loop turner to make the straps (had to ask the textiles teacher sat next to me to do them, thank you again!) and then everything shifted everywhere so it wasn't my best make. I still have to finish it, I forgot to trim before sewing the second seam of the french seams so it all sticks out... rookie mistake!
After chatting during the mini quilting course, Gemma mentioned she was also running a Washi dress course in June. I immediately rejigged all my shifts and booked on, because the Washi dress is another pattern I've owned and meant to make since first finding it years and years ago via blogs and seeing DFabrication make several versions, plus wearing them on the Great British Sewing Bee!
We adopted two new cats in April. They're feral stray rescues and it's taken us 5 months just to get one to jump up on the sofa with us. Having to tread very carefully with these boys, but it's worth it.
I treated myself to some leather and bag making supplies after seeing a nice feature in Simply Sewing magazine, the May issue. I really liked the small purse, so had a go at making my own. Next time, need to double the stitch length and maybe use leather thread as I used regular and too small a stitch so it ended up tearing really easily. Also, don't weigh the triangle down with a stone as it'll somehow leave a mark and use way more binding clips than you think you need as it likes to move around! Disappointed with the overall result sadly.
The Washi dress class in June was great fun. Shirring is SO much easier than I expected it to be! Not sure if I had beginners luck, or if it's my machine to thank. Some ladies had machines that just would not accept the shirring elastic so Gemma brought her machine in for them to use. All the same, I was pleasantly surprised. I cut a straight Medium with no alterations, chosen for me by Gemma based on my high chest measurement. I have no other photos of this dress, this was taken in the pub the classes are held in as we waited for food afterwards!
The sewing school closes over the summer holidays, so instead Gemma ran a EPP hand sewing sew-a-long for a pattern she designed. It's called the Rennie. I started off so well! Got all my fabrics chosen, cut out and glued to the papers ready. I still haven't finished it to date though, so will have to update this post in the future.
In amongst this I also made up a pair of black out lined curtains for our spare room. No pics of this as yet, but they work and also make the room a lot colder/warmer depending on what we need in each season. Chalking that up as a win!
A colleague in work had seen my Cleo dresses, especially the two blue versions and asked me if I could make her one in July. She chose a lovely burgundy/wine coloured corduroy which I'm currently in the process of making.
I put that temporarily on hold in order to make a dress for a wedding of some close friends. Separate post on that, due to the sheer number of adjustments I had to make to the bodice! I'm also finishing a gift for them, which is why I put the Rennie sew-a-long on hold to make sure I had enough time to finish.
So what else is in store for 2018?
At the same hen party in February, Mariam asked if I could make a Cleo for her too. She picked out a beautiful floral cotton twill, which I bought back in April. I made the mistake of giving her the corduroy version to try on, which is a much softer fabric and Maz decided she wanted a more fitted back. After dithering over fitting options, looking at entirely different patterns etc, I met up with her and got her to try the twill version on as the fabric is much stiffer and more like the floral twill she chose. Maz was a lot happier with the fit of that, so I plan to cut that out in the next few weeks and get that done before Christmas.
I went to a #Walessews meet up in September which was brilliant fun. It was lovely to meet other sewists, especially as sewing can feel quite lonely sometimes in a way that knitting doesn't. I picked up a few beautiful grey jerseys that I have grand plans for.
I'm midway through a Linden jumper too, made from plum coloured french terry from Minerva Crafts. It's been really easy to sew with so far. Ran into a problem with the neckband though, as my fabric just doesn't quite have enough stretch. I ended up unpicking and recutting a new band, around 2 inches longer and 1/2 inch wider to help with the edges curling up. Almost nailed the second one, i stopped pulling quite as much on one quarter - heaven knows why, so unsurprisingly that section sticks up slightly on one shoulder. I'm currently holding off hemming and attaching the cuffs until I decide how much this is going to bug me...
I also have fabrics cut out to make a quilted gift bag for Mam and my MIL. We're off to SF in December so I have my work cut out for me!
I got disillusioned with blogging, and stopped in 2016. No one is reading my blog apart from me so what's the point?
Turns out, I find it helpful to record project notes, adjustments, fabrics, patterns... so while I have a Maker's Workbook notebook in my sewing desk that I record into at the end of each project, it doesn't have space for any in-depth details. (But is well worth getting anyway, I've just bought my second volume.) I also feel like I haven't actually done much this year apart from be in work, which this post proves is ridiculous as I've still managed to make and do a lot.
Last year we bought/sold and moved house. I now have a beautiful sewing room, which is technically our spare room. I'm very, very lucky. It has a huge desk, so I get to look out over the valley, see the seasons change [read: freeze in the winter, sew in undies in the summer as it's in the attic!] and best of all the room has fitted furniture so all of my sewing stash hides away neatly.
I also found a surprise vintage Singer sewing machine in the cellar! Unfortunately it had several broken parts which were £40+ each to replace, so I bought a second machine (pictured below in its wooden frame) for £30 on ebay instead - which came with a coffin top box, original manual and key!
I managed to squeeze in a pair of yellow, grey and brown striped socks from The Knitting Goddess' stripe sock yarn club before Christmas. Oh, and meet our new cat Tyler! Unfortunately Minerva went missing in July and never returned :(
After not sewing anything for over a year, in October 2017 I was asked by an Australian locum friend in work to shorten some trousers for her. We got on brilliantly and as she sadly moved away to a new job in November 2017 I made a small bag for her to take on her travels, along with a pair of hand knitted socks. She crochets as well, so we used to have lovely chats and I still think about her often. She kickstarted a year of sewing, after (kindly) telling me off for not having touched my machine in over a year and telling me to get on with it!
While I was at it, I made a second bag for a dear friend in SF and posted it out to her, as a surprise Christmas present. When she visited in 2016 (oh dear) she picked out some fabric and then I packed everything away for when we moved house.... Finally got round to it.
Seeing as it was our first Christmas in the new house, we ended up hosting. So we bought two 6 foot folding tables and went to Ikea for 12 folding chairs. While there I decided to buy some fabric and made two white tablecloths, 12 placemats, 12 drinks coasters and two table runners to run the length of the tables. I finished these by sewing until gone 11pm the week before Christmas, in between working various shifts etc. I also handstitched a Christmas wall decoration.
Jemma came over for a few sewing sessions this year too, which was a lot of fun. Jemma was given a sewing machine last year by her Gran and wanted to check she was threading correctly etc, as she was teaching herself. We had a sleepover in January with wine, then made a lovely cushion the next day, before she went to work for her 4pm-midnight shift.
I also squeezed in another japanese knot bag for portable knitting projects.
We also had to say goodbye to Nigel this January, he had severe kidney disease as a result of being FIV positive, which we had never known about as he wasn't considered at risk and therefore had not been tested. I still miss them both so much.
After that I decided I wanted to make something to wear. I had been seeing loads of people posting pictures of beautiful Cleo dungaree dresses from Tilly, so I plucked up the courage. I used 1.5m of wine cotton twill from eBay, for £9.98 and was really pleased with it! I took 5 inches of ease off the waist, redrew the facings to match and redrew the hip curves to be more A-line rather than tulip. Unfortunately I learnt the hard way that that fabric needs overlocking, or at least an overcast stitch as the hem literally disappeared in the first wash right down to the zig-zag stitch and I would have liked to add a second line of stitching to stop the hem from falling down. Ah well.
I made that dress in 3 days and wore it to a hen party in Bristol at the beginning of February. While we were all drunk a few of the girls commented on my dress (which is always lovely!) and in our joint drunkenness Sam and I decided to strike a deal. She makes the most amazing pork pies from scratch, so we agreed I would sew her a Cleo and she would make a pork pie, and we'd swap! I love a skill swap!! I literally pulled off the Cleo there and then, thankfully Sam is the same size as me.
Sam chose royal blue with dungaree buckles and I made it from the same fabric off eBay. Conscious of making something for someone else, it was hands down the best I have ever sewed! I took so much time and care over it, the white contrast topstiching is beautiful! I overlocked all the insides too so it looks just as good on the inside.
While sewing Sam's Cleo I started a corduroy royal blue version for myself, so that I could practice the steps on mine then do hers. My wine coloured one only had buttons, so I wanted to practice the buckles at least. I love my corduroy version the most and it's the most worn me-made than I own! The fabric is slouchy and relaxed, comfy and the colour cheers me up. I feel awesome in it.
I marked Sam's hem at the wedding, then sent it off in the post for her. She brought the pork pie with her to the wedding rather than posting it. It was huge!!
Thankfully she loved her dress! In between making the two Cleo's, I also offered to help the bride with any decorations she wanted and make hundreds of hessian penants, then strung them all up on twine for bunting. I tried applique for the first time, learnt that you can get splinters from hessian (who knew?!) and used nearly 500m of thread! I took my machine in for a service not long after, as it had worked bloody hard!
A friend in work gave me some hessian tablerunners so I hemmed those and they were gratefully received too. In return, Sian put me in a gorgeous bridesmaid dress from Motee Maids which was a pleasure to wear and dance in. We got to meet the owner of the company and find out how they hand bead each dress, which was lovely.
That takes us up to April!
In early March I discovered a sewing school in Bridgend, entirely by chance online. They were running a jersey dress class which I really wanted to do but was sadly fully booked. Instead, I signed for a mini quilting course in April which ran for 4 weeks. I bought a gorgeous Makower Floral Splendor FQ bundle from Higgs and Higgs, along with an insane number of other fat quarters - it's hard work buying quilting fabric online and trying to guess if that grey is exactly the right shade...
We were offered 3 patterns to chose from, so of course I went for the most fiddly one which was hard work to get done between shifts! On the day of the last class, I happened to be off having worked the weekend. I still didn't have a fully pieced section, let alone a fully pieced quilt top. So I got up early like I was going to work and sewed solidly from 9am to 5.25pm, with half hour for lunch and a 15 min break in the morning! Hard work, but I got it done, just in time to jump in the shower and drive there. I wanted to have it all done so I could try quilting and binding, which I managed to do. The finished article could be neater (Note to self: you really DO have to be accurate and put your ruler on the edge, not 1mm in from the edge as it throws everything else out!)
Gemma runs a fab class, so I signed up for a cami top two week course which involved purposely picking trickier fabrics like viscose or voile. I bought a lovely, buttery soft but slippery as hell viscose from Minerva Crafts. You don't normally know the pattern in advance, but I was really pleased that it turned out to be the Ogden cami top as I actually own it and have been meaning to make it for ages! I lengthened it by 2 inches and graded up 2 sizes from the bust to hips. Unfortunately I fell behind as I could NOT get the hang of using a loop turner to make the straps (had to ask the textiles teacher sat next to me to do them, thank you again!) and then everything shifted everywhere so it wasn't my best make. I still have to finish it, I forgot to trim before sewing the second seam of the french seams so it all sticks out... rookie mistake!
After chatting during the mini quilting course, Gemma mentioned she was also running a Washi dress course in June. I immediately rejigged all my shifts and booked on, because the Washi dress is another pattern I've owned and meant to make since first finding it years and years ago via blogs and seeing DFabrication make several versions, plus wearing them on the Great British Sewing Bee!
We adopted two new cats in April. They're feral stray rescues and it's taken us 5 months just to get one to jump up on the sofa with us. Having to tread very carefully with these boys, but it's worth it.
I treated myself to some leather and bag making supplies after seeing a nice feature in Simply Sewing magazine, the May issue. I really liked the small purse, so had a go at making my own. Next time, need to double the stitch length and maybe use leather thread as I used regular and too small a stitch so it ended up tearing really easily. Also, don't weigh the triangle down with a stone as it'll somehow leave a mark and use way more binding clips than you think you need as it likes to move around! Disappointed with the overall result sadly.
The Washi dress class in June was great fun. Shirring is SO much easier than I expected it to be! Not sure if I had beginners luck, or if it's my machine to thank. Some ladies had machines that just would not accept the shirring elastic so Gemma brought her machine in for them to use. All the same, I was pleasantly surprised. I cut a straight Medium with no alterations, chosen for me by Gemma based on my high chest measurement. I have no other photos of this dress, this was taken in the pub the classes are held in as we waited for food afterwards!
The sewing school closes over the summer holidays, so instead Gemma ran a EPP hand sewing sew-a-long for a pattern she designed. It's called the Rennie. I started off so well! Got all my fabrics chosen, cut out and glued to the papers ready. I still haven't finished it to date though, so will have to update this post in the future.
In amongst this I also made up a pair of black out lined curtains for our spare room. No pics of this as yet, but they work and also make the room a lot colder/warmer depending on what we need in each season. Chalking that up as a win!
A colleague in work had seen my Cleo dresses, especially the two blue versions and asked me if I could make her one in July. She chose a lovely burgundy/wine coloured corduroy which I'm currently in the process of making.
I put that temporarily on hold in order to make a dress for a wedding of some close friends. Separate post on that, due to the sheer number of adjustments I had to make to the bodice! I'm also finishing a gift for them, which is why I put the Rennie sew-a-long on hold to make sure I had enough time to finish.
So what else is in store for 2018?
At the same hen party in February, Mariam asked if I could make a Cleo for her too. She picked out a beautiful floral cotton twill, which I bought back in April. I made the mistake of giving her the corduroy version to try on, which is a much softer fabric and Maz decided she wanted a more fitted back. After dithering over fitting options, looking at entirely different patterns etc, I met up with her and got her to try the twill version on as the fabric is much stiffer and more like the floral twill she chose. Maz was a lot happier with the fit of that, so I plan to cut that out in the next few weeks and get that done before Christmas.
I went to a #Walessews meet up in September which was brilliant fun. It was lovely to meet other sewists, especially as sewing can feel quite lonely sometimes in a way that knitting doesn't. I picked up a few beautiful grey jerseys that I have grand plans for.
I'm midway through a Linden jumper too, made from plum coloured french terry from Minerva Crafts. It's been really easy to sew with so far. Ran into a problem with the neckband though, as my fabric just doesn't quite have enough stretch. I ended up unpicking and recutting a new band, around 2 inches longer and 1/2 inch wider to help with the edges curling up. Almost nailed the second one, i stopped pulling quite as much on one quarter - heaven knows why, so unsurprisingly that section sticks up slightly on one shoulder. I'm currently holding off hemming and attaching the cuffs until I decide how much this is going to bug me...
I also have fabrics cut out to make a quilted gift bag for Mam and my MIL. We're off to SF in December so I have my work cut out for me!
