Category Clothing

A Christmas Moneta and other pressies

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Last post of the year, now that I can update with a few recent makes. It’s been a funny Q4. For some reason, I really thought I was going to get a ton of sewing done, but it hasn’t worked out that way really, and I don’t even know why. In any case, I did manage to make a few things for other people. I had planned quite a few more, but of course you never have as much time as you think. I just re-read this paragraph and this is possibly the dullest intro to a blog post I’ve ever written, so I think I’ll just get on with the makes, shall I? Haha.

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First up, I made quite a number of Petal Pouches by Noodlehead (Anna Graham) as gifts. I mentioned it in a previous post, but didn’t want to completely give the game away for #stitchingsanta, so here’s a little more. I had planned to make six sets initially ( six large and six small) but finished up with four sets. Two were made from this fun pink Japanese linen, which features celery (I think) and a green linen lining. The other two sets were made from a Japanese striped canvas and have a fun clashing blue checked lining. I cut out out two sets of yellow bird canvas, but still need to finish them up. Continue reading “A Christmas Moneta and other pressies” →

#StitchingSanta and #SewMyStyle

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Hey there! I hope you all had a very lovely Thanksgiving. We headed up to Vancouver and it didn’t occur to me for a while that of course it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving up there (silly European that I am) but we had a great time pottering around and enjoying the city. As far as sewing goes, I’m right in the middle of lots of pre-Christmas projects that I rather annoyingly can’t blog, but it would spoil any surprises that I do actually manage to finish in time.

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A cool café in Vancouver where you can play with and adopt cats

 

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New makes: Everyday Skirt #2 + Little Boy top patterns

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This post was intended to be an Everyday Skirt / Linden top remakes post, but I managed to spectacularly screw up the Linden neckline (beyond repair I think, sadly), so instead I’ll stick with Everyday Skirt no. 2 and I’ll mention a couple of little patterns I used to make Joe’s Halloween costume. Therefore it is going to be a short post! I also wrote this originally just after Halloween, but I must admit something of a malaise has come upon me in recent days (sound familiar?) and so I am rather behind in posting. Ah well, onwards and upwards!

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Monday montage: New sewing books!

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Well, it’s Tuesday and I haven’t written a Monday Montage for a while, but there are some nice-looking new sewing/craft books coming out imminently or that were published recently. A couple of these are definitely going on my Christmas list, so I thought I’d share what I’ve found!

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A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts: Learn how to make 24 different skirts from 8 basic shapes by Wendy Ward. I already have Wendy’s Beginner’s Guide to Dressmaking book and it has a number of sweet and simple designs that are suitable for any beginner. My interest was therefore piqued when I saw this book in the offing, but it was only really when I saw the blog posts Wendy has been posting about each “chapter” of skirts in her book that I decided I’d definitely like to have it. I just popped over to her blog to capture the link for this post and noticed she has also just announced a fantastic competition for UK residents related to this book. I can’t enter, but if you want to win a truckload of goodies, head over there at the link above and check it out! Continue reading “Monday montage: New sewing books!” →

New makes: #sewingdares Great British Sewing Bee Breton Top and M6966 maxi skirt

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Two items crossed off the old A/W list. One totally successful and one partially, but to be improved upon. First, let me mention the McCall’s M6966 maxi skirt. I threw out my last long black maxi a few months ago and the reason I did was because it had too many holes in it. This gives you a good idea how much I wore it and why I need another. Okay, it doesn’t win any awards for being inspiring, fashion forward or even… cheery. But a skirt like this is all-weather-suitable, can hide any number of sins and goes with (almost) everything. Like all of those perennial favourites though, it’s amazing how hard it is to find a good, simple RTW black skirt (or white shirt, plain black cardigan, etc, etc.) Continue reading “New makes: #sewingdares Great British Sewing Bee Breton Top and M6966 maxi skirt” →

A/W wardrobe plans or Trying To Be Organised

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One of the goals in my sewing life is to, at some point, make some garments that actually co-ordinate. I haven’t particularly focused on this yet, as I’ve preferred to make things that appealed on a standalone basis, to acquire new skills or see how something “worked”. For this autumn/winter though, I’m going to try and make a few items that co-ordinate – both with each other – and items I already have. That will inevitably mean some solids – and Lordy, do I need some interesting solids that aren’t Old Navy t-shirts – as well as a few print pieces and even – a COAT. Duh duh duh! I signed up for a class in October, so I’m hoping that will go well! Continue reading “A/W wardrobe plans or Trying To Be Organised” →

New make: Named Kielo dress

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The Kielo dress is one that is popular with sewers, and I always think that must be for a good reason. I, along with many other others, am a big fan of Named’s aesthetic, although I’m not always convinced it’ll look too good on me. Usually it takes a few makes from other people before I take the plunge, and so it was with the Kielo dress. I was particularly sold by this version from verypurpleperson and I saw the other day there is now a second version to covet too. I also very much liked the long-sleeved version from Named themselves, rather than the pattern cover version, even if I wasn’t necessarily planning long sleeves myself. Love those bold stripes – just love ’em. Continue reading “New make: Named Kielo dress” →

New make: Seamwork Astoria jumper

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Jumper, sweater, whatever mate. I sneaked in this little make after starting to think about my autumn/winter plans and planning a cohesive run of makes for once. I spotted a couple of other Astorias on the old net, didn’t quite remember the pattern from Seamwork, took a look, noted that it’s supposed to take about an hour to sew, so decided to give it a shot.

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And I must say that I’m surprisingly pleased with the result! Surprised because it’s a cropped jumper, which wouldn’t be my natural first choice these days (or any days really), and also because it fits rather well straight from the pattern. More on that later. Continue reading “New make: Seamwork Astoria jumper” →

New make: Circle Skirt 2 – the woven episode

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Hey all! I’m writing this from Siena, Italy, heh heh and although you’d think I’d be spending every waking moment seeing the sights, I do actually get a little downtime while the baby naps, etc. On that note, he slept through the night for the first time since we arrived last night! Yippee! The time zone adjustment issue was getting old, I can tell you. So, since I’m feeling vaguely human this morning, I thought I’d catch up on something I made a while ago, but just finished here: a woven circle skirt.

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New make: Colette Moneta dress

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I decided last week I’d work on a few knit items all at the same time given my current set-up of twin needles, low tension, walking foot etc. etc. I guess it’s partly due to laziness, but I’m still not so au fait with the settings that I can whip everything on and off like a pro. I already made the Metro t-shirt, and so I decided I’d follow up with a women’s t-shirt by Wendy Ward, plus this Moneta dress. Well, my apologies to Wendy, but I massacred the t-shirt by not realising the limits of a serger (or, indeed, my current serging skills) as I promptly shaved off half the t-shirt neck trying to turn an acute corner. It’s a goner I tell you. But I won’t do it again.

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