Tag sewcialists

Autumn/winter 2017 sewing plans

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I haven’t made too many seasonal plans so far in my sewing career. In spring and summer I let myself float along on a sea of floral rayons and jewel-toned cottons as I flit around, picking from here and there. But for autumn and winter, it seems like more thought is necessary. Some of the garments (although not all) require a larger investment of time, and the materials can be more pricey. In addition, I still have plenty left on my #makenine to fulfil (see below) and a few #sewmystyle efforts left for the year. Most of all, I really want to make a dent in my stash, so I’m going to try hard to use fabrics I already own for the rest of the year. It really shouldn’t be too hard. 😀

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#sewcialists August tribute challenge: Style Arc Kylie top

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I decided to join in with this sewcialists challenge at the very last minute. I wasn’t sure if I’d have time and I was, somewhat ironically, lacking in inspiration until I remembered my little folders on Bloglovin. The theme of this first challenge was to make something inspired by, or in tribute to, a fellow blogger and I was quite keen to join in as I am definitely a “sewcial” sewist.  I have a bunch of “collections” on Bloglovin, called Things to Sew, Sewing Tips, Inspiration and so on – I’m sure you might have something similar.

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New top: Colette Aster in rayon

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Hello! It’s been a while. After my furious burst of sewing a few weeks ago, the pace has dropped off as I’ve been knee-deep in wallpapering, painting and furniture rearranging territory (as you may have seen on Instagram with my lemur wallcovering. I love it.). Anyway, I have been doing some sewing; just not much photo-taking or writing. So I’ll get to it and dive right in with this latest make and my first proper button-up blouse.

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New makes: Grainline Scout tee – a first fitting attempt

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Hello there! So after the success of the Alder shirtdress and Linden sweaters I had a rummage through Grainline Studio’s other patterns. I have the Morris blazer pattern already and fully intend to make it, but this time round the Scout tee caught my eye. Let me be honest: a boxy woven tee with no shaping would not be my natural ally. In fact, I’m really not the shape for Grainline patterns (or they’re not the right shape for me; take your pick), despite some successes. The resulting garments tend to be fairly rectangular with plenty of ease and are probably best suited to those with similar body shapes. It’s been a very popular silhouette in the indie pattern world.

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New test: Jennifer Lauren Laneway dress

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I signed up as a tester for Jennifer Lauren a few months back and was more than delighted when the second garment to come up after the Juniper cardigan  (which I have since worn a LOT) was the Laneway dress. I was excited to get my teeth stuck into something that was a little different, with a few new skills and also –  a dress! – since it seems like I’ve been sewing mostly separates for a while.

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The Laneway Dress

And the Laneway was just the dress to get me excited! It’s described thus: “a sleek yet easy to wear 1940s A-line silhouette, Laneway will be your go-to dress for everyday adventures and beyond.” and I would say this is fair. The dress has open ended waist darts in the front and full back darts for shaping, a gorgeous asymmetric collar that is built into the facing (there’s a no-collar option too), plus it’s the first time Jennifer Lauren has produced a pattern that accommodates A to D cups. Yeehoo! No prizes for guessing what I was testing – I made a 16D cup and it was… great! Continue reading “New test: Jennifer Lauren Laneway dress” →

New makes: Seamwork/Colette Gretta and Mabel – some minor failures

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Hi all! A little post today to document a couple of not-so-successful makes I had in recent months. Neither of them are terrible, but they are also definitely not top of my makes list.

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The first one was the Seamwork Gretta top, which I was excited about. I have a lovely piece of silk I’ve been hoarding which is about enough for a simple tank/cami style top and when the Gretta came out I thought it would be perfect. The Gretta is a standard tank with a scooped neck, bust darts and a rounded patch pocket. The really cute part is the fact that the shoulders are tied together rather than sewn. I think it gives that little bit of extra interest to an otherwise basic top. I’d looked at other very popular tank options too, but many of them have either spaghetti straps (Ogden) or racerbacks – and they just don’t jive with my upholstery requirements. Ahem. Continue reading “New makes: Seamwork/Colette Gretta and Mabel – some minor failures” →

New make: Cali Faye Pocket Skirt #sewmystyle May

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This month the #sewmystyle pattern is a bit of a wardrobe builder and I was really looking forward to it. I used a gorgeous Alison Glass cotton lawn with some jewel-like batik colours and actually really like the final result. The only problem with it is that it doesn’t fit me. Bummer. I’ve taken some not-very-accurate photos (below) to give you some idea of how it might look on, but it should be a lot looser and lower.

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New make/test: JLV Juniper Cardigan in tulips

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Happy Easter and welcome to a review of my first test! I was really excited to try testing a garment and had been looking around for a cardigan pattern for some time. Since then, a bunch of cardigan patterns have all appeared from nowhere, but at the time it seemed like providence when Jennifer Lauren put out a call for testing the Juniper cardigan. I leapt at the chance and was luckily accepted! For Easter we visited the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival here in Washington state and since Jennifer appears to use floral names a lot for patterns, it seemed an appropriate backdrop for this blog post.

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