May round-up and June’s sewing plans

May was pretty much dominated by the arrival of the little lovely pictured above! (the baby, not the blanket, although I did finish that too)

If you didn’t catch the news yet, Lauren was born on the 6th, making her just over a month old now. She’s a really sweet baby and most nights she lets me get a reasonable amount of sleep, so I have actually managed to start a bit of sewing again. Woohoo!

I did manage to wear me-mades pretty much every day of Me Made May too, although my photo documenting fell by the wayside after Lauren arrived. I’ll be doing a round-up post soon, though, as I still learnt a fair bit from taking part.

Blogged in May:

Anges maternity top, Eastern Jewels persian tiles crochet blanket

L-R: my final Maternity make, the Dark Floral Agnes Top, and my Eastern Jewels crochet blanket for Lauren.

Sewing done in May:

Vogue V8759 and Eastern Jewels blanket

I knew it was unlikely I’d get much done in May, but I made some progress with Andy’s  Vogue V8759 shirt (the yoke, collar and one sleeve partially finished) so that’s something. And I know it’s not sewing, but I also finished that gorgeous crochet blanket I might have mentioned once or twice already 😛

Money spent: £0.00

Cheapest month yet!

June sewing plans:

Cloth nappies, Satturland Rivers top, maxi skirt, Bucket hat Oliver & S

I want to do some really practical sewing this month, and make myself some washable breast pads (breastfeeding essential) as well as some trial cloth nappies. I made some cloth nappies when Daisy was a baby, but my sewing skills were nowhere near what they are now and I’m sure I could do a much better job this time around. It helps that there are so many more excellent free patterns and tutorials available now, and I still have some supplies to make them (elastic, PUL fabric, fleece fabric). I’m currently using prefold cloth nappies with Lauren, but I much prefer the fitted styles and all-in-one pocket nappies for ease of use and their poo-containing abilities! Making these might sound somewhat dull, but I’m looking forward to it as I love making things that I know will get loads of use and make my life easier 🙂

I’m also going to finish Andy’s shirt (getting there!) and I’m seriously contemplating taking part in this year’s Outfit Along (#OAL2018). I reckon I could find a place in my wardrobe for the knitting pattern, and I would swap the Landers for a self-drafted black maxi skirt, something like the RTW one pictured above but with a better waistband. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to make the Landers, but I’m not going to until I’ve lost the extra inches off my waist, hips and thighs as I know if I make something fitted there now, it will be falling off me by the autumn.

And if for any reason I find myself with more spare time for sewing (ha! I doubt it), I’m going to make Lauren a sun hat using the free pattern I made for Gabriel last year, and some leggings for her too if I can find a suitable pattern (or draft one myself). And I might get going on that Jalie 3131 nursing bra if there’s still more time. It’s all stuff that’s needed, so I’ll see if I can make time somehow. If you know how, do let me in on the secret!

What are you planning to make this month?

Nappy photo credit: MissMessie A Few More via photopin (license)

April round up and May’s sewing plans

Spring cherry blossom

Ah April, you’ve been a funny month. We had a surprise scorching hot weekend, but then it went straight back to cold, windy and rainy. Very disappointing spring this year, it must be said. On the plus side, since I can’t really sunbathe at the moment anyway (can’t lie on my front or my back!) or do much gardening (bending over hurts!) I suppose I haven’t missed much. At least I’ve had plenty of time inside to get on with sewing and crocheting.

I also took part in the #spring10x10 wardrobe challenge over on Instagram, which I’ll be posting about here later this week, I hope. It was an interesting experience and definitely got me thinking about wardrobe gaps.

Blogged in April:

Kinder cardigan and V8888 dressing gown robe

L-R: The Disco Kinder Cardigan and the Lesser-Spotted Dressing Gown

I also blogged my Me Made May pledge here.

Sewing done in April:

Vogue men's shirt and Eastern Jewels Persian Tiles motifs

L-R: A Vogue Patterns V8759 shirt for Andy, and my crochet Persian Tiles Blanket

You’ve already seen the dressing gown, which took longer than I anticipated to make. Before that I spent a week or so working on cutting out and fitting Andy’s new shirt. It’s not finished by any stretch of the imagination (just the torso tacked together at the moment), but it hopefully will be very soon.

I’ve also spent plenty of time with my feet up, crocheting away at the Eastern Jewels colourway (affiliate link) of Janie Crowfoot’s Persian Tiles Blanket. It’s been such a fun project!

Money spent: £40.03

Patterns: £0 , Haberdashery: £40.03 , Fabric: £0

Haberdashery splurge inc Simflex gauge and buttonhole chisel

 

Yep, after a few months of spending next to nothing I decided to use some of my birthday/Christmas money to treat myself to a few bits and pieces to make my sewing life easier–especially for the projects I have coming up (shirtmaking!). From Jaycotts I bought:

  • One of those Simflex gauges for spacing buttonholes I’ve been coveting for ages.
  • A handy little hem gauge (I love this so much already! Do they make them in metric, I wonder?).
  • Another water erasable marking pen in white (my blue one doesn’t work on dark fabrics).
  • Some beeswax in a holder for treating thread for handsewing.
  • And some more Fray Check liquid because my last lot went cloudy and gloopy after many years of good service.

I also ordered a couple of things from eBay sellers: a loop turner (where have you been all my sewing life?!) and a small buttonhole chisel.

I’m really pleased with these purchases as they’re things I’ve wanted for a while, and I know they’ll all get used plenty over the next few months. Assuming I find any time to sew, that is!

May sewing plans:

May sewing and crochet plans

I’m keeping my plans for May pretty minimal, as I know I’ll be having a baby at some point in the next eight days. If I can finish Andy’s shirt and the crochet blanket I’ll be a happy bunny. I think I might also cut another short-sleeved nursing top using the Megan Nielsen Amber pattern, as I have plenty of stashed jersey I could use. Whether I’d then get it sewn up is anyone’s guess…

What are you planning to make this month?

March round-up and April’s sewing plans

Dandelions in a glass

After a pretty rubbish start to my sewing year, I feel I’ve managed to regain my sew-jo this last month–and just in time for the end of pregnancy when I really don’t want to be sewing myself any more clothes to fit the bump–doh! You can see last month’s plans here, and I didn’t do too badly with them, all things considered. Here’s where my crafting’s been at:

Blogged in March:

Blogged March 2018

L-R: Megan Nielsen Amber Maternity Dress, Megan Nielsen Erin Maternity Skirt.

Sewing done in March:

Persian Tiles Eastern Jewels crochet motifs

Okay, so the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that’s a picture of some crochet, not sewing, but hey, you’ve already seen the sewing in the form of that Amber dress. There was also a RTW dress refashion I finished off for Daisy, but I don’t have before and after pics of that one. I have a pile of dresses needing refashioning as my Mum keeps buying them in charity shops, deciding she doesn’t really like them, and passing them on to Daisy. Of course, they’re all much too big around the shoulders, but I guess I can sort them all out. Eventually…

As for the crochet, that was the state of play on my Persian Tiles blanket a week or so ago, and I’ve made more progress since then. I think I’m on track to get all the motifs made by the end of the month, then I can put them together and do the border in May. As well as having a baby. Heh. Totally doable, amiright? #overambitious

Money spent: £0.00

My cheapest month to date, methinks! I’m actually looking forward to treating myself to a pattern and fabric (and possibly haberdashery too) this next month. It’s been a while, and I have birthday and Christmas money saved for that purpose 🙂

April sewing plans:

April 2018 Vogue sewing plans

I’ve already got April off to a good start by repairing three items of clothing yesterday: a button fly on Andy’s jeans that had completely torn apart, topstitching down the zip tape on Daisy’s onesie (it kept getting caught in the zip), and giving Andy’s lounging shorts new elastic as the old had perished. I know repairs don’t make exciting blogging–or even exciting sewing, come to that–but I always feel really satisfied when I’ve managed to fix much-loved items of clothing and given them a new lease of life. Anyone else feel the same? Or would you rather stick needles in your arms than actually repair things?!

In terms of other sewing, I’ll be making two Vogue patterns: a black and white polka dot viscose challis dressing gown for my Minerva make, and I’m really looking forward to getting going on that as I’ve never made one or worked with challis before. I’ll also be having a go at traditional shirt making for the first time, as I’ve finally traced out Andy’s first shirt: Vogue 8759, and I have some old striped cotton shirting in the stash I can use for the trial run. This week I’ll be cutting the fabric for both those projects when the kids are at my mum’s. Cutting out with a good podcast on and no little fingers trying to steal my rotary cutters–bliss!

If I feel like a simpler project between those, I might make up a final Megan Nielsen Amber top, as it would be great for breastfeeding this summer and could also be worn in the last little bit of pregnancy. I have a few knit fabrics in the stash and might make it out of a mauve viscose knit. Alternatively I might make that Railfence Quilt I’ve been planning for Gabriel. I don’t want to put any pressure on myself in this last few weeks of pregnancy, though, as that’s no fun, so I won’t worry if I don’t get around to either of these.

And yes, there’ll be plenty of sofa time crocheting the rest of those Persian Tile motifs. I have another 13 Octagons (3 are half done), 6 squares and 10 triangles to go. Gulp. I can totally do that, and it does give me the excuse to do lots of chilling in front of the telly, which is probably good considering how much effort moving around is taking these days.

What are you planning to make this month? Anyone else thinking summer clothes already?

Bumper January and February round-up, plus March’s sewing plans

snowflake cookies

“Bumper” might be a bit of a misnomer, I admit. The fact is, for quite a few weeks I was feeling really low in energy. At the time I put it down to the pregnancy, having a bit of a cold and general exhaustion after the trip Andy and I took to Berlin in the half term, but it turns out it was anaemia all along. You’d think I’d recognise it by now as I’ve had it several times in the past (including at this stage of pregnancy with Gabriel and Daisy), but it always catches me unawares.

Anyway, for a few weeks I didn’t have the physical or mental energy to do any sewing or blogging. I’m not apologising for that, btw! I did what I needed to do to conserve the little energy I had.

I’m pleased to say that the high-strength iron I’ve been prescribed is now starting to do its work and I’ve had a decent surge of energy this past week. And I’ve got back into sewing and blogging again. Yay!

At the moment we’re on our second “snow day” in a row, and I’m really feeling the lack of options for warm weather clothing in my current wardrobe. However, I think spring is just around the corner so there’s little point in sewing any more cold weather maternity gear. I’ll just have to put up with rotating the same few outfits (and one coat!) until the weather warms up. I have to admit, I did cave and buy a couple of cheap RTW long-sleeved maternity dresses and a pair of leggings from Lidl. They’re made of organic cotton jersey which feels incredibly soft, so although they won’t get worn for long I don’t consider it a waste of money as I’m planning to use the fabric to sew some tees and shorts for Gabriel and maybe some stuff for the baby. We’ll see 🙂

Blogged in January and February:

Jan-Feb round up and March plans 2018 4

L-R: The Cowl Necked Maternity Dress, The Baggy Bump Maternity Trousers

I also did a lot of blogging in the new year–the #SewingTop5 round ups and my #2018MakeNine posts. I love writing those kind of posts!

Sewing done in January and February:

Jan-Feb round up and March plans 2018 4

L-R: The Kinder Cardigan (I haven’t actually photographed my version yet) and a dark floral Agnes/Gertie Sweetheart top (finished today, but most of the sewing was done in February). Also the Baggy Bump Trousers and Cowl Necked Dress, pictured in the blogged section.

I might not have sewn everything I planned to, but considering the anaemia I’ve been dealing with, I’m impressed I got that much done. Yay me!

Persian Tiles crochet

I did get a bit of crocheting done too. I’m making the Persian Tiles blanket in the Eastern Jewels colourway as one of my future Minerva Makes. I have to finish it by mid-May, so lots of crochet hours in my future!

Money spent: £4.50

Patterns: £0.00 , Haberdashery: £4.50 , Fabric: £0.00

A thrifty couple of months, make no mistake! I’ve had to be thrifty in pretty much everything after Christmas and the kids’ birthdays. Even that £4.50 I spent (on elastic) used a gift card so wasn’t real money 🙂

I have been given some money for Christmas and my birthday, though, so I have something to spend over the next few months, should I wish. I’m going to sew from stash as much as humanly possible, though.

March sewing plans:

Amber nursing dress - Megan Nielsen patterns

I have a dress cut and ready to sew for my Minerva make this month–it’s the Megan Nielsen Amber maternity dress, although I’m using the OOP Simplicity version of the pattern. I think I might make a summery top version of this pattern too as I know it’s great for breastfeeding, and for covering that flabby post-baby belly I’ll be sporting for at least a couple of months after the birth.

Other than that I’m hoping to finish a few alterations (those velvet maternity leggings I’ve mentioned before), a dress for Daisy, and a pair of skinny jeans I’m hacking into a maternity/post-baby version.

I can’t see the point in starting any more maternity makes at this stage, so any remaining sewing time this month will be spent prepping a shirt for Andy, a summer dressing gown for me, and a quilt for Gabriel.

I’ll also be working on my crochet Eastern Jewels Persian Tiles blanket, which may or may not end up as a baby blanket. We’ll see…

What are you planning to make this month?

December round-up and January’s sewing plans

Christmas tree

I meant to post this earlier in the month, but hey, there were all those year end round-ups and 2018 plans to share. Anyway, here’s the lowdown on what ended up being a pretty productive sewing month, all things considered. I think my Christmas decoration crafting and mince pie making suffered as a result, though!

Blogged in December:

Dec 17 sewing

L-R: Winter cords for Gabriel, The Party Animal Dress, The Cosy Cabled Cowl.

Those were the project posts, but I also blogged my SewingTop5 reflections and highlights, and my #2017MakeNine results. Phew, that’s a lot of blogging for me! Continue reading “December round-up and January’s sewing plans”

November round-up and December’s sewing plans

November trees

This has been a weird old month. Not only is there the whole pregnancy thing throwing a spanner in my sewing plans, but Gabriel decided to give up his afternoon nap. That means he’s gone from napping 2-2.5 hours every day, to nothing, just like that! Oh yes, and not only have I lost my sanity time to get things done (including sewing), but he’s been throwing wobblers about random things as he’s tired and grumpy. Is it any surprise I haven’t been blogging?! Continue reading “November round-up and December’s sewing plans”

October round-up and November’s sewing plans

Right, well my sewing in October was a bit erratic, and I explained why in my big announcement post! Fortunately I’m no longer feeling sick and have lots of energy, plus a rapidly expanding midsection that needs new clothes to cover it. Here’s hoping November is productive!

Blogged in October:

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Sewing done in October:

Gabriel's cordsThe Cleo dress pictured in the “Blogged in October” was actually finished off in the first part of the month, and I sewed the Purple Ponte Cardie in October soon. So the only thing I have left unblogged from October is a really cute pair of Ottobre corduroy trousers I made for Gabriel. I’d better get sewing or I’ll have nothing else to blog this month!

Money spent: £14.30

Patterns: £0 , Haberdashery: £12.30 , Fabric: £2.00

Pretty thrifty month, which was what it needed to be! The habby spend was mostly thread (Lidl had their overlocker cones in again!) and the fabric was a fat quarter to use in Gabriel’s quilt.

November sewing plans:

[envira-gallery id=”7774″]

I have lots planned for November, but since three of the projects involve tracing out and fitting patterns, I’m not sure I’ll manage to get them all done. I’d love to make a couple of maternity Cleo tops in the two patterned jerseys I picked up at the Sewing Bee Live, and I’m also keen to sew up a shirt for Andy (particularly as another of his has just been consigned to the scraps bin) and a quilt for Gabriel. But first I’m doing my first bit of pattern testing ever: a maternity swimming costume pattern from Seamstress Erin. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to share that one with you, but I’m hoping it will be a quick and fun make. And I definitely need a new maternity swimsuit as my old one is just wrong. Ruffles and beads: what was I thinking?!!!

I’ll also be knitting, and am most of the way through a gorgeous cabled wool cowl (My Minerva Blogger Network post for December) and am hoping to finally finish off a pair of socks and a cardigan that have been on the go for longer than I really want to admit. Time to cosy up on the sofa with the last couple of series of Poldark and get knitting, methinks! Or will the eyecandy be too distracting?! Uh, I mean spotting the scenes shot in my little town, of course. Nothing to do with Ross Poldark. No. Absolutely not.

What are you planning to make this month? Does your Sewjo increase in the winter, or do you just want to retire to the sofa with some knitting?

September round-up and October’s sewing plans

Oh September, I think we need to have words…

Not only has the weather in England been shite (none of that Indian Summer everyone’s been going on about all August) but I caught a cold that left me with zero energy. As a consequence, I got hardly any sewing done. Bah! On the plus side I did lounge around watching the latest series of Orange is the New Black and read a few great books (Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty was fabulous!) and it was pleasant to indulge myself in a bit of telly and reading, as I so rarely make time for them these days.

Blogged in September:

[envira-gallery id=”7680″]

Sewing done in September:

Honestly, I have nothing to share here. The Ditsy Flower Corduroy Cleo dress is nearly done, but that’s because I worked on it for an hour yesterday afternoon, so that’s October sewing mostly. While I was sofa lounging and feeling sorry for myself I finished off the last bit of my Alabama Chanin Corset Top, so I’ll be sharing that soon, and also worked a little on the alterations pile. Amazingly enough, I also sewed up the seams on a cardie I knitted years ago and have been putting off finishing ever since. It’s not finished yet as I still have to crochet a border all round and add buttons and so on, but the scariest bit is done. Perhaps I’ll actually manage to finish it off this autumn. Who knows?

Money spent: £45.05

Patterns: £0 , Haberdashery: £9.05 , Fabric: £36.00

I did say I wouldn’t be able to buy anything at the Great British Sewing Bee, but Andy kindly slipped me a bit of spending money and I was able to pick up a few fabrics that will be perfect for long sleeved tops and a jumper this winter. Check them out:

Sewing Bee fabric haul

The top one is a lovely soft jersey from Girl Charlee, and the middle is a John Kaldor jersey. Both have excellent 4 way stretch. The bottom one is my wild card. It was called Cookie Monster and is probably largely acrylic, but I loved the look of it and I want something to make a really snuggly winter jumper. Hopefully this will have enough stretch, but although it’s a knit it’s not very stretchy. If it won’t work for a jumper I’ll probably treat it like a woven and make some kind of fake fur gilet, as I’ve been coveting one of those for a few years now 🙂

October sewing plans:

[envira-gallery id=”7685″]

Rather than move all my unsewn September sewing projects over to this month I’ve been thinking about what’s really needed in this house at the moment, and I reckon I’m going to work on the following projects: for me, either a Seamwork Astoria Sweater or a similar pattern from Gertie Sews Vintage Casual, using that crazy fluffy knit fabric I bought at the Sewing Bee. Also for me, the Jalie Drop Pocket Cardigan in purple ponte (a Minerva sponsored project).

I’m also thinking about the others in the house, and have promised Andy I will finally get around to making him that shirt I’ve been promising for ages, as he definitely needs more work shirts. The first will be in a very boring pinstripe fabric, but if it goes well I’ll make more interesting ones in the future. Daisy needs a school pinny or two, and I will modify the Cleo dress to fit her. Just need to find some suitable black fabric.

And Gabriel is in desperate need of some corduroy trousers, so I’ll be making up an Ottobre pattern I’ve been planning to make him for years now. Luckily he still fits the top size in that one! I doubt there will be time to do anything else, but if there is I’ll start work on piecing a quilt for him too (probably a traditional railfence one as I have a weakness for old-timey quilts), as he’ll need an extra warmth layer for when the nights start turning cold.

What are you planning to make this month? Are you thinking ahead to winter like I am?

August round-up and September’s sewing plans

Summer is over. Boohoo! Okay, so autumn has its good points: pretty colours, misty mornings, golden sunshine, conkers, etc, but I’m really going to miss summer. Summer sewing, in particular. I didn’t get everything made I wanted to this summer (here were my ambitious plans for August), but I suppose in the UK the window for wearing summer clothing isn’t nearly as long as the one for wearing autumn/spring clothing, so I should really be turning my attention to the cooler months now. Sigh.

In other news, I had a lovely family holiday to the South of France this August. Just one week, but sometimes that’s as much as you want with small children in tow! And I’ve moved the website over to a self-hosted account. Come to think of it, it’s a wonder I got anything sewn at all 🙂

Oh, and something else I did that’s vaguely sewing related. I tidied the loft. Okay, so that might not sound sewing related, but I do store my fabric and pattern stash in the loft. It’s pretty easily accessible as it’s right next to the hatch and we have one of those cool ladders that comes down when you open the hatch, so it’s not as inconvenient a storage area as you might think. Anyway, here are the before and after pics of my sewing stash area: Continue reading “August round-up and September’s sewing plans”

July round-up and August sewing plans

So, I set myself a pretty ambitious sewing list for July, but I did well with it and have enjoyed trying some new-to-me patterns, and getting some more summery clothes in my wardrobe. I’m scheduling this to go live while we’re chilling in the south of France, hopefully wearing some of my new makes! Anyway, here’s what’s been going on with me lately, sewing-wise:

Blogged in July:

[envira-gallery id=”7510″]

The Vintage Flowers BlouseThe Barcode Skirt, and the “Who Likes Short Shorts?” Shorts.

The blouse blog was my first guest post for Minerva Crafts, and I also wrote a guest post for the Sewcialists blog, and gave a six month update on my Make 9 plans.

Sewing done in July:

[envira-gallery id=”7512″]

Leopard print bikini (Seamwork Reno and Dakota), Colette Crepe Dress, Animal print Hacci Knit Kimono, Colette Wren dress.

I did pretty well with my planned makes for my holiday, although I have had to bump a couple of patterns to this month instead (Simplicity 8342 top and the Pedal Pushers). Not all the holiday makes are completely finished, but I reckon I can get the thread ends dealt with on the plane over to France. #lastminutesewing

Money spent: £10.86

Patterns: £0 , Haberdashery: £5.87 , Fabric: £4.99

I needed this to be a thrifty sewing month, and it was. All those spends were for my bikini, which was much cheaper than buying a RTW bikini. August will need to be a budget month too, although I might let myself buy a little bit of fabric while on holiday as a souvenir 🙂

August sewing plans:

[envira-gallery id=”7513″]

I know I should probably be thinking ahead to the cooler months of autumn, but for August I’m still all about the summer makes. But hopefully summer makes that can transition into autumn, with the addition of a cardie and shoes rather than sandals 🙂

So, this month I’m definitely going to get the Pedal Pushers from Gertie Sews Vintage Casual made up, along with the Simplicity 8342 Rockabilly top (I have a great navy anchor print jersey for that one–thanks again, Minerva!). I’m also thinking about making a cropped blouse, and have the now out of print Butterick 5895 in mind. It’s another Pattern by Gertie, so it should be a good’un. I’d also like some woven exercise shorts and am wondering about the Seamwork Nantucket pattern as a possibility. Finally, I’d like to make that shirtdress I’ve been threatening all summer. Maybe it will happen this month. If not, I suspect it will have to wait till next summer!

What are you planning to make this month? Are you getting into autumnal sewing yet (or spring if you’re south of the equator!)?

June round up and July’s sewing plans

I’m really getting into the swing of blogging regularly now, and am getting things up pretty promptly. Yay, me! Here’s last month’s round up if you’re interested in seeing how I did compared to my overambitious (as always) plans.

Blogged in June:

L-R: The Bucket and Spade Hat, The Starry Starry Dress, The Some Like it Hot Dress, The Striped Sweetheart Tee.

Phew, lots of makes blogged last month! I also wrote a post all about my current sewing set-up at the end of our main living space (living room/dining room) in the hopes of inspiring anyone else struggling to sew in a limited space.

Sewing done in June:

I didn’t get many projects completed in June. Just two. But hey, they involved making toiles and more complicated, time-consuming sewing than a simple t-shirt. Continue reading “June round up and July’s sewing plans”

May round-up and June sewing plans

Okay, I’m really getting into the swing of thinking of my sewing in monthly chunks. Not sure why this is so helpful to me, but it is what it is. May’s plans are here, should you be interested. But now on to what ACTUALLY happened in May…

Blogged in May:

The month was rather dominated by my Me Made May roundups (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 and Week 5) but I did blog my main sewing projects completed in April: The Gertie Skirtie, The Knit Sweetheart Top (black tank version) and the Jalie Drop Pocket Cardigan. I may not bother blogging my simpler April makes (knickers and Daisy’s skirts), or I might lump them together in a future post if I make more knickers. Who knows…

Sewing done in May:

L-R: Denim stars Cleo dress, Striped Knit Sweetheart Top AND Rockabilly headtie, Spotty maxi dress (based on Knit Sweetheart Top) Continue reading “May round-up and June sewing plans”

April round-up and May sewing plans

April has been an incredibly productive month for me, sewing-wise, although I must admit the blogging has rather fallen by the wayside. That’s partly because of the way I’ve been working (batch cutting lots of projects, then batch sewing all the grey overlock bits, followed by all the grey sewing machine bits, then the black overlock bits, and so on) which meant that I had lots of projects on the go at once, and most things weren’t completed till nearly the end of the month. It’s also because I wasn’t one hundred percent happy with the finish on two garments, and had to redo them until I was happy. That meant I’ve only just been able to get photos of those two projects, but rest assured, there should be plenty of April’s sewing making it onto the blog in May 🙂

Sewing done in April:

L-R: Jalie’s Drop Pocket Cardigan, Gertie Knit Sweetheart Top, Gertie’s Easy Knit Pencil Skirt

 

Clockwise from left: Daisy’s Striped Skirt, Seamwork Geneva Knickers, Made by Jack’s Mum Speedy Pants Boxers for Gabriel

I also made a black knit school skirt for Daisy, but I don’t have a picture of that one yet so you’ll just have to imagine it. It’s like the striped one above, only, you know, black.

 

There were a few projects I’d hoped to complete in April but didn’t get done: a grey short sleeved tee and some more knickers, along with a school dress for Daisy. But that’s okay, because I made a couple of extra skirts instead 🙂

I had also hoped to get some materials together for a maxi dress (done and ready to cut), as well as a shirt dress and a Moss skirt. Those last two aren’t at all ready, but I’ve been thinking about the shirt dress so that counts for something, right?!

March round up and April’s sewing plans

You know what, I honestly think I might finally have cracked sewing productivity, and over the past couple of months have managed to make one easy (knit) garment a week. It comes down to planning, folks. Simple as that. Last month I took the time to plan out some things I wanted to make in the month ahead, and I achieved most of them! Here’s last month’s post, in case you’re wondering.

I’ve also done a bit of housekeeping on the blog and have finally added a few static pages. You can see them in the blog sidebar. There’s a contact page, a few pages with each year’s blogged makes linked with handy pictures, and another ego-trip page all about me. That last one features a pic of a teenage me modelling the first item of clothing I ever made, back in the 90s. Oh dear. Fashion disaster!

March makes:

I’ve already blogged a couple of my March makes, although most of my March blogging was playing catch up on the first couple of months of the year.

L-R: Craftsy tee, Daisy’s dress

And the next two projects are completed but not yet blogged:

L-R: Seamwork Aurora top, Sew Over It Heather dress

I did also work on the velvet top refashion, but it didn’t work out well. There might be a post in that at some point, if I can finish it off so Daisy can wear it.

Money spent: £15.56

£10.78 for some ponte for making a Heather Dress

$6.00 Seamwork subscription (approx £4.78)

Pretty thrifty month. Yay for using up stash fabrics!

April sewing plans:

February round up and March sewing plans

I’ve decided to shake up my “monthly” crafting posts and make them more structured. And more about sewing than crochet or knitting, because let’s face it, that’s what I do most of these days.

So, without further ado, here’s what I made in February:

L-R: Tilly and the Buttons Cleo dress, Seamwork Neenah dress, Colette Aster blouse

That’s three complete garments in the shortest month of the year. Go me! At this rate I could be sewing one garment a week before long–speedy Gonzalez, that’s me!

I’ll be blogging all these February makes really soon, I promise. February was also the month I started a proper sewing journal, and already I’m finding it’s helping me to focus on my sewing more and make better plans. I might blog more about that in the future…

March sewing plans:

I’ve got t-shirts on the brain at the moment–partly because of this month’s #WardrobeBuilder challenge, but also because I desperately need some new tops. I’m planning on using up stashed knits to begin with and will hopefully have a bit of fun playing around with patterns and techniques. The Plantain tee is probably going to be first up as I’ve made it before, in a hot pink interlock with short sleeves. Perfect for wearing under my Cleo dress!

I also really want one more longer sleeved knit dress in my arsenal, and so I’ve got the SOI Heather Dress pattern printed out. My eye is on some pink and purple ponte at my local fabric shop–colourblocking ahoy!

I’m also thinking about cami-style tops for the warmer weather that will hopefully just be around the corner. I would like to use up the leftovers from some of my knit projects to make the Seamwork Aurora top.

I also have a “going out” top to refashion from an old velvet tee that was cut into by someone (can’t remember who, but they gave it to me years ago). Should be a really quick make and will hopefully fill a wardrobe gap for warm yet fancy clothing.

And last but not least, another knit project, but this time for my daughter, Daisy. She wants a dress made from some fabric she picked out before Christmas. It’s black with flowers, and she wants a copy of her favourite short sleeved dress. I’m feeling confident enough with knits to attempt this now, and what’s more, it will be my entry for this month’s #dressmakingbloggerchallenge, as that’s all about florals.

That’s nearly all from stash, so March should be a thrifty sewing month for me 🙂

What are you planning to make this month?