What I’ve been up to in Sewing Land
I hope everyone had a great holiday season and yes I have been MIA from both the blog and YouTube for quite some time. I usually try to take some time off and make a point to slow down for the holidays. I’ve learned from past years to say “No” to a lot of things and just not take on as much as I used to… make a point to spend time with my immediate family, sew, check out the fabric / pattern sales and do some coding. I was able to do all of those things. Ive also been sewing in 30 minutes to one hour blocks. I’m ok with that.
So I thought I would tell you what I actually made because I did make a few things in these weeks I’ve been away.
Palmer Pletsch / Butterick B6924 - I’ve done a sew along for this shirt but I saw this fabric print from Liberty of London on Duckadilly’s website on sale (yes they have sales off season you just have to go look!) and although I didn’t get to get the color I wanted perhaps this Soozy Lipsey fabric in this blue was meant to be. I missed the boat on the Pink Tana Lawn for this fabric but loved loved LOVED the blue when I opened the package. I have made this pattern now three times, and I laughed when I was making it this time around because I actually put my own sew along video (there are two parts!) while I was making it. So nice to have your own past self to walk you thru those parts that you are a little fuzzy on. I looked high and low for buttons that I loved to wear with this and I must say it is hard to find buttons I love locally so I had to get these blue mother of pearl buttons thru Etsy from a vendor out in Europe (not so happy I couldn’t find someone locally but it is what it is). It took about two weeks to get them but they are so worth it and beautiful.
Ottoline Jacket from Merchant and Mills - Ive had this pattern for quite some time and this is my first pattern from Merchant and Mills. It is an overall great pattern and I can see how I would make this quite often in different fabrics (perhaps a heavier linen or cotton twill/canvas for summer but I made a few updates to this pattern in terms of construction as I was surprised to see a few things that should be updated with it. I used a stretch denim fabric from Fabric Wholesale Direct. It was perfect for this jacket. It has a subtle satin sheen finish but it feels and has that weight of denim.
Worked on Simplicity S9469 - It is perhaps one of my tried and true patterns. Quick to make and you can get away with making it using 1.5 yards of fabric. I used Atelier Jupe fabric. It was really dreary by us with a few days of cloudy skies, drizzle and cold days so I was focused on using bright fabrics with bold colors and Atelier Jupe fabric came thru. I love their prints. Some times I wished they used different substrates but the bright colors really drew me to this fabric.
Chalk and Notch Page Hoodie - Needed some bright sweatshirt fleece fabric in mid December. The weather was just awful and the only way to fight that is dressing up in bright colors. Got some bold magentas and purples on this fabric and decided to make the Page Hoodie. It was perfect pattern for this. Quick the fit was great, I added some length, used some leftover black rib knit I had laying around and voila. Got myself a new top.
Talking about Atelier Jupe I also worked on the Frida Blouse. I’ve had this pattern for a while. I think two years it has been collecting dust on my patterns bin, I had seen someone on instagram post this beautiful Frida Blouse with the same fabric but they had made a few changes to it mostly changed the collar from a mandarin collar to a pointy collar. It looked great but I knew I wanted to use the pattern as designed and when Style Maker Fabrics posted they had restocked the viscose fabric I decided to buy 1-2/3 yards of it. As soon as the fabric walked in the door I started working on it. I cut it a little tight with the fabric because I wanted to make sure the print design was random and also balanced but I was surprisingly able to cut it and start working on it. It is another beautiful print. I just love these bold colors and it has truly made me happy every single time I worked with it.
There was a lot of hand sewing on this one. Every time the pattern called for stitching in the ditch I decided to hand sew and I’m so glad I did. Sleeve cuffs… I stitched in the ditch on those on my machine and I absolutely hated the way they looked inside. I think it sat on my sewing table for a week and every time I passed it I knew I had to fix it because I really didn’t like the way it looked. Front button plackets… same exact thing. I couldn’t unsee the extra fabric and how the fabric started twisting in the front because it’s not on grain. So sure enough pulled out the seam ripper and took my sweet old time sewing the front plackets. That mandarin collar…. yeah I made sure to hand sew that too. I wasn’t about to stop there and again I’m glad I took my time with it. What should have taken a week took two! But quiet time, thread, a self threading needle, a warm cup of tea, some movie I have watched a million times playing on the background and I was on a roll. I don’t regret doing this.
I have been knitting too. I decided to make an infinity scarf which felt like as its name says felt like it took an infinity to make but so happy with it and it is very warm. No pattern on that one but I did use Heavy Merino Wool and Mohair from Knitting for Olive I’m currently also working on a cable hat using Ashley Lillis as my “knitting teacher/guide/pattern designer”. It is a free pattern, she explains things quite well in her knitting videos and if she goes too fast you can always play it at half the speed.
So that’s it! I think it’s quite a few garments in those last two months. What have you all been making? Would love to hear from you.
