Blogs

Why Don’t I Feel Like Sewing?

JessLeave a comment

So it’s been a hot minute but I’m back at 5am (because for some reason that is the golden blogging hour for me!) because the blog is my favourite space to write and think about my sewing journey. In particular I want to talk openly about the fact that right now…I don’t really feel like sewing.

It feels like sacrilege to say because if I can’t or don’t want to sew then what on earth am I meant to talk to all you lovely folks about? Is it maybe more important to show up publicly and say that “I don’t feel like sewing” so that we normalise the fact that for 99% of us, this is not our job! I’ve had lulls in my sewing motivation before and usually all I need to do is tidy my sewing space, go stroke some fabric, and away we go. However this time feels slightly more existential and I think I know why.

All New Patterns Look The Same

So it turns out that it’s not just me! I shared this feeling on YouTube and loads of you responded saying that you’d noticed this as well. In the past 5 years I’ve noticed a shift away from brands having a specific style of patterns and towards patterns that align with high street trends. Look, I get it, sewing patterns can be expensive to make and you want to be sure your pattern will be bought however I think its ridiculous to charge £20-25 for an elasticated tiered dress or a shift dress with nothing else to it? Where are the fun, creative, interesting patterns? Where is the style? I would even take well drafted elevated basics at this point but it just feels like every pattern is the same.

I’m Enjoying My Me Made Wardrobe

This is an important thing to note. We make all these clothes but I think sometimes we forget to actually spend the time to wear them and style them and love them and make them a part of our wardrobe. Although I haven’t been sewing tonnes of clothes, I’ve been having a great time creating capsule wardrobes for trips, styling old garments new ways, and generally just adoring my wardrobe. I don’t want to make things, wear them once “for the gram”, and then never touch them again. That seems insane to me? I want to add pieces to my wardrobe and yes it’s important to note that not everything you make will be a long term addition to your wardrobe, experiments fail and some garments will never get worn again, but I think its important to think about what you want in your wardrobe as well as what you want to sew.

I Need A Challenge

Spending 11 months designing and making my own wedding dress was a challenge. Both mentally and technically it was a true challenge. I drew the design in my croquis book, I adapted and changed pattern pieces until they were unrecognisable, I did 5 different toiles to get the fit perfect. I bias bound seams, covered and hand sewed 36 self covered satin buttons, and built a whole supporting corset from scratch. It was difficult BUT it was incredibly fun! I loved the mental challenge. I loved having to sit and think, “Now how on earth am I going to do that?”. I’ve really noticed the lack of this challenge in my sewing since finishing my wedding dress and I think its time to bring it back.

So…what am I going to do about my general sewing malaise?

More Creative Projects

Making my wedding dress last year showed me that I can take on big design projects and not feel overwhelmed by them. I’m going to start making the garments that pop into my head! One example of this is the top I made for Sabrina Carpenter last week. I had this idea for a floaty 1970’s-inspired top and decided to use the silk that had been languishing in my stash for a couple of years. I sketched it out, chose a pattern as a base (because I’m not up to drafting from scratch just yet!), hacked it to pieces, and behold from the bodice of the Cashmerette Roseclair Wrap Dress I have created this brilliant top (above) and goodness me was that fun. There is another dress that is sticking in my mind that I think is going to require a little more work to bring to life but I am up for the challenge so head over to instagram to see how I get on!

More Small Pattern Companies

I’m going to push the boat out a bit and start trying some small indie pattern companies. I’ve had great success with companies like Size Me Sewing and Cinnamon Daisy in the past and this year I’ve also discovered NH Patterns which has been great. Lots of you have made some suggestions on YouTube that I’m going to look at as well!

I know this isn’t a super positive happy blog but I think it’s important to use this space as I originally intended and chart the reality of my sewing journey. I’ve grown a lot in the past 5 years in this space and I look forward to another 5 at least but its never a bad thing to take stock and think about what I want to be making, why I’m sewing, and what role I see my sewing taking in my life!

Hope you enjoyed this little catch up, I’ll try to be around here more often but you can find me on YouTube weekly (ish) and on Instagram at all times!

Fabric Friday Review: Higgs & Higgs Fabric

Jess1 Comment

It’s been a few years since I’ve written a fabric shop review as frankly I ran out of fabric space so I had to start sewing the fabric from the shops I’d been reviewing. It’s a nice problem to have but not one that is easy to blog about I’ll be honest. However when Higgs & Higgs asked me if I’d like to review their online shop I jumped at the chance because I adore their fabrics! Every single show I go to that Higgs & Higgs is at, I end up buying something. It’s like a compulsion. Their stalls are always beautifully laid out and they always have a good selection of cosy knit fabrics (my winter kryptonite) so honestly it’s a foregone conclusion. What I’m slightly ashamed to say is that I didn’t know they had a website! So lets talk core details:

Higgs & Higgs

  • Online Shop / Physical Shop / Both
  • Web Link: https://higgsandhiggs.com
  • Core Purpose: Dressmaking, Upholstery, Haberdashery
  • Unit of Sale For Fabric: 0.5m / 1m / 2m / custom amount

Now let’s get the difficult bit out of the way, yes Higgs & Higgs have asked me to review them and they have sent me some fabric of my choosing. However*, as always all views are my own. Whether I’m sent fabric or a sewing machine to review I will always be 100% honest. I also do freelance website improvement reviews for fabric shops that are not published on here so you’d best believe I will always be honest about my experience. So ‘how will this review work if you’ve already been sent the fabric?’ I hear you cry, well it’s going to work like this. I get to pick the fabric so it will be the standard approach I take to web fabric shopping. I will go through the whole website, try to find fabrics I want, go through the selection to put them in my basket to see how that works, I will report on pricing, delivery, etc as normal, and then once they send me the fabric I’ll report on delivery, quality, packaging etc. So basically, I’ll do what I always do, it’s just on this occasion very kindly Higgs + Higgs will have gifted me the fabric.

Fabric Types

Higgs + Higgs stock a brilliant range of fabrics for dressmaking, upholstery, and quilting, plus they stock bias-binding and haberdashery so they make a great one stop shop. In terms of price the most affordable fabrics are as you would expect the cottons at £6.99pm with the upper end at £27/28pm for wools. In terms of fabric shops generally I would say they are middle ground in terms of affordability across their range of fabrics and we should also note that the quality of the fabric is reflected in the price.

This time I had a specific project in mind so choosing my fabric was really challenging because there are so many good autumnal fabrics. You all know I love a knit but on the other hand I’ve been wanting a white/cream denim midi skirt as a transitional piece. So my core choices were either the Luxe Faux Angora Cable Knit in Black or the Snow White 7oz Stretch Denim. In the end I decided as we are heading into Autumn/Winter I wanted to go cosy and chose the Black Luxe Faux Angora Cable Knit to make something I could wear in the office or at home. Although on this occasion my fabric was gifted I did see the payment process through to give it a test. Overall its what you’d expect from a payment system, I like that it’s integrated with Apple Pay for a speedier checkout, and unlike a lot of other websites the discount code box is obvious and the interface is clean and simple to use.

Overall the fabric buying process is very smooth. I like the standard measurements of 0.5m, 1m, 2m, as well as a custom option for the length you would like. The minimum is 0.5m but you can buy fabric 10cm at a time. There are a nice selection of capsule wardrobe patterns and a well-stocked haberdashery. In terms of delivery it’s £3.50 for orders under £50 and free delivery over £50 and it’s a pretty speedy 2-3 day. Not the most expensive delivery, particularly post-covid where I know courier prices have skyrocketed, but worth bearing in mind. My fabric arrived in less than 48 hours, it was well packaged, and arrived in great condition. Given the breadth of fabrics I’d recommend getting your moneys worth on free delivery and buying your bulkier autumnal and winter fabrics in one session.

Website Design & Functionality

The website is easy to use, the refresh and page load rate is really good. Why does this matter? Because when you have 15 tabs open of different fabrics it means that website still loads quickly which makes fabric shopping that bit easier. The only slight irritation I would note is that the side menu isn’t optimised which would be a good thing to fix to make navigation even easier. There are a couple of broken links but that is fairly common for websites with a high number of fabric types that change regularly. However that being said, I really like the search functionality from the top bar and its clear that effort has been put into the web design to ensure its easy to browse the full catalogue of fabrics while also being able to break down into sub-genres of fabric type and even patterned or plain within those typologies. They stock so many types of fabric that being able to search in this detail is a godsend.

When scrolling for fabric, you can filter by price or popularity which is helpful. I also love the detail on every listing with fabric information, good photo quality – and yes I partially wanted to get black fabric to see how the photo matched the reality – this is a review after all. Each fabric landing page has suggestions for what you could use it to make and there are not only detailed fabric composition stats but there are also washing instructions which is brilliant and greatly appreciated. Particularly for this upcoming project as I’ll be working with a faux Angora knit that I do not want to ruin it by accident!

So you guys know the score or you will in a second! Let’s do the round-up.

Review Score:

  • Range of Fabrics: 9
  • Cost: 7
  • Delivery (Speed/Cost): 7
  • Ease of use: 8
  • Ease of payment: 9

Total Average Score: 8/10

Overall I am impressed with Higgs & Higgs, they are an excellent one stop shop and I look forward to visiting them in person next time I’m over that way. I like the range of fabrics, I particularly like their new quilted fabrics which would make an amazing Pogonip Pullover or a Megan Nielsen Hovea Coat, and I love the amount of effort they put into telling you about each fabric. Head over to their website to have a nosy at their stock and if you are ever at one of the sewing shows look them up and see for yourself! I never leave without at least one new knitted fabric.

2 Months To Go: Reflections On Sewing My Wedding Dress

JessLeave a comment

Did I take a 9 month break from the blog intentionally? No. In fact, I don’t think I ever really announced this on the blog but I am getting married this year! Alongside the PhD, PTVL teaching, my other job as an Analyst, the podcast, sewing, running, and everything else, I decided to sew my own wedding dress. Hubris right? Well not only that but in fact I am sewing;

  • My Wedding Dress
  • My Evening Wedding Dress (I can’t dance in a long dress, I will fall over! Plus this can be worn in the future more easily!)
  • Four Bridesmaids Dresses
  • Four Ties For Groomsmen
  • A Shirt For Adam

So it’s two months to go, and most of the above list isn’t complete; although I did reach what I think will be the final full toile of my wedding dress last night – still a couple of bits to fix but we are 99% there. Am I stressed? Well yes and no. Obviously two months isn’t a desperately long time. However I am an extremely speedy sewist so I’m not too worried about it all. My main stress until two days ago was the all of the shades of velvet I’d carefully chosen were out of stock for my bridesmaids dresses. Fear not! It’s my own fault for trying to buy it in August. Now that it’s September all the velvet is back in the shops and I’ve ordered what I need so we can get going with those when it arrives. So why am I writing this blog? Well for one thing I have steroid insomnia and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning thinking about my wedding dress sewing experience. The main reason though is that I don’t think we speak enough about sewing your own wedding dress as a project. It seems mystic and far off when the reality is that if you’ve made an evening dress, you’ll probably be able to manage a wedding dress. Nonetheless it can be a taboo subject so I thought it might be useful to share my thoughts and tips for anyone who wants to give it a go.

Top Tips For Sewing Your Wedding Dress

To be clear this is not going to be a highly technical blog about basting, seam finishes, and sewing techniques. Not only are those things radically different depending on the style of dress you choose but also that’s not really what you need to know about sewing your own wedding dress. The fact you may need to look up how to finish a seam is not what will get on your nerves. Wedding dresses are inherently emotional projects. They are also prime real estate for anyone who wants to tell you how you should be sewing your dress. Avoid those people like the plague. The tips I want to share with you are more mindset based. They are to help you through the minefield and hopefully show you by the end that it’s okay to do this exactly how you want to regardless of anyone else’s opinion.

It’s Your Dress.

This sounds glib but at the end of the day the only person wearing this dress is you and even then you’ll only be wearing it for about 12 hours. That means your priorities should be (in this order); comfort, practicality, looking beautiful. Pleasing others is not and should never be on this list. Brides look beautiful when they feel beautiful, not when other people tell them they look it. I once worked a wedding where the bride was 4’11” and as a result she had chosen a stunning 1950s style knee-length fit and flare dress. She looked radiant and it suited her to a tee. Just before she went to walk down the aisle, her mother turned around to her and said ‘oh I wish you hadn’t chosen that dress’ and the bride looked distraught. Her mother went off down the aisle with a groomsmen and I pulled the bride aside for a chat (the role of an event manager can be extremely varied) and I asked her to tell me why she’d chosen this dress. She started telling me how self-conscious she felt about her height, the fact she hates long dresses, how much she loves to dance, how her and her fiancé enjoyed going to lindyhop and swing dance classes, and how unique she felt in her dress. As she told me she became much brighter because she truly loved her dress and felt beautiful regardless of the wisdom her mum had decided to impart. It’s about how you feel in your dress and if someone says to you ‘oh I’m not sure your dress is quite you’ or ‘I would have worn X’ feel free to tell them to wear that to their own wedding or my personal favourite comeback ‘its a good job my wedding isn’t about your outfit’. If you want to feel slinky and svelte? Do it. If you want to live your cinderella dreams? Crack on with my blessing. If you want to go simple and loose? Enjoy! You generally get one chance to sew your own wedding dress, so do it the way you want to, and do it with style.

Only share your progress with people whose opinion you trust.

At the end of the day, sewing your wedding dress is a whole different ballgame to buying one. When you buy a dress you have the stress of finding something you feel perfect in, and to be clear, I’m not minimising that. Saying ‘Yes’ to the perfect dress is not the stress-free single trip that we are led to believe. But. And its a big but. Sewing your wedding dress even if you are using a pattern out of the box will still be more challenging because you have to go through the ugly duck phases where the bust isn’t right or the satin is pulling or the lace isn’t behaving, or the pattern is drafted for someone who is 6ft 4 and you need to adjust it. So as you are going through all of this there are two types of people you may want to show it to; people who sew and can give you genuine advice when you are stuck, or, very close friends or bridesmaids who have no idea how to sew and can just be your personal cheerleader. However when it comes to people who can’t sew here is a word of warning, choose someone who will just be lovely and happy that you are sewing your dress. Do not show your progress stages to anyone who is likely to say any of the following; “I don’t like that bit; why does it look so weird in x place; are you sure you want that design feature; I think it would be nicer if it looked like x; is it supposed to do that?” The progress stages are your proof of concept, your workthroughs, and what you don’t want to do is have your elation at progress dampened by people who think its rubbish because they don’t know these stages are very standard in a sewing project like this. When it comes to people who do sew, just make sure you are clear about the stage you are at and the type of feedback you would like to receive. Tell them it’s a first draft or tell them ‘I just can’t get the fit on my hips correct, can you help?’ but its important to be clear about the feedback you would actually like to receive or else we risk returning to Outcome O. So named(by me) because it turns your pride and elation into ‘oh’ and makes you not want to keep sewing.

Try on every wedding dress you can get your hands on.

A harsh truth of wedding planning whether its venue, flowers, or your wedding dress you will think you want one thing and then you will hate it. The issue is when you are making your dress its a lot of time and investment to put into something you think you will want to wear. When I first went wedding dress “shopping” or ‘our market research trip’ as my mum and sisters referred to it, I tried on every style, every colour, and realised quickly that although your wedding is the chance to wear the dress of your dreams, its also one of the few days that is totally yours. It’s for you and your partner to celebrate a beautiful life event and as a result you want to be comfortable, practical, and feel your best. It will be of no surprise to any of you that my dress is not a confection of tulle and petticoats. But! I had to try on dresses like that just to make sure it wasn’t what I wanted. I tried on the most stunning and enormous dress. It was beautiful, I felt like a princess, and in the photos I look gorgeous. In reality it was a standing still dress. It looked incredible stood on the box in the bridal shop but then you get off the box and walk around and you realise that having the turning circle of a 3.5 tonne van may not be ideal and that’s before we get to the thorny issue of trying to go to the loo. For some people that is their dream and that is brilliant! For me it would have driven me insane in about 5 minutes and I would have felt silly which is not what you want on your wedding day. I only know I don’t want that because I tried it on. So try everything. Try styles you think you’d hate. Try styles you’d never dream of. Try anything and be open to suggestions and then take a million photos. My core conclusions from my shopping trip were as follows:

  • Enormous dresses are beautiful but not for me.
  • Any dress with a corset or corselette is not the best friend of an asthmatic.
  • There is such a thing as too plain.
  • Ask your nearest and dearest to be honest with you and make sure they are on your wavelength. I picked up one dress and my sister remarked ‘it’s fine if you want to look like Glinda the Good Witch’ and she was unerringly correct. The thing is that wouldn’t have occurred to someone else but I would have realised I looked like that 5 minutes before going down the aisle so I’m glad she said it then.
  • First thought best thought. If you look in the mirror and think you look like a cake topper then move on, even if everyone else thinks you look stunning.
  • Make sure you can dance and breathe and move in the style you like.
  • Consider the cost of the fabric and the finish. My favourite dress I tried on was about 80% perfect. I liked the style as a starting point, I liked the way it made me feel, and I really liked that I probably wouldn’t need more than 4m of satin to achieve it. (Side note; the one in the shop didn’t have french seams for £1800 I would expect them on Satin?!)
  • Do not feel guilty for being fussy. You know the saying ‘measure twice, cut once’? Well when it comes to wedding dresses it’s more like a 100:1 ratio.

There are more shades of white than Dulux could dream of and that’s before you get to cream.

This may have been the part I found the most frustrating. Once you enter the world of wedding dresses white isn’t white. You suddenly get white, off-white, pure white, eggshell, ecru, blush (which is a pink type of white), and let’s not forget ivory. It is very very important than you choose the right colour. It’s also mind-numbing. Also bear in mind how colour and tone is created in a wedding dress. Particularly in more voluminous dresses the colour can be built by layer. A white overskirt and white tulle with a blush lining which would give an overall blush finish. The next joy on your plate is translating this to fabric shops who do not work to the same colour standards of the bridal industry, because NOBODY does. I went with a sort of vintage off-white. It looks nice next to my skin, it works well with the style of dress I am making, and most importantly for me, it was clearly identifiable in the fabric shop. All I’m saying with this one is mentally prepare yourself to care more about the colour white than you ever have in your life but also remember, it’s not that deep. What matters is that you feel comfortable wearing and working with your fabric. It’s not your job to sell yourself on the very specific tone of ivory blush that frankly doesn’t exist outside the lighting of that bridal shop. Take it back to basics.

It’s going to take months and you’ll still be working on it until the week before.

This is normal. This is unavoidable. You may buy a wedding dress a year out from your wedding but you’ll be in the shop 3 months before for alterations and 1 month out from your wedding you’ll still be getting any snagging done. This isn’t like any other project you will do. You will start a year out with the designs. You might even buy the fabric at this stage or go trawling through samples to find what you like. You’ll do a toile. You’ll love it. You’ll change it by a fraction and suddenly ruin the whole thing. You’ll move from messy toile fabrics to fabrics similar to your dress and the design suddenly won’t work. You’ll lose weight. You’ll gain weight. You’ll go on holiday. Life will happen. You will have deadlines that mean you have to put your wedding dress on one side for a month. Your opinions will change on how you want your dress to look and that is all natural and part of the process. I’ve had lots of people tell me I’ve left everything too late but no one else knows what too late means in your context. I don’t know if its because I am doing a PhD, which is the academic equivalent of sewing your own wedding dress, but I feel very sanguine about working through drafts and drafts for months whether its my thesis or my wedding dress. It makes it easier to know that you’ll be working on it constantly for 9 months to a year and even if you prepare and plan you will still be hemming it the week before so why stress? Which brings me on to my next tip.

Like any project, figure out how you work best.

This is starting to sound like an academic skills blog but read on I promise it’s about sewing. To be brutally honest if I had to sew my wedding dress everyday for a month I would go stark-raving mad. I’m not a little and often person when it comes to creating. Just as with my thesis I am a ‘think about it for 6 weeks then suddenly get struck by inspiration’ kind of person. I need thinking time. I need to mull. I need to consider what I like and what I don’t and crucially why I don’t like it. However this means that once I do decide what I want, I choose a day or a night (normally a night when Adam is out at Jujitsu) and just crack on for 4-8 hours. For someone else the way I work would be intolerable or frankly impossible. There are people who would love to chip away at the project every day. There are people who start their dress two weeks out. There are people who hand sew the entire thing (and to be clear those people are insane) but the point is, you have to figure out what you need and how you best work. I fully intend to go to the Southern Sewcial in October to finish off my panic sewing. I know there will be panic sewing so why not actually book in a day to do it!

Start Somewhere. Start Anywhere. Just Start.

Its daunting. I’m not going to sit here and say that it isn’t because it is. And frankly it’s supposed to be. You are preparing for a watershed moment in your life and most likely in your sewing career. It’s scary and do you know what? You’re allowed to stress. Even on your toiles you are allowed to stress about it but it’s so much more important to make some progress than none. People will build up wedding dress sewing as the be all and end all but it just isn’t. You are making a dress. You are putting a pattern together just like you do the rest of the time. If, like me, you had a couple of patterns as starting points then I recommend writing your own instructions as you go, but at the end of the day it’s just another sewing project. Admittedly the fabric is more expensive and the stakes are higher, but don’t let that deter you. Your first toile of your wedding dress is always going to be a proof of concept. You’ll love it. You’ll hate it. You’ll know what needs fixing. You’ll see the germ of your design starting the emerge. No matter what you have to start somewhere and it’s never going to be perfect the first time. My way of tackling the existential dread I had about starting? I put a 30 minute timer on and dashed out a full toile. It was basted together in rubbish acetate that cost me £4, the length of the front and back didn’t remotely match. The bust was too small. The train looked like a tiny puddle that had got caught in my sewing machine. The straps were wrong. The shape of the skirts didn’t match. But none of that mattered because I could see that my dress was in there and it would work out eventually. Think of it like a concept car. The doors may not open. None of the electrics are in it. It’s not truly a car. It’s an indication that your concept works and it gives you a road map.

Finally, remember that in a year’s time you will not care how long the seams took or how frustrating rouleau loops and covered buttons are, or how many toiles you went through, because its frankly the least important part of the day. Getting to walk down the aisle and marry your favourite person on the planet should not hinge on your dress. I would marry Adam in my pyjamas with no make-up on at a registry office at 10:00 in the morning on a random Tuesday with no one else there. It’s lovely to get to wear a beautiful dress and be surrounded by friends and family to celebrate your wedding, but never let the dress get in the way of the wedding.

P.S. If anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, decides to tell you how you could have made your dress better on the day of your wedding, have them removed from the venue.

Progress Not Perfection: My Sewing Philosophy

Jess5 Comments

As I sit writing this I have ginger biscuits in the oven, a recipe Ive spent years perfecting, I’m wearing my first pair of Hudson Trackies with a hole that needs repairing, because in the time since I made them I’ve learnt about the existence of triple stitch and its usefulness in trousers, and my first Tammy Handmade Naya Tshirt with slightly dodgy neckline binding, which if I made again now I would ensure I stretched consistently the whole way around. What is the common theme? In order to become proficient in a skill you have to practice it. The first thing you make, write, create, is rarely perfect.

I can make cornish fairings with my eyes shut because I grew up making them with my grandma. Decades of practice have led to a skill I don’t even think about anymore. However along the way there have been burnt batches, oddly shaped biscuits, in correct mixtures, as I’ve honed the skill. Not only is that okay but it is expected. So why don’t we feel the same way about sewing?

Recently I’ve seen a lot of people talking about how much clothing is being ‘churned’ out by instagram sewists. How people are creating badly made garments simply to keep up with the demand of social media sewing. While I’m sure there are some people who attempt to keep pace with algorithm, I think the reality is more simple.

Sewing is a hobby. It is a skill. If it takes 10,000 hours to truly master a skill, then chances are you’re going to be doing a lot of sewing and learning a specific skill once then moving on isn’t going to cut it. You have to do hundreds of zip, thousands of button holes, miles upon miles of under stitching and even then you are probably only an eighth of the way towards mastery. Every crafting hobby involves making something whether its pottery, quilts, loaves of bread, or dresses, and every time you make something you get better.

The fact is that sewing isn’t just a means of creating clothing, it is a hobby and a skill. That means you are going to churn out some god-awful garments in the process. You will insert sleeves backwards or inside out. You will accidentally cut a hole in your almost finished garment when grading a seam. You will accidentally catch part of your garment in a separate seam and want to throw the whole franken-mess of a project out of the window. And at the end of it all you may not even like what you made, but that is okay. You will have learnt something. It might be something as simple as don’t grade seams on a black garment in the dark (yes I have done this exact thing) or that pressing darts up rather than down provides a better shape for a larger bust. You might learn something more substantial such as how to shrink the raw edge of a circle skirt to sew a curved hem or how to sew a welt-pocket.

By placing perfection above all else, not only can you lose the raw creative energy that is so much part of sewing but also you put a lot of pressure on yourself not to put a foot wrong. I experienced this recently while making my Jasika Blazer. I started it back in December and I was merry stitching away until I reached the section on welt pockets and I was stumped. I watched tutorials. I had a go on scrap fabric. But none of it would translate in my head to the blazer in front of me. So I left it on the mannequin until two days ago when I decided that enough was enough and I just did it. Now those pockets are awful. They are truly horrendous. BUT they exist, they function, and they may not be perfect but it’s progress. Now I’m out of the mire of indecision and terror of ruining my blazer, I feel much more relaxed.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’ve made loads of mistakes in the last two days and this blazer will almost definitely end up as a wearable toile rather than the finished article but that is okay because I’m enjoying the process again. I’ve had so much fun just having a go knowing that every mistake I make is a lesson I’m learning. I like to know why I have to do something a certain way and the best teacher for me is doing it wrong and finding out exactly what that is wrong.

There are so many things you should do and shouldn’t do. You should make a toile, you should finish your raw edges, you shouldn’t use your fabric without pre-washing, you shouldn’t sew over your pins, but really what it comes down to is ‘what do you want out of sewing?’ Personally I want to learn, I want to relax, and above all I want to have fun, and the fantastic wardrobe I’m building is merely a by-product.

So today I want to encourage you to go through your ‘Work In Progress’ basket and think about progress not perfection. What tiny thing, or even big thing, can you do to make progress on a project you are stuck on? Can you iron on some interfacing? Can you do a quick rolled hem? Can you overlock the raw edges so its ready for the next big step? Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to correct! You can always unpick it later. It just needs to be a step forward.

Now if anyone wants me for the next month I’ll be finishing works in progress before starting my new adventure in September!

New Year, More Sewing: My Sewing Resolutions For 2023

Jess4 Comments

Well here we are again, a new year begins! I’m not going to say that ‘I’m back’ as in my experience any post that starts like that is cursed not to be followed up for 6 months but I will acknowledge that I have taken a break from blogging. The break roughly coincided with me writing my MA dissertation followed by my busiest work period of the year so entirely understandable but still I have really missed blogging.

As I write this I am sat on the sofa watching the original Mission Impossible (great film) and attempting to relax. In the days leading up to New Year I’ve been cleaning, tidying and rearranging my sewing space but today I just needed a moment to rest. Tidying the sewing space and moving the furniture around has been a great way to give the space a new lease of life as well as thoroughly evaluate what is still relevant to my sewing and what needs to exit stage right, as it were.

Last year was an interesting one for my sewing it has to be said. Recently I joined in a fun instagram trend and put together a reel of everything I have made this year. It showed me just how much I’ve grown and developed my sewing skills. 2022 saw my first trips abroad since I got back into sewing properly and allowed me to do some very fun holiday sewing. My first crack at swimwear was a massive success and I really enjoyed putting together me made holiday wardrobes for each trip.

The second edition of Sew Yellow for Endo raised £1075 for Endometriosis UK, 4 brave sewists spoke about their experiences with Endometriosis and over 150 sewists took part. Together we turned instagram yellow for the day and for that we should all be so proud. Thank you all for your time and effort and I can’t wait for Sew Yellow For Endo 2023! If anyone wants to sponsor please do get in touch as planning is starting this week.

2022 also saw collaborations with pattern brands such as Cashmerette and Tammy Handmade, Lush Cloth gave me the chance to be one of their guest bloggers, Orya Textiles gifted me some incredible fabric and helped me achieve one of my make nine, and I got to collaborate with fellow bloggers and vloggers in the sewing community, trying new patterns such as the Sicily slip dress with Tamlyn from Sewn on the Tyne and the Allie Olsen Highland Wrap Dress with Sew Do It Emma. I learnt so much from these collaborations and I would like to thank everyone I worked with in 2022 for their patience with me and my unpredictable work schedule!

So what’s next for So What If I Sew? 2023 is my year to shift my focus from work to my personal life, my relationships, my hobbies, and my habits. I hope to have lots more opportunities to collaborate with my fellow sewists and I’ve set myself another Make Nine challenge which you can hear all about over on YouTube, but I’ve also set myself two goals for my own sewing.

Sewing For All Seasons Not Just Summer

My handmade wardrobe is definitely more skewed towards the summer. I think mainly because summer fabrics are much easier to sew with. Cottons and viscoses are easier to work with and in my experience summer patterns come together much more quickly.

However this has left a gap in my wardrobe. I have very little outerwear, I have very few cosy makes, and almost nothing I’ve made in any stretch/jersey fabrics which tends to be what I wear from October to February. In the winter I’m all about jeans, heeled boots, cosy jumpers, and long sleeved tops, and the fact is that I am now able to sew quite a few of those items.

So this year I want to challenge myself. I’ve put the Atelier Jupe Alex Coat on my Make Nine, I’m also going to dive into a new t-shirt/3/4 length sleeve top pattern later today, and I have some incredible purple denim that I’m working up the courage to sew with.

In 2023 we will be going on a cold holiday for the first time in a while and we will be headed to Prague so the cogs are already turning trying to figure out which bits of my me made wardrobe will be suitable and what I can get made before we go! I don’t know about you but holidays can be great motivators to crack through some projects and get them into the wardrobe rotation.

So the goal for this year is to turn my attention to seasonal sewing and consider what I wear when and whether I can I can plug any seasonal wardrobe gaps with me mades.

I Need To Spend Some Time Understanding My Own Style

One of my first goals for my sewing was to create workwear I loved and felt confident in and after the last year I can put my hand on my heart and say I have achieved that goal. Now its time to zoom out a bit and think about what I like wearing. This year is all about work/life balance for me and as part of that I want to separate my work wardrobe from my personal wardrobe and make sure I have clothes that reflect my personality.

Back in October my friend Louisa and I did a massive clear out of my wardrobe and got rid of all the things that I no longer wear because they aren’t really my style. Now going forward I’m trying to figure out what my style is. I know what colours I like wearing which is a good start and I know that my style definitely changes between the seasons, I’m not a Pinterest girl with one year round aesthetic and colour palette.

In 2023 I’m going to experiment more and think about what clothes make me feel most “me” whatever that means and build a wardrobe for my personal and social life that make me feel as confident as my workwear wardrobe does. The measurable, because for me there has to be a measurable, is to finish the year with a mood board for each season of clothes that I love wearing and make me feel like me.

Above all I want to make sure that this year I take the time to enjoy the learning process as well as making garments that I want to wear. Currently I am working on the Closet Core Jasika Blazer and whilst it is difficult it is also an incredible learning curve and I feel so proud when I complete every step. I want a mix of quick win projects to help sustain my motivation and challenging projects that make me work my brain and on the completion of which I feel exceptionally proud.

So here’s to 2023 a year of creativity, connection, and continued sewing!

My Week In Sewing: Me Made Wardrobe and Upcoming Sewing Plans

JessLeave a comment

Hello everyone! This week you join me on the sofa cutting out patterns and giving myself a home pedicure with one of the Fast and Furious films in the background. Its been a busy couple of weeks with very little sewing if I’m honest. But then that is the point of these blogs, to be honest about my sewing! 

Part of the reason I’ve done very little sewing is that last weekend I took a trip up to Birmingham to visit my school friends who I’ve not seen in forever. It was lovely to get a weekend away after a busy week and nice to visit a city for the first time! I was very good and didn’t visit any fabric shops instead we just had a wander around and went for dinner and drinks then brunch on the Sunday morning. Although I couldn’t get any sewing done, it was lovely to take a me made wardrobe on tour. Since my me made wardrobe has grown I actively enjoy packing for trips. Trying to find new styles and looks, combining new garments, and really revelling in the joy of making and wearing my own garments. It was a scorching weekend so I pulled out my old favourite, the McCalls #M8090 made in this beautifully pattered viscose paired with my new denim jacket (left) as discussed in my last blog! Then  for brunch it was a little cooler so I brought out my McCalls #M7531 striped jersey dress with the same denim jacket(right). Packing for one night is always challenging and both garments roll up very small so are ideal for the backpack. 

Although covid and lockdown allowed me to advance my sewing endlessly and create lots of beautiful garments, it also robbed me of a chance to actually wear any of them. Now that we have the freedom to socialise and travel I am really enjoying styling my me made wardrobe. I had the wonderful sensation the other day of looking into my wardrobe and seeing that well over half is now me-made. I have also started a new system of organising my wardrobe using colour. Not only is it visually very appealing when I open the door, its also making it much easier for me to find garments. I’ve discovered that when I’m thinking about outfits I tend to choose a colour first and then a style or combination. I think that’s the trick to sorting your wardrobe, its finding a system that works for you and sticking to it. 

The other reason I’ve managed very little sewing is because almost every night this week there has been a points failure at Marylebone so I’ve been late home every night. Even on Thursday night when I was lucky enough to go to the ballet with Adam’s mum and sister (we saw swan lake it was amazing!!) I got to the station for the 11pm train and again we were 40 minutes late leaving meaning I got home past midnight. Taking travel difficulties into account, plus the fact that every spare moment is being spent on my MA dissertation, you can see why not much sewing is happening. I do have lots of sewing I want to do though. The inspiration is definitely there, I’m just time poor at the moment. 

So! Lets talk about what I am sewing and hoping to sew. First up is my next ambassador project for Cashmerette, I can’t talk about the pattern but I am hoping to manage a trip down to town this afternoon to pick up the fabric. It will be a super quick sew, I just don’t have any suitable fabric in my stash. I will reveal that it’s a stretch pattern and I so rarely sew with jersey that I am breaking my fabric ban because I genuinely have nothing appropriate. I also need to buy some thread so I can hem a dress, and I will also need some buttons. The deal is, I write 500 words on my lit review and I get to go into town! 

Next up are two slip dresses. One is my next Friday Pattern company slip dress, I’m making the long version in a size smaller, and the other is the Jessica Slip Dress from Tammy Handmade which I’m going to make in a Black Cupro. I’m planning to do a youtube video about all three slip dress patterns and give feedback on how they all compare and fabric suggestions etc. I’m hoping that will be ready for the Jubilee Weekend so keep an eye out if you subscribe to me on YouTube!

The final active project I’ve got at the moment is my Chalk and Notch Wren which I’m making in this gorgeous red viscose from Stitch & Ink! I’ve cut it out, I just need to get going with it. I think I’m going to have a go tonight so I at least get some sewing time in this weekend. 

As you can see I’ve got lots I want to do, lots I’m excited about sewing. I’m just struggling for time. This morning is the first time this week I truly feel like I’ve had a moment to myself to just relax. Then I’m off to write more of my dissertation and then hopefully (fingers crossed!) a trip to town in the sunshine. The final thing I’ve been working on you will see tonight! My guest blog for Lush Cloth will be going live and I’ll finally be able to tell you all about one of my favourite new makes that has been ruling my work wardrobe. 

It wouldn’t be a My Week In Sewing blog unless I did my pattern and fabric highlight. As always these are in no way sponsored, they are just fabrics and patterns that I’ve seen this week and am secretly coveting!

Pattern: This week’s pattern of the week is the Carolyn Pyjamas from Closet Core. I’ve been thinking about making myself a super light pair of summer pyjamas for a while and I think the Carolyn is the dream pattern! Now I just need to find a suitably light fabric for when its ultra hot.

Fabric: My fabric of the week is not from one shop but all week I’ve been dreaming about White Broderie Anglaise! I’ve never sewn with it but I’ve always loved it. I’m still looking for the perfect one, Sew Sew Sew have this in coral and there is talk it may be coming in white in July! Until then I’ll be swishing around in Broderie Anglaise in my dreams.  

That’s all from me this week, but have a great week everyone and hopefully next week I will have lots of beautiful things to show you!

My Week In Sewing: Slip Dresses & Summer Sewing

JessLeave a comment

Hello everyone, here we are back again! Honestly I missed last week because of a combination of the Bank Holiday making me forget what day was Sunday and my final MA assessment (apart from my dissertation) was due on Tuesday so I was writing all weekend anyway. Thus a Sunday missed but not much sewing week before last so no harm no foul.

This morning I spent a lovely couple of hours sat outside in the sunshine, basking like the salamander that I am, reading, and starting to think about my summer holiday wardrobe. I have not actually been on a hot summer holiday since I started sewing more seriously. So there is a lot to think about. In July I’m going to Menorca for 4 days with one of my best friends in the world, we are going to sunbathe, read, drink by the pool, and thats pretty much it! We both seriously need a break and we have the same heat tolerance so its perfect. Now I have begun the very exciting task of considering my wardrobe. Its not that long a holiday but I want lots of options and ideally I want everything except my existing swimwear to be me-made. This morning I sat out and read in my McCalls #M8090 dress and it has definitely earned the first spot in my suitcase. I made this dress last summer and I loved it from the second I put it on, its light weight, floaty, a nice length and but still covered enough to protect your arms and chest from sunburn which I definitely need. I’ve got some other ideas but nothing concrete as of yet but I am definitely going to film a vlog of the final wardrobe when I’m back from holiday.

I’ve been quite quiet over on instagram and on my youtube community tab recently, not that I can really get to grips with that last one I’ll be honest… My quietness is not due to lethargy but actually because I’ve been doing some secret sewing that I can’t reveal to you just yet. For one garment the pattern has not yet been released, for the other I’ve got a guest blog to write before I can show you the make publicly but, spoiler alert, I love them both. Something I can tell you about however is the Butterick pattern I’ve been chipping away at for the past few weeks (pictured on the left). The skirt finally went on last night (hooray!) but there is still a lot of work to do on this dress. The fabric is so slippery that it is astonishingly irritating to work with and I’m having to baste everything to get the right placement. I’m not kidding, pins just fall out of this fabric! However I do have a time limit so I’ve got to get on with it. In two weeks time I am going to the Royal Opera House to see Swan Lake with Adam’s mum and sister and ideally I would like to wear this dress. However there are other options in my wardrobe if this one tries my patience too much.

Last weekend I was also finally able to reveal both my Sicily Slip Dress(left) and my Saltwater Slip (right). It’s so great to have them both out in the world now and feel free to head over to my youtube to find out how I got on making them both. The Sicily has grown on me massively, particularly since I cut half of it off but the Saltwater? I hate it. Or at least I hate the one that I have made. I’m not going to give up because I really do like the pattern, instead I’m treating my first endeavour as a wearable toile. This time around I will be making the longer version in a size smaller in a different fabric and adding the waist ties. I’m also considering a second Sicily but just as a top this time because I think it would look amazing tucked into jeans.

As you all know, I have a penchant for short dresses both in the summer and the winter. Now that my slip dresses have been revealed, the genre of slip dress fashion is open to me and I’ve been considering how best to style them within my wardrobe. I am trying to buy as little as possible and curate a beautiful me made wardrobe, however when I see a piece that I love and will keep for many years I think its worth buying it. What I am trying to train myself to do is to do less impulse shopping. For example, yesterday when I was in London I tried on the most incredible M&S denim jacket embroidered with daisies. I loved it when I saw it on the mannequin, I tried it on in the changing rooms and realised then that it would look amazing with my Sicily slip dress, my white trainers and a pony tail for a more casual summer look.

However sometimes shopping in London specifically can make me way more impulse prone that I am usually so I resolved to think about it. I left the store and 5 minutes into my bus ride to the station I had managed to think of about 8-10 outfits which I wear in the winter that could easily become summer outfits with the addition of this jacket. By the time I was on the train home I was utterly bereft that I had not bought the jacket. I talked it through with Adam, I looked at my wardrobe, I considered if I might find something else better, I um-ed and ah-ed all morning but finally decided on mature consideration to order it online today.

Although it is spending money which with the cost of living crisis I’m really trying not to do, I feel that a proper denim jacket is a good investment for my wardrobe and something I will have for a very long time. I had one as a teenager for 4/5 years before I grew out of it and i wore it constantly, since then I’ve not had one but I have felt the lack of it in my wardrobe. So I have made an investment in my wardrobe. That was the theme of yesterday because I also decided to go and get a bra fitting for the first time in 4 years and also invested in two new bras that fit me. What with that, the jacket, and a little bit of summer fabric shopping at Stitch and Ink, I’m on a spending money ban until my holiday in July!

However thanks to me small shopping excursion I do now have some exciting fabric plans my long saltwater in a black ditsy floral viscose, a wide check gingham version of my Cashmerette Roseclair Wrap Dress, and a mystery red dress for an engagement party we are going to at the end of July. I should point out that the dress is only a mystery because I can’t think of a pattern just yet rather than it intentionally being a mystery. It will have gathers, It will be floaty but other than that I have no idea. Suggestions are very much welcome in the comments below.

One thing I did want to talk about in this blog is Me Made May. Last year I took part in Me Made May by wearing a me made garment everyday and posting a picture on instagram. I felt that it really helped me to get to know my wardrobe better. This year I’m going a different way. The mending pile in my house has now become a mending bin bag and its got to be dealt with. So this month my focus is going to be on mending and caring for my existing wardrobe. I’m hoping to film a mending vlog when I have time and I’ll do a post at the end of the month to say how I got on but other than that you probably won’t see a huge amount from me about Me Made May. Apart from anything I don’t want to procrastinate from the mending by posting about it! But I am taking part, just in my own way.

This week’s fabric of the week comes is a deadstock viscose from Rainbow Fabrics Kilburn that I am absolutely in love with! I saw this green fabric no fewer than 5 times on different people when I was in Covent Garden yesterday and it looked stunning. I’m not normally one for bright green but this fabric has got me sorely tempted!

This week’s pattern of the week is the aptly named Jessica Slip Dress from Tammy Handmade which is the next slip dress on my horizon. I adore Tammy’s patterns and can’t wait to get stuck into this one. It might even be a candidate for my new red fabric!

Thats all from me this week but can’t wait to catch-up with you next weekend when me and my me made wardrobe will be going on a little road trip up to Birmingham to see an old school friend of mine!

My Week In Sewing: Holidays, Bomber Jackets, and Summer Sewing

Jess3 Comments

Hello everyone and welcome back to the So What If I Sew blog! We are back for another ‘My Week In Sewing’ except technically it is two weeks as last weekend we were away on holiday. It’s been an exceedingly busy two weeks and I have been really looking forward to sitting down on my sofa with a cup of tea and taking a moment to reflect and write this blog. As we were off work from Friday to Thursday and actually away Saturday to Tuesday, the weeks have somewhat blurred into one so I will do my best to separate them and remember the interesting things but honestly its more likely to be a thematic blog this week!

Last week(w/c 11th) I was working on an exhibition opening and I have to say my me-made work wardrobe really came into its own. I wore my second Chalk & Notch Fringe Dress – which to tell the truth isn’t completely finished( I still need to sort the sleeves) but I wore it anyway and no one noticed so I’m counting that as a win. Then for the night of the private view I got my favourite Nina Lee Portobello trousers out – stylish, elegant, and space for two phones and an epi-pen in the pockets and a radio on the waistband! Then on Maundy Thursday the sun shone and I unearthed a make I had completely forgotten about. This McCalls M7531 midi dress(shown on the left) in a super cute pink stripey ribbed jersey from Sew Much Moor. It was funny, I was sat in bed on Wednesday night trying to figure out what to wear, I was going into the office and then having dinner in London in the evening with a friend so needed an outfit to do both. Then as I scrolled through my instagram account my me-made wardobe came galloping to the rescue! This dress was made in October and the fabric is far too thin to wear in the winter so I had just sort of forgotten about it but I love that even though the fabric is lightweight, the length helps to keep you warm and cosy, I love how comfortable it is while still looking smart, and I love the colours. Now that this make has been brought to the front of the wardrobe, I know it will be getting top billing for the rest of the spring/summer.

One of the functions of these blogs is take a moment and think about my week. I know I mentioned I was starting to be a bit better about taking time for myself but this philosophy sort of dissolved in the run up to the holiday as so much had to be done before I left. However on reflection I did manage to take some time for myself before it all kicked off! I started last week with a relaxed Sunday at the hairdressers. My appointments take roughly 6 hours but I really value that time to sit and relax, to read a magazine, to get a bit of local gossip, and generally enjoy time that is truly my own. I had dinner with a friend that I’ve not really seen since January 2020 which was wonderful and on Good Friday Adam and I had a wonderful relaxed afternoon in town together. What originally was a quick admin trip for birthday presents and picking up shoes from Timpsons, devolved into a full day together in town including lunch out and some shopping for me – I managed with great difficult to stay away from the fabric shop but I am on a fabric ban until I have enough space to the fabric I currently own! I also managed to accept that I wasn’t going to be able to finish my purple satin dress in time for our weekend away so instead of stressing and beating myself up I decided to be kind to myself and I ended up buying a RTW jumpsuit(as shown below with the bomber jacket) and a red jersey dress. Both of which I adore and fit me perfectly! Thats the funny thing, when you fully stop shopping for clothes and sew most of your wardrobe, buying something RTW becomes a lovely treat. Something that happens once in a while and that I appreciate far more than I used to. I really enjoyed trying things on, thinking about upcoming makes and silhouettes but not feeling pressure to get anything just engaging with my love of clothes and treating myself after what has been a really intense couple of years.

My main sewing project last week was my first Cashmerette Club pattern, the Kimball Bomber Jacket. I used a ponte di roma jacquard for the main jacket, black ribbing for the cuffs, neckline, and waistband, and a cosy viscose for the sleeve lining. Looking at this garment both in photos and on the sofa next to me right now, I still can’t quite believe I made it. So lets talk construction details: this project involved bias bound seams, zip pockets, jacket zips, and it allowed me a first go at quilting fabric. The sleeves are made of three layers of fabric, an outer jacket layer, an inner lining, and then a layer of batting sandwiched between the two to give the sleeve some body. It also contributes to making the jacket super cosy to wear. I quilted it by eye which was tricky, as neither fabric would take chalk markings, but it worked out fine if a tiny bit messy and then literally yesterday while I was tidying I discovered that I have a quilting foot for my machine. That would definitely have helped!

The pockets were also a real learning curve, for some reason I really struggled to get my head around attaching the pocket bags for the zips, but sure enough doing just one step at a time and not reading ahead(not reading ahead helps me when I a overthinking and I just need to focus on the step at hand), the instructions guided me through and I have two excellent pockets. There are also loads of other techniques in this that were a little new to me such as bias bound seams – which I love! All in all it was a real journey and I’m incredibly proud of it. I mean…please don’t look at the inside or anything and its by no means perfect, but I am extremely happy with the result and I know its going to get alot of use this summer. I was so proud of it that I wore it out in London on the Saturday night and made Adam take photos of me against a cool black wall outside our hotel. I had a bit of a vogue moment and I regret nothing. Side note: do we love my new sunglasses? The result of over an hour trying sunglasses on at TK Maxx but I am very pleased!

The bomber jacket and jumpsuit emsemble was in honour Adam’s mum’s 60th Birthday, we had dinner with most of his extended family and then went to see Cabaret which was an absolutely wonderful production. If you get the chance to visit the Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre I thoroughly recommend it! Then on the Sunday we escaped to the countryside for a few days walking and relaxing at a country house hotel in the North Downs to celebrate our anniversary. On our way back through London on Tuesday we rounded the trip off with nearly two hours, and an ungodly amount of money, spent in the enormous Waterstones in Gower Street. All in all a wonderful weekend and very much needed! Since we got back earlier this week we’ve been trying to sort things out as between work, Adam and I being ill, my MA, and the holiday, we STILL haven’t finished unpacking the house after the move! I know everyone says that unpacking takes time but Adam and I are normally very very speedy unpackers so it is a little stressful that the flat still isn’t completely sorted. We will get there though and there really isn’t that much left to do, it just feels a lot at the moment – we shall prevail!

However I have had time to get some good sewing in this week! After work on Friday I got the overlocker out and finished all the seams on my white Marlo cardigan. Now I just need to decide whether I want to put buttons on it or if I’m happy with it as it is. I have also been beavering away at my Harriet Bra and I am pleased to report that I now have about 75% of an actual bra! The casing is going to be attached next and then elastic to almost every side and then I just need to wait for the rings and sliders to arrive so that I can attach the straps. Idiotically I used my original rings and sliders on my Friday Pattern Company Saltwater Slip Dress which I will be able to tell you all about next weekend. Yesterday evening I also managed a little batch cutting and cut out my next Cashmerette ambassador project – I can’t reveal the pattern just yet – and my Closet Core Pietra trousers which I’m hoping to start this week as well.

I even managed to get a vlog out this weekend! Head over to my youtube channel for updates on my favourite spring makes, my summer plans, and an update on my make nine challenge.

So its been a week (or two!) of bits and pieces. I’m sorry I don’t have anything more meaningful to discuss this week but I really do love these blogs as a way to chat to you all and give you little updates on my sewing. Sadly there will be no sewing for me today as I need to write 3000 words of my dissertation for tomorrow for my tutor to review – wish me luck! Its only my lit review and I have done a massive amount of reading and I’m also fully prepared that what I give her on Monday is very much a first draft and I will most likely edit it a further 6 times before my tutor does her second review. However there is just time to squeeze in this week’s favourite fabric and patterns!

Pattern of the Week: Absolutely loving the Cashmerette Vernon Shirt at the moment! I’m on a Cashmerette kick at the moment and I definitely fancy the idea of making a shirt with no gape and no pulling buttons!

Fabric of the Week: This Ecru Patterned Viscose from Sew Sew Sew has absolutely stolen my heart! I want culottes, I want a dress, I want a skirt, I want absolutely anything and everything in this fabric!

Anyway, I had better get on with my dissertation so thank you all for joining me again this week and I’ll see you next weekend for another My Week In Sewing!

My Week In Sewing: Batch Projects, My New Sewing Space, and The Cashmerette Club

JessLeave a comment

Welcome back to week two of the My Week In Sewing blog feature. I have to say I have been looking forward to sitting down and writing this all week! This past week has been far more sewing focussed, started some new projects, I kept going with some old ones, I tried a new philosphy of sewing and I have an exciting announcement so grab a cup of tea and join me for a round up of my week.

After a week off with illness I returned to work on Monday. My week off definitely helped me slow down and gain perspective and I was determined to try and carry that into the week. Needless to say that didn’t necessarily happen, by Wednesday I found myself all stressed and tense again however I did manage to take 30 minutes to myself everyday which I think is an improvement. Furthermore although I could feel myself returning to old habits I was at least aware of those habits and I do feel like I’ve made positive progress. I guess the key is, as with all long term change, to remeber that nothing is going to happen overnight. I’ve done the hard bit and realised that I have to change my habits but the reality is that I am tackling habits that have been instilled in me since birth so its going to take some hard work to unlearn them. However, it is strange what a period of rest and reflection can do for your motivation. On Monday I started a project that I have literally been putting off for a year. A whole year! I started cutting out my Cloth Habit Harriet Bra. It was one of those moments where you realise that you were actually worrying about nothing. For more news on this make look out for a youtube sew-a-long coming in two weeks time!

This week’s mantra came from a podcast I was listening to which discussed whether something is convenient or whether its positive i.e. when you make a decision are you making that decision because its just easier to do it that way or because it will be actively positive for you. A good example of this for me is going to ballet, I adore going to ballet but often its just easier to work out at home when I get back from work. However if I really think about it, actually going to ballet and socialising with the class would be much more beneficial for me. Sometimes its not possible to go but often all I need to do is remember to put leggings and ballet shoes in my work bag and then I would be able to go. I decided to go to ballet on Thursday and I had a wonderful time so I’ll definitely be going regularly after the easter break – although I should highlight that I can still barely straighten my legs today they are so sore!

This mantra has also made me consider when I have energy and what I should do with those periods. Something I see lots of sewists do, but could never stomach myself, is batch cutting. My style of sewing used to be, one project at a time, long sewing days, cutting and sewing everything pretty much on the same day. The issue with that system is that it means I have nothing to work on in the week without starting a whole new project, something that I rarely have the time or energy to do on Wednesday night for example. Here enters a product that I was shamelessly influenced to buy by Ruan (The Yorkshire Sew Girl) which are these amazing A3 project bags. I bought them off amazon, I got a pack of 5 and I am in love. They allow me to batch cut projects when I have the energy and then during the week when I have a moment to sew I can grab which ever project I want to work on, do five minutes of sewing, and then put the project back in the bag in whatever state it is in! Honestly these bags have revolutionised my sewing. Part of the reason I used to try to get so much done in one session was so that I didn’t have little pieces of fabric or pattern floating around that might get lost. Being able to grab a project and work on it as much or as little as I am able and then safely store it away has really helped me to feel comfortable with any amount of progress and I feel like my sew-jo has flowered again as a result.

Adam finally tested negative for covid so I was able to move back into the bedroom on Thursday. Although it was really rubbish isolating from each other for such a long time, there was one big positive. Having too sleep in the office meant that I had to unpack the room to make space for a bed. The result? The bed is out and now my section of the office / sewing room is full unpacked and beautiful. My sewing machines are out on the side board, my desk it clear, all my sewing supplies are stowed appropriately and the space feels calm and relaxed. I have filmed a tour of my new sewing space which I am really excited to share with you but you will see all next week!

This week I also started quite an ambitious project which is the Cashmerette Kimball Bomber Jacket an exclusive pattern to the Cashmerette Club of which I am now a member! The lovely team at Cashmerette have invited me to be a Cashmerette Club Collaborator so I will be having a go at some of the beautiful patterns and sharing my thoughts with you all. This is immensely exciting to me as I absolultely love Cashmerette patterns. They are primarily a plus size brand however they have expanded into straight size patterns but with proper cup size options – hallelujah! As any of you who have followed me for a while will know, I have a significant bust to waist ratio which can make some patterns completely inaccessible unless im willing to do a multiude of full bust adjustments which (spoiler alert) I can very rarely be bothered to do and often ruin the line of the original pattern because of the amount I have to add. Enter cashmerette patterns where I can make a US size 2 (UK 6) but with a G cup on the bodice! This bomber jacket pattern has been great fun so far, I’m working with a Ponte di Roma Jacquard and a viscose lining from Sew Sew Sew and this week I had my first ever go at quilting to create the sleeves of the jacket! I’m very nervous and I hope the jacket turns out well but I’m hoping to reveal it next week for you all providing I can pluck up the courage to insert the zips.

So its been a busy week! To round it all off I hit 5k followers over on instagram which is very exciting. It’s not exactly the most important thing in the world, but it was nice to take a moment yesterday and appreciate what a wonderful community I am part of and how happy I am to have an international community of sewing friends.

Now I’m off to get my hair done so I can return to a full head of blonde hair in time for our easter weekend away but before I go allow me to highlight my favourite patterns and fabrics I’ve spotted this week!

Pattern pick of the week: The Chalk & Notch Wren Top & Dress gains this week’s spot for pattern of the week! I discovered Chalk & Notch back in January and I have absolutely fallen in love with their patterns. The designs are beautiful and there are two cup sizes available across the whole size range which is fabulous.

Fabric pick of the week: White Broderie Anglaise from Sew Much Moor is my favourite fabric this week. It always makes me think of spring / summer although I’ve never had the confidence to sew with it! I’d like to have a go this year, I’m thinking possibly a fourth Amaya Shirt but let me know in the comments below of any patterns that work well with this fabric.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed this week’s installment. I’ll see you next time for another My Week In Sewing!

My Week In Sewing: Sickness, Cosy Cardigans, and my Sicily Slip Dress

Jess4 Comments

Hello everyone, I’ve been saying this a lot recently but welcome back after a brief hiatus. I’m hoping to have to say that less but life is what life is. The challenge from starting a blog in lockdown is that returning to the office, commuting, and generally being out of the house limits the time to blog. Furthermore the stress of returning to a hectic pace of life often means that when I do have time physically, I don’t have space mentally to think about writing. In many ways I felt pressure for this blog to be a practical outlet but now that I have my youtube as a zone for practical sew-a-longs and pattern discussions I wanted to take time to evaulate what this space is for me. The original purpose was always to share my sewing journey, so thats what I’m going to do.

Those of you who follow me on youtube will recognise the name of this series. For a good portion of 2020 and 2021 I would vlog my whole week and share it with you and I loved doing it. It was fun to share what I was up to from home and to share the reality of my sewing journey at that time. However since returning to the office and to commuting, I don’t have the same type of sewing time anymore and it became a real challenge to film anything interesting. So a few weeks ago I had a bright idea! I am bringing the My Week In Sewing segment across to the blog. I’ll still be able to share my week with you plus its a no stress way for me to keep blogging while also taking much needed time to process my week. I hope you enjoy reading this series as much as I am going to enjoy writing it.

My Week In Sewing: 28th March – 3rd April

This week is an interesting one in which to start this series because the majority of my week did not include sewing. In fact I was extremely unwell this week and landed in hospital on Wednesday with a fever, low blood pressure, and a chest infection that was having a good go at becoming pneumonia. However I am definitely on the mend and in many ways the opportunity to stop doing absolutely everything and just rest and focus on my health was a blessing. While I didn’t have much sewing time at the start of the week, I was still thinking about sewing all the time and that is something that can be very hard to capture on a vlog so I’m excited to share those thoughts with you.

Last week was gorgeously hot, as the end of March often is, and I got a chance to debut my Me Made spring and early summer wardrobe. I also started my annual spring body reset where I start moisturising my legs again, sorting out my nails, and putting on face suncream everyday. So even though it turned colder this week and the jumpers went firmly back on, my brain was very much rooted in spring patterns and fabrics. This mood was further bolstered by an exciting package from the Rainbow Fabrics Kilburn sale (shown below) with a beautiful lilac crinkle satin and a rust colour polka dot viscose.

I’ve never really sewn with anything lilac because I used to find with my old hair that it washed me out but my new blonde hair definitely helps to warm up my skin tone so I’m hoping it will look good. I’m just trying to find a pattern for this fabric. I definitely want to make a dress, most likely sleeveless and long but not necssarily flowing, and categorically no buttons. I’m racking my brains for something with the right silhouette so if you have any ideas do let me know in the comments below!

While I was lying in a bed in A&E on Wednesday I looked down at my trousers and noticed that they were starting to go threadbare at the knees and thighs. I’m sorry to say that I have an emergency/inpatient hospital outfit and have done since around 2018. The key to dressing for hospital I always think is convenience and comfort so for years my go to has been a comfy lounge/yoga bra (no metal so you don’t have to take it off for scans), a short sleeved black t-shirt, so they can access your arm for blood tests, cannulars, and blood pressure monitoring, a zippy hoodie or cardigan (something that can go over your shoulders if you aren’t able to put your arms back in sleeves, and my favourite comfy black harem pants which I have had since around 2007. They are super soft, lightweight but warm, easy to take off/put on, and will double as pyjamas if you are admitted. It is these beloved trousers that are finally going the way of all flesh so I put a call out on instagram for pattern suggestions to make another pair and you all asked me to share the recommendations.

Harem Pants Pattern Suggestions:

  • The Tilly and the Buttons Juno PJs and altering the pattern https://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/2020/02/make-it-simple-juno-pyjamas-sewing-pattern.html – this i didn’t go for becuase the vast majority of Tilly’s patterns just don’t fit me in the slightest and I don’t fancy the effort when I know its unlikely to work.
  • The Margot Trousers from Made My Wardrobe https://mademywardrobe.com/shop-products/margot-trousers-printedversion – These were quite a good option but the waist line was wrong for what I wanted. My harem pants have a flat panel from waist to hip, then gathered flowing trousers, and an ankle cuff at the bottom.
  • True Bias Hudson Pants but in a much lighter fabric – I love this pattern but this wasn’t quite right either as the shape doesn’t have the looseness that I want.
  • SEW Magazing Free Harem Pants Pattern https://www.sewmag.co.uk/free-sewing-patterns/sheena-pants – This was the best recommendation by far as it almost exactly matches my current pair. All I will need to do is to lengthen the waist/hip panel a bit and we are sorted! I am going to make these in a super soft bamboo jersey a little later in the year

This weekend I started to feel better so I decided to do some very slow pattern cutting. I managed to cut out two projects I’ve wanted to make for a while. Both of them are repeats of patterns I’ve already made and wear constantly, I am of course talking about the True Bias Marlo Sweater and the Chalk & Notch Fringe Dress. My original versions of which can be seen on the right. The Fringe Dress has been a massive success particularly in the warmer weather. Its comfortable and airy but still modest enough for work and I think the hemline is really fun. And the Marlo Sweater? Honestly I don’t think there has been a day when I’ve not worn it since it came off the machine!

So I will be making a dark version of the fringe dress in a beautiful black viscose with little pebble spots (but this time I’ll include the pockets!) and I will be making a cosy cream version of the Marlo in stretch waffle knit from Higgs & Higgs which will be perfect for colder spring days. I cut both out yesterday and actually managed to make 90% of the Marlo! I’d forgotten what a quick pattern it is to sew. All thats left is to interface the button placket, attach the neck binding and then do buttons and buttonholes.

It took me a lot longer than usual to sew but thats fine. At the moment I’m trying to understand and define what rest means to me rather than what other people say is restful. One huge realisation I’ve had is that for me, someone who constantly has a to do list, I need time where there is no goal. Time to do an activity for the sake of doing it rather than to achieve something. Yesterday I tried to practice that and do you know what? It really helped.

I’ve noticed that in a week of stopping literally everything I do that my mind has become a little clearer as well. So I made a decision about my Sicily Slip Dress. Some of you may remember that I made it back in february and although I’ve not officially revealed it yet as its part of a collaboration i did post it on my story because I couldn’t decide about the length. It was mid-calf and although everyone on instagram said to keep it long, I just couldn’t like it. I hated the way it made me look like a 1920s ghost and I didn’t feel like me in it. But i kept it loong becaues other people liked it and I just couldn’t decide. Now I’ve had space to think and my brain feels quiet I can see that I hate it long and that, although other opinions are useful when trying to make an irreparable decision, at the end of the day I am the one wearing it and I need to like it.

So I took a deep breathe and one inch at a time I shortened it until I began to love it. I took 8 inches off in total so now its mid-thigh and I lengthened the straps so that the neckline was much more flattering. I suddenly feel light. There are lots of a little decisions that can pile up and start to feel like buzzing noise in your head but sometimes it helps to remember that they are individual decisions and each one is entirely achievable if you give yourself time to concentrate on it. I can’t show you the dress just yet as its still technically a secret but I had a really good time slowly altering it to make it fit. It reminded me why I love sewing the way I do, because my clothes are for me and only me.

Today’s other job is to start but not necessarily finish to the make the office/sewing room passable as currently its full of fabric and I can’t get to the desk. Also as Adam is still testing positive for covid, I am sleeping in the office so extra impetus to clear some more space.

I thought I would round off by highlighting a fabric and a pattern that I’ve spotted this week

Favourite Pattern Of The Week: True Bias Zoey Dress & Tank Top

This one would have passed me by but for a fellow instagrammer sharing it on their story! I love everything about this pattern and its swiftly climbed to the top of my wishlist. As someone with a curvier figure I love the chunkier straps and the neckline. I ideally want to try the pattern before Summer so that I can make lots of versions if it works well.

Fabric I’ve Spotted This Week: Hey Sew Sister Peach Waffle Knit

Soemthing I’ve discovered about myself over the last year is that normal jersey and knits are fine but my god do I love a waffle knit. Everything about this fabric just cries out to be made into lightweight jumpers and cardigans, long sleeve tops, and cute lounge shorts, and honestly I can feel my resolve beginning to break! In A/W I was lusting after the Khaki version but now this Peach colour is my favourite!

Thats all from me this week so thank you for joining me. I don’t normally do this style of blog so if you enjoyed it please do give it a like, leave me a comment, and maybe even consider subscribing to hear from me each week.

Until next Sunday, have a wonderful week everyone!