My top 5 inspirations from 2013

And we're in the home stretch of Top 5s!  Just this and 2014 goals to go!

Inspirations is a toughie!  When I first bought a cheap sewing machine, my plan was to do machine embroidery and maybe make a few bits and pieces for N.  I had no plans to start sewing garments for myself.  However stumbling on the world of sewing blogs changed that!  I realised that you didn't have to have been sewing since you were a child to be able to make beautiful, great fitting clothes.

I've picked a few areas where I feel really inspired, by bloggers and others.

1) Pattern designers

By that I don't mean established pattern companies like Colette or Sewaholic.  But some of my favourite bloggers have released their own patterns this year, both free and paid for.  I can't get my head around the process of doing this and how complicated it must be, but how cool to see people making, wearing and loving something you have designed!

Source: House of Pinheiro

 Rachel's Brasilia dress

Melissa's workout/ running gear

Erin's Presidio handbag

The lovely Katie from What Katie Sews also mentioned recently she was working on releasing a pattern she had designed - can't wait to see!

2) Refashioning

Source: Charity Shop Chic

When I arrived at the epic blogger meet up back in April, I almost squealed to see a dress I recognised and loved that I had just been reading about - Sally's fabulous Mad Men shirt dress!  And no post about refashioning would be complete without a mention for this talented lady.  She totally inspires me to have a go at refashioning.  I just need to find some time for scouring charity shops - I'm sure I don't have her vision of what the most unpromising items could become!

3) Sewcial media

 Some bloggers have such a skill for bringing people together.  From the top 5 posts you are reading now, started by Gillian from Crafting a Rainbow, to the blogger meet ups and swaps organised by Rachel, Claire, Marie & Kat and many many more, and the Spoolettes spearheaded by Clare, sewing people love to get together and chat together!  Especially if there is fabric shopping involved.  Or drinking.  Or both!

Whether it is online or in real life, a lot of people spend a lot of time and effort coming up with great ideas to spread the sewing love and that is pretty inspiring.  A few mentions (I couldn't possibly cover everyone so please don't be offended if I have missed you off!):

the aforementioned Gillian from Crafting a Rainbow

Rachel from House of Pinheiro

Claire from Sew Incidentally

Marie from A Stitching Odyssey

Kat from A Krafty Kat

Kerry from Kestrel Makes

Joost from Make my Pattern and creator of the Sewcialist logo and Firehose

Leila from Three Dresses Project

Lady Katza from Peanut Butter Macrame

Heather from Handmade by Heather B

Katie from KatieKadiddlehopper

StephC from 3 Hours past and Cake Patterns

Clare from Sew Dixie Lou

Tilly from Tilly and the Buttons

4) Beautiful photography

I've seen some recent blog posts talking about sewing blogs turning into fashion blogs and being all about photography and less about sewing. These are not the blogs I read. I want to read about sewing but I don't see why you can't have clear pics and great interesting photography. OK, so all we really need is daylight and non blurry photos but it's hopefully more interesting when I manage to get pics somewhere other than my back garden being photobombed by a 5 year old and a grumpy cat! 

I know I appreciate it when bloggers work hard with pics (as long as i can see the clothes obviously!).

Some honourable mentions:

Rachel from House of Pinheiro (is there anything this girl can't do?)

Lizzy from Sew Busy Lizzy

Sally from Charity Shop Chic

Carolyn from Handmade by Carolyn

Janene from Ooobop

Clare from Sew Dixie Lou

Rochelle from Lucky Lucille

I still have work to do on my blog pics - the winter is hard when you can't incorporate an outdoor photo shoot into a family weekend! I'll never be able to take hundreds of pics to choose from (the 5 year old wouldn't stand for it!) but the ladies above and others inspire me to get better!

5) Dyeing fabric

I used to do a lot of fabric dying, tie dye etc as a student and thought those days were past! But I've become inspired to pick it up again for a few reasons.

Source: Jigidi.com

On holiday in the summer we visited a beautiful shop where the owner created lovely batik scarves and sarongs. I wanted to buy fabric but at upwards of £40 a metre it wasn't going to happen. I really want to try making my own. Imagine the great border prints you could make?  I'd also like to try shibori and other natural dyes like Sally and screen printing like Carolyn.  Sadly these are summer projects unless i want dripping fabric everywhere so I'll need to wait a bit.  

So that's it - my inspirations! 

Only goals to go - just need to work out what they are!

Reflections on 2013

Happy New Year to you all!

I am really enjoying all of these top 5 posts but you guys are blogging too much!  My reader is overflowing!  I think I am all caught up now though, and seeing some great top 5s that have really made me think (and actually possibly re-evaluate a few items on my lists).

1) A pat on the back

Gratuitous pugs!

I think I did really well this year.  My sewing came on leaps and bounds.  I can now put on a Me Made garment most days with little effort, and I buy very little RTW any more (except for jeans - more to come on that!).  I worked hard on fitting and it really paid off - with a little help from my friends - which leads me on nicely to:

2) Sewing people really are the nicest people you could meet/ chat to

2013 was a tough year for me personally.  I lost a close family member and another was diagnosed with a serious illness (which is likely to make 2014 another difficult one).  But I really think sewing, sewcial media, bloggers and sewing friends helped me through it (without wishing to take away any credit from family and non-sewing friends of course!).  Sometimes it's just great to have an escape from reality and chat to other people who are as excited about the latest indie pattern release or fabric sale as me!

I joined Twitter (@jolittletime if you tweet too!) after resisting for a long time and found a fantastic sewing community on there.

I went to the epic blogger meet up and met some fabulous people and starting following lots of new blogs.

I started meeting the Spoolettes as regularly as I can (given family commitments that's not as often as I would like!).  What a great group of ladies that are excellent fun to spend time with, whether drinking, dancing, bowling or fabric shopping!

3) I sewed (mainly) for the life I have

Particpating in Me Made May showed me that my wardrobe needed plain separates and knits and I focused on sewing those.  I know a lot of people don't like to sew basics, but there's only so many party dresses and summer frocks my lifestyle calls for, especially in a country when the sun shines for about a month of the year.  I love (and wear) dresses quite a lot, but I'm likely to grab a comfy knit one to throw on for work and I have sewn a lot of those this year!  But we all need a bit of frosting from time to time - however I want to make what I wear most often.  I also sewed much more with plains (and I'm including spots and stripes in plains - they are practically neutrals) which I have enjoyed more than I expected.  It's good to be able to see nice design lines and focus on the fit rather than hiding behind a print as I did when I started (all those lovely printed cottons...)

4) I really need to conquer trousers

I wear jeans and trousers a lot, especially in winter and it's a huge gap in my me-made wardrobe.  As mentioned in my Hits & Misses post I traced Colette patterns Juniper in my usual size following Sunni's trouser sewalong, added extra seam allowances, thread traced every seam, and threw the muslin in the sewing box to think about what it had done when it didn't remotely fit. It hasn't come back out yet but it will this year! I also want some me made jeans.

5) Sewing with a plan works well for me

I'm quite a planner by nature, but I do have a tendency to get distracted by newer shinier things (squirrel!) like new pattern releases, sewalongs, sewing challenges, competitions etc.  I have made a conscious effort only to take part in these if I would have done it anyway!  If I have bought a new Cake pattern and there's a sewalong, then I will plan to join.  If the Sewcialists are doing Red October, I will join in as I love red.  Green December not so much.  I didn't love the Laurel pattern and realistically I don't think the shape will work for my shape, so I was proud of resisting the competition.

The sewalong that worked really well for me was the Fall Essentials sewalong.  I planned out the garments I wanted to make within a colour palette I love and so I could make sure I had all the notions, zips, thread, buttons etc that normally hold me up on finishing a project.  I mainly sew in the evenings so rushing to the shop for more thread isn't going to happen!  I made so many more projects in that 2 month period than I ever expected so a big thumbs up for planning sewing!

Inspirations and goals posts coming up soon!

Top 5 of 2013

The lovely Gillian of Crafting A Rainbow has asked us to post again about our top 5 things from 2013.

I loved reading all the participants of this last year so I'm getting in on it early this year! In this post I'm doing my hits and misses and I'll cover off reflections, inspirations and goals in a follow up post.

Top 5 hits

I've had a pretty productive sewing year! I made more items that I thought I could and my skills and confidence have improved so much! 

1)  My Mad Men dress

I sewed this for Julia Bobbin's Mad Men sewalong and first wore it to Rachel's epic blogger meet up. It was the first item where I really cracked the fit (with the help of the lovely twitter sewcialists) and also the first time I did major alterations to a pattern. Worked out really well and wasn't so scary! 

Cake Patterns

This is a bit of a cheat as it covers so many of the garments I have made this year! But I have come to love sewing with knits and steph's fitting process makes it so easy! Also they are really versatile and lend themselves to being remade several times. This year I made 2 Tiramisus, 2 Cabaritas, 2 Hummingbird top and skirt combos and a Hummingbird flounce skirt, 2 Pavlova top and skirt combos and 3 Red Velvets (some unblogged, and a lot of them pictured above!).  That's a lot of Cake!

Blue Christmas dress

A really recent make in the nicest fabric I have worked with and I tried really hard with the seam finishing etc to do the fabric justice. Even though it's not quite as I expected I still love it!

The Kite Flying Hawthorn

I loved this pattern when it came out but I was worried about my sewing ability in managing to make a shirt dress. But I needn't have worried with the great Colette instructions holding my hand. I always get compliments on this when I wear it!

The Beach Hut Victoria

I wasn't sure about this pattern until I started seeing it on lots of blogs.  The line drawings looked scary.  But it's such a versatile jacket and I can't wait til it's warm enough to wear without freezing to death!

Top 5 misses

I don't have loads of wadders.  Normally when I start a make I finish it and it is generally not too bad.  Maybe I am lucky (or accepting of low standards!).

Juniper Trousers

These were my biggest fail this year - I was determined to make a pair of trousers in 2013 and it really didn't happen.  I made a muslin which I carefully thread traced to find it wouldn't have fit in a million years.  So I threw it in the sewing box and it is still there.  2014 will be the Year of the Trousers (umm, I think I said that last year...)

A second Gertie Portrait blouse

After making the first one with no issues, I grabbed a cotton remnant to make a quick summer top.  I sewing too far up the side seams so that it is really tight under the arms and I need to figure out a way to fix that without unpicking the narrow sleeve hems I have already done.

The Brave Peony

This is currently languishing in the mending pile.  The zip broke and after 3 failed attempts to replace it (currently the waist seam is totally misaligned across the zip) I gave up and threw it on a chair.  I am terrible at fixing problems.

The Deco Cardigan

This isn't quite a miss, but I definitely don't wear it as much as I thought I would.  I think this is partly to do with the wool content.  I do find it slightly itchy.  However the main problem is the pink grosgrain ribbon I used.  I find that really restricts what it goes with.  I may remove this and replace with something more neutral (maybe navy?).

The Shift dress

This failed at toile stage where I realised that the Burda shift dress pattern I was planning fitted me really badly and I wasn't keen on the line of the shoulder.  So I have a beautiful piece of pink raw silk that I need to find a pattern for. 

Stay tuned for the follow up post with inspirations, reflections and goals for 2014!

Are you sharing your top 5 of 2013?  Let me know in the comments so I can check it out!

Fall essentials sewalong recap

Well I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself! I had ambitious plans for the Fall Essentials Sewalong hosted by the lovely Sarah from Rhinestones and Telephones and I'm really happy with how much I got done. I didn't expect to get everything done as my list was my whole season sewing list, but it was a great start!

As a reminder, the sewalong was a very loose way of organising your autumn winter sewing under different headings. There was a Flickr group where we could get to know the other bloggers participating and I found some great new blogs to follow. You can see my planning post here.

Here's how I did:

 

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather

I planned 3 skirts and a pair of trousers. I managed:

Teal corduroy Kelly skirt - I answered to call for pattern testers for Maria Denmark's new Paula skirt pattern and made this instead

A bonus Burgundy Kelly skirt - this was my first minerva make

Hummingbird Flounce version

Gertie pencil skirt - not yet started

Colette junipers - not started (unless you count last year's disastrous muslin which is lying in the bottom of my sewing box! )

So 3 skirts, no trousers!

Chic Chemises:

I planned to make 2 tops

Black cowl neck Renfrew - completed

Blue marl round neck Renfrew - completed

I also knitted a cardigan (not yet blogged). It is Andi Satterlund Hetty

Fabulous Frocks

I planned to make 4 dresses:

A winter Anna - Completed

A.teal simplicity 1882 - the bowling dress - completed

A cake patterns red velvet - I actually made 3! (one still to be properly photographed and blogged)

Colette Hawthorn in black wool - not yet done

So I made 5 (although one from the list still remains to be done)

Underneath It All

I planned and made 2 underskirts using Gerties tutorial

I didn't get started on the vests and knickers but I have fold over elastic purchased and plenty of knit scraps!

Baby It's Cold Outside

I planned to make the Cake Patterns Carmine jacket but the pattern hasn't been released yet.  I have the fabric and it's still planned!

Cosy Nights

I thought I might make pyjama trousers

I made one pair of Maria Denmark Laura lounge pants (the second are in the making)

Tender Tootsies

I didn't plan to make any socks

I think this is pretty good especially since I was away for a week in the middle! I am loving my new me made wardrobe and using a colour palette means it is really easy to find things that match!  I planned 12 items (which was never going to happen in a 2 month period!) plus some maybes of undies and PJs.  I actually made 9 and got underskirts, PJs and a knitting project finished.
 

I think the amount I got done was definitely due to the advance planning. It meant I bought all the notions - zips, thread, buttons etc in advance so I didn't get held up at the end. I got organised with pre washing the fabric and I didn't need to think about the next project - I just finished one and got on with the next. I think I'll do a bit of spontaneous sewing once I get to the end of this list though, but it is nice to do both!

Do you plan your makes or do you pick the next one on a whim? Do you sew for the season?  Did you get involved in FESA?  If you link me to your blog so I can see how you did!

Minerva Blogger Network - The Blue Christmas dress (with extra construction pics)

For my make this month I wanted something festive and chose this beautiful Prada (eek!) crepe.   I chose the fabric first and set out to find a pattern that would work and make the most of the gorgeous drape.  Retro Butterick 5707 fit the bill, with its cowl neckline.

The fabric has a shiny satin side and a matt crepey side.  I had intended to use both sides in the dress with the shiny side for the cowl, but loved the matt teal side so much that I only used the shiny side for the belt!

As I was too scared to cut into such lovely fabric without one, I made a toile of the bodice.  I lengthened the bodice by 3” (which I think may have been too much) and graded out from a 14 bodice to a 16 for waist and skirt. I did my usual ½” FBA.  The skirt is super long in the pattern – I’m 5’9” and it came to mid calf.  I had intended to use the long skirt as per the pattern but it didn’t look right, so I ended up cutting 3” off to make it knee length.

I bound all the seams with rayon seam binding as I wanted to treat such special fabric well!   After discussion with the lovely Tania, I ordered some Hug Snug seam binding from Ebay in the US.  It finishes the seams beautifully but adds no bulk at all.  It's great stuff - somewhere in the UK must stock it so if anyone finds a UK retailer please let me know!  However my application of it leaves a bit to be desired (hence why there are no close up pics in this post!)

After a total fail on inserting the zip by machine, I did a hand-picked zip.  I also sewed the sleeve hems and skirt hem by hand to avoid having stitching showing on the right side.

I made a self fabric belt using the shiny side of the fabric and a silver buckle from Minerva.  I love the belt (although it needs a press stud to keep it closed due to the slippiness of the satin – I didn’t think that one through well!  But it looks good!)

I’m a bit disappointed that the neckline isn’t as drapey as I expected – I think it would have been perfect in this fabric. It definitely seems like a more modern shape rather than a proper cowl.  I was envisaging a Mad Men style cocktail dress, but the end result seems to have lost a lot of the vintage feel.  I think I left a bit too much ease in the bodice, but it will definitely be better for eating a nice big Christmas dinner! But I think the end result is much more wearable than the full-on vintage style in the pattern would have been.

I do love the dress.  It’s very comfortable and doesn’t cling to tights due to the satin inside, so no slip needed.  I would say I can’t wait for Christmas to come so I can wear it, but I have far too much to do before then!  Still at least I know what I’m wearing!

If you like my Blue Christmas dress, you can make your own with the Minerva kit, which contains the Butterick 5707 pattern, 2 metres of the teal crepe and the silver belt buckle I used.

And for extra points if you got this far, how about some awkward pics of the "pretend to put the baubles on the  Christmas tree" variety?

The Bowling dress

After I did my Simplicity giveaway earlier in the year, they kindly let me choose a pattern to keep for myself and I went for Simplicity 1882.  I've seen some great versions, especially Karen's, but the version I loved was Virginia's from A Sewing Life.

I had an idea for a diner waitress style dress in aqua with black trim, but was thwarted by non-availability of aqua cotton sateen.  By the time I got to this one, autumn was approaching, the time for wearing aqua was running out and I spotted this teal sateen in my local Fabricland.  I paired it with a black sateen from Ebay.

This was my first Amazing Fit pattern and I really liked the system!  It comes with bodice pieces in A-D cup sizes, as well as slim, average and curvy fit skirts. So the first step is to get busy with a tape measure to take the difference between your high bust and full and waist and hips to decide on the pattern pieces to use.  Of course if your fabric has a little stretch (as mine did) it's quite forgiving!

Normally I do a 1" FBA on big 4 patterns, so I went for the C cup bodice and the average fit skirt (based on measurements as above).

Rather than doing a muslin, the pattern has large seam allowances for fitting, so it has you baste all the pieces together wrong sides together and try it on so that you can adjust the seams.  I did find the unpicking of the basting slightly annoying as the sateen showed every pull and needle hole - probably didn't help that this pattern had a separate 3 panelled front midriff and princess seamed bodice so lots of unpicking!  But still, no muslin!

I added the optional homemade piping (if you haven't made piping and like the look you really must try it - I love the effect and it is very easy to do with no special equipment needed) between the upper bodice and midriff pieces and at the waist.  It frames the nicely shaped midriff panel so well!  I also went for the contrast collar and bow (I was debating not adding the bow but if you saw the finish on the centre front V you would know why I did - not my best work!)

I had no real issues with it - these patterns would be great for fitting newbies as the instructions for fitting are very good.  Also the different sized pattern pieces make it easier to get closer to the right fit from the beginning.

I did deviate from the instructions with the invisible zip.  As I have had issues inserting these over piped seams in the past, I went for a hand picked normal zip instead.  I think I'm going to do this a lot more often in future.  As hand sewing goes, a hand picked zip goes in so quickly and easily (certainly compred to unpicking and redoing several times!), looks great and gives you so much more control of the final outcome than a slippy zipper foot that persists in sewing over the teeth and jamming the zip!


I also hand catch-stitched the hem, just because I preferred the look of it on such smooth fabric.

I wore this bowling with the Spoolettes - you'll have seen pictures on Clare, Sally, Janene, Nicole, Kathryn and Emmie's blogs to name but a few!  I did wish I had made a name badge but I totally ran out of time.

Red Velvet with added collar

Here's my second finished Red Velvet dress. 

This time I used the same crepe jersey from Minerva but in the plum colourway.

All the fitting etc was exactly the same as I used the same fabric, but this time I decided to add the collar. I wasn't sure about it at all before I started and figured I would baste it on and see how it looked.  I have to say I love it! It makes the dress look totally different from the red one.

The finish is great. I found it much easier to get a clean neckline finish as I followed the instruction to have the interfaced side facing up. This seemed counterintuitive to me but it is much easier to avoid the dreaded puckers! 

I also sewed the side seams with the extra I took off the first time removed.  Which made matching up the side seams so much easier (you don't want to look too closely at the red one in that area!).

I can tell I'll wear this one loads this winter!