2017 - Gosh I made a lot of stuff!

Hello,
 I hope you  have all had a wonderful and restful few days off. I know I have!  Recently I purchased a bullet journal and although I am not going to show you my scribbles, I will say that I am really getting into the planning! This year although I have made a lot of stuff much of it is undocumented. Either here or on instagram ( in some cases I haven't even got photos) which in hindsight I am a little sad about.
Anyway I though I would do a bit of a round up of my makes as best I can and hopefully start a fresh in the new year.

So my #2017makenine overall I was pretty pleased with how this worked out. I have made 7 of 9. My Anna and Cleo dresses have been the best makes as I have made both multiple times and I have worn them all lots! The funny thing about the Anna dress is that I have had it literally years but just never got around to it. The others I have made only once, but with the exception of the Heather dress I will probably make them again. My little Morris blazer was made on Friday night so fairly close to the wire but it  was a quick make and if I hadn't had to put the sewing machine away I would probably have made another straight away.

The fabric was from Fabworks about 6 weeks ago and was an impulse purchase ( the lady in front of me had it in her pile and I grabbed some). It doesnt really show in the photo what a gorgeous combination of green and blue it is, but you can tell that it is a great pattern and looks good with jeans. I am hoping it will look equally good dressed up.

Then there have been all of the other things that have been made. I joined in two sewing challenges on Instagram. One was a to make a shirt dress and I made the little red one above. McCalls m6696 a very popular pattern in the sewing community and I can see why . Good instructions, and pieces that fit together very well. I would definitely like to make this again. 

The other was sleevefest you had to design a sleeve for a garment. I really enjoyed this and spent a lot of time looking at tattoos. The dress which it is in the picture above made the finals at which point I promptly took it apart again as I plan on doing more embroidery on it.


Probably my favourite make of the year has got to be Oriana's prom dress. We planned it and made it together. It fit her like a glove and she loved wearing it especially as it was completely unique for her.
My most used patterns of the year have been the SOI pussy bow blouse and the SOI ultimate pencil skirt. The skirt pattern has been used 6 times. 3 for me and 3 for Elenya . I have made the blouse 4 times, once for me and three times for Elenya. They are the perfect work wear combination. Although my skirts and blouse are too wild to put together...next year I must make some plain stuff!


Knitting wise I have been quite slow. I finished the socks for mum's christmas present and I managed to complete my Agatha Cardigan Andi Satterlund that I cast on last christmas but that has been about it. I have cast Hetty by Andi Satterlund on Christmas day( can you see a recurring theme)  so hopefully should be able to share a finished garment with you in the next week or two.

Anyway that is my round up wishing you a wonderful new year.

A x

Lovely Lady Liberty!

 Morning all, 
in case you hadn't noticed there is steam coming out of my sewing machine at the moment. Summer holidays and children who can fend for themselves ( The twins are now 16 can you believe it)  means that I have been lucky to have lots of free time and I am enjoying every minute of it.

So this is Anna! This is the Anna that I planned! An elegant easy to make pattern in harmony with iconic Liberty peacock feather fabric that I bought from Fabworks months back  and because I bought enough for that ginormous skirt I still have some left yippee!

After my last version that I do really love, I studied lots of other versions online and realised that mine looked a lot drapier in the neckline. So I took a deep breath  and  tweaked the shoulders and tops of the grown on sleeves back down to a size 10 leaving everything else at a 12 and I have to say that the fit is perfect!

I didn't do french seams as my fabric, even after washing was a bit stiff, so overlocked the raw edges and then added a bit of  luxury by adding a lovely silky bias binding to the armholes and facings.

I finished this last week and have worn it lots already. I omitted the split  from this version which makes it very wearable for pretty much all occasions. I left the length the same as the last one and so far so good I haven't fallen over it!

I can't actually believe it took  me so long to make this  pattern up. If you haven't tried it yet definitely give it a go you won't be disappointed ( Although if you are making the long skirt check the length before you start).

I am planning at least one more Anna dress this year maybe with a circular or half skirt for the cooler months, but for now at least I am still stitching a summer wardrobe!

Till next time when I have a couple of tops to show you.

My first Anna Dress

Morning all,
try not to be too shocked, but today I am going to treat you to some up to date sewing! The Anna dress from By Hand London is one of my #2017makenine. It has been on my things to make for literally years as I rushed out and bought the pattern when it was rumoured that By Hand London were taking all of their patterns to PDF ( I don't think that ever happened). I don't actually know why it has taken me so long to make it up either. There are literally hundreds of inspiring examples all over the internet, not to mention all of the amazing hacks out there! Google it if you get a minute.

Anyway I have bought two lots of fabric for this dress now. Some very beautiful liberty cotton from Fabworks ( cutting that out later today )  and this cheap, gorgeous green stuff from B and M fabrics when I went to #sewupnorth which was going to be my toile.

I was little disappointed by the green, as I loved it so much in the shop , but it has bled the green into the cream. It is, I hope, only noticeable to me as I still love it and  you get what you pay for .

I decided on the boat neck long version which reminds me of a purple silk number I owned about 20 years ago.The original length of the skirt was very, very long and although I wish I was this  tall I had to cut 5 inches off of the bottom. I made the  the size 12 bodice exactly as it was and it is a fairly good fit.... although looking at mine in comparison to many of the other versions out there I am not sure that I couldn't have made a sba  in the bust  as I can get this version on over my head without undoing it. This could be however due to the drapey nature of the fabric.

The pattern has lovely illustrations and techniques - french seams throughout . As this was just a toile I chose to just overlock the seams which definitely sped me up. I promise to do it properly on my next version. :)

The pattern had a choice of splits left/right or without. I am not sure if you can tell but I kept the split in for this version as it is so lovely and drapey that I thought it would work well. It does and I think probably has saved me from breaking my neck a couple of times since wearing it. If I decide to leave the split out of the next one I might have to raise the hemline slightly.

So many Stitches

Dear all,
I am sorry I have been gone so long, but I have fallen in love. Fallen in love with Instagram, the immediacy of the quick little posts, the comments from new friends and sewers and of course the lovely little hearts that are now sprinkled all over my projects!

That being said, I have also missed my blog, it is much easier for me to see what I have made and  when on here and if my junky old laptop plays nicely I am going to try and catch up over the next couple of weeks.

First off I thought I would let you know how I was getting on with #2017makenine. For  a little recap back in January I put together a list of nine items that I was hoping to get made in the coming year. You can read about my list here

I have made 4 so far, of the nine. Heather was the first and I did actually blog about that here . Then came Cleo by Tilly and the buttons and I succumbed to two versions of this. It is such a good dress for running about in doing weekend errands.

This lovely brocade came from my trip to Fabworks in January as did the corduroy, this is my favourite though! Especially as the pattern matching on my pocket went to well!

I do like the pink cord though, which is just as well as I seem to have a lot of it!

I then made a Renfrew, I have to say it wasn't a great success. Partly because I used scraps ( that were a little too small) from my stripey coco dress and the neck line bagged.  The upside is that I used up scraps!

It is definitely one I want  to make again before the end of the year as it is such a versatile little top that can be dressed up or down!

My latest make of the nine has been Arielle by Tilly and the Buttons. I made this at the beginning of July and am still actually waiting for the perfect occasion to wear it. This was my third time of trying this. The last two had been a disaster ( not because of the pattern) but this one was plain sailing. It always helps to read the instructions! This version is a beautiful, soft, dark  purple corduroy, also from Fabworks , if I was making it again I think I would probably use a fabric with a little more structure but I fell in love with this cord and just had to use it.