2023 (No) Sewing Goals

After a few years of failing to complete make nines even when I’ve modified them to fit my Modus Operandi, I think it’s probably time to abandon that principle once and for all. I’ve sewn about 30-40 items in each of the last 3 years so I don’t need any encouragement to sew. I’ve tried […]

My 2022 sewing summary

I’ve posted everything I made in 2022 to Instagram and it was interesting that I produced more items in 2022 than in the two previous years as I thought I’d spent more time away and therefore had less time to sew. 2022 started with a couple of Minerva projects early on and then I made […]

Designin’ December vs. Little Red Dress Project – Xmas 2022

It’s time for my favourite end-of-year challenge. Linda Maki’s Designin’ December is a sewing challenge to recreate or take inspiration from a designer item that you love. I spent a few years on the sidelines before jumping into this challenge and now this is my third entry. This year I might be able to kill […]

I snoozed and so I had to hack M7969

A while back I kept getting notifications that Minerva was offering a free download of the popular McCall’s M7969 pattern. I thought that’s great, I’ll have to get that. Well, I kept seeing the emails and kept saying I was going to get it, and I finally got ready to download the pattern, only to […]

Sleeping Bag Puffa Jacket – I try Upcycling

Often on my semi-regular walks on the Downs, I have admired my friend’s lightweight down jacket that she wears when the weather has just a little nip in the air but it’s not cold enough for a big jacket. I continued to covet my friend’s jacket and also considered the ££££ demanded by outdoor apparel […]

Black Skinny Jeans from PatternLab Block

My latest jeans project uses the Pattern Lab system to hopefully get a good fit on these trousers. I’m using PatternLab.Ldn skinny jeans block with some black stretch denim from the stash. Here’s my Affinity Designer sketch for these classic-looking jeans. The denim is a lovely deep inky black and I decided to use white […]

Cloned Ponte Pencil Skirt

UFO alert! This project has been in the UFO pile for a long time and I’m not sure why. The only probable reason is that other more interesting things got in the way. One day I had both my sewing machine and overlocker threaded with black thread so I just said to myself. “Line up […]

My FrankenStyle triptych and how I can’t dress down

Oh dear, some scheduling shenanigans happened this is the proper version, sorry if you received this too many times. Autumn seemed to arrive abruptly after the glorious summer of heatwaves that we have had this year in the UK. I find that although where we live, the weather is quite mild, it always seems to […]

Atlas Wrap Dress or my Hot Girl Summer Dress that wasn’t

One of the things I’ve noticed is that much of my sewing is Summer-centric. It makes sense that as I’m lucky enough to be able to travel a lot, I tend to make garments for those trips. This edition is another summer-suitable make but unfortunately, I didn’t get to wear this on this summer’s holiday.

Butterick 6225-Midi-length shirt dress hack

I wanted to make a medium-length shirt dress which could be worn on its own or as a duster over trousers. The image in my head was something loose-fitting with a gathered waist and full enough so that it would work as a dress but also open over my white linen trousers. I saw a […]