LaineeMakes does SewPhotoHop2018: Weeks three and four

I started off thinking I wouldn’t be able to post every day of September, and I surprised myself by making through nearly three weeks. However, I did have a holiday in the middle and also I went back to work at the beginning of September so I didn’t make it to the end.  I’m combining […]

The spoils of the sewing challenge

I finally made something using my gift from last years #sewtogetherforsummer challenge. I’m playing it safe but I have made a dress using my Tunic Bible, which was given to me by Sarah, Suzy and Monika last year. I’ve enjoyed reading the book through a couple of times last year when I won it and […]

Testing, testing: how to reach out by testing for others

One of the really rewarding things I have discovered in my first year as an online sewist is the benefit of testing. I’ve been lucky enough to get involved in a number of product tests and reviews which have allowed me to move ahead in my sewing. Did I hear you say “Freebies!” The overarching proviso […]

Evergreen: an adventure in colour and creating

A little while ago  I blogged about drafting a dress from a photo I had seen in the Vogue Pattern book. I’ll show you here how I turned that pattern into a real-life dress. The original was a shift style dress in denim and I had intended to make a close copy in the traditional fabric […]

Pattern testing: Sinclair Pattern’s Clementine dress

Once you get to a certain degree of proficiency, one of the key ambitions of many sewists is to take off the training wheels of commercial dress patterns and make your own. Once I had mastered seams and zips and darts and waistbands and had made a few tailored items, this idea began to form in my […]