It's that time of year again.... when I feel the need to blog about all those forgotten bits and bobs from this year and panic that it has to be done before 31st December otherwise THE WORLD WILL IMPLODE.
Or something to that extent.
It's also the time of year where I bake perverted gingerbread santas, boobie angels and questionably festive dinosaurs.
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And a new addition this year... moustaches!
2018 has been full on, but pretty positive for me. I bought a little house (all by myself), have been renovating said house (complete gut job - nearly finished), turned 30 (I guess this means I'm grown up?) and started learning ballet (hard work but amazing and making me feel so much healthier.) Sadly that means my baking and sewing have taken a nose dive but I know they'll come back when I have the time.
I've only sewn one item this year besides my wedding guest outfit in February. ONE. And that was a rainbow stripe Tilly and the Buttons Agnes top.
Although I initially really liked it at the time (in April) I haven't reached for it since. I think it was because it felt slightly too big, mostly because the jersey has a higher stretch percentage and I didn't account for that when I was sewing. Looking at this photo though (which I took the other day) it looks and feels fine, so who knows why I haven't worn it, other than I've spent most of the year wearing old crap for house-renovating instead of nice things.
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The top looks great with my festive pyjama bottoms! 😀
Last month, in a bid to get back into sewing I tackled my dreaded mending and alteration pile. It allowed me to reacquaint myself with my machine and complete manageable, bite-sized projects as I didn't have the headspace to create items from scratch or deal with multiple pattern alterations.
I started with altering the sleeves and neckline of a tunic dress for my Mum, (which she loved) then I did a few simple, rewarding tasks: sewing up a hole in my mustard tights (which I had set aside at least two years ago), replacing a missing button from a favourite coat and dyeing a faded and unloved pair of black jeans (set aside over 5 years ago!) a much nicer, more wearable shade of plum.
Spurred on by my small mending successes, I moved onto more exciting alterations. My first was turning a rarely worn pair of handmade tights into funky exercise/yoga leggings by chopping off the feet and sewing on cuffs. As much as I flipping loved the look of the tights and their cool construction, I found I never reached for them as I didn't like the feeling of the lycra fabric over my feet. These will definitely receive more wear as leggings. Stretches are much more exciting to do with jazzy looking legs.
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My last project was a complete refashion: turning a rarely worn circle skirt into a pair of cute dance shorts! As cute as the circle skirt was, I never felt it was a flattering shape on me so it only got worn a handful of times. The fabric will see far more wear as a pair of cute shorts for my dance classes. I like that I'll be dancing (well, moving around in a vaguely coordinated manner) with my butt covered in macarons.
To make the shorts I traced around the upper portion of a pair of shop-bought leggings to make pattern pieces and cut out a new waistband. Luckily everything easily fitted within the skirt fabric. The only thing that I found difficult was finding a suitable way to hem the legs as a standard zig zag did not provide enough stretch for myenormous,muscular?, thighs. In the end I used a fancy stretch stitch setting on my sewing machine which worked great.
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All in all, a pretty successful month of mending!
Spurred on by my small mending successes, I moved onto more exciting alterations. My first was turning a rarely worn pair of handmade tights into funky exercise/yoga leggings by chopping off the feet and sewing on cuffs. As much as I flipping loved the look of the tights and their cool construction, I found I never reached for them as I didn't like the feeling of the lycra fabric over my feet. These will definitely receive more wear as leggings. Stretches are much more exciting to do with jazzy looking legs.
My last project was a complete refashion: turning a rarely worn circle skirt into a pair of cute dance shorts! As cute as the circle skirt was, I never felt it was a flattering shape on me so it only got worn a handful of times. The fabric will see far more wear as a pair of cute shorts for my dance classes. I like that I'll be dancing (well, moving around in a vaguely coordinated manner) with my butt covered in macarons.
To make the shorts I traced around the upper portion of a pair of shop-bought leggings to make pattern pieces and cut out a new waistband. Luckily everything easily fitted within the skirt fabric. The only thing that I found difficult was finding a suitable way to hem the legs as a standard zig zag did not provide enough stretch for my
All in all, a pretty successful month of mending!
This year in the online sewing community I've noticed that there has been a lot of chat about sustainability: not over-buying fabric, buying ethically, using up or recycling scraps, altering, mending or refashioning existing items, not replacing fast fashion with fast sewing etc. It has been an interesting topic to ponder, especially since I've spent the majority of the year away from my sewing machine.
It's great to see these topics being discussed, however I do find it odd that it's perhaps being presented as a new way of thinking, or dare I say another trend/fad, when a lot of it is surely common practise in the first place? It is to me anyway. I've always tried to look after my clothes and mend items if possible (to the extent that some pieces in my wardrobe are 10-15 years old and still going strong), donate what I don't need or use and work hard on sewing items which will become well worn and loved in my wardrobe and not thrown out after 2 wears. Admittedly, the whole discussion of sustainability has made me think even harder about my choices, which is never a bad thing.
It's great to see these topics being discussed, however I do find it odd that it's perhaps being presented as a new way of thinking, or dare I say another trend/fad, when a lot of it is surely common practise in the first place? It is to me anyway. I've always tried to look after my clothes and mend items if possible (to the extent that some pieces in my wardrobe are 10-15 years old and still going strong), donate what I don't need or use and work hard on sewing items which will become well worn and loved in my wardrobe and not thrown out after 2 wears. Admittedly, the whole discussion of sustainability has made me think even harder about my choices, which is never a bad thing.
I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this sewing related naval gazing, but I thought I'd throw my thoughts out there for what it's worth. The only conclusion I can draw from it all is that I'm not comfortable with sewing for the sake of sewing and ending up with a ridiculously large collection of clothing when I already own more than enough clothes. However I do want to continue sewing as it's nice to have new things from time to time, especially when they're unique and tailored to me.
Unlike my sewing, my knitting output has remained fairly strong this year, mostly because it's something I can do whilst crashed out on the sofa. Since my last update in the summer I've knitted another pair of socks.....
...and I've loved wearing them. All my handknitted socks have received a lot of love this year. They're perfect for padding about the house in the evenings or making my toes extra cosy in my winter boots.
These socks, pictured above, were my first foray into knitting the magic loop method with circular needles. Although I like how portable it is (you don't have to worry about stitches falling off needles) and how much easier it is to try projects on mid progress, I'm still not convinced I like it more than working on dpns. There's something about shoving stitches back and forth along the needles which irks me. I'm going to continue using both methods though as it's fun to mix things up.
These socks, pictured above, were my first foray into knitting the magic loop method with circular needles. Although I like how portable it is (you don't have to worry about stitches falling off needles) and how much easier it is to try projects on mid progress, I'm still not convinced I like it more than working on dpns. There's something about shoving stitches back and forth along the needles which irks me. I'm going to continue using both methods though as it's fun to mix things up.
I've also knitted four hats this month! Three as Christmas presents and one for myself.
A stripey ribbed hat for my eldest brother. It killed me not being able to put a jazzy pom pom on top but I know he wouldn't wear it if it had one. As much as all that 2x2 ribbing felt endlessly boring it did produce a lovely, comfy hat. I also learned how to knit jogless stripes with this hat.
Then I knitted hats for my other brother and his wife. They both like and suit wearing burgandy so I thought I'd make them not-quite-matchy-matchy, cute couple hats. The hat on the left is Miki by Atelier M on Ravelry (free pattern) with sparkly thread added to the pom pom for a bit of girly glamour and the hat on the right is the Close Cables Hat by Anna and Heidi Pickles on Ravelry (no longer free, sadly.) I added burnt orange yarn to the pom pom for a fun, speckled effect.
Lastly, my own festive hat! I'm not sure what prompted me to need a festive hat but the idea hit me one evening and I couldn't shake it off. I roughly made it up as I went along, following a chart for the star motif. It took a few attempts to figure out the decreases for the crown as it needed to come in quite sharp after the motif. It's quite gathered at the top as I still had a lot of stitches on the needles, but the hat is fairly slouchy so I think the soft gathers suit the style. My favourite thing though is the tassle. I've been desperate to knit myself a tassle hat ever since I knit that toddler hat at the beginning of the year!
And that's me signing out for 2018. Thanks for reading and continuing to follow my creative ventures. Wishing you all the best for 2019. See you on the other side!