Join the Kew

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This blog post was originally written for the Sewalicious blog, and I was so happy to review one of my favourite patterns this year: the Kew Dress from Nina Lee. I love this dress. It’s a button up dress with so much variety – you can make it with sleeves so it’s got a 40s tea dress vibe to it, sleeveless and strappy with or without cold-shoulder sleeves for the summer weather, and there’s a skirt option too. That’s all before doing any modifying or pattern hacking. I decided to go with this dreamy cotton lawn covered in flowers and birds:

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Why it’s ok my #2018MakeNine isn’t going to plan

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This was my first year joining in with #2018makenine, a sewing community movement where you plan 9 garments to make during the course of the year. It’s a great way of planning ahead and setting targets for specific things to make, but when I reviewed my progress I felt a bit…meh. Now we’re over half way through the year I’ve seen lots of Instagram and blog posts reviewing progress and lots of sewists have already completed all 9, which is amazing!

I originally planned to make these:

Top row: Gable top from Jennifer Lauren Handmade, the knit sweetheart top from Gertie, the Madeleine Skirt from Victory Patterns Middle row: TATB Arielle skirt, Jenna jumpsuit from Cotton and Chalk, the Penny dress from Colette Bottom row: TATB Lilou dress, Sew over It Doris dress, Kew dress from Nina Lee

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The Great Big Pattern Swap: a new challenge for the sewing community

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At the beginning of the year, like many others I’m sure, I aimed to get organised! I love a list, so I made one of all my fabric and patterns in an attempt to make a plan for the year ahead. While doing this, I found quite a few patterns that I know I’m never going to make, and it’s a sad thing for them to sit gathering dust when they could get made in to beautiful garments by other sewers. This got me thinking, and an idea for a new sewing challenge brewed in my mind, so now, together with Emma (@thezipperfoot), we’re so excited to launch…The Great Big Pattern Swap!

How does it work? Continue reading “The Great Big Pattern Swap: a new challenge for the sewing community” →

The future is bright

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So I have officially gone with a new name. When I started this blog I wanted the angle of it to be all about saving money with sewing, however I’ve quickly come to realise that cheap fabric is cheap for a reason, and often when I sew with cheaper materials I take less care. I’ll always love a bargain and I’ll find ways to save wherever I can, it’s just how my brain is wired, but I want to create high quality, well made items, so I’m changing the stance of this blog to reflect this.

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Sew Out of This World: My Starburst Sew Over It Vintage Shirt Dress

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It’s Sew Out of This World day! May the 4th be with you!

In a previous blog post I wrote about this new sewing challenge from Sew Loco and I was so happy to be team captain for Challenge 3, Stargazer, which invited everyone to create a space-inspired garment, and here’s mine! Continue reading “Sew Out of This World: My Starburst Sew Over It Vintage Shirt Dress” →