Success!

I've got two complete tops! The white one and the blue one (that I'm currently wearing) are finished and the gold, silver and green ones only need their cuffs sewing on.

I've got a load more that I'm going to sew together with black tread when I get the overlocker rethreaded, but I think I need a break from making the same pattern again an again, and I don't mean just the darn tidying.

I'm currently trying to pack my life into a series of plastic crates and trying to get rid of everything I don't need or don't use, and there's a lot of it. I'm a clutterbug, a hoarder and a mess.

At least if I cut things out I can leave the scraps behind.

T-shirts And Studdies

I was a bit late getting this out because I spent most of the day with my older brother. Me, him and his boyfriend went to wetherspoons and talked about what I'm going to do this year. I've got to get on with researching universities and talking to everyone about what my options are but I'm feeling pretty good about it now.

I did manage to get quite a lot of work done on my t-shirts. I cut out four more and sewed the shoulder seams, as well as the back center seam on the neck band. I had a go at chain stitching (I think that's what it's called when you leave hardly any space between pieces) to save thread and make it go quicker. It worked pretty well and I ended up with the hideous neckband garland. You probably can't see but that things got 30 sharp pins sticking out of it.

The next thing to do will be sew the neck bands to the tops and sew up the sides. I think I should be able to get them finished by the 7th, and then I'm going to try making a wearable muslin of the dress I traced over the Christmas holidays.

First Projects Of The New Year

Yesterday I managed to leave my purse, with my train ticket, money, and house keys in it, at my parents house when I went to go home on the train. I managed to get on the train before I even realised and ended up having to pay again (well, dad did) and sitting for over an hour surrounded by a loud family, trying to read but unable to because of the noise.

When I finally got home I was tired, hungry and feeling a caffeine withdrawal headache coming on. Add on to that a growing feeling that I'm studying the wrong subject and managing to make dinner only to spill it on the floor and it felt like a pretty bad day.

I ended up talking to my older brother about it. We're going to meet up tomorrow and he's going to help me look at my options. I'm going to finish this year at the OU but it's not what I want to do in the long run. I wasn't expecting the new year to lead to quite so many changes.

After that I felt better. I did the washing up and even felt up to getting on with sewing! I got a blue velvet T-shirt cut out and I'm going to do another four before doing them all production line style with white thread. Then I can change to black and do the rest. :-)

Yay! T-shirts!

I got an overlocker (serger) a couple of days ago and I've been having fun with it, making my first stretch garments. I don't have any ball point needles so I'm going to wait to sew anything with good fabric, and I can't sew any seams on my sewing machine because I need to fix the bobbin tension before I can use the zigzag stitch, but both those things can be easily fixed.

Sorry you can see my bra! I didn't realise how see-trough the fabric was, but at least I found out here and not out in the real world. Also, did you notice my new haircut? I got my boyfriend to cut my hair and when he got it wonky (I shouldn't be surprised) I got the hairdresser to just go with it.

I made both the t-shirts in NewLook 6216, but the sizing got me really confused. According to the size graph I should have sewn a 14/16 but when I looked at garment measurements I got confused. It looked like I could wear an 8 with room to spare.

Turns out cutting the short sleeved one in an 8 was just fine, which is a bit annoying. But even more annoying was the long sleeved version, where the body was just fine but the sleeves where tight. I guess that's where the inflated sizing came from but it just looks horrible, and I think it would have whatever size I cut. I would edit the top to add size 16 sleeves to the size 8 top but it's such a wasteful pattern in terms of fabric I don't think I'll bother.


I will sew up the short sleeved top, probably again and again, and I'm going to try the trousers at least once, but I'll get a sleeved top from somewhere else.

New Looks For Me!

I've been very good lately when it comes to buying fabric, especially since I live near a great sewing shop. That being said, I have been looking at the sewing patterns.

When I first bought a load of sewing patterns a while ago I went for what looked cool. The kind of thing I'd stick on my Pinterest inspiration board. I didn't really put too much thought into when I'd be sewing and wearing these complicated patterns.

Now that the New Look patterns at my local sewing shop have come on sale again I decided to stock up on simple patterns that I could try making again and again. It was pretty easy to narrow it down to these seven patterns but here's where it gets harder.

I like dresses even though I only own one, the 1940s one I made myself but that doesn't really look very good without a slip. I have loads of leggings to wear under them and a dress pattern that would work fine for a slip so now I just need to get making.

The top two dresses are simpler dresses with nothing cut on the bias, but they're different enough that I might consider getting both.

These two, though, I'm not too sure about. They're both okay, but I can't see myself getting both and I don't know which one to choose. The one on the left, New Look 6093, looks kinda cool but it's a bit more complicated and the inserts are cut on the bias. The other one looks kinda plain though.

I also want this top, even though it doesn't quite come under simple basics either. Wrap tops are one of those styles that seem to look good on almost any woman and I really like them.

And finally, the really basic stretch tops. The one with separate sleeves is a bit more my style, but it looks like it would look best in unpatterned fabric and that really isn't what I end up getting, especially in knit fabrics.

Okay, so I'm indecisive, but at £2.95 a pattern I can live with that.