I counted up all the things I've cut out. There was over a hundred! Okay, lots of them are cloth pads, or at least the topper parts of cloth pads. I'll need to get some more flannel for the wing parts and probably some more plain white PUL in order to finish them. I have quite a lot of fitted nappies cut out but the fabrics I need to complete them are quite expensive, so I probably won't finish them for a while, unless I can think of a cheaper way to make them. I'm working on the pocket nappies that I have cut out first because I have all the stuff for them. Or I did. I just ran out of elastic. I had a small roll of it! I've also used up 4 1000m spools of white thread since I started too. I need to finish the last all-in-one that's ready to sew but I'm still working up the courage to do that! I have several more cut out but again I need some more stuff to finish them. My plan is to finish up everything I possibly can with what I have here before I buy any new supplies.
Things really picked up in my shop! I think I've sold an item a day for the last couple of days. I think my prices might be too low though. There's an Etsy listing fee, VAT on that, a 5% final value fee, then VAT on that, a 5% fee on the postage charged then VAT on that, and a payment processing fee and then VAT on that. I think I've made about £60 over the last week, although some of that was for postage. It's progress though! I haven't sold anything through Hyenacart yet. I think I'll add the new nappies that I'm making there and see if I make any sales. It seems to be a good idea there to have a day where you stock your shop with new stuff. It was last Wednesday I stocked my shop so maybe I'll stock it this Wednesday if I manage to make enough stuff.
I'm waiting on elastic to arrive to finish these nappies though. These are crappy phone pics. I'm not too happy with the embroidery on the wolf one. I should have done the wolf in a darker colour. The threads still need cut on the believe in yourself embroidery. Maybe I'll sew their elastic casings tomorrow. I might even do the topstitching. Usually I do it after installing the elastic, although the instructions tell you to do it the other way round.
I started making a top from an Ellie and Mac pattern. I'm really not sure about it though. The more I look at the pattern the more I think it's not quite for me. I had a metre cut of the fabric and a half metre cut. I managed to get the body from the metre, but there was only room for one sleeve, so I cut the sleeves from the half metre cut. The sleeves were way longer than half a metre, but since my arm is 50cm from shoulder to wrist and the sleeves had cuffs at the bottom I decided to try it anyway. I did double the length of the cuffs though, just to be on the safe side. I usually have to turn the cuffs up on everything I wear so maybe this will actually fit on the arms!
I didn't have the instructions with me when I started but I thought it would be simple and probably wouldn't take more than about twenty minutes to sew. I was wrong. My sleeve wouldn't fit into the armhole. I overlocked it too so I had to unpick all the overlocking. I got the instructions and laid it in following them, but it still didn't fit. It's a good inch short on each side. In the end I managed to get it in by stretching it but I wasn't very happy about doing that.
It's not finished because when I cut the sleeves I just followed the pattern till I ran out of fabric. I forgot that they'd need to taper more to fit into the cuffs. I'll work out what adjustments I need to make tomorrow. It looks a bit meh though. I was hoping that it would look kind of nerdy. Like an ugly jumper, but ugly in a cool way. I think it looks too much like pyjamas right now. I can always use more pyjamas so it wouldn't be the end of the world. I've pressed it, which has helped with the look a bit but I haven't tried it on yet. I have a feeling it won't fit... At least not in the way I wanted it to. The pattern is called the Fall In Love Sweater. To me a sweater is something you wear over the top of a t-shirt or thin top but looking at the pictures in the pattern, people seem to be wearing it on its own as a long sleeved top. It's also supposed to be made with fairly thin stretchy fabric too which isn't going to make it a warm jumper (or sweater). I'd probably buy a size 14 if I wanted a roomy sweatshirt but the pattern doesn't have UK sizing on it, or even US sizing. I'm very unhappy that my measurements put me at a size XL for the pattern! I still think it's going to be too small though.
I bought this other pattern on Etsy from a shop called Dressy Talk. This is more what I'm looking for.
I've cut it out going with my measurements. I was very confused with the sizing on this pattern though. At first I thought I'd accidentally bought a plus size pattern. I thought maybe it was in European sizes but my measurements put me at something like a size 52 which is like a UK size 24. So I have no idea what's going on with the sizing but I've cut out the size that most corresponds to my measurements. After I cut it out I measured the pattern pieces to see how much ease there was going to be because I don't want it to be too tight, but it didn't seem as if there was much ease at all. The size I've cut is roughly on par with the XL size from the Ellie and Mac pattern, so I'll see how that fits first and then decide whether I need to go up a size. The way the neckline is done on this pattern is very strange, but even just looking at the pattern pieces you can see that it's going to sit nicely.
I just realised that although I've been sewing for years, and buying patterns for years, I rarely sew things for myself. At least not things I wear. Occasionally I'll make something but I'm never happy with it so don't end up wearing it. Maybe this will be a first and I'll make something I can actually wear?! Part of the problem for me is, most patterns are very dressy or tailored or, well, fashionable! Even though I'd like to wear dresses and have some kind of style, I mostly go for what's easy. I like jeans and hoodies. Or jeans and ugly jumpers. Sometimes I wear shirts and occasionally I'll wear leggings. I like things that are warm and comfortable. I feel like life is too short to bother with uncomfortable clothes, itchy fabrics and pinchy shoes that hurt your feet. It would be nice to have a go to sweatshirt pattern that I can make in different fabrics and styles. I think I have a bad habit of writing overly long blog posts... I'll update about the sweatshirts/sweaters/jumpers later.
Things really picked up in my shop! I think I've sold an item a day for the last couple of days. I think my prices might be too low though. There's an Etsy listing fee, VAT on that, a 5% final value fee, then VAT on that, a 5% fee on the postage charged then VAT on that, and a payment processing fee and then VAT on that. I think I've made about £60 over the last week, although some of that was for postage. It's progress though! I haven't sold anything through Hyenacart yet. I think I'll add the new nappies that I'm making there and see if I make any sales. It seems to be a good idea there to have a day where you stock your shop with new stuff. It was last Wednesday I stocked my shop so maybe I'll stock it this Wednesday if I manage to make enough stuff.
I'm waiting on elastic to arrive to finish these nappies though. These are crappy phone pics. I'm not too happy with the embroidery on the wolf one. I should have done the wolf in a darker colour. The threads still need cut on the believe in yourself embroidery. Maybe I'll sew their elastic casings tomorrow. I might even do the topstitching. Usually I do it after installing the elastic, although the instructions tell you to do it the other way round.
I didn't have the instructions with me when I started but I thought it would be simple and probably wouldn't take more than about twenty minutes to sew. I was wrong. My sleeve wouldn't fit into the armhole. I overlocked it too so I had to unpick all the overlocking. I got the instructions and laid it in following them, but it still didn't fit. It's a good inch short on each side. In the end I managed to get it in by stretching it but I wasn't very happy about doing that.
It's not finished because when I cut the sleeves I just followed the pattern till I ran out of fabric. I forgot that they'd need to taper more to fit into the cuffs. I'll work out what adjustments I need to make tomorrow. It looks a bit meh though. I was hoping that it would look kind of nerdy. Like an ugly jumper, but ugly in a cool way. I think it looks too much like pyjamas right now. I can always use more pyjamas so it wouldn't be the end of the world. I've pressed it, which has helped with the look a bit but I haven't tried it on yet. I have a feeling it won't fit... At least not in the way I wanted it to. The pattern is called the Fall In Love Sweater. To me a sweater is something you wear over the top of a t-shirt or thin top but looking at the pictures in the pattern, people seem to be wearing it on its own as a long sleeved top. It's also supposed to be made with fairly thin stretchy fabric too which isn't going to make it a warm jumper (or sweater). I'd probably buy a size 14 if I wanted a roomy sweatshirt but the pattern doesn't have UK sizing on it, or even US sizing. I'm very unhappy that my measurements put me at a size XL for the pattern! I still think it's going to be too small though.
I bought this other pattern on Etsy from a shop called Dressy Talk. This is more what I'm looking for.
I just realised that although I've been sewing for years, and buying patterns for years, I rarely sew things for myself. At least not things I wear. Occasionally I'll make something but I'm never happy with it so don't end up wearing it. Maybe this will be a first and I'll make something I can actually wear?! Part of the problem for me is, most patterns are very dressy or tailored or, well, fashionable! Even though I'd like to wear dresses and have some kind of style, I mostly go for what's easy. I like jeans and hoodies. Or jeans and ugly jumpers. Sometimes I wear shirts and occasionally I'll wear leggings. I like things that are warm and comfortable. I feel like life is too short to bother with uncomfortable clothes, itchy fabrics and pinchy shoes that hurt your feet. It would be nice to have a go to sweatshirt pattern that I can make in different fabrics and styles. I think I have a bad habit of writing overly long blog posts... I'll update about the sweatshirts/sweaters/jumpers later.
Comments