My Sewing Blog

I bought this pattern a few years ago. When I've gone looking for a new jacket to buy, I've always imagined something like this, but never been able to find it. Now I've finally got round to making one! It's not quite what I envisioned though. Maybe the olive green isn't quite what I wanted, but it's close enough. I would have liked epaulettes on the shoulders, but they're not included in the pattern and I didn't really think about it until later on. I suppose it's something I could probably sew on. If I knew how to make epaulettes that is. I'm in my socks because I don't have any suitable shoes right now. None of my photos are really the jacket in its final form. I need to wash it because there are markings all over it, including one section where I traced the pattern wrong and had to start over. It also needs a decent press. It's been hanging over chairs, screwed up in a ball, man handled through a sewing machine and dragged all over th...

This year I haven't done much sewing. Things haven't been great with my shop either. In one of the last posts I made here from over a year ago, I think I said something about having 80 sales. Well, a whole year later, I have 93 sales, so it looks like I've only had 13 sales since then. There was a while when I didn't have a lot of stock left in my shop, but I uploaded a bunch of stuff in March. Usually when I upload things, they sell pretty quickly, but this time, most of the things I listed are just sitting there. The listings even had to be renewed recently because they hadn't sold, which is pretty unusual. I haven't really been keeping up with Etsy. I pretty much never visit the site or the forums anymore. I do everything through the app. It could be that the algorithms have changed or that more people are using paid advertising, so people never see my stuff. Or it could be that I'm just not selling anything people want to buy. I haven't been keeping ...

Only a year late... I came here to make a post on some recent sewing and found this one in the drafts. Apparently I started writing it in September 2019. I think I might have been waiting to take a photo of the finished Jalie hoodie, but I never got round to it. I'm posting it up now. I finally finished the New Horizons Tami hoodie. I'd thrown it away in disgust after messing up the matching of the stripes but looking at it now, it doesn't really look that messed up. At least they seem evenly messed up! I had planned to use a grey knit for the thumb hole cuffs and the bottom band but I had some black left over from the hood lining of the last hoodies I made so I used that instead. I think it looks much better than the original grey did. Less homemade at least. Overall, the fit is pretty good (I made this for E) and it's a good length. The hood is huge though. This fabric I used makes it look more like one of those slouchy hats at the back when you have it up. I thin...

I sewed something! Quite a lot of somethings actually! I had started off the year with big plans to sew things but then changed my mind because I didn't have loads of spare cash sitting about to spend on sewing supplies. We also ended up being quite busy with a major renovation that involved us making furniture, something we'd never done before. Things like sewing, and even my shop, ended up on the back burner for a bit. I started a job as a freelance transcriptionist so I've been making some cash now. It's not well paid but it sucks that I can just about earn more in a day doing that than I do with my shop on an average month. I did have a great month in July with my shop though, making several sales a week. Then August happened and it was just like tumbleweed. I thought I was going to finish August with zero sales but I've had two in the last couple of days, which is good. My shop is at 80 sales now! Only 20 more to meet my goal of 100. Since I had some s...

I got this pattern from Etsy ages ago. I think it might have been called Flowers in the Sunshine? I started sewing it up just before we moved house with the intention of having it in my bedroom, which I was going to paint grey. I did paint my bedroom grey, but I never finished the quilt. One of the seams ended up not matching very well and unpicking the whole row was a bit of a thought, so I'd abandoned it. I pulled it out recently and I think it looks really nice! This is where it all went wrong! Those seams in the centre are supposed to meet up, making a perfect cross, or a roughly matched one at least. I don't know how it got so off. I suppose trimming all the blocks when they were done might have prevented it. I'm not sure how much you'd notice it though. Obviously I'd know it was there, but I doubt it's the first thing anyone else would see. The fabrics are from Moda's Feed Company range, which they probably don't make any more since I s...

I'd like to do more sewing overall this year, not just business sewing. I have so many patterns and I'd like to get some use from them. I also have a fair bit of stash fabric that I'd like to use up. I was looking at the contests over at the Pattern Review site. I've been a member there for years but never actually joined a contest. I think I'm going to try and do that this year. This is the contest schedule: January - Active wear February - New to you technique March - Red carpet outfit March/April - Jeans April - Thrift it up April/May - Wardrobe contest May - Sheath dress May/June - Handbag June - Fabric manipulation July - Match your shoes August - Draped garment September - Denim skirt/jacket September/October - Bargain fashionista October - Costumes October/November - Hats November - Colour blocked November/December - Fabric stash December - Menswear Obviously I've missed the active wear contest, and now the new to you technique one....