Diary of a Chain Stitcher

I made this jacket back in about April. I didn't expect it to be getting quite as much wear during this very wet summer here in the UK! I was in need of a practical jacket for walking the dog when it was wet but not that chilly. I absolutely adore my Kelly Anorak for winter but I lined the whole thing in cosy wool flannel so for damp spring walkies it gets a bit too warm. While I'm on the subject, I just realised I made my Kelly over 5 years and after a lot of wear it's still going strong. It must be one of my most worn garments so definitely worth all the effort I put into making it. 

Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have seen on my stories that I spent a large chunk of December working on a new coat. I've been meaning to make one for the last couple of winters but never seem to find the time. This year I planned ahead and got the fabric early (I think back in August!) and the forecast of a very cold spell here in the UK before Christmas motivated me to get going. 

After my little stint of sewing quick jersey palate cleansers I was up for a more challenging project but still wanted to make something cosy, comfortable and appropriate for our current lockdown lifestyle. I've had this amazing cloudy quilted fabric from The Fabric Store stashed away awaiting the perfect project for a while and decided it was time for me to get my head down and put it to good use. It is so beautifully soft and spongy that I was tempted just to hem it and use it as a throw but in the end I kept coming back to the idea of turning it into a (hopefully!) sophisticated quilted jacket.

I fell in love with the Ulysses Trench when it was released by Victory Patterns months ago and for some reason couldn't get the idea of making it up in faux suede out of my head! It has taken me quite some time to actually get around to making it partly because I had trouble finding the fabric I wanted and mainly because my fears over working with such a different fabric took a while to overcome! I tried sewing a suede skirt years ago when I hadn't been sewing long and it was a complete disaster. I was similarly expecting hours of playing around on the machine trying to get it to sew more than one layer at a time neatly but thanks to my new Brother Innoiv-is F420 my fears were unfounded! I spent a long time looking for the fabric as I didn't want faux suede with stretch but the slightly weightier non-stretch kind. I had in my mind that I was looking for a berry or rust colour but couldn't find it anywhere, even after ordering samples online. I ended up being qu...

I've had this coat finished for a while but I had to give myself some space from it before I could blog about it as the task of writing it up seemed almost as epic as the construction! The completion of this has been a long time coming as I have wanted to make a Kelly Anorak ever since Closet Case Patterns released the pattern way back in October 2016. I've ever so slowly been assembling supplies and making tentative progress since then. I knew this was going to be a big and fairly challenging project with lots of new skills to learn so I think with not much time to sew over the last 18 months I developed a bit of a 'big project' block! I never lost interest in making it though and now its finished I'm kicking myself for not making it sooner as it has already been a valuable addition to my wardrobe despite the weather being probably too cold for it. I've wanted a classic army green anorak/parka style coat for a long time and actually bought the cotton tw...

Another winter, another coat and another huge long blog post to go with it! I hadn't actually planned to make a coat this year but, unusually for me, I was taken with a piece of fabric rather than a pattern and couldn't get the thought out of my head. I was browsing through The Fabric Store website trying to decide what to get with this month's allowance as a brand ambassador and found myself in the woven wools section. Each time I've had the opportunity to choose fabric from this gorgeous company I've literally gone through every page of the site with a fine tooth comb in case I miss anything extra special. There are some real gems there, although you can't really go wrong with whatever you order. Anyway, their double faced cashmere blend coating caught my eye. At first I was disappointed to discover that a particularly stunning shade of powder blue only had a metre left in stock, and the camel too but it must have been fate as I'll get so much more wea...

Today it's my turn to share with you the outfit I've made for the Vogue Cocktail Hour Social Sew-Along in aid of The Eve Appeal ! I really enjoyed taking part in their Big Vintage Sew-Along last year and am delighted to be one of the bloggers spreading the word about their campaign this year. McCalls UK have selected a variety of cocktail hour appropriate patterns including dresses. jumpsuits and separates. The proceeds of the sales of these patterns from March right through until November will be donated to The Eve Appeal who are the only UK national charity raising awareness and funding research into the five gynaecological cancers. They do invaluable work focusing on risk prevention, early detection and screening. There are a whole host of fantastic bloggers taking part in the sew-along and sewing up their choice from the patterns to show you their potential and inspire you to make your own! So this is the maddest outfit I've ever made and I LOVE it! I chose the...