Diary of a Chain Stitcher

I'm really excited to share this project with you today. I finished these overalls a week ago and have already worn them three times; the sign of a successful garment! Sarah from Like Sew Amazing offered me some fabric from her online store to try and this beautiful bottle green corduroy was an obvious choice for me the second I saw it. Corduroy is everywhere on the high street at the moment and perfect for this time of year, particularly in rich autumnal hues like this. Sarah also has a wine, purple and some beautiful floral prints on warm, dark bases in stock at the moment. I was really happy with the fabric when it arrived. It has a nice sheen like a cotton velvet and is quite chunky with a wale of 8. The wale is the number of ridges in an inch and 8 is quite low. Something like a needlecord would have a much higher wale closer to twenty. Despite the width of the wale the fabric itself is not overly thick and is beautifully soft. Some corduroys can be a little stiff. ...

I never thought dungarees would be a big hit in my wardrobe and even whilst making my teal linen Turias I was doubting whether I could pull them off or if I would just end up looking like an oversized toddler. However, I wore that pair at least once a week over the summer, got compliments on them every time and still have a couple of people constantly hounding me to make them a pair! I wore them as long as I could through Autumn but had to concede defeat to the plummeting temperatures about a month ago and have been really missing them as an outfit option ever since. A warmer pair was definitely needed! I actually had plans to make a denim version before I even thought about the linen pair. I bought the McCalls 7547 pattern at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Olympia way back in the spring. I'd been looking enviously at women rocking dungarees around London and totally fell for the grown up styling and slightly seventies vibe of the flared version pictured on the patte...

If you follow me on Instagram you may have noticed my quest last week for the perfect pattern to use for a pair of relaxed summer dungarees. I was torn between a few options which I liked various elements of and you guys threw a few more excellent choices into the mix! One that kept coming up as a favourite were the Pauline Alice Turia Dungarees , although the Wear Lemonade Fiona were a close second and nearly won out purely because of the name! However, I really liked the classic details of the Turias, the shape of the back bib and the width through the leg. I’ve also often had success with her patterns in the past as I’m quite petite and the proportions work quite well for me. Although the samples weren’t quite the look I was after a quick Google threw up some other blogger makes using this pattern which I adored. I wasn’t sure on the dungaree trend when it first came about last year but over the past few months I’ve seen some really grown up and classy looks incorporating th...