Diary of a Chain Stitcher

I chose to make the Daniella Dress from the latest release of Fibre Mood patterns mainly for the sleeves! The weather has turned cold here in the UK and I need more comfortable, snuggly garments to see me through...and not give the impression that I'm wearing pyjamas to work! I already have a couple of handmade turtleneck dresses ( made using the Seamwork Neenah pattern ) which are on heavy rotation through the winter months. But I was sold on adding another to my wardrobe when I saw those lovely voluminous cuffed sleeves! I don't have any knit garments with that kind of detail and the Neenah dress is more form fitting which sometimes I'm not in the mood for wearing.

If asked if I usually start a project with the pattern or the fabric I'd say pattern 90% of the time. I don't often buy fabric without a specific garment in mind but this is one of those fabrics I just couldn't resist and ended up on a hunt for the perfect pattern to pair it with. Viscose is one of my absolute favourite fabrics to sew with and wear. It is comfortable, breathable, drapes beautifully and is not too fancy to wear day to day. Whenever I see it in a wearable print I love I snap it up. I had a little preview of the new additions to Fabric Godmother 's range of reproduction vintage prints at a trade show earlier this year and fell head over heels in love with this one. My obsession must have been obvious as Josie offered to send me some to sew up when the new designs were released.

After my last post reviewing a project made from a sewing book I've got something else a little out of the ordinary from me today; a project from a sewing magazine! These are the Jasmin Trousers from the latest edition of Fibre Mood . Each edition of the magazine contains around 14-15 sewing and knitting patterns, some with multiple variations. When browsing through those included with issue 9 the Jasmin Trousers jumped out as effortlessly chic and wearable and also interesting to sew with that paper-bag style waist and belt. From afar they look like a solid purple/grey colour but they are in fact made with a black, red and ivory houndstooth wool suiting from The New Craft House . My original plan was to use some pale pink linen but I was worried that the wrinkly, rumpled nature of linen wouldn't suit this paperboy style. I felt like it needed something a little sleeker with a tighter structure that would hold the shape well. Then I remembered this suiting which I'v...