Diary of a Chain Stitcher

I've got two separate sewing queues going on at the moment. As well as the change in weather inspiring new sewing plans I've been thinking about warmer climates as I'm heading to South Africa and the Philippines in January and February! I'm incredibly excited about it as it is the kind of trip I've wanted to do for a long time. My boyfriend and I will be in South Africa for a month and are going to be travelling around and spending a fair bit of time on safari in Krueger National Park so practical clothing is key. We are then heading to the Philippines for two weeks for a wedding so although warm weather clothing is still appropriate there will be a lot of beach time and party time too so this is going to require a slightly different wardrobe. I will have two days back in the UK between trips to do bit of a wardrobe swap! I hit briefly on the topic of slow sewing in my last post and am trying to put this into practice with my travel wardrobe too. I don't want...

Just before Christmas I gave my winter wardrobe a little top up by remaking two of my most worn garments from winter 2017. The way I dressed for winter turned pretty much on its head when I started sewing with merino wool about 14 months ago. No more Michelin Man in a hundred layers, one (or sometimes two!) fine layers of breathable merino jersey were all I needed to tackle the confusing combination of bitter winds on the train platform and furnace like environment of the tube. Its soft and smooth against the skin, not itchy, I can throw it all in the washing machine on a 30 and as an added bonus it dyes like a dream so is available in a wide range of rich colours. Yes its not cheap (for reference the standard merino from the Fabric Store is about £23/m once converted) but considering the amount of wear I've had out of my merino garments so far...its worth it's weight in gold. I've found myself at a loss when either my black Toaster Sweater or green Neenah Dress (bot...

I so enjoyed spending a couple of hours reading everyone's round ups of 2016 yesterday that I figured it was about time I got around to looking back over my own year. I feel like the last year has been really successful for me in terms of sewing and its made it really difficult for me to pick my favourite projects to share in this post! I have sewn so much (particularly over the second half of the year when I was settled into my new flat and sewing space) but I've also WORN so much handmade too. I've been much better this year at identifying patterns and fabrics which I know I will wear and will work as part of my current wardrobe and I wear something I've sewn most days now without even thinking about it. My handmade garments are definitely the most loved part of my wardrobe! A fair bit of my sewing (including some of my most worn garments!) hasn't even made it to the blog yet so for the purposes of this little round up I'm just going to include projects I...

If any of you follow me on Instagram you'll probably know that I've just got back from a little break to the French Riviera. I was staying in the town of Antibes which is just so drop dead beautiful I couldn't resist filling all your feeds with holiday spam! For that I apologise. It was a bit of a last minute decision and booking to visit a friend but I realised that my wardrobe is severely lacking in clothes for real hot summer weather, the likes of which we don't really see in the UK. Of course I like to cause myself as much stress as possible before a holiday so I planned to sew myself up a storm over the few days off I had before I departed! It was actually a very enjoyable few days as for once I didn't over stretch myself and made some simple but fun to sew and new to me things. I was only taking cabin baggage with me as the trip was just for four nights but I needed outfits appropriate for the beach, exploring the local area and long lazy evenings of w...