Diary of a Chain Stitcher

At the turn of the New Year my sew-jo was lacking. I was enjoying planning my #makenine challenge choices and hunting through my fabric and pattern stash but couldn't find the motivation to actually get on the machine. I eventually persuaded myself to cut out a bunch of fairly simple and quick knit projects and that turned out to be just the thing to get me excited about sewing again! Completing a few straight-forward projects was really satisfying, plus comfy jersey clothes are all I want to be wearing right now in lockdown. Actually being able to wear the garments as soon as the final stitch had gone in was motivating. Has anyone else found themselves feeling like making 'going out' or work clothes is a bit pointless of late? Without anywhere to wear my more involved projects the shine was slightly wearing off.

I feel like I've been on the hunt for my ideal t-shirt pattern for the entire time I've been sewing and it is a subject I've returned to a couple of times here on the blog. It may seem like a simple garment but finding the right pairing of fabric and pattern and getting the cut and fit just so for your body shape can be really tricky. I hadn't been entirely satisfied with any of my handmade tees before and find myself falling back on old RTW favourites which are looking quite worn now. That is until I discovered this MIY Collection pattern and hit upon success. Wendy Ward has recently released some of the designs from her first book ' The Beginner's Guide to Dressmaking ' as stand alone PDF patterns. When she offered one to me to try I snapped up the T-Shirt pattern as I thought it was about time I tried a tee from a different designer. This is a less structured style than those I have sewn before and actually than in my wardrobe. To be honest I thou...

Me-Made-May has arrived! For those of you who haven't come across it before Me-Made-May is a challenge dreamt up by Zoe of 'So Zo...' designed to encourage home garment makers to appreciate and wear their handmade wardrobes more. You set your own pledge for the month which generally focuses on how many handmade items of clothing you want to wear a day/week/during the month and usually document your progress with photos. The biggest challenge for me as always will be finding ways to take the photos every day! I'll be sharing mine on my Instagram Stories if you'd like to follow along. I like to use the month to check on the success of my handmade wardrobe and identify any wardrobe gaps that need filling so I can focus my sewing plans on them. Like last year I'm aiming to wear something handmade every day, and as many completely handmade outfits throughout the month as possible. I could have challenged myself to wear entirely handmade but there are a few thing...

So ok, this is basically a post about t-shirts so may not seem that exciting but bear with me here because I'm super happy with how these turned out and the fabrics themselves are lovely! I have (on a number of occasions!) previously documented my love for the Grainline Studio Scout Tee pattern. It's such a great simple, wearable wardrobe staple and I think my favourite pattern to use as a basis to play around with my ideas. Over time I've used it almost as a block to create different styles of loose fitting woven tops. My hammered silk version with a dipped hem got worn literally to death (I was so sorry to see that go!) and I keep meaning to make another with a chevron of diagonal pleats across the front after the success I had hacking the pattern for my pleated cotton voile version . I love the neckline, cap sleeves and the way it fits around the shoulders so when I spotted that a few of you had made it up in knit fabric rather than woven I had a bit of a moment of ...