I started the year expecting to sew very little as I have a lot of clothes that are still perfectly good. But some weight changes made me long for a bit more choice and so I ended up making quite a few new garments after all.
It was the year of experimenting with wrap skirts (because of the aforementioned weight changes).
It started with just using a rectangle, some gathering and ties, but as my experiments turned out unsatisfactory I ended up using a self drafted A-line pattern for these three:
I made the Adrienne blouse in the photo above a few years ago and wore it a lot whenever I was that size, but size fluctuations yada-yada made it unwearable half of the time. I took out the side seams and resewed the whole thing with the bodice as the sleeves and the sleeves as the bodice. That way you get a nice flowy top that works all the time. I’ve been wearing it lots and lots like this.
Then there was this shorter wrap skirt with a bit more flare:
And one from a proper pattern from the first Named Patterns book:
This is the Utu skirt from Breaking the Pattern (book has limited sizing) and I paired it with another new garment: a Grainline Linden sweatshirt in LadyMcElroy velvet. Lady McElroy had another hit or miss year with me. The viscose of the skirt that is disintegrating came from them too. This velvet came out of the pre-wash with bald spots. I nearly cried when I first saw it. Then I didn’t look at it for months and one day decided to cut it with as few bald spots as possible and sew it up quickly. I actually wear the shirt a lot as it pairs well with many things in my wardrobe.
The Utu skirt was one of the garments I had planned for a capsule that I planned in 2022. I ended up with too little time to sew everything I planned so I continued making these planned garments this year. This lengthened Blackwood cardigan in black sweat fabric has been worn so much since I made it. It definitely became the staple I hoped it would be.
I tried a couple of new to me patterns. Starting with this Lempi shirtdress from Named Patterns (not yet available in their extended sizing).
This is the size 46. I used the famous cobra corsage lawn from LadyMcElroy for this. This fabric has held up well in the washing machine (knock on wood). I’ve been wearing this without a belt and with a long black cardigan. I like the pattern, but I’d prefer real shirtsleeves for the next one, so I’ll probably add a placket and cuff.
This is another oldie, but new to me pattern: the Grainline Scout Tee. A pattern for woven tees. I love it so much 🥹 This might be my favourite thing I made this year:
That’s Art Gallery viscose. It’s one of my favourite fabrics ever, but the dress I made from it doesn’t get worn very often because of the wrinkling and because it’s not a very warm dress and hard to layer up. This shirt though gets worn all the time. It works with all my black stuff and it makes me so happy when I wear it. I’m actually wearing it as I write this. This is a size 16.
And because I had such a pleasant experience while making the above shirt, I went ahead and used the pattern again for a border fabric:
I probably will make more of these. It is a great pattern to showcase your precious fabric with and get a really wearable garment to boot.
Then I went and made 4 Inari t-shirts (two of which have been worn a lot and yet haven’t been photographed 😱). This pattern is available in extended sizing. Someone on Instagram asked me about the arm scye, because they had heard there was something wrong with it. When you lift your arms, you end up showing your stomach. I hadn’t tried lifting my arms at that time due to a shoulder injury, but can now confirm that yes, your entire shirt lifts when you lift your arms. I will probably end up fixing the arm scye, because the pattern is pretty perfect otherwise as it takes very little fabric, is pretty customizable and shows your pretty fabric off. I wear these often with my high waisted trousers.
I made three versions of the Deer & Doe Myosotis. My first time making this pattern. I love making patterns from Deer & Doe. To me they are the gold standard in pattern making. The Myosotis is available in extended sizing. I had a couple of fabrics earmarked for this pattern, but somehow hadn’t gotten around to actually making the dress.
I added ties to my first version. It’s made in a Dear Stella quilting cotton. I cut of the ties a month later because I didn’t use them. This is the long skirt with the ruffle which is a combination you don’t see on the pattern self, but which has been popular in the sewing world.
Then I went and made this:
I had this very vivid picture in my head of what this dress in Nani Iro cotton gauze would look like. it took me to the very end of sewing it to realize I was actually copying someone else: Beck from isewthereforiam. Still love it though, this fabric was born to become this dress. It’s so comfortable to wear and yet so dramatic. Then I started to think about an autumn version with long sleeves. I had a print viscose that would lend itself perfectly to play with direction. I added some width to the sleeves and some elastic at the hems.
The fabric is not holding up well sadly. I had to repair it every wear. I had used French seams all over, but to no avail.
Another new to me pattern, but not new to most of you was the Kew dress from Nina Lee. I had the pattern for a while, but this was another one I hadn’t gotten around to. I used a viscose from LadyMcElroy. This one has held up great in the wash. It’s extremely wrinkled in the photo because I had it in a pile, but I just didn’t feel like taking new photos 🙃
I’m not very sure about this one, the fit at the neckline feels slightly off and it shifts. I do love this fabric so much, so it does get worn. I wear it with cardigans and tights and the moment.
I tried to make an effort to branch out a bit with new to me patterns, but there were some TNT makes too. Would I even be me of there weren’t?
Obviously there had to be a Moneta (pattern no longer available):
It might be one of my favourite Moneta dresses! It’s very me, very nineties and it’s supercomfy. I had enough left to make matching underwear and those are my favourites too!
I made this Burda dress (from January 2018) a couple of times now and it’s always a success. I didn’t have the magazine anymore, but I did have to change sizes so I eyeballed it. You can see the outline of my insulin pump. 🙃 I love this colour and I love it on me.
Obviously there had to be a new Sirocco jumpsuit.
Sirocco’s are what gets me through the summer.
Then there had to be a new Sew Over It Kitty dress a.k.a. my favourite shirt dress pattern (limited sizing though).
Lots people love this dress and I get so many compliments on it, but it disappoints me in some ways. I thought it would be a perfect showcase for this fabric, but something feels off to me. I’m definitely going to change the waistband to one from the print part of the fabric on this to break up the solid.
This is another version of the Sewaholic Granville shirt. I love this pattern (limited sizing) and it feels like the perfect shirt to me. I love that there is some shaping to it and I enjoy flatfelling and French seaming all the seams and finishing everything meticulously. It just looks so perfect on the inside. This was a Liberty tana lawn that I was afraid to cut into for years:
I did this hack of the Bronte top from Handmade Jennifer Lauren a couple of years ago and then planned to use this fabric for another version of that, but again, the best laid plans…it took me a long time to follow through on this plan. I just don’t feel like sewing too much when my wardrobe is full. I usually wait for a size change or something wearing truly out. Anyway, I just added an A-line skirt to the Bronte top and voilà:
This fabric was the last polyester in my collection.
I made some things for other people. This Seamwork Bobby was for my mother-in-law:
I made a Straight Grain Patterns Feliz dress for Hanna:
And my most recent make for Hanna was this velvet-tulle Spin dress (pattern no longer available):
I also made lots of underwear this year. That’s probably my favourite handmade clothing. So much more comfortable than store bought.
I’m going to have a think about my plans for next year. Obviously still sewing from my fabric stash, but there are a lot of patterns too in my collection. I’ve made peace with the fact that I probably won’t make every one of the patterns I own, but I do want to continue to explore the collection a bit more.
Just another blog 