Sewing past, present and future.

Thank you for joining me today. The thing I love about blogging is being able to share an otherwise solitary hobby with sewing friends who understand there is many a slip between the cut and the fit, who have seen their dreams land in the bin with pins still in and tissue intact, who have failed and triumphed and failed again and still sit down to the machine and rethread.

I've been really enjoying reading about everyone's sewing goals for this year. I have several projects lined up and I'd thought I'd share with you what I'm thinking and where I am going.

I never set out to sew all my own clothes. Between 1-3 my son has a sleep and I slip off to the sewing room for a little "creative me" time. I need it. I have also realised that I do not want to sew all my own clothes. I just want to make what I want to make, when I want to make it. There's actually a kind of practicality to it: if I need something but don't want to make it, it never gets made - I can never overcome the inertia and a kind of energy black hole sits over the project so I never get much further than sharpening the pencil to trace the pattern.

"Follow the energy" has become my mantra. Before I show you where I'm headed, I thought I'd show you where I've been.

Just before Xmas I won a couple of things in a giveaway from Miss Flossy. A wonderful coffee bag, seen here at a seaside cafe, and a wonderful brooch.



I totally love this brooch, because it's a minuture "grandmother's flower garden." I made the full sized version myself, in my wild and reckless youth - all 1400 hand pieced hexagons.





Several people have already commented on the brooch. I have worn it as a little lapel interest in my jacket. I had to laugh, as I was standing in outfits head to toe made by me, complete strangers would stop me and say, 'oh what a lovely brooch, did you make that?'

I have just finished this skirt, made with a retro (1976) style pattern that I picked up at the Sally Army for a buck. I piped the pockets to give it a bit of a lift, and it's really comfy to wear now that the humidity is up. It's a "back wrap" skirt, you know one of those skirts that wraps round at the back -since Auckland can be quite windy I also thought it prudent to invest in some new underwear.



Overall, it was a bit of a yawn to sew and I hate to admit it but it's a bit of a yawn to wear as well.



To lift my game a little, and to look more glam mumsy, I am planning to do a homage to this outfit from Lilli at Frocks and Frou Frou.




I have a nice denim and silk/cotton voile and I'm going to use these patterns from BWOF.


Melody did a fabulous version of this (09 -2009-106) with fewer ruffles, so I feel confident of pulling something similar off.



Although you have got to admit, the technical view is pretty scary:



Teamed with these tummy tuck pants (08-2009-106) so perfect for those post christmas moments - I am so excited about these jeans I have bought the rivets and top stitching thread and am just itching to go.




Then I am going to make something utterly utterly ridiculous and you can't stop me. Instead, I'm going to prepare you gentley for some very silly sewing by leaving you with the following quote:

What is the difference between beauty and ugly?

"the line is super subtle, and sometimes ugly is more beautiful than what we think of as classical beauty."
Riccardo Tisci, the head designer from Givenchy.


Skirt: pattern $1, fabric $8, Nicks, Piping $1, thread $1 = $11 and it looks it too.