I admit, I’m a bit of a bargain-hunter when it comes to my sewing supplies. I don’t mean that I buy cheap crap, because I don’t, but I buy almost 100% of my fabric on sale. And, occasionally, when I get bored, I do a search for fabric on Craigslist. Up until now, it’s never really yielded any results. I don’t have a car, so my search radius is pretty small, and I guess fabric isn’t the kind of thing people really bother putting ads on Craigslist for. As an aside, it cracks me up that you Americans pronounce “Craig” as “Creg”. People named Craig must be so confused when they come here!

Oops! It seems that time has flown just a little bit since my last post. My apologies to all, I’ve been ridiculously busy, and just a bit ill, too!

I have, actually, managed to get some sewing in though, and I do have a finished project just ready and waiting to be photographed, I promise! But, with a cold and sinus issues, I haven’t exactly been ready to have my photo taken. You understand. I’ll see what I can do this weekend – I have some ideas for a fun little photo shoot in my new bathing suit – but I’m not going to push myself.

One thing I have been able to do from the comfort of my couch is do a bit of online shopping. I’m always on the look-out for new patterns to try and fabric to buy, even though I should probably think about using some of the stuff I already have, first.

I got this vintage Butterick pattern from the Selvedge Shop on Etsy, and I think it’s going to be just right for my Mad Men Challenge dress. I did have another pattern in mind, but after making one muslin where the neck was WAY too big, and then another when it was comically small, I’ve decided to start again.

So those are my ideas, and I’m really hoping this cold will just disappear so I can actually muster up the energy to sew something, rather than lounging in my sweatpants and blowing my nose.

As I briefly mentioned in my last post, I had the bright idea to make myself a swimsuit for my upcoming trip to Las Vegas. I decided to use McCall’s 5400, with some black and red cherry swimsuit fabric from Girl Charlee.

Some of you may have noticed the lovely blue button now sitting on the righthand side of my blog. Let’s not talk about how long I took to get it there. That’s not important. What is important, is that this button signifies possibly the most difficult of my New Year’s resolutions – not to buy any new clothes this year. Actually, when I made this resolution, I didn’t know it was a “thing”. To me, it was a natural progression of my sewing ambitions, and also, a way to save money. But, it turns out a lot of people (at least, in the sewing blogosphere) are doing it, and it’s called the Seamless Pledge.

The pledge may mean different things to different people, and that’s fine, but I have my own little rules surrounding it. As mentioned, I’m not buying any new clothing – if I can make it myself. This means I’m allowed to buy bras, jeans, tights and shoes. Although let it be known I am totally up for making my own bras, once I’ve done some more reading up on it. Secondhand clothing is allowed, as it’s recycling, and recycling can never be bad, yes? That said, I am trying to cut back on thrift store purchases too, because I am trying to ask myself the big question, “Do I really need that?” before I buy things these days. Turns out, most of the time I don’t.

In other news, I’ve also been thinking about my next sewing projects, which include a certain Mad Men Challenge, and a swimsuit for my upcoming Vegas trip!

I also have to say a big thank you to all the lovely people who have told me that they saw my blog, and complimented me on my French dress. I’m accustomed to writing for an audience of no one, and it was so flattering to me that people had taken the time to look at my little piece of the internet. So thank you again, and I hope you keep following me on my sewing adventures! ^_^

When I first saw Deer&Doe‘s gorgeous patterns, I swooned. I loved all of them! And I’ll admit, I even thought about ordering the patterns in French, I was that impatient to get my hands on them. Except, well, I never learned French in school, and I was a little hesitant to leave the fate of my future beautiful dress in the hands of Google Translate. So I patiently waited until they were translated to English, and then pounced. I was restrained, though – I bought just one to start, the Robe Bleuet – which Google tells me means Blueberry dress, which I felt was rather fitting.

This dress. Oh my. I love it, but I’m not going to sugar-coat it – this was not an easy pattern to work with. A good chunk of this was my fault – I may have overestimated my sewing abilities a tad. The dress pattern is marked as advanced, and I feel now that is an adequate assessment of the difficulty. This dress marked my first collar, and my first real set of buttonholes. Yikes.

 

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to start a sewing blog. I may be almost two months too late, but here I am nonetheless. It’s not my first foray into the world of blogging – I’ve had a Livejournal for the past 13 years (yes, people still use Livejournal), and I used to have a crocheting/other crafts blog too, until I took it down out of embarrassment. I know everyone has to start somewhere, but I don’t need the evidence of my frankly crappy beginnings out there for all to see 😛

I’ve been sewing for three or so years now. I started off by borrowing my MIL’s sewing machine and making what were quite possibly the worst Christmas presents for my family (kudos to them for gracefully accepting them). After that, I bought my own cheap machine and my first Big 4 sewing pattern, and promptly made a skirt that was at least two sizes too small. That was the day I discovered that clothing sizes count for nothing in the sewing world, and measurements are where it’s at.

A string of ever-so-slightly-less-terrible garments, an international move, a new sewing machine and a growing fabric and pattern stash later, here I am. I was hesitant to make this blog, because there are so many amazingly talented seamstresses out there, showing off their incredible creations and being all witty and charming, that I felt like there was no space for me. But, there’s no harm in trying. And though he tries, my husband can only hear me talk about princess seams and darts and collars so much before he starts to look for an escape. I want to share my sewing successes (and my failures, because we all need a good laugh) with like-minded people.

So, here I am. Cheers!

PS: I’m terribly sorry for the craptastic webpage experiencing I’m giving you at the moment. I’m new to Blogger, and if I waited until it was perfect, I’d never get around to posting anything. It will get better, I promise!

Bit late to the party, aren’t I? I meant to update this blog a lot earlier, but life got in the way, as it often does. Still, never mind, I’m back now, with a nice, sleek new blog design to celebrate 2011!

I’m very proud of all I achieved in craft-land last year – with one exception, I gave every single person I knew who had a birthday a handmade gift! The exception was my father, for no good reason, really – he’s very hard to buy for, let alone craft for, and in the end I chose a gift for him that, while not handmade, I knew he’d love.

I tried my hand at quite a few different crafts – crochet, knitting, cross-stitch, papercraft and sewing made the list, and I learned a lot from my accomplishments (and my mistakes!). I accumulated far too much yarn and fabric (oops!) and added an impossible number of projects to my to-do list (some of which have spilled over into this year…oops again!).

Now, what would a new year be without some resolutions? Chances are I won’t stick to any of them, but hey, a girl’s got to try, right? I hereby resolve to:

• Update this blog regularly. I fall into the trap of not posting unless I have a project to display, but after a year of avidly reading many fabulous craft blogs, I’ve realised there’s so much more I can blog about!
• Not overload myself with projects. I’m a generous soul, and I tend to promise to make things for people without considering the time I have available to me. This is perhaps my biggest failing as a crafter; it makes me look unreliable when I can’t produce crafted items on time, and inept when they aren’t done to perfection because I rushed.
• Sort out my epic yarn and fabric stashes and organise my sewing area. I’d post photos of its current state, but it’s far too embarrassing.
• Reuse and recycle as many resources as I can. I have so many ideas for re-purposing clothes and shoes and have seen so many inspiring tutorials online, and I can’t wait to start making myself a whole new wardrobe for a fraction of the cost of buying new things!

Phew! I think that’s enough for now, don’t you? There are big things in store for me this year, including a much-saved-for two month holiday to Japan (only two and a bit months until we’re heading to the land of the rising sun, with all its adorable charm and breathtaking scenery), and an overseas move! Yes, that’s right, unless something goes horribly wrong, my husband and I will be leaving Australia for sunny California, where we’ll live for two years. It’s both exciting and terrifying, but one thing’s for sure – they have a hell of a lot more craft stores over there than they do here! 😛