2025 sewing projects review

In previous years I've not done much in the way of end of year review, but I collected some stats this year and thought you might enjoy them.

No of items made this year  - 108 no 109 (see pink waistcoat for me here)

81 of these were for me, and 27 for other people.

There were 8 bags, 1 novelty cushion and 99 garments. found another garment so its 100

I made 19 jackets, 19 shirts/blouses and 18 knit tops....

Overall the most popular colour was Blue or Navy, though when I exclude things made for other people the most popular colour was Burgundy.

I had the joy of attending two weddings for which I made garments for myself and others, though thankfully no bridal dresses! The hardest item was a custom waistcoat (vest) with welt pockets for the father of the bride.

I tried new patterns, sewed with sequins, velvet, silk and corduroy. I entered a few online contests. I blogged and chatted on Forums. I started an online sewing class.

A few garments I made went to the charity shop. This is perfectly OK! One local charity shop are happy to take fabric, haberdashery, home sewn clothing and even scraps, so I often drop things off with them.

Some of the things I sewed for myself I have not yet worn, though everything has been tried on. Dresses and skirts need the right hosiery and footwear. Some things need a bit of tweaking.

I put a lot of time and effort into making a surprise for DH which did not fit. I'll be reworking that next year!

I sewed and unpicked, I altered things, I learned.

I sorted all my patterns and fabrics, but haven't fully maintained it. It has made accessing the resources I have a lot easier though.

Walking Trousers - pattern comparisons

Back in September I got part way through a comparison of walking trouser patterns which I neither finished nor blogged.

I had a large length of olive green bengaline, ordered online, which was not really my colour once it arrived. There was enough to cut three pairs of trousers for a comparison.

The three patterns were 

Itch to Stitch Mountain View Pull on Jeans

I've made this pattern lots of times before. It's designed for stretch woven fabrics with more stretch than I had in this bengaline. good fit but a bit tight on the thighs in this fabric. Additional zipped side pocket of my own invention is too low down on the leg and not very practical.

Style Arc Delta Cargo Pants

These are very straight cut on the sides, which makes putting the cargo pockets on very easy, but doesn't work particularly well for me as I'm curved at the side hip as well as the derriere. They are simple to sew up with good pockets.

Love Notions Meadowlark Pants

I finally finished these today, very comfortable with loads of pockets. Flat front with mock fly and sewn down button. Back elastic quite tricky to sew. Lots of great pockets, knee darts and an activewear fit.

Summary

For all 3 I have adapted the crutch curve shape and length to suit my body but otherwise gone for the size which matches my measurements, and because of this all 3 pairs are wearable. 

The Style Arc Delta Cargo pants don't stay up very well once anything is put into the pockets, so I think I'll add belt loops to make them more practical. Future versions are going to need a curve in the side seam :-)

The side zipped pocket on the Mountain View pants is not useable in reality, so I think I'll remove it.

The Meadowlark Pants work quite well, but next time I'd simplify the waistband and add a little bit of width at the knees.

I have a lovely piece of 4 way stretch activewear fabric, so I can now decide what pattern to use to make those up, probably the Meadowlarks with some tweaks.

Red print shirt

 

Same pattern as the reindeer shirt but with slightly narrower cuffs, and as the buttons are smaller, more buttonholes!

The fabric was a thrifted remnant, a lovely soft cotton and a non directional print.

Unfortunately the dye has leaked in places when I pressed after using the water spray during construction. I think I'll let it soak in some hot water with salt added to see if I can even out the dye, as I quite like the effect where it is pale and dark red instead of red and white.

And if that doesn't work think about overdyeing it.

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Updated to add that I soaked the shirt in very hot salty water overnight  - the water turned red so obviously a lot of dye came out. The next day I washed on cool in the washing machine and left to air dry - the colour is now even across the whole shirt.

The Sewing Place Forum Is Very much still active

The Sewing Place Forum (aka TSP) is alive and well. Existing members are posting and new members are welcome.

The application process for new members has some manual steps and can take a day or two. You need to reply to the email your receive.

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There were some technical issues back in October where a lot of non-human traffic broke the site and stopped real users from gaining access. The site owner and a couple of helpful techie minded members have since put in place some protective measures which have really helped matters. If you have not been on for a while you may need to verify that you are human!

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Reindeer Shirt

 

I made up a shirt (a mash up of two patterns + some extras) in this fun reindeer print polycotton.

I only had 2 metres of narrow fabric so didn't attempt pattern matching, and the print is busy enough that it worked OK.

I used red thread and plain red buttons, and its really fun for the holidays.

recycled jeans Bestie bag

 This bestie bag was made from some old jeans which were worn through at the crutch (where a patch would've looked a bit odd) so they went into the denim box and after a while got cut up into a bag

I used this fun quilting cotton for the lining

And unpicked and resewed the back pockets onto the outsides of the bag.

I made a self strap. It required some hammering and wrangling with pliers to get it through the strap adjuster

Denim Bestie Bag

 Yes, I bought the pattern for the Bestie Bag and sewed it up.

The outer is a blue denim from an old self-sewn skirt. The lining is a craft cotton with an anchor print.

I used a striped webbing that was 1 inch (25mm) wide and a slider of the same size.

The pattern calls for 1.5" webbing, so I needed to increase the seam allowance slightly on the strap tab for it to fit neatly with my 1" webbing.

The instructions for this are good. I referred a little to the written instructions, but mostly followed along with the video, pausing it whilst I completed each step.

Sequin Wave Top

There was some fabric left over, so mindful of a small fault, I managed to squeeze out a top from the sequin wave jersey.

There wasn't enough fabric for even 3/4 length sleeves, so I cut them as long as I could and added a restrained frill for extra length.

I used my new favourite knit top pattern, the tee from New Look 6351 which I've altered to fit nicely.

I suspect a festive top will see more use then yesterday's slinky dress.

Sequin Wave Dress

 Here's my sparkly burgundy dress to wear as a guest to a wedding on Sat 20th December.

The back

The fabric (more realistic colour)

The pattern - New Look 6650

As before I made the 20 grading out for the tummy and hips to the 22. I raised the back neckline slightly, and scooped the front neckline. Instead of folding the fabric under and stitching for the neckline I drafted a narrow neckband and applied that instead. The neckline measured 25" and I cut a neckband piece that was 2 inches wide by 22 inches long.

The pattern has a short sleeve and a slightly longer short sleeve, so I extended the longer sleeve by 11" to give a full length sleeve.

I didn't cut the back on the fold, instead I added a seam allowance to the centre back and moved the split round to the back.

I sewed the ties on about 2 inches higher up than the pattern indicates as this is more flattering on my body shape.

It looks rather good for what is basically a tshirt dress!

'Tap to Party' Cowl Neck Top

This is the 'Tap to Party' Cowl Neck Top from my Handmade Wardrobe's Weekend Sewing Club.

I used a remnant of red polyester mix jersey fabric. I sized down to medium. But then graded up for the waist and hips. I also lengthened it a bit. As I have large upper arms neither sleeveless nor flutter sleeves were going to work, so instead used a knit sleeve from another pattern. I was a bit short on fabric so added cuffs to get the 3/4 sleeve length.

Plaid Totes

Current project is tartan tote bags to be used as Christmas gift bags. 

The fabric is a piece of wool tartan/plaid I've had since the Warrington days (15-20 years ago). 

It would have been suitable for an exercise in plaid matching to make a coat/jacket, but I wouldn't have worn it, so it is on its way to becoming 6 bags. 

I did debate ribbon trim to Christmas-ify them, but decided they'd probably get used more by the recipients if they were more classic. 

They are unlined with self fabric handles, so easy to fold and put in handbag/car etc.

Bolero jackets

I have been sewing. I altered two pairs of jersey RTW PJ trs (one plainnavy, one navy with tiny teal hearts). They had sewn in elastic which I unpicked and replaced with a casing and adjustable elastic with ribbon ends. That took a long time for something quite simple. I also made a little navy bolero jacket for my friend to wear over the blue RTW dress I shortened for her.

Then I shortened some velvet curtains for the same friend, and made tie backs from the bit I cut off.

I cut out a shirt for DH when he was out but haven't started sewing it

I made what I hope is the final bolero jacket. This little number from sequins and silver satin! I added a layer of flat piping made from the silver lining as the sequins are very scratchy (if pretty). 

The Jackets are all the same pattern, the little bolero jacket from Prima March 2009.

Men's Loungewear Set

Men's Loungewear Set aka winter PJs

Men's Crew Neck Long Sleeve T-shirt from Tiana's Closet

https://tianascloset.com/index.php/2021/02/03/mens-crew-neck-long-sleeve-t-shirt-free-pdf-sewing-pattern/

Trousers/pants are Love Notions Men's Thomas Track Pants 

An adapted "Sweater Weather Pullover" by My Handmade Wardrobe

The "Sweater Weather Pullover" is the November pattern for The Weekend Sewing Club by My Handmade Wardrobe.

It's a Unisex pattern. I've made an XL as a gift. I added a centre front zip and 3 pockets (two embroidered with a Rugby ball logo)

Faux suede jacket

 

I initially cut out a skirt for the Endless Combinations contest, but I could not get the sewing machine to make a stitch in it, despite trying 7 different needles (all different types), so I had to abandon that and made the skirt in corduroy instead.

The overlocker was able to sew the faux suede fabric so I tried to think of something I could make from the pieces and scraps that I could construct on the overlocker.

I still had New Look 6351 out from when I'd used it for the V necked top, so I thought I'd have a go at the jacket.

I was able to cut the jacket out of the skirt pieces and the leftover scraps, including the facings. So I was pleased that I saved a wadder. But the jacket is short (shorter than the tee in the same pattern). The sleeves are not full length and the front flaps didn't seem to work well, so I added a collar from a shirt pattern to give a more moto jacket look.

My Janome CP3000P was able to deal with the fabric so the hem is cover stitched.

I found it didn't really fit me, so it's gone to a shorter bustier friend.

Sweater Weather Pullover Version 2

 

This is the same pattern but the alternative sleeve plus a few other tweaks.

I put the standard neckband in initially but the layers had shifted, I'd caught it in the overlocker and it was not good. I cut the ruined neckband off, which made the neckline lower and the only long strip of fabric I had was quite narrow, so a new slim neckband. 

This version has the bishop sleeves. I made the hem band and the cuffs slightly shorter in length, but kept the depth. It was a real struggle due to the fabric but I love the end result.

The fabric is a stretch velvet which is very slippery. I had to change my approach a bit to sew it successfully.  For each band I sewed the short ends and pressed the seam open. I then folded the band in half, but before attempting to apply it, I machine basted the two layers together. This then gave me a stable band to apply. To keep things in place I used sewing clips and extra long pins which I wove in and out several times and sewed slowly on the machine checking nothing had slipped, then overlocked afterwards. For a very simple top it took a long time!