2022 In Review - Part 2: July to December

 The pace gathered further in the second half of the year

July

I started July with a quilting challenge based on tiles - I made mine into a tote bag

I then started sewing for the summer, starting with my favourite summer piece, this 3/4 sleeve floral print cotton lawn shirt. This was worn a lot over the summer and the colours in it became the colour palette for my summer capsule.

The navy pieces

And a few hot weather pieces (off capsule in desperation!)

- bright batik trousers worn with a navy tee (worn lots)

- 3/4 aqua PJ trs (worn lots)

- full length floral trousers - cotton twill a bit too warm

- yellow floral culottes - worn with a blue tee (worn lots)

- white shorts with a blue stripe - worn occasionally

- blue chambray PJ shorts (worn lots)

And a folding sitting mat

August

In August I worked on the grey green items in my summer wardrobe, a couple of burgundy pieces, a couple of ivory pieces and the trenchcoat and hat. It was a very productive month for me, in part because of the mini wardrobe and stash busting contests on PR

September

Throughout September I continued with the PR stash contest, making this the most prolific month of 2022.

October

The 2 month PR stash contest ended in mid October, but only after lots more pieces were sewn in Burgundy, Cream and Black.

Then the pace slackened off a bit with a couple of pairs of Monsal lounge pants and some more tops.

I finished off the month by turning my first quilt into a quilted jacket.

November

In November I started working on more festive items

December 

Continuing that theme into December with some more felt decorations, felt cases, stretch cord jeans plus two pairs of jeans reworked to fit me now.

Wow it has been a busy year!

2022 In Review - Part 1: Jan-Jun

I think that 2022 was the year that I sewed the most, but as I don't keep detailed stats its hard to prove that!

I blogged nearly everything and did a few side bar links so we can get a reasonably good idea.

My theme in 2022 was using what I already had and I mostly stuck with it.

January

I started out by finishing a Christmas project which didn't quite make it in time, it was admired this Christmas though. Its a cushion cover, but is based on https://jordanfabrics.com/pages/christmas-tree-wall-hanging

I then went on to sew a mini capsule in Chocolate and Rose

Then two rag dolls, one for me (a UFO from 2007) and another for a friend.

I then went back to garment sewing - A pink top with contrast bands

A red top and dress

February

In February I had great fun making a multi fabric shirt, which has been worn quite a lot

And a linen dress and shrug which haven't been worn at all! 

The dress was my version of one I helped a friend to sew for herself, so probably not really my style.

And the shrug was an attempt to make a coverup as I didn't like it sleeveless.

March

In March I bought a new pattern, the Itch to Stitch Mountain View jeans. I made multiple versions tweaking the fit and the resulting blue jeans have been my most worn garment this year, they look better on me than flat like this.

I donated all my old RTW jeans (which I didn't wear because they were not very comfortable). A real success!

I also made some tan stretch woven shorts

April

April was dedicated to undies and nightwear

These turned out to be more used in the colder weather, with the PJs worn the most.

May

In May I upcycled some shirts by replacing the too tight/too short sleeves with new contrast ones.

The last one was my favourite, the embroidered sleeves just make it sing.

I then worked on a dress for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee

And upcycled old curtains from the previous house to be a futon cover and cushions for my sewing room.

June

In June I made myself some camo joggers and top - a quick project!

and then moved on to a patchwork denim jacket

I love this but wish I'd made the pockets a bit bigger, maybe I'll redo them!

I also reworked some old me made jeans which I didn't blog

There's so much more I think we'll need another post, so I'll be back in a bit!

A special day

 Yup its my birthday!

Later on we're off to visit a craft supplies shop and a fabric shop, see a film at the cinema and have a meal at a pub, should be a good day!

Simple Felt Cases

 

3 simple felt cases.

L - case for smartphone with embellished flap

M - open ended slip case for eyeglasses or sunglasses

R - pen or pencil case with Kam snap closure

They are rather plain and feel like they need more embellishment, any ideas?

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas fellow sewists.

The picture above was shared by Mr Twingo on The Sewing Place.

Reworked jeans - pair no 2

Having reused the pockets from the April 2009 trousers jeans on reworked jeans pair no 1 , I then went on to deconstruct the rest of the trousers to see if I could recut them into more Mountain View Jeans.

I removed the waist facing and zip, and unpicked the inseam, crotch seam and hem then started trying to lay out the pattern pieces. It was immediately obvious that the shapes were completely different so an approach like pair no 1 wasn't going to work. Then I remembered that the Mountain View jeans have a seam up the centre of the back leg, and I had taped the pattern pieces together for all my other makes.

So I slit the tape open with my seam ripper, patched in the paper from the alterations (done as a whole piece originally) and I was good to go. I kept with the grain but cut the pieces out upside down - a new front from the back leg, and a new outer back leg from the front leg. I then cut the new inner back leg from the spare fabric, along with pockets and waistband.

I then sewed it all back up as per the instructions and using contrasting pink thread for the top stitching (channelling the Pantone 2023 Viva Magenta)

Candy cane turtleneck

Inspired by my Candy Cane decorations I found some leftover red and white striped fabric in the fabric resources. As always with leftovers it was a funny shape, but I did manage to squeeze out a little New Look 6008 turtleneck top with slightly shortened sleeves and collar.

Reworked jeans - Pair no 1

Black jeans - a mash up of Burda 9/2004 #106, Itch to Stitch Mountain View Jeans and a bit of self drafting!

These jeans have been reworked, I'll take you through what I did.

The short version is that I made some jeans in 2012 and some others in 2009, both from the same black stretch denim fabric. Although they didn't fit anymore I kept both pairs of jeans and the larger chunks of leftover fabric and wanted to rework them to fit me now.

I used the legs from the 2012 jeans (really cool curved panels, no side seam), the back pockets from the 2009 jeans, cut a new waistband from the Mountain View pattern, and invented some new half moon shaped pockets, then sewed it all back together.

The longer version is that back in 2012 I used a really cool Burda Style magazine pattern - Burda 9/2004 #106 -  to make some jeans for SWAP 2012. I omitted the front ankle slits and side ankle zips.

I just loved the curve panels which make up the legs, so that there is no side seam.

I originally used heavy white topstitching thread for the topstitching and the tension was off in many places causing giant loops on the underside. I applied fray check on the back and did the photos, but I didn't enjoy wearing them, something about the fit was off a bit and the loops of thread were uncomfortable.

However I kept them, along with the larger scraps of spare fabric and planned do something with them at some future point. 

Recently (10 years later) I unpicked all of the loopy topstitching, the inseam, crotch seam, the waistband and zip and used my altered Mountain View jeans pattern from Itch to Stitch to recut the crotch curve and waistline and cut a new waistband.

The back pockets were really tiny so I removed them and replaced them with the embroidered pockets I had unpicked from some denim trousers I had made in April 2009 from Burda 10/2008 #132.

To match the back pockets I had redone all the topstitching in turquoise with standard thread.

I wanted front pockets as well, but as Burda 9/2004 #106 doesn't have a side seam I couldn't do them in the normal way, so instead  drafted a new half moon shaped pocket piece which has an opening accessible from the waistband and is secured to the side dart and centre front seam.

I'm really pleased with these now!