How time flies when you're having Sew much fun

Hello my luvies, hope you are well,  its been so long since my last post and much has happened with both sewing and life in general! Pretty much I've been on a massive sewing quest to complete not 1, not 2, but ....3 dresses for myself and the little Wyatt! for a wedding we attended yesterday; (blogs on these to follow) totally amazing day was had by all, and now chilling with a "woolly head" and "sore dancing feet" after some hard partying last night!. Part of the sew fest included helping out with just over 50 meters of bunting! originally was aiming for 100 meters but thankfully there were lots more crafters' on board- thought I'd just share a couple of the fabulous pieces that made up such a pretty wedding. 

 
Apologies for blogging off piste there for a moment... So  to task-

First up, would you believe it, I've had a kind'a anniversary in my blog silence...I've officially been sewing my own wardrobe for 12 months and not a RTW purchase for 7 month now!.. this event sort of crept up on me when I was sorting out some paperwork and realised that I'd purchased my over-locker last July, which is when my venture began. Never dreaming that I'd get so consumed by sewing, the idea was just to 'have a go' at making a few items for fun (hahah)

So what do I have to show for myself, twelve months on? Well.... I did a bit of a tally and WHOOO did  I get a surprise....53 items ( not all clothes for me but nevertheless)

• 14 X Dresses
• 11 X Tops/blouses
• 9 X Skirts
• 8 X P.J bottoms and 8 X embroidered tops 
• 4 X Irish dance dresses
• 4 X Roman blinds
• 2 X Sets of curtains
• 1 x Romper suit
• No partridges in tree's! !!! 

I've also took this time to do a bit of reflection on the highs, lows, lessons learnt and where now. 

High...this was probably winning the stitch 56 competition  for my Gabriola Skirt, the high was not necessarily about the winning (although gained some awesome sew patterns as a result!) as it was not particularly based on sewing ability but a fantastic reflection of how many of my lovely friends & family supported me by casting a vote :) 

Lows... thankfully not many flops on the sewing front, however, its been interesting to look back at some of my earlier makes and see the progress made - anybody judge their progress?  Of course any flops are really learning experiences...one piece not blogged about were my fist attempt at some cropped trousers, not blogged  only because they weren't finished and would be too indecent to show to the t-internet world - they ended up covering the full crotch spectrum scale, from what only can be likened to a dowager's hump down there to a full camel foot!! I'll leave that vision to your imagination!   

What have I learnt 

What can I say, there is "sew, so" much regards to techniques and skills and obviously still lots to discover. The main thing though to my astonishment, is that since making my own wears, I am much more comfortable about my body shape-don't get me wrong, I still have hang-ups about the bits that I would love to change, alter or generally slice off,  but I think I have a much greater appreciation and understand my size and shape. I have had more folk comment on my shape and ask me if I've lost weight this year- Nope, just better fitting clothes- RTW clothing and its irregular sizing has a lot to answer for...anyone else agree? 

Where now .. well this is an interesting one ... part of my blogging absence, as mentioned above, has been down to general life interferences and its knack of throwing things up at us- two weeks ago I found out I'm been made redundant!! a fallout of the latest round of Further Education funding cut backs ....cheers Mr Gove! Okay then, I've done the day of numbness, the day of crying, I'm now on the role of "bring it on"( with the intermittent "Oh Shi... flip!!")...really not sure what I want to do...more of the same, or time for a complete change? Friends have been really encouraging, saying "this could be the opportunity to dabble with some sort of crafting venture?" not too sure, it could be a total fantasy and disillusionment but I'm the type of person who'd rather try and fail, than not try at all- I really enjoyed my teaching groups for four weeks and is an area that I may pursue...however, whilst I have some breathing space, I really do need to get a "proper" income coming in...so we will see and watch this space as they say, in the meantime, I have a whole host of projects that need attending. 

So TaTA for now, thanks for stopping by and I'll be back with posts on the wedding outfits very soon :)XXX

When a Busy Sewing Bee gets Buzzed out

The intention was to make this a short(ish) post but started rambling, so will blog the actual "make" separately! 

There have been quite a few blogs lately, regaling sewing burnout and fatigue, and I have to say I too have felt a little along these lines, with my sew-mo-jo dwindling; or perhaps its more of a case of sew-overwhelme. I seem to have the inability to either say no or the ability to take far too much on! 

It started out with this Irish Dance Dress (this was the first outside commision I'd taken on and can wholeheartedly say THE LAST!) After a few fitting problems, I was more than relieved to finally hand it over to its new owner, (they'd worn it once but too big on the waist so had to refit the skirt and I can assure you this is no mean-feat with the under construction)- anyhow, new owners thrilled with the final piece and proved itself on its second outing, where the wee dancer did brilliantly in her grade solo dances-(mum came and spoke to me at the said Feis). So you can imagine my dismay to receive an email 3 days later saying the the skirt was ruined as it was all snagged and expecting me to replace!!

Without going into too much detail, the tone was left as such that I was regarded responsible to put it right! Any advice on handling this sort of thing would be gratefully received... has anybody had issues with others they have made for? how have you handled it?                                        

                                                       

A while back I offered my services to friends who are getting married this summer by being part of the bunting team...they going for a vintage theme ...

Don't get me wrong, its lovely to be involved, but eight weeks before the day (6 wks now) and I still have outfits for me and little Wyatt to make!! 



For Big Wyatt

                                                        

Found this beautiful Westfalenstoffe fabric on Dragonfly fabrics  after reading a blog from Jane @ HandmadeJane and theres a 15% discount until the end of June!!!

Little Wyatt 

              

I still have a birthday present to complete for a friend's girlfriend -
a shirt style dress in this lovely cotton 

And as for making a summer school dress for a friend granddaughter- well she might get it for next summer!! ooooerrr
Just to top this mayhem - I am now teaching two classes a week at the College where I work- as the normal tutor is poorly its only for 6 weeks but ....two nights is a big chunk out of your week even though its great fun! 

Reflecting on this post, I think the moral of this is, don't take on more than you can actually sew!!  

So tell me have you ever over committed your talents or are you good at keeping your skills honed in?