Summer Sewing

 Hello, there has been a bit of summer sewing this week, make those summer clothes and wear them quick while the sun is shining that is what I say. Well we have had a couple of meals out so a reason to get dressed up right there, disappointingly the food has not been good both times.  You try and do your bit to boost the local economy and then feel like it was a bit of a waste when the food is terrible. It is not cheap to eat out it is a treat so that was a shame.

Anyway it is done now so onto the sewing so the first item I made for a minerva post so the fabric was gifted to me.   It is Art Gallery Fabrics damask in coral.  If you want to  have a look at the full post have a look on the minerva site.  The colours are a bit different to what I usually go for as I didn't think I could wear a light pink, this one is just on the side of coral so a bit better I think.

The fit of this pattern worked out really well and I like the shape of the dress  It is called the Sienna dress and you can also make it sleeveless, the pattern was passed onto me from a friend some time ago, she got it with a magazine and it wasn't her style so a free dress all round!

It did feel a little dressed up to go to a pub for meal but when else are we supposed to wear all these lovely clothes we make? I think these days most people go out in jeans so some of us are always going to feel overdressed but as a dressmaker I want to wear mine.  Does anyone else feel the same?

One of the other dresses I wore for a birthday celebration night out for a family member is going to be in a content video for minerva so I will not share that.  I did finish this purple blouse that I partially shared a few weeks ago, I have not worn it yet though.

So this was the one where I played around with an existing pattern a little bit, I don't personally think we need new patterns for every style of top most can be made from just one good fitting one.  I have all those burda magazines now from that year subscription and I can look through them and think that there are pretty much the same patterns in almost all of them with just a little twist.  

I am lucky that I have had quite a few patterns passed onto to me so that I can play around with them and there is always the case that other people like to see something made form a pattern as they might not have the confidence to make clothes without.

How do you fall on this subject? Would you rather work with a pattern, make your own or have a go at hacking a few staple ones?  It would be interesting to know.

 I often see a lot of clothes  on instagram  where people are buying the latest indie patterns and it might be something as  basic as a t-shirt and they are twenty pounds a pattern!  That is not cheap if you are just starting out and learning to sew, in the beginning you need to keep costs low I think so you can experiment and make mistakes.  You don't want expensive patterns and fabric to practice on, maybe go and have a look in the charity shops for patterns you may have to look in a few over a few weeks and ask the ladies at the counter tooo if they have any in the back.  Ask friends, I know I passed a couple of easy ones onto a lady at work who has just started sewing  and a few years ago I was showing someone at lunch time how to make a dress. (over a few days of course!)

Sewing can be made into a very expensive hobby when years ago it was something people did to keep costs low, you can still do it on the cheap now but I suppose it is just a case of not getting sucked into buying all the latest trends.  

We were suppose to be away in the caravan this weekend but that hasn't happened because our electric

packed up after the van had had a wash!  You know like when you wash the car and then it won't start well it was a bit like that.  Some part has gone in a unit so we have had to take it to try and be fixed, I hope it can be repaired or it will be more expensive to replace the whole thing.  I think they make things now so it is very difficult to repair them, years ago people could replace parts on things but now every thing is sealed inside so you can't get at it. Even taking a picture to send the electrician was tricky as the unit was sealed, our neighbor came and helped as he is a gas fitter but also does some electrics and he got inside so we could take the images. It feels as though everything is set up to throw away and not repair, so sad. 

So as we couldn't get way in that we went to North Yorkshire yesterday for the day to see some family who have just bought a static caravan up there.  It is near Leybourne, we had a good walk and a potter around the village so all was not lost.  We also had a walk over to the caravan site that we will be staying on later in the year and it look like a really nice one.  The lady who owns it came out and had a chat with us so I am looking forward to that providing our van is fixed.   The sun made an appearance a few times but it was mostly overcast that didn't matter though as it stayed dry.

Well I hope you are all having a good week, back soon.