Sewing saves you money

First week back at work of the new year out of the way and I have to say I was shattered by the end of it.  You have a couple of weeks off and suddenly you get tired quickly, it just goes to show how soon your body adapts to a different routine be it good or bad. Rushing around getting things done at the end of the day has meant my sewing has slowed down but this will improve as I get back into my working routine.

I like to practise my guitar, read and swim as well as sewing so I want to make sure everything is balanced and sometimes it feels like there are not enough hours (you know that feeling).

Today was intended to be my sewing day but I have had a headache all day which is only just lifting I may get a little done later but for now I thought I would give a run down on the cost of my Christmas sewing.

The fabric for all of the garments I made over Christmas and the the Christmas party dress I made a few weeks before came out of money I received for my birthday.  I ordered it from Minerva Crafts and it cost me £27 for 3 metres of chiffon (various patterns) 1 metre of sweatshirt fabric and 2 metres of Jersey.

Below is a round up of what I made for  that amount...

A party dress.  This would easily have cost at least £30 in a shop, more depending on where. 

This dress which can be worn day or night I think, it is very comfy and a really good weight fabric.

This dress which can be worn  any season as you just add layers under it. ( Which is what I did when I wore it last week)

Same style as the one above but without the sleeves.

This loose long sleeved blouse, needs a top underneath though!

Another top in need of a long sleeved T shirt underneath but that would still have been required had I bought it from a shop.






Finally this sweatshirt, I just made the pattern by laying out a top I already owned to give me an idea of size and measure my arms to get the sleeve length right.




So five garments for £27, I know some of you may be thinking that you managed that in the sale. However these garments fit me perfectly which is what you get when you sew for yourself, also you are aware of the labour that went into these items and also the enjoyment from creating them yourself.  Given those factors I would say that you not only save but also learn and find a bit of peace in the process.

Weekend Sewing

I thought I had better get on here and update quickly as soon as I came home as now I am back at work time is tight.  Saturday afternoon I made up another dress along the same idea as the blue one but this time without sleeves.  This material was not as heavy as the blue and with quite a bit of bounce which always makes for awkward stitching but it was still pretty quick to put together.

It was green in the picture when I ordered it (the lines in the check) but after staring at it it looks brown to me, then at work today I looked down and it did in fact look a bit olive green. So maybe I am colour blind, or I have bought some weird chameleon type fabric. It was worn today with very thick brown tights and a long sleeved brown T  shirt underneath.

I had to face around the sleeves on this one and I have not done belt loops as I have different size belts which I may wear depending on what top I wear underneath this.

Yesterday I made up a sweatshirt , I just used used a top I already had and made it loose, a piece for front and back, sleeves and a bottom extra hem piece.  Again very quick to make up so I really need to source  some more good heavy sweatshirt fabric (preferably with a bit of detail in it so it doesn't look too much like a hoody.)

This fabric had a bit of a fleck in it, a bit more interesting than plain, but quite a lot of fray.

So that was all of the fabric I bought a month ago with birthday money, it certainly gave me more value and entertainment than buying the items.  I have a few fabrics left bought at other times still to be made up so I haven't ran out just yet.  I will break down the cost of these items in a few days and hopefully inspire you to sew, or at least give it a go.

First dress of the Year

More sewing and this time it's a dress, not from the new book this time as I already had in mind what I wanted to do with this fabric when I bought it.  I have other dresses that I have made in the same style and they get lots of wear so I wanted to make something I knew would get worn often.
Here are the pieces all cut out...

Photos are so much better in the daylight.  I will learn how to take better photos in all conditions one day. I did not add it as a goal this year though as I have wrote down so many I do actually want to achieve some if not all of them! Adding another would have been too much but it may have helped with the rest.

Here I added the darts once it was on the mannequin, it works for me to do it this way or sometimes with me wearing it first.  It depends what I am  making and how confident I am with it, like if I have made it before I will just try it on the mannequin.

This fabric was just so lovely to work with I may have to get more. I would normally face or bind around the neck but as this was quite thick it would make it bulky, also there was no fray at all.  I just did a small zig zag around the neck then turned it under and hemmed it.  It lay completely flat, after all the faffing of the last few days with the chiffon fabrics this one was just a joy to sew.

Here it is finished, now I think this is such an easy dress to make and if you choose a fabric like this one (heavy jersey) with no fray you don't even have to finish off seams on the inside. It is also really comfortable.  I don't use a pattern I make it up as I go but I could do one for this in size 8 or 10.  So I am  thinking about learning how to size this up and then maybe having some printed to sell?

  This is all just an idea at the moment as I don't know where to begin really with the whole printing, marketing etc.  I do know though that I would give very detailed photo instructions for every step  so this would be perfect for someone just learning to sew.  I would really appreciate any thoughts from anyone out there on if you think this would be something you would be interested in.  Also any tips on moving forward with this sort of venture.

One last photo with the dress on...

  

New Year Sewing

Well I feel like I got off to a good start as I made the blouse I had planned for yesterday, the only problem being that I did not have a set of matching buttons to finish the front. I knew I had many black buttons lurking around in various sewing boxes but when I came to find a set it turned out they were all just a little bit different in some way.
Some projects look good with mismatched buttons I didn't think it would work on this however.  I will have to go and source some but for now here are the pictures on the dummy. (Night time photos again unfortunately)

Here is the back view, obviously it will have to be worn with strappy top underneath again like the last one I made. (Note to self I have enough sheer items now!)  I used black lining in place of interfacing as I didn't have any black interfacing.  Glad I did though as it gives a bit of detail on the inside as I have made it a little different to the instruction pictures. 

I will probably wear it with the collar open as I feel it doesn't really suit me fastened all the way up to the neck, and I feel a bit bothered by it. This is why I faced it with the lining this way so it would look okay when open.

This is the collar up but no pin in here so obviously it will close over the left side when it has buttons on.

Here it is from the front and although the picture is a little blurry I have to say the fit is perfect! I tried it on for the first time once I had done everything. I wanted to see how these patterns work without me modifying as I go and I was surprised how well it fitted.  I used the actual seam allowance stated this time no cheating by adding a bit on to be on the safe side as I usually do.  I did hang it on the dummy in between but I stuck to the pattern, for once. The only change was the facing but that had nothing to do with the fit.

It say in the book though the pattern pieces for this pattern were on side A, I stared at it for ages and they were not on A but side B.  It also states why not make it a size smaller as it is meant to be a tight fit.  This would not be a good idea as my actual size fit perfect so a smaller size would be too small.

I will post more on this with buttons and actual wear taking place later.

Next up is a dress I cut out last night, this is going to be one of my own pattern free dresses and will be much quicker to make.  This is the fabric...

It is a bright royal blue and black, quite a good weight jersey.

I need to go and start this now to keep the pace going back soon.

A look back on my sewing year

After going through a few of my posts for this year it became clear that my sewing output for myself has not been as good as previous years. There have been quite a few alterations for others that have not been logged here and also the usual bits and bobs for home that sometimes seem to mundane to write about.  on the whole though I feel I need to get back into the spirit of making more of what I wear day to day.

Today saw a bit of a clear out of some of my wardrobe but I even drag my heals doing that as I always look at things and think maybe I could make something else with that.  This is not productive to moving forward and getting organised for the new year.
Still I managed to fill a bag and take it down to the charity shop after looking at items I really hadn't worn for maybe two years,  they were never going to be worn again and if I had intended to use the fabric I would probably have done it by now.
This will be a work in progress as I am sure there is more that doesn't need to stay but I am pretty good at wearing a selection of my clothes and swapping them around so maybe just a move to the back for now.
My favourite item that I made this year was my black denim jacket...

When things come out so well it is so satisfying that you enjoy wearing the clothes more, it probably cost more to make than what I could have paid at a cheap clothing store, but I wouldn't have got to choose the buttons or the lining, the quality of fabric wouldn't have been so good. Of course the main thing being if I had bought the item I would not have had the pleasure of making it.

My least favourite item of the year was the cowl neck dress...

This still has not been worn! That neck caused me nothing but hassle and once it was finished I looked at it and though but I don't like that neck style any way.  I did it as I have never done one before, but duh! Maybe I haven't done one as I don't like it!  Also the fabric has a little too much spandex in it, so I don't like the feel.  The colours are great though.

So here is the plan,  it nearly went in the charity bag earlier but then I thought I like the pattern and I wear lots of long sleeve T shirts under things at this time of year. So I am going to cut a new top from the bottom of the skirt with a neck I like, unpick the sleeves and redo them. Hopefully then it will become a much worn item and not a disaster I will share when it gets worn.

I will be spending part of the evening cutting out my next blouse from Basic Black, I have just realised the fabric is yet more chiffon, but a little heavier, don't know what I was thinking buying all lightweight fabric it is December after all.  I will hopefully have it made up tomorrow to get a good start to the new year.

I hope everyone enjoys New Years Eve and let the year ahead be a good one.

First Blouse from Basic Black

The first thing I have to mention is that the fabric that I ordered thinking it was black because it was in the black section is in fact navy blue!  I had intended on using some black lace that I already had on this project but when I put it beside it, it became very clear that it was in fact navy blue. The second thing to note is that I chose a chiffon and if you are new to sewing maybe don't use this as it is not forgiving to unpicking and so on.  It also will not have any stability at the neck unless you improvise like I did below.
First I cut out the pieces after tracing them on grease proof paper.

You have to allow 1cm seam allowance when you cut out on your fabric as it is not allowed on the pattern.

As I did not have the correct colour lace now and the fabric being so flimsy I had to come with something new for the front of my blouse.  I cut out two rectangles in the fabric and two in black lining fabric and pleated them.  After much ironing it was certain these were not going to hold for long on their own so I stitched horizontally across them with a decorative stitch to keep them in place.  I then attached  these to my front yoke pieces.

You get the idea here. It certainly would have been too flimsy without this reinforcement.

I cut out all my pieces slightly more than 1cm, I have to say I am always cautious but when it was all assembled I did need to take some out of the sides as it was roomy but the sleeves were perfect so I would cut the same again. You can always take out but you can't add once you have cut!

As I was not doing the lace detail at the bottom of the sleeve I just faced it in the same way with the folded chiffon just like at the neck and added a few little pleats, I just made sure the length I cut would slide over my hands then I pleated the bottom of the sleeve to it, turned it over folded it and hand stitched it down.

I did a lot of hand stitching on this as the neck was all hand stitched but I find this peaceful.

 I will make this in white for the summer I think, next time with the lace.

As you can see the style is very loose, and I did take a bit more off the sides after trying on but it supposed to be like that. A bit of a cool iron and it will be good.

Daylight pictures are much better. It was dark at 3, sorry for the blurry image!

Basic Black Book Review and Thoughts on Saving in 2015

As promised I have taken a few photos of the book Basic Black which I bought for my birthday last month.  I have looked at buying one of these Japanese sewing books a couple of times but never took the plunge as the comments are always so varied.  Some people say the sizing is too small, others say it is just right, well I don't know as yet as I haven't used it I had other bits to finish up and lots going on for the Christmas season.

I will be starting on one of the patterns after lunch but I will say this I will not be relying too heavily on the sizing being spot on, I will bring down a top that I know fits me across with no stretch and lay it against the cut pattern pieces to be sure that it will fit before I cut it out on good fabric.  Anybody using a new pattern for the first time I would say do this, they are not all the same and fabric is not cheap any more so you don't want to be disappointed.

Here are some pictures from inside the book...

I love this dress with the detail stitching and will be making this at some point.

Nice coat just not sure if I'd wear it much.

I like both of these and I'm sure they would get lots of use.

Again I like the dress but I would maybe alter length and fit (one on the left)

I will make both of these as I think they would go with anything.

These two are not really to my taste but it just shows the book has lots of styles for different tastes.

There are also a few more coats and jackets.

I like the book it is visually good to look at and gives you lots of ideas of clothes to make even if you didn't use the patterns ( which is usually my way) the instructions look clear...

These are the instructions from the first blouse I'm going to make.

In this fabric...

I already have a change in mind, I'm not going to do the sheering half way up the sleeves as I know it will irritate my arms so I am going to gather in the fullness of the sleeve at the wrist.  We don't always have to follow things exactly do we?

I also think a downside to the book is going to be the amount of time that it will take to trace off the patterns. There is grease proof paper et the ready to do this as wasn't paying for the expensive dressmakers paper, but looking at the mass of lines on the large pattern sheet it will be a puzzle.  I may just get the general idea then wing it?? No I will have to do it properly or I won't be able to tell you if the fit was accurate or not.

Here is what the pattern sheet looks like...

So yes don't be fooled by the fact that it says you get 26 patterns, you get a large sheet and you have to trace off your own 26 patterns. I wouldn't go buying the fancy paper and tracing wheels and stuff or you will end having spent more than if you had just bought your patterns separately. I will let you know if this all turns out to be more trouble than it's worth.

Now as it's getting to the end of the year I like to think ahead and what I will do different, I am not going to make resolutions as I just break them at some point and then feel bad!  I will have goals which are much more friendly as you don't feel like you have blown it just because you have a bad week. last year I said I wouldn't drink for the whole of the year! Well I lasted five months then we went to Italy and to not have a glass of wine there just felt wrong, Ha! I kept my others to a certain degree, although things didn't always happen daily (exercise) I did feel I made lots of progress in many areas and that is the main thing I think.

Saving wise I feel we had an expensive year with travel, car maintenance and just just generally not being as mindful. However it has never been my intention to save to be a very wealthy corpse! I like to save where I can so that we can enjoy our lives in the areas we like.  I see no point in vowing to stop eating out as we enjoy this (occasionally) find the best offer I say.  Socialising may cost money sometimes but I like other people so what the hell.  I read other peoples money saving blogs with interest, and I am completely respectful of how other people choose to live their lives, but I would rather not go to bed as soon as I get home just to keep warm or turn down every social invitation for the rest of my days just to save a few pounds.  It is important to control your finances but never doing anything as it might cost money is just a step too far I think.

To anyone out there who has debt and problems of that nature my heart goes out to you and of course you must get this under control, however if you have been out and had a drink with a friend (not ten!) this Christmas and that has put a smile on your face don't feel guilty. Just try and have a better year but don't let anybody or anything you read make you feel bad for enjoying life a little.

I'm going to try to put together a list of goals for 2015 some will involve saving but a lot will involve doing.