Wednesday 10 September 2014

In which I make some progress on all fronts

I'll start with the best, if not at all sewing-related, news: MY KITCHEN IS ALMOST FINISHED. Hopefully by this weekend, all that will stand between me and ACTUALLY MOVING IN is cleaning everything up and then the horrifying prospect of unpacking my kitchen-related belongings from their boxes. \o/ \o/ \o/ The knock on effect will be that I will finally be living in the same house as my sewing stuff, so I will get more done, and also actually I will be able to finish setting up my sewing room (currently partly occupied by things that are waiting to go elsewhere, but can't until the kitchen is finished). It will be SO GREAT when everything is done! \o/

Alas, I've made less progress on my autumn sewing this months so far than I would have liked. I had a major medication change and the last 10-14 days have been pretty miserable from a health perspective as a result. Any kind of close work, including both reading on my computer and sewing, was kind of unpleasant. And then just as I started to recover, my laptop died and I had to run around, buy a new one and set myself up again. Sewing time was in short supply as a result. I feel much better now though AND I have a shiny new laptop, so all is well in my world.

Ottobre 05-2012-07
I did get a few short sewing sessions in and as a result I am about a third of the way through constructing my first Ottobre 05-2012-07 blouse. I am making a version with no colour blocking and I've managed to put together the bodice with flat-felled seams and I'm working on the details of the sleeves at the moment. I am cautiously optimistic about the shirt so far, although all the fiddly details (collar, cuffs, button band, button holes, etc) are all still ahead of me so there's plenty of time for me to change my mind about that! D:

My last project was a total fail, in part because I was using such unpleasant and badly behaved fabric. It's made me appreciate the very nice and easy-to-sew 100% cotton I picked out for this shirt SO MUCH MORE, let me tell you.  The next few things I'm planning on making are all in lovely high quality cottons too. More than ever I am determined that as I work towards having a smaller and higher quality fabric stash that I buy fabrics that I really love, and increasingly I think making sure there's plenty of natural fibres in the mix is going to be key.

9 comments:

  1. I've sewn with cotton a lot lately and most recently a cotton/wool blend. I was all on a "EVERYTHING should be made with cotton!!!" bender! :-) It does handle so amazingly well. Ahhhhh.

    Get better SOON!

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    1. I do love cotton to wear as well. The problem is the ironing -- you definitely have to do it and it's not all that much fun. :|

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  2. \o/ on the kitchen! What's for supper? =)

    Ooo...can't wait to see the Ottobre blouse.

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    1. I am going to bake something the first chance I get in my new kitchen, but probably just something easy like muffins! :D

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  3. We deserve to treat ourselves and sew with the best we can afford . I have to remind myself of this. My favourite projects and the ones I wear the most are the ones made with the better fabrics so ultimately they end up being better value anyway.

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    1. Yes, definitely. If you can wash and wear something a dozen times then it's definitely a better deal than something polyester or poly blend that looks terrible after a couple of times through the laundry.

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  4. Hi westmoon, I'd like to nominate you to participate in the "Around the World Blog Hop". Can you email me at happilycaffeinated.blog at gmail.com and let me know if you're interested, and then I'll send you the details? Thanks! :)

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  5. Wishing you luck... Keep us posted on your progress. I would like to sew a shirt, but haven't drummed up the courage yet.

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    1. I finally finished it! :D I am quite pleased but it is VERy time-consuming to sew it even moderately well.

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