Espritpatch

Last month of the year,  last sewings of the year before picking some new projects for the new year! Oh of course I need some new projects! At least I have finished a few pieces! Hoping for finishes 1.  Seeing Stars Sew Along - all blocks finished, ready for quilting  - This will be my  One monthly goal   as I would really like to gift it this month. Finished and gifted 2. Summit peak top, cut and ready to be sewn     3. Scrappy Trip Along - red and green blocks needed  4. Aveiro cardigan 5. Clare coat - finished  6. Lingerie 7. Book bag  - finished and gifted WIP 1.  Farmer's wife - the sew along has just started, time to get going again - also my October APQ UFO challenge.... 2. Gipsy Wife - lots of catch up needed here    3. Postcards of the world - finished 4. Farmer's Wife 1930 - let's try to continue to make more blocks in parallel with other FW  5. Kingfisher sew-along - more blocks needed! 6. 365 challe

When I booked the sewing outerwear retreat at Guthrie and Ghani , I wasn't sure whether to make the Clare coat or the Kelly anorak. The Kelly looked a lot more difficult so I picked this one for the retreat,  hoping I'd manage the other one, all by myself! I finally decided to get going in November and thought it would be best to take it slowly for such a difficult and involved piece. I took a lot of time cutting the pieces,  fabric and lining. Next step was to fuse the interfacing to the coat fully. I had partially fused interfacing to the entire piece of fabric before cutting the pieces. I then slowly started to assemble the pieces together, basting the darts before sewing them,  and generally taking my time to sew and to press. I assembled the lining first because I thought that would be easier to manage. Finally by the end of November, I had the outside of the coat and the lining. It was time to add the collar and to make it all into one single piece. I must ad

Maybe it would have been more logical to look back before making plans for the new year? Never mind, maybe I was trying to push to the last minute to add some more makes?  I had a look at my IG feed and also through my OPAM list for the finishes from this year. I have listed 62 finishes this year,  not a bad number really! Looking at my list of makes, this year has been heavily orientated towards dressmaking. I have made only 113 blocks altogether and finished 2 quilts, one UFO and one that I started as a quilt-along this year. I have made some cushions from UFOs,  a few bags and pouches too and the rest was all dressmaking. This year I have made some clothes for my children and hubby too, not just for me! Now picking my best makes is not that easy really, but I have decided to pick these 5 ones: 1.  Bubble Quilt - this is one of my UFO and I am always very happy to finally finish a long-standing forgotten item. With this one,  I had 2 options: either make more blocks for a

As the year draw to a close, it is a good time to start planning for the next year.... and I know that, as much as I plan ahead, there will be lots of opportunities and new projects to catch my eyes and tempt me throughout the year. There are a number of "big" projects that I would like to try in 2019, some new ones and some long-standing forgotten ones too. One thing I would really like to manage with my sewing is to achieve a better balance between dressmaking sewing and quilting. I seem to tend more towards dressmaking recently, probably because it is more instant gratification than quilting. Another big project for me is to take stock of my stash and supplies and start to sort out all my sewing/quilting supplies as well as purge those that I know I'll never use. Let's start with the more fun, the new projects: Quilting: 1.  Jen Kingwell mystery quilt 2019 2.  Harry Potter sew-along organised by Lorna 3. Quilt for my cousin's 40th - not s

Finally just in time, the stars quilt from the Sewing Stars Quilt Along is finished and gifted! And I think she liked it 😊 This was my first time trying quilt as you go. I squared up my 4 big blocks after finishing quilting, and of course it was a little tricky because quilting made the pieces shrink a bit. And in the tutorial on Stitched in colour blog , a 3/8' seam allowance to assemble the blocks is recommended. That meant that I lost some of my points but hopefully it will be more resistant. At the difference of a quilt that is done at once with this method,  the backing fabric still need to be added once the quilted pieces are assembled.  And the backing fabric needs to be secured to the top. I quilted in the ditch in a few places befire adding the binding fabric, again with a 3/8' seam allowance. I am not sure I am really sold on this method but it is a good one when the top to be quilted is too big for the frame. I'm not sure if I'll try again or n