The guilty pleasure of a break

I think I haven’t touched the sewing machine in about a month. “Oh my gosh, what is wrong with her?!” I hear you say. To be honest I asked myself the same question to start with. I felt something was wrong with me, I felt guilty! Guilty because I wasn’t sewing and I love sewing so something must be wrong. But then I relaxed and though to myself: sewing is supposed to make me happy, it’s supposed to be done at my own pace according to my needs and whims. And if I need a break, why not! It’s a hobby after all! I know Suzy Patterns is in the making but it's not a  secret that I want to take my time with it (for now I can do that and with some  limits of course). So what has happened?

After my holiday back in May, my day job went overboard insanely busy. I really struggled to hold the fort between tight crucial deadlines and low staffing levels. Things are a bit better now but new targets and deadlines are pushing the envelope quite hard. I spend much of my time in the evenings doing nothing, just lying on the sofa, watching TV. To be honest I am close to being completely exhausted. I can’t wait for my holiday and dare to say I anticipate the time off more than I anticipate my wedding. 

Something else happened. I  started to crave spending time outside. It’s my first Spring with a garden of my own and suddenly I felt the urge to be out and about planting stuff. I tend to go overboard when I find out I enjoy something, so much time has been spent in the garden. Sewing allows me to escape and relax but gardening allows me to do something that doesn’t need to be precise, something I can do with my other half and most important something I can do in natural light.  I love my sewing room but it is a cave as it faces north and has a tiny window. Even on a sunny day I might need to put the light on. Spending time outside till 9 or 10pm has won.

Source: https://pinterest.com/pin/231372499576315880/

I’m starting to really miss sewing, so I think I’ll brave the cave soon to continue work on my Couture Dress. And don’t worry, I won’t bore you with gardening stuff. I started a blog especially for that ;)

Photography Fun: Intro

Photography is such an important part of our world. A lot of memories are nowadays made by photographing the world around us, and our experiences.

If you are a blogger you probably know how important good photography is in attracting, captivating and retaining your readers. And if your blog is of a fashion or sewing nature, photography becomes even more important.

One thing that attracts me to a blog is good quality, interesting photography. I want to be able to look at an overall interesting image of a beautiful garment. With sewing blogs, I also want to be able to look at details clearly. Us seamstresses can be quite nosey of other people’s sewing ;). The most disappointing experience, for me personally, is to see a beautiful garment but to be unable to see any details because the photo is too small or fuzzy.

I have promised many times (some of you might remember) a few learning/ tutorial/ tips type posts on photography but I've been shortcoming. Photography is such a vast subject that I have struggled to organise this successfully. However with me, I need to start first and organise later (dreadfull I know!) so this mars the first post on Photography Fun.

Every month there will be a post on  photography and the following themes will be explored:

• Equipment
• Concepts and Jargon
• Exposure
• Light
• Composition
• Colours
• Etc.

These posts will focus on portrait photography for bloggers and my aim is to cover these themes wether you have a small compact camera or a digital SLR,  although some posts might be redundant for compact camera users.

You might be wondering what on earth do I know about photography! Well, I am far from being an expert but have done photography for some years now and even though I am self taught, I have learned quite a lot. I know some areas can be seen as a matter of opinion, so I hope no one gets upset over anything I may write. I’ll allow some self indulgence to direct you to my old photography website (not recently updated as I haven’t done much photography since moving out of London).

So my dear readers, do you have any burning questions on photography and any area you’d like to see covered?

My Vintage Red Polka Dot Dress

I finally took some photos of this beautiful dress I finished over a month ago! I had plans to take photos wearing this dress whilst on holiday in Portugal (1st week of May) using my grandmothers treadle sewing machine as a prop. But then I fell ill and couldn't do it! I then had real trouble combining a time I could go out and take photos with a time of hot weather. In the end I ended up taking indoor photos.

But on to the dress! The pattern is a the vintage Advance 5756, Size 9 Bust 28 seen below. Yes, that is right Bust 28. Now I need to say something very, very important!! If you have any Advance Patterns from the 50s that are a Size 9 Bust 28 please tell me!! I will buy them off you and will pay well. This is the first vintage or non vintage pattern I have made that fits me everywhere just right without any alteration to the pattern.

I have to clarify I am not a size 28 bust, I measure 32 at the bust so there is 10cm ease on this pattern. I would say 5cm would be enough, if not less for this style.

So the fitting was perfect (wrinkles below are due to arms position) and the sewing was pretty straightforward too. Instructions were scarce but there was nothing too challenging.

There's not much more to say about this dress really so I'll leave you with a couple more pictures, a repeat of my pledge for 1950s Advance Pattern in size 9 (i really want them) and a question: Have you found your perfect match on a sewing pattern size or company? Something that will fit straight out of the envelope?

Accepting delays

How good are you at setting timeframes and deadlines? Are you one to plan carefully and realistically, bearing in mind foreseen and unforeseen obstacles or do you just wing it and go with the flow?

I confess I am more of the latter, which I must aceppt now, it a real problem in certain areas. Even though I feel frustrated that something hasn't moved along as I wanted, I find accepting it quite liberating. It means now I can re-think and re-plan.

I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible for me to release my summer pattern in August. So what has caused delays and what is in the way?

 - I’m getting married in about a months time (OMG!) and even with a very small number of guests there is SO much to organise (unbelievable!!)

 - I work full time in a target driven environment with deadlines looming frequently. I do end up doing extra hours in evenings and are often exaustead by the weekend.

 - I "suddenly" discovered I love gardening and have spent some time outdoors. First spring with a garden, you see!

When I get excited with something I want to do it now; here and then. I am extremely impatient! And that often means I‘m overly confident in doing it quickly. When obstacles arise and I can’t progress I get demotivated. Silly isnt’ it?

I am super motivated to take Suzy Patterns forward, but I rather compromise timings than quality. I am making great progress tackling grading issues and quite positive these will be gone with my next pattern. But to make sure I need more time. A few hours with excel and I feel I’m on track.

The next Suzy Pattern will be for a Autumn/Winter design with a tentative late release early to mid November. I’ll keep you posted on progress!

Thank you for your understanding!

Violet & Clover

A few days after publishing my last post I hit a serious stumbling block with my new pattern design. It is easily fixed but fixing it means losing some of the main characteristics of the design...which is very annoying! Understandably so (I hope), I felt unmotivated and a tad down. I decided on a mini break from pattern drafting. I lounged around doing nothing for many evenings, which felt good, and with the big weekend approaching I decided to sew for myself. I give you slightly fuzzy photos from Violet and Clover, as worn today.

I missed a buttonhole...duh!!

It was the 3rd go at the Clover trousers. I fiddled further to improve fit of the pattern but not sure it paid off well. I was looking at my Maroon Clovers for alterations but this fabric behaved very differently. It's a lovely soft and comfortable stretch cotton drill (I think) I bought in Portugal.

The Violet blouse is part of my "plan" to sew more blouses and shirts. I used a lovely soft and lightweight fabric of unknown content I bought very cheaply at the Walthamstow meet up. Sleeve insertion had its dramas as did buttonhole making. General speaking though, it was an easy make. I though I wouldn't like the boxiness of the blouse but actually I quite like it. The only issue I'm having with this pattern is the collar. It doesn't seem to lay properly and even though I fiddled with it a lot, I haven't managed to be completely happy with it. Anyone else with collar issues?

I'm still working along to my Couture Dress (slow is better for that type of projects) and will probably sew a couple of jersey tops using Sewaholic Renfrew. And yes, back to pattern drafting!

Suzy Patterns: Design Inspiration

The main inspiration behind the next design for Suzy Patterns is the 1950s, the sea and the summer! All elements I adore.
Even though the first years of my life were spent far from the sea (inner Germany to be more precise) I moved to southern Portugal when still a child and remained there until I moved to the UK. Hot weather and the sea were natural and somehow mundane things. Popping to the beach at lunch time for a quick swim or after work was very normal and summer was always from May to September, uninterrupted.

Lazing on the beach with constant trips to the sea for a refreshing swim were a favourite of mine. And I loved the feel and taste of sea salt in my skin.

My parents are not "yacht" rich but I was lucky to have some friends whose parents were and those day trips out to sea were fantastic. On a hot day (proper hot, like at least 30 Celsius. No nonsense talk about 20 Celsius being hot ;)) feeling the wind as you travel by boat and diving in the cool sea water is beyond description.

(Sigh) Now I live in the UK where I am very, very happy but I do miss the hot weather and the sea. And I love to bits my other half but he's with the nonsense crowd of "20 Celsius is so, so hot";). There's no convincing him of Summer holidays anywhere southern of UK.

I decided to bring all these memories, inject some vintage elements I adore and create a pattern for the Summer. I've had delays: had to change design elements 3 times (once quite dramatically), my full time day job is reaching crucial deadlines and key staff has left, meaning many days working 8am to 8pm. I am also organising my wedding and the date for that is fast approaching. Saying that I am hoping I can pull it in time for Summer. Wish me luck!

Me-Made May: Week 3

Me Made May is going so quick and I'm quite happy with how the challenge has been progressing. From the wearing of me-made items perspective only though. Keeping up with the photography challenge is another story.
Monday the 14th, the theme was Eyes and I'm wearing my Late Summer Sorbetto.

Tuesdays' theme was silhouette. Well, the problem with taking a silhouette photo is you can't really see what I'm wearing. For you info, I'm wearing my 1940s New Years Day Dress.

Wednesday was a very difficult theme to photograph successfully. Well, not to difficult. I did think of a variety of night time shots that would make it look amazing. But middle of the week staying late for a photoshop was not an option. I made do with the photo below, even though it's quite poorly. The theme: Long Exposure and the My-Made item my Minoru Jacket again.

Thursday theme was technology but after a 12 hr day at the office, the only technology I had in my hands was my car. Wearing my Colette Ginger Skirt.

Finally Friday and 1st time this year wearing my zebra pumps (hence the socks). Theme is shoes and I'm wearing my Maroon Clovers.

On Saturday another awkward theme: something orange. Well, I lounged around relaxing on my Lounge trousers.

Sunday I did a lot of gardening work and wore my Colette Violet Muslin. No photo I'm afraid.

Many thoughts on this challenge but I don't like leaving something in the middle so will carry on till the end of the month, when I'll share them with you all!

Hope you all have a great week ahead!