I have now knitted a few items for myself (1 wrap and two jumpers) and now the rest of the family (well, the kids at least) want in on the act! I managed to find some rather cheap yarn at Abakhan back in the summer and bought a jumpers worth in four different colours, one for each of my family. Although I much prefer to touch yarn before I buy it, I figured that for about 60p per ball, I couldn’t really go wrong! I bought 6 balls of Hopi Aran in the Rose / Beige colourway for my daughter and just hoped that we’d both like it As it turned out the yarn is relatively soft and not at all scratchy ..read more

OK, ok so I didn’t actually win a lottery, but it does feel a bit like it! For years now, I have been signed up to freecycle and my husband is forever asking why. I signed up years ago to get rid of some of the stuff that came with our house and just never quite got around to closing my account. A local lady was clearing out her mums sewing stash, and I got lucky. I have now ended up with a stash about twice the size it originally was, but this fabric came at no cost, and therefore I am much happier to use it for toiles and learning, so it really doesn’t matter if the final garment doesn’t get ..read more

I know that some of you haven’t been reading my blog for all that long, so before I start, this is just a quick overview of the premise of my Use 5. This is not a challenge designed to reduce my stash (although that is a great benefit) it is more to get me to tackle my fears and expand my skill-set and confidence levels. Essentially, if I don’t cut into one of my Use 5 fabrics in the year they end up on the fire in the new year. It sounds rather drastic, but it does rather free me from that feeling that I can’t make anything with the special fabric unless it’s going to be perfect, and well, pe ..read more

A while back I made a cardigan for myself, and at the time the Cosy Cardi Challenge was going on on Instagram (I’m @sewsmartuk if you want to follow me there). As such, I decided to enter, and a couple of weeks later it transpired that I won one of the prizes. I won a super Stash Box from SewHayleyJane. Just to be clear, I don’t think this is one of Hayley’s usual monthly boxes, so I wouldn’t take my stash to be what you’d receive each month; I think this is more of a pick & mix. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but suffice to say that when the parcel was opened, I was so happy ..read more

As I think has become clear on this site, I’ve taken up knitting. Up until this point, I’d knitted lots of scarves (I think just about everyone in the extended family has received a scarf for Christmas) and a few hats. I decided that maybe I should try and push my skills slightly further and knit something that needed to actually be knitted from a pattern and needed to fit! I decided that I would start with a jumper for me, working on the assumption that I’m easy to measure and likely to be more forgiving about fit. I had been gifted a couple of knitting books by my mother in law, and found a ..read more

Early last year I was experimenting with sewing knits. I was placing an order at Minerva Crafts and saw this rib knit and just knew I had to have it and it would make a lovely cardigan or jumper. Unfortunately it then sat in my stash for ages until about a month ago when I bought an overlocker on impulse from Lidl – I’ve been debating buying one for ages, and didn’t really want to buy an expensive one until I knew whether I would use it or not. I decided that I needed a pattern that didn’t need to be particularly well fitting in order to give the overlocker a fair try – enter this fabric and t ..read more

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted here, so sorry for that if you’ve been wanting a catch-up! Sewing has been happening, but I think it’s fair to say that it hasn’t been my top priority. I have been somewhat hampered by a bad back, but we’ve also just had a lot going on as a family that has significantly hindered my sewing progress. I’ve just not found myself able to settle to anything, and sewing has felt like too frivolous a pastime to really deserve my limited free time. I do know though that I need to be doing something creative to retain my sense of self and balance. With all that ..read more

About 15 years ago I owned a gorgeous RTW jacket. It was Faux suede on the outside, and a beautiful soft and warm faux fur on the inside. After much wear that jacket had to be disposed of, but ever since that day I’ve been trying to find a suitable replacement. When I was lucky enough to win a copy of Wendy Wards Beginners Guide to Dressmaking book, I decided that instead of looking for the jacket, I should look for similar material instead. Fast forward a while and I popped into Fabricland in Bristol just for a look around; in there I found this beautifully soft and cosy faux shearling. This ..read more

Last year I set myself a challenge to use 5 fabrics from my stash that I was nervous about using for one reason or another. The intention was that any of those fabrics that I didn’t use would end up on the log burner at the end of the year if they weren’t touched. Well, to summarise, last year I only cut in to four out of the five fabrics. I have however, not thrown the last fabric on to the fire, because I have good reason for not cutting in to it. Over the past six months I have lost quite a lot of weight, and after losing that weight my shape has still to stabilise. I have decided on the pa ..read more

I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m not an expert at knitting, but I do find it relaxing to do on a train on the way home from a long day at work. I bought a load of wool about a year ago and made scarves with the Sirdar Sylvan, finishing up the third scarf from this wool in August this year. Since August though, I’ve been wondering what to do with the remainder of the wool (two balls of each colour – I overbought because I didn’t really have a clue how much I would need). I started looking for a hat pattern, but couldn’t find any that had the same stitch, or used similar wool to this, so I e ..read more