Check Your Thread: I've Started a Podcast!

I know, I know, I've been keeping it quiet! I always feel weird about mentioning a project before it's ready to go, call me superstitious. But after making the initial plan about two years ago, my new podcast FINALLYYYYYY out there in the world! I really hope you'll have a listen...

Each week Check Your Thread will look at how to sew more sustainably, through inspiring conversation and fun explorations. For those of us who are concerned about the climate crisis but love sewing our own clothes, it's an opportunity to nerd out about garment sewing, whilst figuring out ways to reduce the impact it may have on the planet. In the first episode, I take everyone on a journey through my sewing history, from fashion student, to garment industry employee, to sewing blogger, to dressmaking teacher and more. I do this to illustrate what inspired me to start Check Your Thread, plus I explain what you can expect from future episodes. 

You can listen to the first episode (and all future episodes) via the player directly on the Check Your Thread website. Alternatively you'll be able to listen through your favourite podcasting app (although I've been told that the Google podcast app is taking an additional couple of days to verify a new podcast). It's currently available through the Apple podcast app, Stitcher and Spotify. 

I've got some fantastic, inspiring guests already lined up and I can't wait to share the conversations. Plus there's some interesting solo episodes also in the works. I've decided to keep this podcast ad-free as I want to feel free to share my thoughts without feeling compromised by obligations to sponsors. I've set up a Check Your Thread Patreon, so for the equivalent of the cost of a cup of coffee each month, listeners can contribute to help cover costs and keep this project going. 

There'll also be a monthly Check Your Thread newsletter that you can sign up for on the website. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions for future episodes, please find me on Instagram @checkyourthread or email me at zoe@checkyourthread dot com. 

Thanks so much for your support!

Love to Sew Podcast and Fashion Revolution Week

(image source: Love to Sew podcast)

My experiences, thoughts and views are getting a bit of an airing this week, as I can be found in other parts of the sewing community, rather than just my own regular corner. Firstly, I am this week's interviewee on the fabulous Love to Sew podcast. As you know, I'm a big fan of podcasts generally, and I've hugely enjoyed diving into this one since I came across it a few months ago. I actually listened to about five episodes virtually back to back one day recently whilst I was stuck in bed with a stomach bug! I've been soooo impressed with the quality of this crafty podcast. The presenters Helen and Caroline always get gold from their interviewees, and the episodes where it's just the two of them talking are always so well researched, thought provoking and inspiring. 

Anyways, they asked me to chat to them for an episode, specifically about Me-Made-May, this blog, sewing with and for kids, and sustainability. I must admit, I was super nervous about being recorded, but I'm really pleased with how the episode came out. I've been receiving some really lovely comments, mainly via Instagram, from people who listened and felt that some of what I talked about resonated deeply with them. If you're interested, you can take a listen here. 

Second up, I was interviewed on the Schnittchen Patterns blog as part of a fantastic blog series they are producing as part of Fashion Revolution Week. You know all those pictures that pop up with people holding signs saying 'Who Made Your Clothes?' or 'I Made My Clothes'? That's thanks to the Fashion Revolution Week initiative. I was asked to be part of this series because I have written many times over the years about some of the ethical issues surrounding the fashion industry and home sewing. I'm pretty intersectional like that. Damn, they were some tricky questions Silke sent me! I did my best to answer them with the level of depth that they deserved. You can read the interview here. Do check out the other blog posts in the series as well. 

I've got a lot more to say about the ethics of fashion and sewing, and I have promised one particular reader that I'm going to revisit this topic very soon, probably after the dust has settled from #MMMay18. 

If you have any comments on, or responses to, anything I discussed on either the podcast episode or blog post interview, please pipe up. I'd love to keep these discussions going. 

Happy 10th Birthday to 'So, Zo...'!!!

Can you believe it?! Today is this blog's tenth birthday. TEN YEARS!!!!!!!!! With the odd gap of two or three weeks here and there (like, for example, immediately after the birth of my children), I have managed to consistently maintain this blog for a decade. It's a wonder to me, it really is.

According to my stats, I've written 917 posts in total. Some were quick ones, like musings on an outfit in the early days, or a brief update during Me-Made-May. And others took longer to write than some of my degree coursework. Anyways, that averages out at 1.7 posts published per week over the course of this blog's life. These days, I'm posting about once a week, which is just about sustainable given my other current commitments.

Last night I spent a while reading some of my very early posts (I wouldn't recommend it.) It felt so bizarre to get a peek into who I was a decade ago. Around the time I begun this blog, I was busy dismantling the life that I had grown bored of, and to start up a new one by setting off on a major adventure. I moved to Spain, with no plan, no employment, no Spanish and very little money. I had complete freedom and it felt amazing.

And like my life at that time, I wasn't entirely sure what this blog was going to become (hence the vague and, in hindsight, stupid title). I knew that sewing would feature a great deal, as it was steadily becoming a bigger and bigger thing in my life. But I also wanted to use this space to explore other topics and issues that interest and influence me, which I have done to a greater or lesser extent over the years. At risk of sounding dramatic, this blog has been an amazing tool for self-discovery and helped me find my voice. If anyone is considering starting up their own blog, I would definitely recommend it.

To be honest, I don't remember actually setting up this blog, but going back to my first post I saw that it was my amazing friend Silvia Sella who helped me do it. It is the very same amazing friend, Silvia Sella, who very kindly spent some of her recent post-operative convalescence designing me a new banner for the top of this blog. She also designed the fabulous logos for my sewing patterns, and I love how it looks a lot more cohesive now. To say that I'm thrilled to have this spanking new, slightly slicker and more grown up banner is an understatement. I can't thank her enough.

I also want to thank everyone who has read and commented on this blog, and I hope that you will continue to do so in the future. I wish you all much love and happiness xxxx

Sewing When There's No Time To Sew

(Nothing is safe... Frankie works out how to get to the sewing machine)

That's a ridiculous title for a blog post, of course. I haven't worked out a way to stretch or exist outside the regular parameters of time. However, despite being a SAHM to two young children and a part time sewing teacher, at the moment I'm managing to find a surprising amount of time to sew. I talked about the 'why' in my Ease Into Motherhood post last July, and today I want to write a little bit about 'how'.

A big mistake...

When Dolores (who is now four) was a tiny baby, I went through a horrible, but thankfully brief, period of thinking that I should spend any time that she was asleep doing things that were related to her care. Once I'd got her down for a nap, I'd take care of my own basic needs and then I'd get started on the laundry, washing up, etc. until she woke up. I guess I felt that that was what a Good Mum was meant to do. I planned to have my 'me time' (to sew, read blogs and write my own) in the evening once she was down for the night. But in reality, I was always too tired and would end up watching TV feeling frustrated. Let me tell you that this formula is the road to depression and resentment. It took me a while, but I finally learnt that being a martyr to your child is not being a Good Mum; it doesn't best serve yourself or your family.

Finding my sewing groove

I was lucky that as an older baby and little toddler, Dolores use to have sizeable and consistent naps, so I was able to get quite a bit of sewing done during those couple of years. When she dropped napping altogether, sewing had to be relegated back to an evening-only activity. But it was such a deliciously solitary thing to do after each full-on day of toddler-wrangling, that my depth of desire to sew, if only for half an hour each evening, helped me overcome the tiredness that might have stopped me doing any at all. 

Second time around

When I was pregnant with Frankie, I had a word with myself to make sure I wouldn't fall into the martyr-mum role again. I knew that caring for a newborn and a 3yo at the same time was going to be a whole new level of challenging, and that carving out tiny pockets of time to sew was going to be essential if I was going to get through it without my mental health laying in tatters by the time we reached Frankie's first birthday. To avoid the aforementioned frustration and resentment, I kept my aims really low. Like, 10 minutes a day low, for the first few months. And soon I found that I could complete one step of a project (like sticking a PDF together, or inserting the sleeves) per day. Time spent sitting underneath a feeding or snoozing baby, particularly when the big one was at nursery, gave me lots of time to think about each step, so when I did get the micro-opportunity to escape to my sewing corner, I could get stuck in straight away and be pretty productive.

(And the next day I turn my back for a minute and he's now actually ON the sewing table. 

Playing with pins)

Napportunities

The problem was, as he left the newborn stage, Frankie failed to fall into the lovely and reliable nap routine that Dolores had. His naps have been inconsistent and often quite short. So what to do? I found that if I spent however long his nap would be only sewing, then I'd find I had a massive amount of chores to do after he woke up with him all cranky because I wasn't giving him the attention he craved. But if I spent his scant naps only washing up and tidying, then enter our old friends frustration and resentment.

So I've found what works best for me is to flit between roles and tasks. For example: Frankie goes down for a nap, then I put the laundry on, then I do a bit of sewing, then I start the washing up, then I do a bit of sewing, then I finish the washing up, then I do a bit of sewing, then I tidy up a bit, then I do a bit of sewing, and so on until he wakes up. That might sound insane and exhausting, but it's genuinely the only way I've found I can make the most of however long he's going to stay asleep.

Plus, on the rare occasions that they are both happily engaged in something that doesn't involve me, you might catch me rethreading my overlocker or pinning the side seams...

CBeebies saved my life

Confession time: if Dolores isn't in nursery, I let her watch TV whilst Frankie takes his nap. Whatever your thoughts are on TV, I prefer her to not watch too much. But I've overcome my guilt of allowing her to see 1-2 hours a day because she's full-on, active and engaged the whole rest of the day.

Low expectations

Of course, this is only working for me because I have long since let go of being used to the great swathes of sewing time that I used to have before kids. I feel that the newborn phase of parenthood, where somedays getting to wash your hair can be an unobtainable luxury, does the job of making you feel grateful for the odd 10 minutes sewing time when you can grab it. And when 10 minutes of sewing expands in to an hour or two, that can feel like days!

But it is definitely worth reminding myself/ourselves that this early, super-dependant stage of childhood is very short lived. Can you believe I've just filled in Dolores's schools application?! Longer spells of sewing time will be with me again, I just hope I'll stay this productive!

What about you? Have you found any seemingly-bizarre ways to fit sewing in around a busy life (with or without kids)? Are you one of urban legends, for example, that set your alarm early to get some sewing done before work or the rest of your family wakes up?! Any tips you can share on what works for you?

Ease into Motherhood

Sewing and small children. In many ways, they seem to be sworn enemies of one another. Finding the physical and mental space to sew, whilst being present and available for kids who depend on you for pretty much everything sounds like an impossible task, or at least a recipe for disappointment and frustration. I often hear of women who used to sew before they had children, then stopped, and are trying to get back into it now that their children are older. I can totally understand the decision to not even bother trying to get any sewing done for the duration of your children's early childhoods. But for me, that's not an option, sewing is too big a part of my life. So today I want to talk about why and how I manage to sew whilst being a mum to two tiny peops. 

The prompt for this post came from an invitation to take part in 'Ease-in to Motherhood': a sewists' celebration of motherhood and the changes it brings to our lives, created and hosted by Monserratt, Jodi and Erin. Read here for the full details of this important and beautiful initiative. The motivation to create connection between mothers who sew is similar to my own reasons for setting up the recent dribble bib sewing swap (check out #greatsewingbibswap on Instagram). Anyways, the organisers of Ease-in Motherhood have left it super open about what to write about in relation to these topics, and at first I felt pretty overwhelmed as I have SO MUCH I want to say about all of it! A couple of months ago I felt a blog post brewing about my disgust at the damaging concept of 'bouncing back' after a pregnancy and birth, but I just read Jodi's touching piece on this subject in which she handles it with much more grace than my bile-filled rant probably would have done! So on with my contribution...

Somehow, I've become a stay-at-home-mum who does bits of paid work at the weekends. I never planned to be a SAHM. When Pat and I talked about how we saw our family operating before we had Dolores, we agreed to share the childcare and our freelance work endeavours 50/50, and to keep our child/children home with us rather than in childcare until they were about three years old. But the financial realities were such that two part-time freelance-whatever-you'd-call-what-we-do/did wasn't bringing in enough to live in this pricey part of a pricey country. So I ended up taking on the lion share of the childcare as Pat went out to work full-time, and things will probably stay this way until they are both at school. And the truth is, being a stay-at-home-mum is freaking hard, the hardest job I've ever, and will ever do, I have no doubt. One of the things about being a SAHM (or a SAHD, or any other type of full-time carer), is that no matter how many playdates, playgroups, playgrounds, classes or activities you get involved in, there is A LOT of being stuck at home involved. What's more, you are ALWAYS on call. I find it can be incredibly claustrophobic, and as an escape I have sewing. 

(Frankie caught trying to mess with my sewing machine)

So, sewing. I have to admit that my current relationship with sewing is bordering on compulsive. Working on sewing projects, having something to push forward with, has become even more important to me since having children than before. I'm not sure if the amount I think about (if not actively doing) sewing is healthy, but it is helping me get through this insanely intense part of motherhood so I can't see it changing for the foreseeable future. Sewing accesses a creative part of myself, a need to make stuff with my hands, that has always been part of who I am. And clothing has been the main way that I interpret and have a dialogue with society and popular culture since I was a teenager. 

But why has my need to sew amped up so much since becoming a mum? Partly, I think it's the desire to do something that doesn't get almost immediately undone (laundry, washing up, tidying etc.) but I'm also guessing that it's because I don't have much else to get my teeth into at the moment: my 'career' has somewhat stalled, I'm not developing any new classes to teach and I no longer organise the craft market I set up in 2010. And the other things I'm really inspired to do, like planning and going on trips and experimenting with growing food, are currently hampered by a lack of funds and any outside space. 

And then there's the final product. I get a lot of joy and pride from opening up my wardrobe and seeing that more than 90% has been made by me: that I have chosen how I wish to present myself to the world (which I then temper with the realities of my day-to-day life) and made it myself. Or to watch my kids running around having a crazy time, or contentedly chewing on a lego brick, whilst wearing something I made them. 

However, it's hard to square all this sewing that I'm doing (or planning to do) with my desire to live a vaguely sustainable life that does NOT include the constant acquisition of 'stuff'. So in an attempt to justify my out-put, I'm very careful to only work on garments and accessories for myself and my kids that will get used a lot, and I try to sew with my existing fabric stash or with secondhand textiles for a good proportion of my projects (which I know I could do better at). 

(sleepy faces selfie)

So how do I get the sewing get done with these small peops about? Mainly in my head. I'm mentally present when I'm with my kids and they want me to engage with them, but when I'm doing boring SAHM-related stuff like cleaning the kitchen, or breastfeeding in the middle of the night, I'll often be mulling over the next few steps of my current sewing project, or what I should use a certain piece of fabric for. So when they are in bed, or when one is at nursery and other is napping, I can ATTACK. I'm sure most people, including new(-ish) parents, will tell you that they are so much more productive with their spare time once it has become severely limited. 

But breaking it down further, I'd say that I find two types of chances for sewing. There's the longer stretches lasting an hour or two, like after they're in bed and the tidying up is done, or during a Frankie-nap on a Dolores-nursery day. (The annoying thing is that Frankie sleeps in our bedroom, which is where my sewing table also lives, so I have to remember to take everything that I'll need for the sewing sesh out of there and into the lounge before putting him down.) And then there's the micro-sewing opportunities. These are the teensy windows of time in which you can do something small to aid your project. Like the incredibly rare times that they are both playing and no one needs me, I might change over the threads on my overlocker. Or whilst I'm waiting for the potatoes to boil, I might pin a sleeve into an armhole. Often I'll do other SAHM-related activities in those micro-windows, but the thing is that there are always SAHM-related activities you could find to do, so sometimes I claim the windows for myself and my mental health instead.

I've written this blog post like I undertake my sewing projects: in chunks of time here and there, so it's been on my mind for a while. And my conclusion is that I have not drawn a conclusion. I don't know if my current relationship with sewing is entirely positive, but it seems to be serving a necessary purpose. And I guess there could be worse things to be addicted to!

I'd love to know your thoughts on your relationship to sewing, particularly through motherhood. Did you manage to maintain one? If so, any tips? How has it changed as your kids have got older? Did you ever find yourself getting a bit obsessed with sewing when you were going through a particularly tricky or intense stage of your life? 

He's here!!!!! Introducing....

Frankie!!! Two weeks ago, at over 41 weeks pregnant, I got induced with oxytocin and I pushed out this little darling! Except, at 9lbs 11oz he wasn't that little, and I failed to receive the epidural I'd requested so was just working with gas and air, but that's another story...

As you can imagine, it's been a crazy couple of weeks of adapting to being a family of four rather than a family of three. As well as juggling sleep deprivation, sore boobs, recovering from the birth and Dolores's 'challenging' response to the upheaval. But in all areas we are improving and I'm so thrilled to be the mum of this adorable little boy. 

Needless to say, there'll be a hellofalot more pictures of this little guy in the months and years going forward, but here are a few of his early photographic debuts by way of an introduction. I love you little guy!

Podcast / Audio Post #5: Life Vs Sewing with Miss Demeanour

 "Many would pay millions in bitcoin to get up close and personal with Miss Demeanour. SoZo has her on speed dial. Catch up with the hardest working woman in the field of promoting animal prints in home sewing - the legendary Rehanon Mackenzie. 

If you haven't had the pleasure then you're in luck. You're about to dive into the world of Miss Demeanour. Redirect your calls. Pour a large wine. And listen to this..."

Podcast / Audio Post #4: Sewing Vs Kids

"So Zo attempts to define her entire life in sewing while barely awake at the behest of sewing widow Mr. SoZo. It all breaks down when D-Lo refuses to stay in bed. Can Zoe Edwards survive in the cut throat world of home sewing bloggers when not one but two little people have invaded her home and are both refusing to leave? Are any non-parents still following her blog? When was the last time she blogged a new stunt dress with a cocktail in shot?

Who even is she anymore?"

     

Maternity-Leaving Self-Employment

(the fabulous children's Geranium dress pattern is the last class I'm scheduled to teach at The Village Haberdashery on 25th June. image source: Made By Rae)

A few years back one of the topics I occasionally wrote about was self-employment, both specifically about mine which is in the field of sewing, and a bit more generally. A number of people that I've taught over the last four-ish years have found the idea of making money from your passion to be an interesting one, so I felt the reality of that was a topic worth discussing on this blog whilst I outlined how I made my income. I haven't written specifically about sewing-related self-employment for ages, mainly because my situation hasn't changed very much in the last two years. However, I'm currently staring down the barrel of my second maternity leave, so lots of thoughts, feelings and questions have come up for me that I'd like to air here.

For the last two and a half years, I've been the primary caregiver for our daughter Dolores. She has yet to attend nursery or any other form of childcare so it's a pretty full on task. I've also been bringing in a part-time income, the majority of this has been through teaching sewing and dressmaking classes at the weekends (when her dad can take care of her). I also make a small amount from blogging, sample making, blog sponsorship and sewing pattern sales, which I work on after Dolores has gone to bed and during her naps times. There's been times that all of these activities have left me really busy, and times when it's been less so and I've been able to do more sewing for myself and stuff. The most tiring aspect has been the travelling to and from classes, especially the ones that take place in London. On bad weekends, the journey can take up to four hours each way. When I haven't had a good nights sleep, and now that I'm pregnant again, it can really take it out of me for a couple of days after. So because of that, I'm really looking forward to my maternity leave to avoid the travelling part (although I know that there is a whole different world of tiredness just round the corner!). But on the other hand, I'm really lamenting having to step away from my working life.

(the beautiful and inspiring sewing space at MIY Workshop. 

image source: MIY Workshop/Wendy Ward)

As far as I can figure out from my internal enquiries, there's a couple of reasons for this. Partly it's because I've managed to get myself some really great gigs, which has mainly been through working hard at what I do to get good at it. I genuinely LOVE the four companies I currently teach at (Tilly and the Buttons, The Village Haberdashery, MIY Workshop and Fabric Godmother), and getting to help people improve their sewing skills and confidence is a really lovely way to spend time, however tiring projecting a super-positive energy whilst being on your feet all day can be. Plus, getting great feedback from my students about how much they've enjoyed a class and how much more confident they now feel with sewing is so rewarding, and it just feels great to be good at something! There are MANY days that have been spent 'mumming' where I just don't feel like I'm doing a very good job. I'm not sure how my general self-esteem will be effected when I can't intersperse those days with the odd one spent teaching someone to successfully insert an invisible zip or get their head round bias binding. (By the way, you can see what remaining classes I'm scheduled to teach on my Sewing Classes page.) I spoke very frankly about motherhood and the ways in which sewing offers some relief and escape towards the end of this Seamwork magazine article, and some of what I talked about needing sewing for could also be said for my paid employment.

You may be thinking, 'But this is your second child, you've been through this before, right? Why are you freaking out?'. I guess there are two main differences this time round. Firstly, I have a much clearer idea of how absorbing and exhausting life with a tiny baby is; I know how little time will be left over for any kind of work or creative endeavour when you're the primary caregiver. I was very naive about that when I first entered motherhood. Secondly, on top of the whole tiny baby situation, this time I'll have a lively toddler to care for and entertain as well, which will surely leave me with even less time and energy to direct towards anything else I might like to pursue. Thinking I could still achieve quite a bit, on top of keeping a little baby alive and happy, lead me to come unstuck last time and definitely contributed to me experiencing post-natal depression. Therefore, I'm trying to be as realistic as possible about the stresses and strains coming my way over the next year or two.  

(your last chance to let me help you to sew with jersey will be at the Fabric Godmother HQ in Hove on 17th July! image source: Fabric Godmother)

So I don't really know what the future holds for my self-employment after my maternity leave. I don't know exactly how different life will be with two tiny children rather than one, and I don't know exactly how Pat's employment will change over the next couple of years either. His situation will have a major effect on both my availability to work and how much my financial input will be needed. But I know that I will need to do some kind of work, however infrequent, for my sanity if nothing else once the mini-dude is old enough to eat solids and breast-feeding calms down.

What I guess I need to remember is that their infancy only lasts a relatively short time, although when you're in the trenches it feels like an age! They'll be at school in the blink of an eye, and I'll be wondering where this period went. At that point I will have more time to concentrate on creative ways to earn money. But I know I'm not the only woman to have felt a bit uneasy about an approaching maternity leave, and what that will mean for your sense of self. Likewise, being somewhat lost in motherhood, no matter how much you love your kids and how carefully they were planned, is not a unique experience either. If anyone else felt a bit weird about this stage of life, it'd be great to hear how you dealt with it.

Considering Spring Sewing Plans: Plus, Some News

(how good is this photo?! I was hoping to loosely recreate the dress on the right using the By Hand London Kim dress pattern and some Hawaiian print cotton)

As someone who general HATES to be told what to do, and has always tended to sew whatever I feel like at whim, I am amazed at how diligently I completed the nippy weather sewing plans that I set myself last Autumn. It definitely helped that during this time I kept my kiddie-sewing projects entirely whim-led, which I used to intersperse the adult projects.

(utterly amazing African wax fabric Megan dress made by Norse Otter, so inspirational!)

So having completed all those, I'm now thinking about what set of sewing plans would be great to move my wardrobe into spring and summer. To be honest, I actually started day dreaming about this back in November! However, I'm sadly going to have to put plans for two Tilly and the Buttons Megan dresses (one plain navy and one in African wax fabric), a couple of pairs of Deer and Doe Chataigne shorts, a bunch of cute little vintage-style blouses, a Hawaiian By Hand London Kim dress, and finally getting closer to great fitting trousers on hold for now, because (dramatic pause...) I'm pregnant!

(oh perfect stripy little blouse, my preliminary toiling has ceased. Let's hope  that next year I can remember what I was up to)  

As those of you who trawled through my many maternity wear blog posts last time round will no doubt be aware, I didn't really have a clue of what to expect, what I'd need and what I could or should make for my last pregnancy. This time should be quite a different experience. Not only do I still own the items that I made and wore for my previous pregnancy (when my sister-in-law gives them back!), but I know what I felt most comfortable in so should be able to focus my efforts much more usefully this time round. PLUS, seasonally I know what I'm in for as well because the current due date is only two days away from Dolores's. Touch wood, all being well, I will be busting out a healthy little peop around the end of September/beginning of October.

(one of the fabrics from Le Stash that I selected for the Chataigne shorts pattern, what fabric would you make this pattern in?)

All that being said, one key difference with this pregnancy compared to the last is that I started to show at an alarmingly (to me) early stage. I'm already feeling the pinch, literally, of not fitting into much of my clothing. On my bottom half I'm currently limited to one pair of slightly-too-small maternity jeans that have been leant to me by a friend, and my mustard mariniere trousers with the front folded down a little bit (strong look). I need to hatch a few clever sewing plans to expand the selection of items that I already own, and also make some things that will hopefully be useful after this pregnancy as well. I'll return with my conclusions after the sign-up post for this year's #mmmay16!

Podcast / Audio Post #3: Tired and Busy and Being Silly

It's only taken over two and a half years to make another audio post! If I'd had more control over things, this one would have been an in depth piece about something that I'm passionate about. Instead this is a silly little sewing-related conversion I had with Pat whilst I traced out a pattern and he tested his new audio-recorder/toy...

Sewing When You're Skint

Happy New Year!!! How exciting to be looking ahead to a whole year of sewing-based fun. And all the other types of fun. I don't know about you, but a new year always feels like a fresh start and I'm buzzing with excitement to get cracking on new projects. Except... No. Funds. Ugh! It's good to think about how we can get more from what we already own, sewing-wise and more generally, but it always seems more pressing at this time of year, doesn't it? I wrote a piece five years ago (WHAT?!) about cutting the costs of sewing, but here's some more ideas about how to get your sew-on if you're feeling the financial pinch at this, or any other, time of the year:

• Comb your pattern stash. This one may seem obvious, but I think it's worth adding because it's easy to forget about stuff you already own. A couple of months ago I bought some new storage boxes for my sewing area so I ended up sifting through all my patterns and was amazed to find that I'd forgotten about over half of them! It really got my mind racing with possibilities and I have renewed excitement about finally making some of them up this year. Also, if you don't immediately print out your PDF patterns once you've acquired them, like most people I'd imagine, it might be worth trawling through the downloads folder on your computer to see if you've got some digital gems sitting in there. 

(awesome free kids bucket hat pattern. image source: Oliver + S)

• Hunt out some freebies. There are literally thousands of free sewing patterns and tutorials out there on the interwebs that can be the starting point for a new sewing project. Simple Google searches will unearth them, and I'm always seeing them popping up on Pinterest. Of course, I can recommend to you my free vest/camisole/singlet and knickers/pants/undies patterns and my cowl neck scarf and bustier line T-shirt (part 1 and part 2) tutorials. Some others that I've tried or plan to try are the Oliver + S kids reversible bucket hat pattern, the Oliver + S sunny day shorts pattern, the Brindille & Twig kids hoodie pattern, the Maria Denmark Kimono T-shirt pattern and the Delia Creates Headwrap bands tutorial. 

(my fabric stash, three years ago)

• Refold your fabric. The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of your belongings and get things straightening out. It may seem a bit drastic, but if you get a chance, why not get your entire fabric stash out and refold everything? Unless you have some kind of permanent set-up where everything is neatly arranged and always on view, taking everything out is bound to unearth something you had forgotten you owned. I'm going to get all Marie Kondo on you now, but by handling your fabric through the process of sorting and folding means you'll be more likely to connect with each piece and either remember what project it was originally intended for, or perhaps you'll receive a zap of new inspiration for what it should become. Plus, having everything neat and in order (at least for a short while!) can have a great impact on flagging sew-jo. 

(a fabulous fabric swap that took place in Brighton four years ago!)

• Hold or attend a fabric swap. Refolding your fabric will hopefully help you fall back in love with some of the pieces you've stashed, but finding some duds that you can't remember why you ever acquired in the first place is just as likely! You should find this second category of discovery almost as exciting as the first, because unwanted fabric, and sewing patterns for that matter, is currency. Find out if there is a sewing meet-up with a fabric/pattern swap going on that you can get to in the near future, and you can give the stuff that was languishing unloved a new loving home, whilst picking up something new-to-you that floats your boat. If you can't find anything already planned, why not try arranging a meet-up yourself? You'll probably make a heap of new sewing friends and have an ace time as well. 

• Selling out. If attending or organising a meet-up/fabric swap isn't possible, selling those unwanted pieces of fabric and sewing patterns will get some funds flowing and make space for more appealing replacements! Jen from My Make Do And Mend Life's fabulous Top 5 Tips on Sourcing Secondhand Fabric post gives great ideas for how you could sell, as well as acquire, pre-owned fabric. 

(my snappily-titled Refashioning Project Ideas Pinterest board)

• Refashioning, remaking and upcycling. Using existing clothing as the basis for sewing projects is not only a great option for cutting down on the environmental impact of making clothes, but it's also freaking cheap! Whether you plunder a charity shop/thrift store/op shop for your starting point, or merely the cupboards in your own bedroom, it's got to cost less than heading to a fabric shop for your next sewing project. I've been harping on here on this blog about reusing unwanted clothes for yonks, but I feel that last year's Refashioners challenge hosted by Makery really breathed new life into the whole concept. So. Much. Creative. Awesomeness. If you've ever fancied having a whirl at refashioning, but weren't sure where to start, the community Pinterest board for the 2015 Get Shirty Refashioners challenge is packed with amazingness that might get your creative juices flowing. My Refashioning Project Ideas Pinterest board is also chock full of all manner of upcycling ideas that I personally found inspiring. 

(image source)

• Let the cat out of the bag. This one might take a bit longer to bear fruit, but it could be a fantastic way to open yourself up to heaps of free sewing stuff. Often we keep our passion for sewing to ourselves, especially if we work in a non-creative environment, or we are (sadly!) mixing with people who we fear may think that sewing your own clothes is a bit of a weird thing to do. But by occasionally sharing the fact that you love to sew with people that normally you might not tell, you are more likely to benefit when they hear of someone who wants to get rid of their sewing stash. People don't generally want to throw something in the bin if it might be used and loved, so even if the relationship link is really tenuous, you could be the one to luck out if somebody has decided to stop sewing, or they are clearing out the belongings of a relative or something. By making sure people knew I like to sew, I once received an enormous stash of buttons that I will literally never be able to use up and some great pattern cutting books from my ex-boyfriend's grandma's friend. I never met this women, but I made sure to send her a thank you card! 

So tell me about you! Are you feeling fired up, creatively speaking, at this time of year? Are you waiting for a payday/paid invoice to get back to piercing-fabric-with-needles?! Do you have any ideas for cutting sewing costs whilst on a budget?

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!!!

(pants self-sufficiency: my greatest sewing achievement?)

So, 2015, how was yours? Mine seemed to fly by, and in many ways I'm pleased to see the back of it. However, I feel is was a real success, sewing-wise. Here were my highlights:

• Me-Made-May was bigger and more awesome than ever before! More people signed up to challenge themselves than any previous year, so that means awesome things for collectively developing better relationships with our handmade garments. As we all know, taking and sharing photographs of your outfits throughout May is NOT the what the challenge is all about, just the optional documentation of it, but as the most visible manifestation of the challenge, I found it interesting to note that participation via the Flickr board was down slightly this year, but Instagram was on FIRE with the #mmmay15 hashtag (and all the other hashtags that ended up being used!). In fact, the #mmmay15 hashtag clocked up over 13,000 on Instagram. That’s totally understandable of course, Instagram is sooo much easier to use than most sharing platforms, eh? MMMay also got some great non-handmade clothing community exposure too, most notably on the Huffington Post UK site, and hopefully we can build on that with even more next year. Which reminds me, I need to get a MMMay FAQ’s section up by next Spring.
• Sewing for me: Aside from failing at my aim to nail trouser fitting, sewing for myself went very well this year. For the first time ever, I experimented with making a plan of forth-coming projects, and actually stuck to it (I still have two projects to go). From that, my sailboat raincoat has been the garment that has seen the most use so far. Oh, and I also became pants self-sufficient this year.

(some of my favourite makes for Dolores from 2015)

• Sewing for Dolores: In 2014 I enjoyed sewing for Dolores more than sewing for myself. This year, it's been neck and neck. She has only just started to notice that she even wears clothes, let alone has an opinion on them, so it's been really fun to make whatever I like for her. I can use up small pieces of fabric, and use fabric that I love that I wouldn't wear myself. I can play with appliqués and embellishment, not worry too much about a perfect finish, and let's face it, small clothes look so cute! Taking part in the Kids Clothes Week challenges this year has been fabulous, and not surprisingly, the Upcycling edition was my favourite (explanation here and results here). 
• Releasing my Anya shoulder Bag pattern: I found working on and releasing my latest sewing pattern, the Anya shoulder bag pattern, soooo fulfilling, despite the massive amount of hard work that was required! Seeing the testers' versions trickle in was one of the most exciting events in 2015 for me. It's been so fun that I've already begun work on my next two patterns...

(the sewing bloggers Refashioners round up. image source: Makery) 

• The Refashioners: My goodness, the Refashioners challenge turned EPIC this year, didn't it?! So many sewing-blogger participants AND a community challenge that spawned some truly phenomenal shirt refashions. Fingers crossed, more sewers will consider making stuff from existing and unwanted garments rather than new fabric all the time, once they've seen all the amazing creativity that was on display. 

And 2016? I’m not going to make an extensive list of things to make and learn. I’m going to crack on with making whatever I want, using up my stash of fabric as much as possible, and making sure that each of my plans is likely to see years of wear. Of course I have many hopes and dreams for 2016 that are less directly related to sewing, but the only thing I will be making a commitment to myself to address is my sleep issues. As a long-time but intermittent insomniac, I have found that periods of bad sleep not only screw with your nighttime, but also effect pretty much every aspect of your daytime as well, which is really unfair! Your mood, your appetite, your energy levels, your patience,  your motivation, everything is so much harder, and it can feel so lonely when you're the only person in your household laying there awake. Again. Even though I know that there are probably hundreds of others experiencing sleep problems in the same town as me, let alone around the world.

Anyways, I wish you all a wonderful festive period, or at least a bloody good relax, whether or not you celebrate anything specific around this time of year. Thanks so much for reading my blog throughout 2015, and I promise more of the same for 2016! Love and best wishes to all xxx

Achieving a 'Sustainable Wardrobe'

(the nautical knot dress that now resides in the 'to refashion' pile)

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about, and working towards, a better functioning and more sustainable wardrobe. I once read a statistic that women generally wear 80% of their clothing 20% of the time, and 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. I reckon that many of us can relate to finding a large selection of clothes when we open our cupboards and drawers, but still we tend to put on the same handful of things again and again. I also read (possibly in this book) that women today own on average twice as many items of clothing as women did in the 1980s. Do women nowadays need twice as many clothes? I can't imagine so. I can't see that we have double the social or familial roles, for example, that may require so many more outfit options. I don't think that owning twice as many tops as our mums did at our age makes us happier, or makes it easier for us to get dressed in the morning.

These two statistics I mentioned above come to my mind a lot and feature greatly in the my personal definition of a 'sustainable wardrobe'. I want to reach a point where I wear 80% of my clothes 80% of the time! And for that to be possible, I'll probably need to pare down to an amount of garments that a 1980s lady would be more used to having (but NOT the styles!). So here's what a 'sustainable wardrobe' means to me, and how I plan to achieve these goals:

• Clearing out clothing that I definitely won't wear again

• Actually wearing the clothes that I like and that fits me

• Mending, altering and refitting the clothes that I like but I don't currently wear

• Choosing future sewing projects that will be worn regularly

(the nautical sundress that also now awaits the refashioning treatment)

Clearing out clothing that I definitely won't wear again:

This always sounds like it's going to be easy, doesn't it?! But it's amazing the emotional attachments we develop with our clothing, especially if we made the damn thing ourselves. When you've chosen the fabric, painstakingly cut everything out and stitched every single stitch yourself, the investment of time and money you put into that garment can make the ties very strong, even if we know that we're not going to wear it again. However, I've managed to be pretty brutal in this area recently. Admittedly, some of the stuff has gone to the half-way house of the refashioning/remaking pile if I think that the fabric can be salvaged for something else. 

I know that for some people, being surrounded by lots of stuff makes them feel secure, but for me it can feel claustrophobic. Having less stuff makes me feel unencumbered and freer to take advantage of whatever life may offer me, including on the very practical level of being able to move house/city/country easier if that is what I choose to do. 

I must also admit, that the concept of owning lots of 'stuff', including clothing, that you rarely use feels really uncomfortably 'hoard-y' and selfish to me. I can't help but associate a greedy, childish 'mine' kind of mentality to this behaviour that I feel is really damaging to society, as well as to the environment which cannot support the accelerated levels of manufacture required for the excessive acquisition of products. To donate my unworn, me-made clothing to charity shops (whether they are then deemed appropriate for resale so that others can buy and enjoy them, or if they then get sold on as rag to be shredded, processed and recycled), can be hard but also cleansing.

Actually wearing the clothes that I like and that fits me:

Thinking about going through what garments I have, finding new outfit combination to wear it in, and then actually wearing it, as part of sustainable approach to clothing dawned on me embarrassingly recently. I was getting caught up in what I didn't wear and what I might make to wear, and had somehow forgot to concentrate some attention to what I already have to wear. Wow, did I feel stupid!

I don't expect to able to wear 100% of my wardrobe 100% of the time. There is my wedding dress, some special occasion/fancy clothes, and some very seasonally-specific clothes that realistically have very limited usage. But everything else needs to worn semi-regularly to earn its keep. I recently started wearing my corazones rockabilly blouse (pictured above) more often, and it has received an insane amount of compliments at the playgroups! Not that my aim was to garner compliments, but of course it is nice!

Challenges like Me-Made-May are great for prodding us into wearing the (specifically, self-stitched) clothes that we have but often forget about. Bringing those practices into the rest of the year is what I'm trying to do now.

(the Mimi blouse that I recently made a little looser around the upper arms)

Mending, altering and refitting the clothes that I like but I don't currently wear:

This usually the most boring one, isn't it? My personal trick is to do one altering or mending task in between every 'started from scratch' sewing project. That's the only way I can rev up the motivation. Oh, that and by telling myself that I'm pleasing the Sewing Gods by fixing something that's a bit off. Then hopefully they will, in turn, bless me with a successful subsequent 'from scratch' sewing project!

It sounds perverse, doesn't it, to prefer to start a new sewing project, and invest all the time and effort that that will entail, rather than setting aside half an hour to fix something that I've already invested heaps of time and effort into? Tell me I'm not alone! It reminds me of a friend we had called Max back when we lived in Barcelona. She hated the flat she lived in and was always moaning about her flatmates. But she admitted that she would rather moved countries than find somewhere the other side of town and go to the effort of moving in to it.  

(the recently completed sailboat raincoat which I wore every day last week)

Choosing future sewing projects that will be worn regularly:

Possibly the most fun of all the aspects of creating a 'sustainable wardrobe', as I see it. I've already talked about my own personal sewing projects that I have a good idea will actually get worn in my nippy weather sewing plans post. As we get older, (hopefully) we get more of a sense of who we are and how we want to present ourselves to the world. And specifically to clothing, what we like to wear and what suits us (colours, silhouettes, fits, fabrics, textures, fibres) tends to 'stabilise' and not swing violently from one trend to another, or perhaps one subcultural identity to another. Obviously, people's taste continue to evolve, often in response to if not a reflection of popular culture. But slowly and occasionally adding to and updating a wardrobe with new pieces (shop-bought or self-made, or both) has got to be a more sustainable way to go about dressing than reinventing yourself every year or few months, as many teenagers (myself included!) are prone to do.

This isn't meant to come across as an attack on the youth, however! Learning who you are through the prism of how you dress is an essential phase that everyone must and should go through, I would argue. But having come out the other side of that experimental period, it makes planning sewing projects that are likely to get worn regularly much easier.


I would LOVE to know what your thoughts are on creating a 'sustainable wardrobe'. What would be your ideal selection of clothing? What motivations effect what you make/buy? How often do you purge the things you don't wear? Do you enjoy a large selection of clothes, or does it annoy you?