2017 sewing, Mostly Hits!

I have finally got round to reporting on my 2017 sewing!  It's taken a while, but I think it is an important thing to do, to look back to see what worked and what didn't.

I sewed 12 items to wear last year.  4 dresses, 6 tops,  a 2-piece jumpsuit, and my favourite item, and the most worn - my jeans!

I used a shorts pattern (Kwik Sew K3614) that I had altered to fit, and simply lengthened them into trousers.  I made them with a gorgeous black denim, from moresewing.co.uk.

I made 2 dresses for weddings:

I just love this bright red crepe fabric, again from moresewing.co.uk.  The pattern is Loretta Jewel Neck dress by Simple Sew.  This is the second Loretta Jewel dress I have made.  It came free with a magazine, and says it is for beginners.  I am not so sure about that!  I needed a lot of help to alter the pattern to get it to fit right.

The second one is a Tiramisu, by Cake Patterns.   I really like this pattern,  this is my second Tiramisu, and I will probably make it again.  This lovely bright fresh fabric, (again from More Sewing) gives it a summery look. 

I made a maxi dress to take on holiday to Sardinia.  The pattern is New Look 6230.  It feels really nice to wear, and look how colourful this fabric is! Another More Sewing purchase!  It's great with a tan!

Other successes include a black and white jumpsuit, which is in fact a two-piece, t-shirt and trousers. I love wearing this and always get compliments!  The only problem is that the fabric was very cheap, and does not have good recovery.  I might have to take it in for wearing this summer. 

Finally, here's a picture of my 'Christmas' top.  I decided this year to make a top to go with black trousers.  I meant to make the trousers, but ran out of time, so had to buy some.  This is a Katherine Tilton pattern for Butterick, B6325.  I love the collar detail - the little pleats make it looked 'puffed', and the side detail, which unfortunately is a bit lost in the pattern of the fabric.  It is very loose fitting, which I am not sure really suits me, but I did love wearing it!

I didn't have any complete misses, just a couple of items I made from cheap fabric that didn't drape or recover well.  I go to sewing classes at More Sewing, where Laura the owner and teacher, helps with fitting and techniques to make sure that we don't get any compete misses!  

Slow Fashion - Top 5

Having read a few books on the subject of 'Slow Fashion', I became quite concerned at the amount of Fast Fashion consumed, not only for the cost to the planet of using up resources, pollution and adding to greenhouse gases, and therefore climate change, but also the poor conditions of the workers.  I started looking at labels in my clothes to see where they were made - India, Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan.   It didn't seem to matter whether they were bought from Primark or Marks and Spencer, our clothes are now mostly made in third world countries with very much third world working conditions. 

This got me wondering what I could do as an individual.  I decided to have a year of not buying any new clothes.  It was quite an adventure!  I have been sewing my own clothes for a few years now, and this year had enough 'me-made' items to properly join in with 'Me-Made May'.  Here's my blog post about it.  But I had not really ventured into buying second hand clothes much before.   I am not much of a 'rummager', I find it a bit embarrassing!

However, with the plethora of charity shops locally, I gave it a go and had some successful buying trips.   Notably, this coat.  It is an Eastex coat, and hardly worn.  It is lovely quality wool, and very comfortable to wear.  It cost me £10, just in time to wear to a day out in London in March.

 Other successes include jeans that fit!  These jeans have not got a label in them, so I am assuming they would have been quite cheap brand new.  I wear them all the time!  This jacket was an ebay purchase and I added the embroideries as embellishment to try to bring it up to date.

I wore this combo of cream trousers and top a lot in the summer.  I really love this top! 

I bought this orange t-shirt because I loved the colours.  I altered it as it had elastic around the hem which I didn't like.  It means that the t-shirt is a little short, but I still wore it a lot in the summer.  Here it is with some black linen trousers that I previously bought from a charity shop and altered to fit.

I did buy new shoes and boots, a new handbag, and new underwear.  I am sure I could find shoes and boots in charity shops, but I am not too sure about wearing second hand shoes yet!  I have noticed lots of handbags for sale, but they tend to be rather old fashioned.  I also must confess to buying a couple of new items - a brand new faux leather jacket (because I love the look!) and some new black trousers to wear at Christmas (because I didn't have time to make trousers to go with the top I made)

I would like to carry on not buying new clothes, but I don't think I will be so fastidious about it in the future, although I must admit that I am out of the habit of shopping for new clothes now!

My goal originally was to learn about global warming and climate change.  But I found that it was such a big subject that I didn't know where to start!  By starting with learning about the fashion industry, and Slow Fashion, I am inspired to live a more sustainable lifestyle in more areas of my life.  My goal for 2018 is to reduce the amount of plastic that I use.

I will be back to show you my Top 5 makes soon!