It's Tuesday and I'm blogging!

I've only been at work for two days, and short days at that but I feel exhausted! However, I vowed I would blog, so I'm blogging.

I thought I would catch up on some unblogged things I'd made since I last visited these cybershores so first up is a tunic I made but don't like. I had a soft, pale blue duvet cover that hadn't been used much and didn't fit my usual duvet so, excited by the huge bits of fabric duvet covers are made from, I cut it up. One of my daughters bought me a lovely tunic from Fat Face a couple of years ago which I wear a lot and the idea was to go for something similar and if it didn't work well, hey, it was only a duvet cover.

This is what it looked like when I first finished it- before alterations



It didn't work. Well not completely or maybe just not for me. I used New Look 6962 and I've seen some great versions of it on Sewing Pattern Review but I don't think it's quite me.

I thought there was far too much width in the skirt and in the sleeves so I ran them both in quite a bit.

Better but no cigar

After reducing the width in the skirt and sleeves

 Then I did a bit of fancy stitching running stitch with some 4 ply knitting yarn around the neckline. I quite like that bit actually!

Not perfectly even, I know, but I like the effect anyway.

Don't look too closely.

I've worn it a few times- it's very comfortable- but I don't think I'll be wearing it out of the house unless I'm wearing a concealing cardigan over it. Maybe if I got rid of that little tie.... maybe if I took the elastic out and let it hang straight.... maybe if I wore a different bra.... ah, never mind, it's just a duvet cover.

New Year, same old same old

I was so determined to be a regular blogger but my last post (and I'm hearing a bugle at this point) was last July. Oh dear. Maybe regular blogging needs to be added to my list of unrealistic and unachievable resolutions. I do make them- last year I was definitely going to make more of the Burda World of Fashion magazines and do more sewing with a plan and waste less time and finish things I started and so on and so on...............
This year I decided I would:

1. Not buy any clothes, except that I had to return a gift to Marks and Spencer and the credit note coincided with their January sale and I spent the credit note and £30 more. So I promise I will not buy any clothes FROM NOW ON. The only exceptions are underwear due to size change, holiday items like a sunhat for a trip to Africa (yes, really!) and clothes for any special occasions that I don't have time to plan for (weddings, funerals etc.)

2. Make one thing a month from the Burda magazines. This may not happen.

3. Not buy any fabric. I have over 200 metres of fabric in the house- in fact probably more like 250 metres and quite a lot of it I actually like. I could easily clothe myself for any eventuality for the next 20 years.

4. Not buy any patterns. This will be a tough one but I buy far more patterns than I actually use (only ever in the sale though). Maybe I'll allow myself 7 patterns in the summer sale (I buy in 7s as the postage on the Vogue site is so weird- eight patterns are much, much more expensive to post to the UK than seven apparently). Also the Simplicity and New Look patterns that are sold off for £1 each without their envelopes at my local fabric store. That's just pocket money treats isn't it?!

5. Blog every week, let's say on a Tuesday.

I was hoping to get a lot more sewing done than I did over Christmas. In fact I didn't make any clothes at all but I did have a fun time making a quilt for my new expected grandson. I haven't done any quilt making in ages and I enjoyed picking a pattern, choosing the fabrics and then setting up the assembly line and putting the quilt top together. I've hesitated at the quilting part though. It started quite well but I'm doing it by hand (first time) and it's BORING! It's only small so I should be able to finish it by March 1st (due date) but I think I'm going to have to set myself incentives to finish it ("just quilt around this square and you can have half an hour sorting through patterns/ a cup of tea...")

Outfit1 

Before Christmas, I was busy sewing dolls' clothes. I really enjoyed that actually! A child of my acquaintance was getting two Les Cheries dolls for Christmas but the additional clothes to go with them are horrendously expensive- they cost as much as the dolls in fact- so I spent a week or so knitting and sewing some outfits out of scraps. They seemed to be well received but I was enjoying myself so much that I nearly had to buy one of the dolls for myself so I could carry on making dolls' clothes!

I've just spent valuable time (I'm supposed to be working) uploading photos of the dolls' clothes but when I try to add them, there's a very annoying Google screen asking me to sign in and then refusing to let me. Very frustrating. I'll try and add photos when I have the patience to work out what the hell is going on and why I shouldn't just move to Wordpress or something similar. All I want to do is add an image! Not rocket science is it?!

Well.... I managed to upload the pictures but what a faff... and why can't you put them where you want to???

Outfit 2

Outfit 3

Outfit 4

I have to go back to work tomorrow. I don't want to. Every fibre of my being is rebelling against it. I want to be at home, in my room of loveliness (the sewing room), not talking, not smiling and trying as much as possible not to think. I don't think I'm the only one who finds Christmas and the New Year crushingly depressing. The expectations are so high. Every action, conversation, minute is loaded with an emotional intensity that other moments in the year don't have. Everything somehow counts. Every bad experience you ever had at Christmas comes flooding back to stamp on you and every good one you had you mourn as well, as you're not having it any more.  I love seeing friends and family but mostly not for long and not all at once. My instinct at this time of year is to hibernate. To shut myself up in the house with plenty to keep me occupied of a domestic nature. I want to be making things to clad myself in to fortify myself against the cold (actually it's not very cold just now) and to fill the house with the smells of baking bread and hearty stews. I want to curl up with a novel or tackle the mending pile. I don't want to be asked a hundred times how my Christmas was and smile and say something funny in response. I don't want to join the stream of commuters, one to a car, in the morning grind. I don't want to think about the many years left that I have to do it for. I definitely don't want to think about that.

Just now, it's hard to be optimistic about 2013. There are many emotional tripwires already poised buy hey, I have resolutions! It may feel as dark as dark could be but at least I might make something out of a Burda magazine! Yeah right......