Category: me made 2019

The many faces of Moneta

Published on by Emma_Ciarrocca5 Comments

So you might gather I’m quite a sucker for the “Moneta” by Colette Patterns and the fact that it’s been a few months since I’ve last wrote a blog post, would be too good an opportunity to miss to give the wee blog a bit of a boost!

So in no order here’s my “Moneta Collection”

🧵Fabric from Pin & Sew

🧵Hacked neckline and sleeves from Seamwork Alice and added a polo neck!

🧵Fabric from the Edinburgh Dress Fabric Company

🧵Hack – scoop back

🧵The Moneta that started it all!

🧵Fabric from John Lewis

🧵Fabric from Fabric Focus

🧵First scoop back hack

🧵The Scoop back with petal sleeves dress

🧵Fabric bought from Fabricate Mirfield

🧵Made it for my 39th Birthday

🧵Fabric from Sewisfaction

🧵Scoop back – ooo er.

🧵Made this for going out to dinner for our 10th Wedding Anniversary

🧵Fabric from Fabric Focus

🧵Scoop back hack

🧵Fabric from Holm Sown

🧵My Christmas Day 2018 dress

🧵Fabric from Fabric Focus

🧵Scoop back & 3/4 length sleeves (must be my favourite combo)!

Would it surprise you if there a few others that are works in progress? Once they are completed, I’ll share them on Instagram @sewdoitemma.

Ok, well hopefully it won’t be as long as last time until I write a blog, but until then … see you soon!

Seamwork’s Skipper Sweater

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This Liberty fabric has been sitting in my stash for a wee while now. I knew it was going to be a sweater but was unsure which pattern I was going to go for.  I think originally it was going to be a SH7’s Toaster but changed it for the Seamwork’s Skipper purely because it was going to be in my size range for hips.

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Seamwork’s Skipper
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Sew House Seven’s Toaster
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“Heketh” (Snowdrop) Liberty Sweatshirt Fabric

The fabric was bought online from @FabricsGalore a while ago and now is no longer stocked (sorry!) although you might be lucky and see if eBay has it.  I bought 1.5m of it, it was £11.00 per half a meter, so not cheap.  Although the pattern asked for 1.7 for my sizing, I managed to get all the pattern pieces out of the piece of fabric – PHEW!

The humble snowdrop – Galanthus nivalis is my birth month flower (January) and I always look out it at this time of year, so this jumper will always fill me with joy.  When I was born, the snowdrops in my Gran’s garden came up and my gran always referred to me as “Granny’s little snowdrop” even when I was thirty!

“Already now the snowdrop dares appear,
The first pale blossom of th’unripen’d year”

Anna Laetitia Barbauld, “The Snowdrop” (1835)

My Gran & Grandad lived up in the Cairngorms, so any school holiday we (Mum, my Brother and I) were up walking, orienteering, ski-ing (both cross-country and down-hill!) and get our bit of fresh mountain air, not forgetting engulfing ourselves with Gran’s fudge and gingerbread cake and listening to Grandad’s tales of Billy Gruffs and Trolls!

Right, better skip back to Skipper.

Cutting the pattern out was really straight forward. I graded it from a 20-22 bust & waist to a 24-26 hips as i didn’t want the top bit to be too big.  I left the pocket out as I thought that the busiest of the fabric pattern would be spoilt.

Constructing the pieces was a dream and this was my first sweater pattern, so was super surprised how well I coped. I found Cheryl from Stitchy Bee’s tutorial a real help doing the neckline.  It’s also a really good vlog on how different materials look different in the same sweater pattern (Cheryl used Grainline’s Linden).

So hear it is …

 

 

 

Simplicity 8262 Coat AKA “ONE OF A KIND”

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It’s taken a little over a year and half for this make. It’s made up of a heck of raw emotion plus skill since my Mum started making it for me but never got the chance to finish it because cancer decided to take hold on her (f£&* cancer in every form).

The coat itself is made of Harris Tweed bought from Fabric Focus alongside the silver paisley lining.

Kevin, the owner of fabric focus has been eager for me to finish the coat but understood how emotional the make was. He always asked when I was going to finish it, very gently pushing me to do it!

Sometimes I felt like working on the coat and sometimes not. When it got close to her Birthdays, Anniversary of her passing or Mother’s Day, I just had to put the coat down and only started working on it when I felt I could. It’s a bit like counselling (not that I’ve managed to go, nor feel quite ready for) but I know I’m working with mum on this on each step.

It’s quite nice finishing it now just before this year’s “Mother’s Day”.

Mum did most of the tacking (thank *%&@!) I hate tacking, I know it does wonders but I still actually hate doing it.

Bagging the outer and the lining literally to played tricks on my mind but wanted a neat finish. Making sure that the outer and the lining were all level was time consuming but boy does it pay off!

I don’t think finishing this coat would’ve been possible with the helpful tips and excellent guidance that I received from Abi, sewing teacher to both my mum and I, so thank you Abi for helping me on this journey.

By adding little details such as the Kylie and the Machine “one of a kind” and Harris Tweed labels it really finishes it off.  Also “One of a Kind” kinda puts a nice touch on the memory of my mum.

Not to forget to mention the beautiful frogs that make that statement piece, also sourced from Fabric Focus.

So here it is, in all its glory!

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But it’s not Moneta, it’s …

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Myrtle Dress by Colette Patterns!

Yes I finally cracked my Moneta obsession, don’t worry there’s plenty more of them coming with hacks but for the moment I’m trying out different patterns and I have a few exciting things that are happening but I can’t tell quite yet!

Ok, lets talk Myrtle:

Do I like and will I use the pattern again, if so will I make any changes?

I love it, especially the cowl neck feature.  I’d definitely use the pattern again but I would shorten the shoulders to avoid the embarrassment of showing of my assets too much!

Where did I get the fabric from?

I bought the lovely viscose jersey from fabric focus this winter, unfortunately for you I took the last 3.5 meters (sorry but not sorry) in fact, originally i bought 2,5 meters realised I didn’t have enough and the luckily there was 1 metre left when i went back to the shop – phew!

Myrtle needs quite a drapey jersey and lightweight I’d say and for me it was a good skill builder. This was the first time I did a cowl neck and used the main fabric for a lining on the front and encased elastic in the skirt.

For a quick make, once you’ve done it once it makes sense.

Ok here’s the fun part – PHOTOS … Hooray!

Now, where I’m I going to fit in time to do a woven version in this pattern? I love how this pattern is versatile like this!