Category: sewing plans

Cielo – Make Nine 2021

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Well this is a first! I’ve made one of my first Make Nine projects and that is the Closet Core Cielo Top within a week of publishing my #makenine2021 plans!

I went with option B and used fabric that I bought from Sister Mintaka.

The fabric is Viscose Twill and is a wonderful medium-light weight and features illustrations of famous mid century architecture. It’s now (no surprise!) Sold out. It does come in a white version aswell but I think it’s all gone unfortunately!

Both absolutely stunning 🤩

It’s lovely to work with and it really suits the Cielo Top.

The Cielo top is part of the Rome Collection from Closet Core Patterns. The Pietra Trousers and the Fiore Skirt also are part of this collection.

Closet Core patterns now have a bigger size and it comes in two size brackets, 0-20 and 14-30. It’s more inclusive size wise.

The Cielo is the second pattern I’ve tried from the new size range and again I’m really happy with the results. I recently did Elodie Wrap Dress which was the first. I’m hoping to try the new Kalle Shirt which was re-released in 14-30 size, earlier in 2020.

The Elodie Wrap Dress in Viscose from Minerva as part of a Blog post.

Closet Core patterns have great instructions and it was quite easy to follow them.

I love the fit on this top. I graded from a 22 bust to a 28 hip. I used the size 22 sleeve. This top really suits this twill.

I’m already thinking of trying version A and C once I’ve got a few other make nine projects under my belt.

So yes, I’m super happy with the result and looking forward to matching some of my fabrics from the stash with future Cielos!

Thank you for reading, happy sewing and Stay Safe xx

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 …

 

 

 

More Change!

Published on by Emma_Ciarrocca2 Comments

Yeap you saw it!

It’s official, this blog is now http://www.sewdoitemma.com

I’ve been thinking about going for it for a while and have finally taken the crunch!

Also it’s my first day of my fabric buying hiatus! It gone well so far. I’ve put my time into doing this domain, house stuff and walking the dog.

In my head I’ve got hundreds of ideas with what fabric from my collection should go with what project/pattern. Sure, they’ll be limits because of meterage/yardage or what type of fabric but I’m going to start to try and categorically organise them.

This has been on the cards for ages but it’s not going to be easy with the amount of fabric I do have.

First of all, I think I’m going to set fabrics and patterns that are in my make nine.

Next I’m going to take all the fabrics out of the small Billy’s then (or maybe do a shelf at a time) measure, photograph and record each piece. Either spreadsheet it first and then add it on the Cora App, which I’ve had for yonks and not really made use of it.

Once I’ve done the fabrics, I think I’m going to go through my big four patterns as I bet there’s patterns I’ve forgot about and have either doubled with a newer style or no longer “has that sparkle”. This could be another fabric destash as well but we’ll come to that bridge when it happens!

This is going to be a long process for me as I am planning to sew a few things, some with deadlines and also I’ve got things that I need to do around the house (boo, hiss).

Ok this is quite a ramble but it’s kinda good to put it out there and then you can see the difference when it’s done.

Speak soon with hopefully some new makes!

Happy sewing 🧵

The Moneta Obsession

Published on by Emma_Ciarrocca1 Comment

Currently I’m sewing up a line of Colette’s Moneta Dress … you could say I’m obsessed (the title gives that one away!).

It all started with seeing the Moneta Party on IG way back when I first got the itch to stitch. It’s only take me a couple of years to summon up the courage to thread up the overlocker and have a go of this Jersey malarkey.

Here’s a Summery of my dresses so far!

Moneta 1

Fabric: John Lewis – dark green and black

Sleeves – short length

First trip out was at Tantallon Castle!

Moneta 2

Fabric: Fabric Focus, Mustard and grey knots

Sleeves – 3/4 length

Shortened bodice length and slightly shorter skirt

Made it up for #OWOP18

My mustard snag tights match up perfectly with this version!

Moneta 3 –

Fabric: Fabric Focus

Hack – scoop back

Sleeves: 3/4 length

Wore to a friends exhibit opening night!

Moneta 4

Fabric: Fabric Focus, Sage green with floral design.

Hack – scoop back

Have to re do front bodice due to overlocker punching a hole in it 🤬

Sleeves– 3/4 sleeves

Date night with the bestie for this one!

Well that’s four so far and there’s at least another four to be sewn including a Christmas one, so watch this space and IG for more to come with other hacks (I love the scoop back hack!).

Also I am going to put a couple of other stretch/Jersey pieces in between now and the rest of the Moneta’s so you don’t think I’m a one-trick Moneta! I’ll be talking about my next few projects in my make nine 2019 post soon!

My Make Nine 2018: 6 Month Review

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I’m going to be quite truthful here,  I’ve only made one of my make nine patterns but I have made two dress out of the same pattern (although one is not quite finished).

To be quite frank, I’m not that great at sticking to plans.  Reason: Maybe there’s too much being released and I want to deviate (LOADS!!) away from a structured plan.

But I have progress in other patterns … Hoooraahhhh!

I’m in the midst of doing two Vogue 9075 (view a), one in crepe and the other in cotton lawn.

I’ve still got to finish a McCalls 7536 (the burgandy rose fabric) but I’ve completed a McCalls 7582 and a McCalls 7381.

After these I’m probably going to do a wrap dress in a stretch fabric which I got from Sewisfaction.

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And then the Colette “Moneta”.

Mind you, I’ve had the colette “Moneta” pattern for yonks and the material, so maybe I should do that first – but before I make a plan, I’ll probably do both at the same time – well, can you blame me?

Oh yeah and then add all the wonderful fabrics I’ve got recently to the table …

Whilst in town on the Edinburgh Frocktail poster and prize mission, I picked up a few fabrics from The Dress Fabric Company, Bruntsfield.  Eh, It was a sale, so how could I resist?  The Edinburgh Fabrics had a lovely Tiger print on black, which I think @sew_sleep_deprived is in awe of.  Also I picked some gorgeous Viscose Lawn from Dragonfly Fabrics online as well as a lovely crepe with birds on it from Fabric Focus.

Yeah, you can pretty much say I have truly fallen of the “self fabric ban” wagon and landed in the muddiest puddle known.  Oooooops!

Another conclusion to this post is that you can say if I do make nine it won’t be the original nine as posted earlier in this year – that shouldn’t be a surprise!

That’s all for now, happy stitching!

Emma

 

 

My Sewing Room

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Having “had” to sew in living room because of my lack of tidying up mojo of the sewing room this week I’ve been focusing trying to find the floor of it.

I had a great idea last year to wash all of my fabrics, iron, fold away whilst measuring and recording them. It was such a monumental task, it all became quite overwhelming to dealt with. It was all very well in idea form but when you decide to get a puppy all things and plans go out of the window. I’m not blaming the puppy nor myself here, I’m simply addressing the matter that I took too much on and something had to give.

Move on 4 months and I finally can sneak up to the sewing room and finally get to grips with the hoarding of fabrics and goodness knows what else! Don’t think for one second did the puppy stop me from buying fabric nor the billion bags of fabric already up in the S.R. Ha!

I’m seeing a clear path now. It’s looking pretty organised now. There’s a plan to go through all the magazines and pull out projects that I might get round to. I’m going to be stopping my magazine subscriptions as I’m finding I just don’t have the time to read them just now and feel I can keep up to date with other methods. Plus I’ve got to keep the momentum up with my make nine and need space to concentrate on that!

Here’s some photos of the progress so far – sorry don’t have any “before photos” but just imagine lots of bags on the floor!

Loom there's a Floor! Just a couple of pieces ... Ohhh more fabric...And more fabric!Even got the overlocker out of it box 📦 (finally!!)<<<<
ks for popping by!

Happy Sewing xx

Sewing Plans: My #MakeNine2018 Choices

Published on by Emma_Ciarrocca6 Comments

DRUMROLL PLEASE …

So, it’s taken me until now to get my shit together.  Yeah I know I’m already slipping!

However, rather than ramble on anymore to delay it even further here are my choices for #MakeNine2018 …

1.  Cleo – Tilly and the Buttons (TATB)

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Cleo by TATB

2.  McCalls Top 7360

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McCalls 7360

3.  Seamwork’s Mesa

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Seamwork’s Mesa Dress

4. Penny Dress By Colette

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The Penny Dress by Colette

5. Toaster – Sew House 7

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The Toaster by Sew House Seven

6. McCalls 7536 Dress

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McCall’s 7536

7.  Colette’s Moneta

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Colette’s Moneta

8.  The Washi Dress – Made by Rae

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The Washi Dress – Made by Rae

9. The Scout Tee by Grainline Studio

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Grainline Studio’s Scout Tee

I’ll be able to match them up with Fabric without purchasing anything new.  Most of the patterns I’ve also got.  You may know That I’ve already sewn a Cleo and the McCalls 7536 but definitely attempting another of both!

Once I’ve dug out my fabric choices, I’ll do another post.

Here’s a sneak peak of my 2018 Sewing BuJo too, which I’ll leave you with!

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My #MakeNine2018 in my #SewingBuJo

 

Thanks for visiting!

Emma

 

Sew what’s ahead?

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So it’s the first of January and we’ve all made these new year resolutions, right?

I haven’t. Yesterday I made a pact with myself not to set massive goal posts that I simply can’t fill. Instead I’ve decided to make a promise to myself to look after me.

Last year we had two massive and devastating blows when cancer told hold of both our mothers and they past away. Both gave it there all to fight the horrible disease but unfortunately there was no miracle in both situations. Cancer sucks big time, right?

Life has been somewhat mental as we went all in and got an adorable puppy, who’s now five months. Adorable but mischievous and a boundless amount of springer energy!

Sewing has definitely taken a step back as I’m trying to really have the almighty clear out of possessions that I no longer need nor remember that they existed. It’s going to take a few charity runs but at the end of it less clutter in the house.

I’ve been trying to get my sewing room in order, but ever since I did a massive “wash all my fabric” it’s been sitting in bags waiting to be ironed, folded back into board and put away. Of course I want to take a photo and enter it into my Cora app and that takes up more time.

That being said sewing hasn’t ceased altogether. I’ll be back at my Monday class, which I enjoy immensely. Not just seeing but socially too. Abi is a great teacher and keeps me right! I’ll probably finish the coat mum started for me but never managed to finish. Hopefully I’ll make a good job and I’ll get some wear out of before the weather gets warmer (here’s wishing!).

I don’t think I’ll be putting myself in for #sewmystyle this year but I’ll try #makenine2018. I’m trying to narrow things down so I can actually finish challenges! So I’m just doing #makenine this year and trying to think carefully at which patterns I’m going for as I’m definitely aiming to step onto different garments but I do love a dress! Really want to add a couple of tops, jackets, skirts to the handmade wardrobe, maybe even jeans before the year is out.

So in order to do this, I’m going to carefully sieve through my pattern collection and see what I’ve got and try and make use of the fabrics I’ve got (boy there’s a lot!) and that can some make space in my sewing room. Don’t worry I’ll put my selection into another blog and Instagram it!

Having the journal last year was enjoyable but I overspent in time on it. This year is going to be basic and more to the point. It will still have the illustrations and the doodles but I’ll be looking at what worked for me and what didn’t.

Another thing that I want to start using is my fabric cards. I’d just like to see what I’ve used and what I’ve got as a record (perhaps it’s double the work as I’ve got the Cora app but having a swatch of fabric is slightly different than just a photo).

Not sure if I’ve missed anything in my sewing plans for 2018, but I’m sure you guys will keep me right!

I hope you all have a full on sewing and Fun filled 2018!

Till next time x