April Sewing Plans!

 

Ah, finally Spring is here...well, sort of. In any case, April is here, and that brings some new sewing challenges and plans!

I finished my yellow dress I had planned on making in March, even if I used a yellow cotton poly rather than the yellow linen I'd originally intended - I'll be sharing more on that soon. 

This month's online challenge is the #SewAprilBlouse25 one on IG, hosted by @sewn-on-the-tyne and @Cloth_Edit I was planning on making some blouses/tops this spring so I guess the time is now.

They have lots of fun prizes and the goal is to sew a blouse - definition on their IG account - here is what I am thinking. I'd like to make both of these but if I get one done I'll be happy! 

I also want to work on fitting the Hinterland Dress as part of the design course I signed up for with Sew Liberated - I'd like to have the bodice fitted and a muslin made this month. 

And finally, we have the next round of the Literary Sewing Circle coming up! I will be announcing our new title this Friday... look forward to some wonderful Canadian fiction this time around. 

Weekend Review: Colours in her Hands

 

Colours in her Hands / Alice Zorn
Calgary, AB: Freehand Books, c2024.
350 p.

This was an intriguing book that I liked for a number of reasons. There's embroidery, there's Montreal, dance, colour and family drama. 

Mina is close to 30 - she lives independently although she has Down's Syndrome. Her slightly older brother Bruno is her legal caretaker, and this responsibility is something he takes very seriously, making sure he is always available when Mina (or her social workers) have an issue - which is often. His girlfriend Gabriela loves Mina, but Bruno's refusal to have a child because of his responsibilities is driving them apart at the beginning of the book. After Gabriela leaves him, he meets Iris, a clothing designer who had come across Mina in a park and discovered her artistic talents. 

Mina "knits" - it's really embroidery, but Mina calls it knitting. It seems to come naturally to her; the colours speak to her and she just knows what to put together. It's an emotional connection. When Iris discovers that Mina has bags full of her embroideries, she sees fame and fortune ahead -- this outsider textile artist needs to be known. But this goal seems to exclude her telling Bruno or even Mina herself about her plans. 

These stories swirl around each other, and include Bruno's work as a prop designer for a small theatre as well as some other side stories. There are questions of how well two people know each other, what kinds of things are revealed or kept secret, and of course ethical questions arise around art and ownership and who has the right to share things. 

The book is fascinating, and Mina's character is strong and compelling (the author says she was inspired by her own sister-in-law). But I did find there was a lot of extra stuff going on that made the book maybe a bit longer than needed. And the ending was a bit off for me; there was a character introduced near the end who had a problematic relationship with Mina and that was never resolved. 

But I did find this so different from anything I've read lately, and it was full of art and music and people who live intense lives and care about things. I'm not sure I really liked any of the characters much, but I enjoyed a lot about this story, and loved the descriptions of Mina and her "colours" as well as Iris' sewing. Other stitchers will understand! 

New Fabrics & Projects!

I've been doing okay with not buying much new fabric this year so far. But I had some gift certificates from Christmas to use up, so this week I had a bit of a splash out at Fabricland!

There were a couple of rayon fabrics I had been keeping my eye on, and they were on sale this week. Unfortunately when I held one of them up I realized the pattern had a definite stripe to it, which I didn't like. But the other one, a geometric 80s style print, was great. I bought 2 m. and am thinking about making a big 80s blouse of this one ;) It has all the colours of my wardrobe palette in it, so hopefully it will match most of my current wardrobe!

But as I was busily getting this rayon cut, and talking to the clerk, my husband was wandering around -- and suddenly appeared with a bolt of this fabulous cotton. If you look closely at it you'll understand why I had to buy some immediately! Not sure what I'll do with it yet but I love a novelty print!

Meanwhile, counterbalancing this impulsive purchase is the current project I've just cut out. As you might note, there are some large pieces here; I've cut it out of a thrifted sheet and hope it all works out....... I'll keep it a mystery until it's ready to share, but so far it looks hopeful that I'll have it done in a few days. 

So a little in and a little out. This month has landed me more on the "IN" side but I should be able to get back on track next month and get some fabric "OUT" of the stash as well. I'm hoping to avoid a fabriclanche in the sewing room ;) 

Small Mends

Do you ever have small mending projects to do that you avoid for months and then realize you can do them in about ten minutes? I did two of those kind of projects this weekend!

First off there was a corduroy shirt that my husband wanted me to fix somehow - one elbow had gotten so thin that it just tore one day. It was way too big of a tear and the fabric too worn out to patch. So, because it was such a lightweight fabric, he wondered if I could just make it short sleeved. Of course! Eight months later, this project was done in about ten minutes start to finish. 

I used one of his other shirts to find the right length for the sleeve. Fortunately there was enough fabric above the tear to make it his preferred length. I just added a 1 inch hem and cut it. Then of course I had to cut the other sleeve the same way - can't have a one sleeved shirt! I just pressed the hem under and stitched it down. I didn't have any matching thread as I don't sew in tans or browns for myself, so just used a brownish grey that I had in my greys. It worked out fine! Now that is complete and off my mending pile. 

The next one was really more of a little fix than a mend. I made a Burda dress from green linen last year, and found that I didn't wear it because I felt like the bust darts were too pointy and this fabric is hard to press, it doesn't like to lie flat. So I unpicked the side seams from about an inch above to 4 inches below the dart, unpicked the dart and just gathered the fabric uptake into the side seam. There are more visible gathers at the seam than I'd like but it's under my arm so not too obvious. 

This now allows the dart uptake to be spread out over that area, but there is no pulling or poky dart ends in sight. It has taken a few steam presses to get the dart lines out of the fabric but I think I will be more likely to pull this one on now. I'm happy with it - it's a "good enough" fix. I'm really trying to get some of those longstanding projects off the pile!

Weekend Review: Connecting with Nature

Connecting with Nature / Tilly Rose
Tunbridge Wells, UK: Search Press, c2025.
128 p.

This book is a little different from the previous stitching books I've mentioned this month. It's more of a mixed media approach to craft. Tilly Rose is an artist from the UK, and this book reflects what I think of as the English aesthetic when it comes to stitching. Lots of ephemera and things in states of what looks like disrepair - a shabby chic effect overall. 

This particular book is organized around the seasons. She starts out with some basics on botanical dyes and paints (including how to forage responsibly), and shares tips on weaving and slow stitching. Then the book moves into chapters on Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. There are 2 or 3 projects in each chapter, featuring varied techniques. 

From the aforementioned botanical dyes to cyanotypes, flower pressing, slow stitching, floral mandalas, or weaving with natural materials, each one takes a little bit of a different approach to creating nature based projects. Because you're using materials like this, a lot of the projects will be ephemeral ones. Although she does give advice on how to get the bugs out of the sticks or reeds you might want to use... 

There are some interesting ideas here, even if this book as a whole is a little too earth mother for my own aesthetic purposes. I liked the dyeing chapter, some new to me bits there, and the stitched blessing is a lovely touch, even if I would leave off the attached twigs and bits myself. 

You might find this a nice one to look through, especially if you enjoy bringing nature and all types of flora into your work. But if you're looking for anything sleek and modern, this won't do it for you. 

Design: The Hinterland Dress

As part of my Word of the Year choice for 2025 - Design - I decided to take a class that would help me with my pattern design skills! I signed up for the Creative Hinterland course with Sew Liberated back during her big January sale. I have finally begun it!

I traced off the pattern and am now making adjustments to the bodice. I'll make a muslin of this one to make sure I get the bodice fit right, since all the rest of the class really depends on getting the basic fit right to begin with. 

I've watched all the intro videos (quite calming, really) and am planning to get my first Hinterland dress made according to the pattern to test out all the fit and process issues. Then I will start watching and following the pattern adjustments for all the many variations they teach in this class. There are lots of changes to make for really different looks, starting with easy and moving up in complexity as you go. 

I've been wanting to do this for a while so finally jumped this year. Even if every time I hear "Hinterland" I don't go right to the dress - I immediately think of this: 

Fellow Canadians will understand! 

I will be sharing my adventures in this class as I go this year. One big Design challenge for me!

Thrift Store Scores

As regular readers here might already know, I love thrifting. I have always enjoyed it - but it's not just that I am cheap, I also love keeping fabrics, patterns and notions in use, so they don't end up wasted in landfill somewhere. 

I haven't been doing as much thrifting over the last while, partly because the weather for the first couple of months of this year was so dreadful I wasn't going anywhere - and partly because I am trying to sew from stash first. 

But I did end up doing some shopping this month! These are the fabric treasures I've found recently. Some black broadcloth right at the bottom (always useful), some silky  linings that I adore, a synthetic checkerboard print, some yellow cotton, a pillowcase with an interesting print, and a couple of fat quarters of quilting cotton. It's a wide variety and we'll see if I use any of it up soon. I enjoy finding interesting options while thrifting, especially odd prints that are more unusual. 

I also picked up a couple of older patterns, one of my favourite things to collect. I am particularly drawn to the white blouse in the Butterick pattern. Lots of interesting details in both though! I always seem to gather more than I can reasonably use but it is awfully entertaining 😀