Today one year ago I started sewing garments! Hooray!
For your amusement, I’m adding a few behind the scene photos to this post. đ
March 13th 2015 was a Saturday and my husband was out to meet some friends. I had been sewing a quilt or two during the previous month, some simple drawstring bags and stuff like that. A few days earlier I had discovered the world of sewing bloggers who made garments for themselves. It felt like a new world opened up to me. It was actually possible to sew clothes for yourself, while still looking modern and elegant and cool!
But sewing clothes sounded really really difficult. I had seen a pattern on Sew Caroline’s homepage for a very simple skirt. Caroline wrote very encouragingly – “You can do it, you can sew your own skirt!” – and that was exactly what I needed. I bought the instructionbooklet and made my first skirt out of quilting cotton that night.
A year later I have made 7 skirts, 7 dresses (and a children’s dress), 13 tops and blouses, 5 sweaters, pullovers and jackets, 2 pyjama pants, a pair of shorts, a pair of pants and a blazer. On top of that I have made a few onesies, pants, boots, hats and softies for babies ad children of friends and family. And I have a few UFOs…
I have turned the guest room into a sewing room and got a serger for my birthday.
I have acquired about 63 sewing patterns (and a pattern book), nearly all of them PDF patterns from Indie designers. I haven’t sewn all of them, but they are there, waiting for me… As is a lot of fabric!
So many times I have ordered fabric from Miss Matatabi (have a look at my instagram account to guess the right number! I have to mention in my defence that I often order very little at a time to avoid paying extra taxes – and a lot of fabric was turned into presents!) and several times from Imagine Gnats, Indiesew, Owlanddrum, Stoff & Stil and several other places.
I have learned about buttonholes, zippers, French seams, darts, snaps, bias binding, facings, collars, plackets, pant flies, twin needles and so much more.
I made friends with several great sewing bloggers around the world and started testing patterns for Adrianna from Hey June. I have no idea why, but she gave me a chance to test for her and it opened a door to a really great community of indie sewists and designers from all over the world. Not long ago I was even invited to join the 2016 Indiesew Spring Collection blog tour!
I am often not perfectly happy with how a garment turned out. But then I have to remember how much I have learned and accomplished during one short year! I am looking forward to my second year of sewing and can’t wait to see what it brings.
And a big thank you to all of you for reading my blog and to all of you from the sewing community for welcoming me with open arms.
Hi Fleurine. Congratulations on your one year sewing garments anniversary. I only recently started following your blog and I enjoy reading about your sewing adventures. Can’t wait to see what you make next. đ
Thank you, Daniela! It has been a really fun year, sewing wise! And thank you for reading my blog, there are several blog posts to come soon, I hope you’ll like them!
Wow, you have done so well in just one year. You’ve made some lovely things. I love the wrap dress ‘Scandinavian’ I think I might buy that pattern.. Your Scandinavian palette sounds just perfect and I’m English just add some olive green and I’m in heaven. Keep bit up and you might end up with a fabric stash like mine!!!!
Thank you! =) sometimes I feel a little bit boring just buying black, grey, neutrals, blues and so on. But hopefully spring and summer patterns will inspire me to buy bright colours and flowery fabric again!