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The Kiss tank

After I sewed The Kiss dress, I had a fair bit of fabric leftover, but it was in odd shapes due to the asymmetric cutting layout. It looked like I should be able to fit a teeshirt or a vest top (tank top) out of the remnants… and since I’ve got a lot of teeshirts that fit, but hardly anything sleeveless, I opted for the latter.

Jalie 3245 (View C) is an “oldie but a goodie”! I first made this pattern back in 2018 as part of my “Serging Activewear” Craftsy course (still going strong!). I’m still wearing those bamboo OGs, but they’re getting a little tight and they always felt a tad too long.

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A blue waffle pullover

I actually made this jumper back in January, just after I sewed The Kiss dress! Despite wearing it several times each week through the colder weather, I just could not muster the enthusiasm to do a photoshoot. Rather than not post about it at all, I’ve taken photos on my dressform Susan instead.

I made this because I really needed more long sleeve jumpers that fit, and I wear my grey LB Pullover a lot over teeshirts through the colder months. That one was size 16, and since it still fits nicely, I’ve just done the same here rather than bother to print it off again.

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A waterproof camo Carly (Rae) Jacket

I actually sewed this jacket before the broderie anglaise dress, but I’m already wearing it a lot in the cooler summer evenings. It felt at the time like I’d been sewing this jacket for forever, but it surprised me to see that it had actually only been a month (7 April – 9 May). With Long Covid I really have zero concept of time anymore…

And this jacket was single handedly responsible for the return of my sewing mojo! I saw it promoted as part of a recent FibreMood magazine and I just had to buy it as a standalone pdf right away because I LOVED it!

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A black broderie anglaise Irving dress

I’m posting a bit out of order here, but I wanted to make sure I posted about this Cashmerette Irving Dress because it’s the May 2025 Cashmerette Club members pattern, and I want to give you all a chance to grab it before May is over. This one is a breezy, casual dress for knits, and as soon as I got the email about it, I knew I wanted to make it!

I’m still very much sick with Long Covid, and I didn’t want to waste precious “standing energy” piecing the skirt pattern pdf pages since it’s mostly just a gathered rectangle. So instead I only printed the bodice and pocket pattern pieces, and chalked the skirt pieces onto my fabric itself (shortening the skirt from 75cm to 65cm so it’s just below my knee).

I had only just ordered 2m of this black Broderie Anglaise Jersey from Veratex Fabrics (95% poly 5% elastane) for £6/m during a big sale when the pattern launched, so it was clearly Meant To Be. (As an aside, I’m not sure I’ll be ordering from them again as they took 10 days to give my order to the courier, and gave zero response when I enquired about the shipping to their official customer service email address…)

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Loom Knitting Roundup

I’m still here! Still sick, still suffering, still trying to work out what’s wrong with the body I’m trapped in (and finding out some things, but not others, and still nowhere closer to a treatment).

As a side effect of all of the above, my sewing mojo deserted me entirely for January, February, and March. I did sew a quick pullover in Jan and pyjama bottoms in Feb/March but I just have no energy or will to take photos or sit up and write blog posts and socials (I will eventually). I didn’t make anything for birthday this year, either – I just didn’t have the will to come up with something and didn’t want to force it.

Sewing’s loss is loom knitting’s gain, however, and because I can loom knit lying down, it’s been a great way to still scratch the itch of making and creating things. So here’s a bit of a loom knitting roundup from the first three months of 2025…

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The Kiss dress

I’m pretty sure I cut this out back in December (oh god, no – my notes say October?!), but to be honest, I was so sick from opportunistic infections in November and December it’s all a bit of a blur. I sewed this up over a few weeks in January, but then it took another few weeks to take some photos (lacklustre as they are) and then I lost all enthusiasm whatsoever to spend my precious “sitting upright” time to write this blog post. Tbh, sewing has lost all appeal right now – I never really leave home, I never see anyone, clothes bring me zero joy, and I hate how this sick body feels and looks so I try to avoid looking into mirrors or looking at photos of myself, which isn’t really helpful for sewing or fitting.

But having this post hanging around was nagging at the back of my brain and I want to document it before I move on. Thankfully I’d written notes in my phone as I went along, otherwise it’d be a very sparse blog post indeed!

Inspiration

Happy 2025! (Year in Review)

I’m not only putting out the Welcome Mat for 2025, I’ve got my little hostess apron on and I’m inviting it inside for a nice cup of tea and a sit down – thats how thankful I am that 2024 IS OVER.

Without a doubt, 2024 has been the worst year of my entire life, and that’s including 2009 (where I was literally days away from death, had chemo, meningitis, spent 8 weeks in hospital, lost my hair, got countless infections, etc) and 2020 (where I spent 9 months shielding in a ~20 sq m cabin and couldn’t leave home for a total of 14 months). Both of these pale in comparison to the endless horror of being trapped in a body that doesn’t work, while watching it distort into some grotesque puddle in slow motion.

I do these Year in Review posts every year to try and celebrate the wins and find some joy and perspective in things that happened over the previous 12 months, and some years it’s harder than others. There were joys here, but every single one of them was hard-won, and only happened because I fought my own body to make it happen. Life is never easy (no matter what it appears on social media), but some years are particularly harder than what seems fair.

So with that in mind, let’s have a look back to see what joys we can uncover, eh?

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Year end knitting and lingerie

Sorry for the radio silence, but I’ve been suffering with an awful ear infection on top of my usual Long Covid for the past two months(!!), despite three trips to hospital and four prescriptions that did absolutely nothing… I’m finally starting to feel like my ear infection is dissipating, putting me back at my standard, awful Long Covid baseline fatigue again (so, err, please don’t offer congratulations, okay?).

So I’ve got a few makes to show you before the end of the year…

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Two pairs of vampire socks

Blood drip socks

As you well know, my love of vampires is year-round, but it did work out nicely that this first pair of blood drip socks were ready just in time for Halloween! 🩸🧦🧶 I had the idea for these blood drip socks a few weeks before and I’m so pleased with how they turned out!