We had a lovely little getaway week in Paris in February, and I took the opoprtunity to do some fabric shopping while we were there – both in Montmartre and at the Atelier Brunette shop. From the former, I ended up with 3m of teal linen bought at the Coupons de Saint Pierre for €40. This was the most expensive of the three coupons (pre-cut lengths, usually 3m) I bought but it was a good weight and great price for 100% linen and in a very Me Colour, too. When I bought it I thought the 3m might stretch to a shirt for both J and I but when I changed plans to a dress, it turned out I needed pretty much the whole yardage! (Sorry, J!)
Parisian turquoise linen shirtdress
A digital print birthday top
Happy (slightly belated) 47th birthday to meeeee! I’m a week late but it’s for good reasons – being healthy enough to get out more means I’ve been celebrating all week long with friends! Multiple cycle rides out to dinners, to see one of my favourite musicians (shout out to the Union Chapel accessibility team for reserving me a box away from others!), out for cocktails, and even a trip to “the boy aquarium”!
You may recall that I sewed Burda Jan 2024 no105 in the first few months after I got sick, in a super soft charcoal grey jersey. I’ve worn it so much that I wanted to sew it again, and have been thinking about fabrics in my stash that could work for it…
A hidden faces sweatshirt
I saw a couple of other people’s versions of the Just Patterns Sybil Sweatshirt come across my dash and I really loved the unique styling of the notched collar on a ponte/sweatshirt top. So I waited, and pounced when there was a storewide sale at the end of last year, and combined that with a sale on large format printing, too!
I’m glad I read other people’s comments before sewing this, because literally everyone says this is super oversized! I went down 1-2 sizes to a 42 instead, and tbh, I could’ve sized down even further because this still feels too big (especially in the sleeves and hips).
I used the “Peach Listening Face” brushed back sweatshirting I bought from Fabrics Galore in their end of year 50% off sale – my 1.5m was a bargainous £12 total! There was even some leftover because I opted to cut the collar from leftover black sweatshirting (also from Fabrics Galore) that I had leftover from my Lestat looming head sweatshirt. I love that this print looks like a leopard print from a distance, but the closer you get, you realise it’s a bunch of female faces!
A purple waterproof rain cape
Three days before we left for Paris, I got it into my head that I should sew this cape! And then I ended up not taking it along anyway, but for the record, I did finish it in time…
The pattern is the FibreMood Delma Cape, from the same Essentials issue as the Lara sweatshirt and the million teeshirts I’ve sewn already – or if you don’t have the magazine, you can buy the pdf individually in the link above.
I’ve had some purple breathable waterproof fabric in my sportswear stash for a LONG time. I can’t recall the name of the US-based activewear fabric shop I bought it from but I know they went out of business at least a decade ago. It’s got a tight woven right side with a slight crosshatch texture, and a thin plastic coating fused to the wrong side to make it waterproof. This may sound similar to the waterproof wool I used on my Carly jacket, but this is nowhere near as rubbery or sticky as that wool’s backing.
A red velvet tee and black trousers
During my pre-Paris sewing frenzy, I also made a more practical set of top and trousers to both work down my fabric stash and potentially pack… You already saw my Gemma dress, but there’s one last garment in addition to these trousers and top!
Black Trousers
I’ll start wit the trousers, since I fear such a solid workhorse may get overlooked otherwise.
I’ve had 2.5m of black acetate twill from New Craft House in my stash ever since I used their plum acetate twill for my Claudia trousers back in 2023 (I eagerly await the day I can fit into them again because I love them so much) and went back to buy more. My notes say I paid a bargainous £4.5/m for this, especially good value considering it’s Japanese, from Hironen Mill. It’s long sold out but they’ve got similar acetate twills currently in the clearance section.
A rose ponte Gemma dress
We’re now back home after an utterly brilliant week in Paris, which was precisely the holiday we sorely needed, and haven’t had since we were infected with Covid in 2023. But ahead of the holiday, I went on an absolute sewing frenzy, both to make some room in my sewing stash before I hit up Atelier Brunette and the Montmartre coupon fabric stores, but also because I enjoy sewing things I might take on holiday!
I ended up packing only one of the four garments I sewed in the frenzy (this one didn’t make the cut purely because it didn’t “go” with any of my waterproof boots, and the forecast was WET), but I still made some garments I love…
…the first of which is this Named Gemma dress! This pattern has two pretty distinct views, and only really share the geometric pieces in the front. I made the sweatshirt version a few years ago in a waffle jersey that I still wear frequently (though I removed the sleeve cuff elastic and I wear it a lot more since then!), but this is my first time sewing the dress version.
A blush pink Lara sweatshirt
I jumped all over the extremely cheap clearance blush Loopback jersey (French terry) and interlock jersey from New Craft House when I saw it marked down – £4.80/m and £3.60/m respectively! These are a beautiful pale peachy pink colour and are perfectly matching, so I knew they’d be perfect for sewing another comfy sweatshirt.
I opted for the FibreMood Lara sweatshirt pattern again, same as the black Lestat one I made last fall. This time I went down a size to L instead, tracing off another size from my pattern magazine. The design is meant to be oversized, and I love my black version, but for this I wanted it to be comfy without being overly baggy.
Winter workout wear – Dymar & Steeplechase
Despite having an incredibly full activewear drawer, there were a few items I was missing to bridge the gap between my current size (as I’m losing the huge amount of weight I gained while bedbound with Long Covid) and my pre-Covid activewear size. Namely, comfortable activewear I can ebike in over the winter and still look casual at my destination! Plus, due to the risk of catching illnesses inside, when I meet up with friends during the winter, we need to sit outside so the warm layers do double duty even when I’m not on the bike.
Two merino Dymar tops
I bought the FibreMood Sports issue as soon as it was published, and the Dymar top was one that instantly jumped out at me, despite being cropped. This is the same issue as the Denver sports bra that I made last year, if you recall. You can also buy any of the patterns individually from FibreMood or The Fold Line.
A Heated Rivalry tribute fleece
If you haven’t watched Heated Rivalry yet – what rock have you been living under?? If you didn’t spend Boxing Day at The Cottage, what were you even doing?? (No but seriously – it’s worth the hype! The first three episodes are Good, but the last three are Phenomenal IMHO. And don’t even get me started how “the gay hockey show” has one of the most nuanced and sensitive portrayals of autism I’ve ever seen on screen…)
In the second episode, Shane wears a white fluffy Team Canada fleece to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and everyone’s been going crazy for it online, so much so that the actual Team Canada have said they’re looking into replicating it as merch for the actual upcoming Winter Olympics! Most folks online are purchasing a white fleece jacket and just sewing on some patches, but a) that would be too easy, and b) I’m way too picky to be buying clothing these days when I can sew it myself ten times better!
Thankfully, the show’s costume designer posted some photos of the front and back of the fleece which made my life far easier…
A Halloween print Saraste dress
I’m no stranger to making clothing out of unexpected fabric sources – afterall, I was on the cover of the New York Times nearly 20 years ago with my shower curtain dress, but this is the first time I’ve sewn anything from a tablecloth!
When Flying Tiger released their seasonal Halloween stuff last fall, I might’ve gone a little overboard, but I have no regrets about buying this tablecloth – it’s 2.2m of 150cm wide 100% cotton fabric for £16! Even though it’s fairly thick and stiff, it was still a little too translucent for my taste so I paired it with a thin 100% cotton lining from New Craft House, 2m at £12/m.