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…
When my (much loved and MUCH sewn-from) FibreMood Essentials magazine came out in February 2024, I bought it immediately and then splurged on buying the cover fabric when I found a UK source around the same time! It’s a tissue weight jersey (140gsm), 80% viscose / 15% wool / 5% elastane that I bought from Croft Mill for £22.50/m, which was more than I usually spend on fabric. I bought 1.5m, not knowing what I’d eventually make with it, but knowing I wanted it to be special. This fabric was especially designed for FibreMood (and said so on the selvedge), so I knew I could never get it again if I missed my chance.
Even though I sewed this pattern before, I couldn’t find my tracing (very unlike me but 2024 was a blur tbh) so I traced it again in size 44 since I really like the fit of my other one.
This fabric and pattern combo ended up being really stressful to cut on my folding cutting table – the asymmetric fronts mean single layer cutting (though thankfully the back and sleeves could be cut folded), and the fabric was lightweight and stretchy enough to hang off the edge of the table and distort. Plus the stretchiness of the fabric meant it pulled and ripped my tissue paper at times, too. 😩 But I perservered.
But there was no chance of trying to be deliberate with the print placement with so little fabric leftover – it’s a good thing I like the end result!
As I noted when I made this before, Burda completely ignores any finishing for the back neck – no facing, no binding, no nothing! So I drafted my own back facing as before, and managed to just about squeeze it into scraps left from the other pieces.
I really love this design, with the high crossover neck and the draping! It’s so much less fussy than surplice tops that cross nearer the bust, plus it’s warmer, too.
This fabric is utterly lovely too – the colours are perfectly me, and the digital print reminds me of spring blossoms in places, and confetti in others – perfect for a birthday celebration! It’s super soft and the wool isn’t scratchy at all.
(I don’t have enough fingers to form my full age anymore so you just get the 7!!)
I didn’t quite manage to finish sewing this in time to wear or post it on my birthday itself, but I did get to spend some quality time sewing it on my birthday! And I’m not about to stress over an arbitrary deadline I set myself – my birthday makes are for my own joy, and I knew I wanted this part of my Spring Sewing Plan to be my birthday make this year!
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If you recall, I always make myself something nice and special for my birthday each year…
Past Birthdays
46th – My second Long Covid birthday was truly miserable, with no end in sight, unable to sit up for more than 15 minutes at a time, with a body unrecognisable to me, and suffering a relentless string of opportunistic infections. It felt more like a gift to myself to NOT sew something for my birthday.
45th – Despite suffering with Long Covid, I sewed a Saraste Top in a fun cat print viscose.
44th – I sewed a floral print Issy top using fabric and a pattern I’d wanted to sew for such a long time!
40th – For my big 4-0 I sewed a bias-cut silk satin evening gown with cowl neck and plunging back for a big cocktail party! 
39th – I sewed myself a long sleeved cycling top though really I spent the day moving into our temporary flat while the boat was being renovated. 
38th – I made a Gimlet dress out of some incredible, embroidered ombre denim with flashes of the red satin lining.
37th – This birthday sucked. I’d been continuously ill for three months, we spent six hours stuck in traffic and got turned away from the restaurant (no bookings). I couldn’t even summon the enthusiasm to post about it, let alone make anything.
36th – A pair of jeans to take along for a week’s trip to NYC, where they saw active duty in our intensive, immersive theater schedule
35th – A galaxy-print sheath dress, using a Manequim pattern and a purple exposed zipper.
34th – A satin Matthew Williamson designer dress, made with his pattern from BurdaStyle magazine and a rich, plum duchesse satin.
33rd – A leather iPad case, protecting a new gift against the rigours of a transatlantic work trip the following day.
32nd – Manequim silk blouse: still being worn and loved many years later!
31st – LMB draped birthday dress in teal silk jersey:
30th – Green silk birthday dress using a Burda magazine pattern a emerald green silk satin:
29th – A bolero and jeans, on which I put the outline of the Thames on the back pockets, and lined the bolero with some vintage apron fabric from my Granny:
28th – I was homeless and living out of a suitcase in my boyfriend’s parents’ house, watching the Shipping Forecast every single day, hoping for good weather to sail our boat across the North Sea. My sewing machine was in storage, so I couldn’t make a new outfit, and frankly, ALL I wanted was for our boat to arrive. And it did, on the evening of my birthday.
27th – New Look 6429 in a fun sparkly knit from Walthamstow Market (and then about three days later decided to lose all that excess weight for good!).
26th – (probably the first year I was really into sewing) my favourite vest pattern with a red vinyl square neckband:
