You can pretty much assume by this point that if I’ve gone a bit quiet on this site, then it probably means I’ve been sewing up a storm behind the scenes and am just struggling to find the time to tell you all about it! And yes, it’s happened again… So I’ll try and catch you up on a bunch of things at once!
Sewing Indie Month – Pattern Bundle 1
Remember how much fun Sewing Indie Month was last year?? It was a full month full of interviews, great tutorials (like Heather Lou showing you how to turn my XYT Workout Top into a summer maxi dress!), and fabulous Sew Along prizes and it’s back again this September!
But because us pattern designers know how much you all love a bargain, we’ve joined forces to create two pattern bundles in advance of Sewing Indie Month, and the first pattern bundle is on sale now through Wednesday 12 August only.
Click through to see all the included patterns and the different tiers, including some brand new patterns exclusive to this bundle! The cool thing here is that you’re not only buying these patterns for well under the usual price, but 20% of bundle proceeds will be donated to the International Folk Art Alliance, which provides education and exhibition opportunities to folk artists from around the world. So you’re helping out other crafters, too!
I made the Lolita Patterns Sugar Plum dress a few years ago and honestly, it’s one I still wear in regular rotation (and looks so much better than the photos in my post, annoyingly!). The Sugar Plum dress is a knit/woven hybrid, but the patterns in this first bundle are mostly wovens, so the sale timing gives you time to make muslins before the sewalong contest begins in September while supporting small women-owned businesses and raising money for charity. You can see the size range for each of the included patterns here, too.
Aztec Duathlon Shorts
Psychologically, short shorts make me run faster. Well, not really, but I think they do, and that’s all I need! So, a few weeks ago, with the British Transplant Games coming up, I managed to squeeze out a new pair of Duathlon Shorts for the occasion!
I ordered a massive pile of Funkifabrics lycra a few months back when I won a discount code, so I dipped into my stash for these, making them in the suitable jazzy summertime “Aztec Stripe” print in the green colourway (it also comes in purple or yellow), with a bit of leftover scrap fluorescent red wicking lycra for the side panels.
I’ve made loads of my Duathlon Shorts in the biker and booty length (I’m not much of a capri girl!) and, though the biker length stay in place just fine, the booty length usually need some help to stop shifting around. So again I added some silicone elastic zig-zagged onto the hems to keep them in place (pro-tip – use tissue paper to prevent it sticking to the machine bed!). I also added silicone elastic to the hems of all my Team GB shorts, since they’re also all booty length and really wouldn’t stay put before!
The photo of me running in my Aztec shorts was taken at the British Transplant Games up in Newcastle this past weekend, which were a fantastic warmup for the World Games in a few weeks! If you’d like to read more about my winning four gold medals, a bronze, and retaining my trophy for another year, head over to my running site…
New Sewing Room
I am fully moved into my new sewing room! Wa-heeeey! It turns out all I needed was a firm deadline – my new sewing cave will be featured in a major UK sewing magazine, how cool is that?!
I’ve also shot some videos in the old room before I moved out and the new room which I’ll be posting along with all my storage supplies (so much IKEA!) when I get a chance – it might be a good one to post for while I’m on holiday at the end of the month…
Spoonflower Sports Lycra
This news came out of nowhere but omg they’ve finally released a sports lycra base fabric with stretch in BOTH directions!. I’ve ordered a swatch, but it sounds utterly perfect. Who’s going to be the first to try one of my Laurie King collaboration designs in the new sports lycra?? (Jump straight to my Spoonflower page here if you’re not interested in seeing the examples)
Honestly, the only thing I didn’t like about their previous Performance Pique and Performance Knit bases was that they had zero lengthwise stretch (so you had to modify all your patterns which require two-way stretch, or everything comes up too short!), so this is fantastic. Now if only (the UK based) FunkiFabrics started on-demand printing for their technical fabric bases, I’d be an extremely happy bunny!
Next pattern – next week!
The biggest thing I’ve been working on though is my next pattern!! Weeee! It’s gone through all my lovely pattern testers, I’ve got the illustration for the front cover, all my samples are sewn both for myself and my two badass athlete models, so it should be ready to go live some time next week!
Just like with the past few patterns, I’ll be sending out the first peek details to my newsletter subscribers very shortly, so if you haven’t already, join the newsletter!
This pattern’s got two distinct views, and fulfils some wishes that’ve been requested by a lot of customers, so I hope you’re all going to be as excited as I am!
Admitting defeat
So, on a bit of a down note, I’m sorry to admit that I am, in fact, not Superwoman. (Boo!)
This week I finally admitted to myself that there’s no way I can release a pattern, host a Thriftystitcher panty party (sold out!) and sew up a silk ballgown in the 2.5 weeks before I leave for Argentina. This is always my problem – I want to do everything and then feel disappointed that I can never do the insane amount of tasks I want to! But we’re attending a wedding in Provence at the end of September, so I think I’m going to re-target the silk ballgown (that McCalls vintage reissue!) for that instead. I’ve already traced the pattern and cut out the skirt pieces for the muslin (I’m not as fussed about the bodice), so it might be do-able?
PS: Anyone have any fabric store recommendations for either Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, or Iguazu Falls?