Search Results for: not much to show for it

All the best Triumph Suit features

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments on the launch of our latest Triumph Suit sewing pattern earlier this week! It feels like such an accomplishment to finally get this one out into the world after so much work.

I’ve got SO much to say about this pattern, but today I wanted to share some of the really cool features in this pattern that may not be apparent at first glance.

Pockets

This pattern has the most pockets of ANY of our patterns – a whopping SIX in total! The lower back is compromised of three layers (two of exterior fabric with a layer of mesh in between), with top entry and side entry pockets between the layers, and a vertical dividing line of stitching to keep the contents from migrating around.

The side entry pockets have a scooped opening edged with FOE that’s still deep enough to keep the contents in place. This is where I usually keep my phone, for example.

Vampire lips leggings and shorts

I’ve been sewing with Funkifabrics’ activewear fabrics for a nearly a decade now, and I’m a huge fan of their custom-printed fabrics. I nearly always pay my own way, even when it’s for pattern samples, so it’s lovely when they offer to let me try a new base fabric. The last time this happened was back in 2021 for the lightweight Spider, which I loooooved! So I was delighted when they asked if I’d like to try out their new Olympus base fabric in a print of my choosing.

As I am now (still!) firmly in the throes of my reignited vampire obsession, I went with their “Bite Me” print, with 150% scaling, and different shades of pinks and purples using their Colour Me service.

Happy 2023! (Year in Review)

For the past 15(!) years I’ve posted my year in review on 1 January, but not this year. I lost my sewjo around the end of September so I didn’t really have much to blog about. I waited for it to reappear (as I learned a long time ago there’s no point in trying to force it) and prepped a few projects, tidied a bit, planned a bit, and then fell into a massive “Interview with the Vampire” fandom hole (more on that later), and generally was happier in October and November than I’ve been in a long time (completely unrelated to the sewing) but that’s not the reason this post is late.

This post is late because, despite my best efforts (cycling to/from, FFP3 masking indoors with my CO2 monitor and otherwise staying outdoors) I caught a virus of some sort at the office christmas party which left me practically bed-bound with post viral fatigue for 4+ full weeks (no, not Covid, not flu, not RSV, not anything they swabbed for at haematology, but thankfully not EBV either). Like, 21+ hours a day in bed, and if I sat up for more than 15min to eat or drink, I’d have to lie flat for another hour. So sitting up to type was impossible, and I wrote this in pieces on my phone when I could, not being able to put it all together until I started improving a little bit in the past few days.

So apologies that it’s late, and for the blog silence for the past few months, but hey, 2023 can only get better from this dismal start, right?? Without further ado, let’s have a look back at 2022…

Hot pink Rouleur x Tenacity Shorts mashup

When we released our Tenacity Leggings last fall, I may have mentioned that the waistbands between them and our Rouleur Leggings were interchangeable, but it’s another to just SHOW you that they are! Being able to mix and match between the two gives you so much more flexibility and the opportunity for even more pockets – so guess which one I did!?!

Yes, of course I opted to use the Rouleur Shorts bottom with the banded hem and folded side pockets (from View A), combined with the Tenacity Leggings waistband with both the wraparound mesh pocket and the integral back pocket. So in total there’s 7 pockets in these shorts!

On top of wanting to demonstrate the interchangeability, I also wanted something new to wear for a local half marathon I was running in Richmond Park. I was hoping to be able to race it, but seeing as how it was only 3 weeks after I cycled 100 miles, it meant I really only got one solid week of training in between a recovery week from the ride and a taper before the half. So if I wasn’t going for a time, I may as well look good, right?

A rescued Burda summer dress

This dress has quite the long lead-time to being finished, and most of that time was spent hanging on the “hook of shame” where failures and UFOs go to shame me every time I walk into m sewing room until I fix them, repurpose the fabric, or bin them. You see, this pattern was really the only Burda magazine design that grabbed me enough to actually sew up last year, and what luck, it ended up being a rare Burda dud!

Not only did I actually trace and sew it, but I did so during the publication month, too! Burda 07-2021-120 (which I actually found online in the steaming mess that is their English site!) is a loose fitting dress in two lengths (I chose the shorter one) with short sleeves and a gathered, panel skirt (no side seams!) and a centre front panel with bust darts integrated into the panel seams.

A long sleeved bamboo Versatili-Tee

As you all know, I am a huge fan of bamboo jerseys for workouts when you won’t be sweating so much (I see you, yoga and Pilates fans!) so I knew I had to make one of our Versatili-Tops samples in it! The pattern not only comes in Tank and Tee versions, but the Tee also has your choice of short or long sleeves, which means this one pattern really can work for both summer and winter workouts.

A monochrome Joan wiggle dress

Carrying on from the struggles I had with the Audrey cigarette trousers, you might be forgiven for thinking that I may not want to sew another Gertie pattern for a while, but you’d be wrong! See, I had already printed and taped together her Joan wiggle dress pattern and sourced the fabric so I was committed and ready to make it happen! Like the Audrey cigarette trousers, the Joan wiggle dress was released as part of her monthly Patreon patterns, which I joined solely because she’s switched to a more 1960s beatnik speakeasy aesthetic this year. This dress was inspired by (and named for!) the character Joan in Mad Men, which was one of my all-time favourite shows.

Sewing the Cos “Made By You” Men’s Shirt

As I mentioned in my earlier post showing off this shirt as well as the women’s shirt, this post is to outline how to construct the Cos “Made By You” men’s shirt so that others in the future can construct it in spite of the very sparse video instructions provided with the pattern. A lot of this information may be a repeat of the women’s shirt post since the kits are very similar in structure, right down to the fabric and packaging provided.

My Cos “Made By You” Men’s Shirt

My goal for January was to sew both of the Cos “Made By You” shirt kits, and even though it’s February now, I am pleased to report that I did indeed finish both in January. I’ve already told you all about the Women’s Shirt, so today I want to show off the Men’s Shirt.

Now, they’re labelled “women’s” and “men’s” but to my eyes they’re really fairly gender-neutral, so I bought both kits intending them for myself (hence why I bought a larger size in the women’s, assuming the men’s was drafted a bit bigger). I’ll go all in on the construction and the kit itself in a separate post later this week (like I did with the women’s), but for now, let’s just have a look at the finished shirt!