completed: collette sorbetto top

So, one week in, I've finished my first major project with my shiny new sewing machine... and it was (more or less) a success! I chose Collette Patterns' Sorbetto top, mostly because it was pretty and free. Who doesn't love pretty and free?! That and I had hemmed all the curtains in the apartment and had had enough of straight lines.

It's listed as a 'beginner' pattern and while it did have some tricky bits, Collette gives some lovely detailed instructions which are so easy to follow. I chose this lovely spotty pink cotton and white bias tape (try as I could, I could not find a bias tape maker in the sewing shop which thwarted my plan of making it in the same fabric... but actually, I really like the white. I also learnt the German for 'bias tape' but other than the fact it begins with an s, I can't remember it again. So that was a lesson worth learning.

I usually wear a size 12 (UK) or 40 (European) on top, which I worked out roughly equates to a 6 on the pattern. This was a nice ego massage while I was making it but things are rarely as simple as they seem, huh?! Turns out I must be more of an 8 around the chest and a 4 around the waist, as it's straining a bit at the top and has overstepped the line of 'baggy' round the waist. I sneakily got round this by just tucking it into my (almost) high-waisted jeans. Done. 

I finally got into the sewing shop today.... and ran into a friend of mine there who I had no idea also sewed! We both did a double-take (double-took?!) and she's invited me to come sew with her and a couple of her sewing friends some time next week. What timing!

Next project? A skirt, I think! I'm eyeing up Tilly and the Buttons' Picnic Blanket Skirt: I'm in desperate need of some 'sensible' skirts for work this summer and I love the shape of this one. And it's free. Yup.

Have a lovely day, hope it's sunny where you are!

a big hello!

My name is Mary and I'm a sewing virgin. 

Well, not a total virgin; more that I had one experience once with the wrong person and it put me off for a few years. That 'person' was the sewing machine I used in Home Economics at school which had no concept of 'slow', only 'fast', 'even faster' and 'you're not getting your fabric out of here without it smoking'. Not the best introduction to sewing!

 I've been gradually getting interested in sewing again for a little while, started reading, watching The Great British Sewing Bee, and finally bit the bullet with my birthday money and bought myself this beauty- a Janome J3-24. A machine that's not too complicated for beginners but will also be good for future, more complex projects, it was perfect for me and also not too horrifyingly expensive.

So here's to the start of new projects, struggling to work out what the German for 'bias tape maker' is, let alone how to pronounce it, not pouring pins all over the floor and finally succeeding in arriving at the fabric shop not during its 2 hour (!!) lunch break.

First project: Colleterie's Sorbet top; more on that next time!