The sewing bug!
Before I started knitting, I was always into crafty stuff – friendship bracelets, seed beads, painting, clay, some cross stitch. In middle school (grades 6-8), we had “family studies” (aka home ec) which was half cooking and half sewing. There was a big family studies room with tons of sewing machines and kitchens. It was great! We learned how to sew a pincushion, a tote bag, shorts, and a stuffed animal from a kit.
I did some sewing on my own too, at home – mostly elastic waist skirts, a few with zippers, tote bags, and one time in high school I made a bustier kind of thing with plastic boning and laces (it wasn’t very good and didn’t fit very well either). I went through another sewing jag in university too (there’s a bunch of projects in my archives!), so I guess it just comes and goes every few years.
The difference is, now I don’t have a sewing machine so I’m doing it all by hand! My mum says she has an extra machine to give me, but I haven’t picked it up yet. I do enjoy the handsewing, and it makes me feel closer to the project, somehow. I do need some new summer tops!
The other day a bunch of us on Twitter and Instagram did a photo challenge – sharing a day with photos every hour or more. I decided it would be a good day to get started on a Wiksten tank. This pattern is super popular! I cut and sewed a muslin of the dress version in a day, though I didn’t hem it. I used the same fabric as the back of my quilt – a piece of an Ikea duvet cover. It’s definitely wearable, but it turned out to be a bit big on top so I’ll size down the armholes for the next one.
Some photos of the process!
Although I’ve done it off and on for years, I’ve never really been great at sewing – I’m not very good at cutting and sewing precisely! Hopefully I’ll learn some new things this time around. Now that I really understand garment construction from designing knitting patterns, I feel much more equipped to alter things to fit me. My next Wiksten will be the tank, with the pattern adjusted for a smaller size up top but graded out to a larger one below the armhole. I’m going to use this block printed, super light cotton that I bought in India a few years ago.
Eventually I’ll work up to cutting this Liberty fabric that I got at the workroom last week. (Ooh, shiny new scissors too.)
I also have a handmade dress that I really love that I’d like to duplicate the shape of, now I just need to pick up some big paper to draft a pattern! SEWING!
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