Feeling a little festive...

It has been a while since I blogged, and even longer since I did any sewing! I've been pretty busy at work as the year-end approaches, wedmin has taken up more time than I would like and I also seem to have started a new hobby – a sort of cross between an art journal and scrapbooking! More on that later, check this and this out - how awesome. I have (very sporadically) kept a diary since I was quite young. I always revert to writing at times of stress. It is cathartic I think. So I'm going to try this...

Anyway, Christmas is now almost upon us, and I find myself in the position (yet again) of having purchased no Christmas presents. I would actually like to make some things to give as presents but I'm not sure (a) what or (b) whether anything I make would be good enough to give away! I have a pattern for a top that would be nice for my mammy… and it is quite simple – perhaps I will try that. I also thought to make quilts – but pieced ones take a while (at least, the one I am doing is taking a while!). But then I saw a great post by Gertie where she made a baby quilt just from two pieces of fabric.

Anybody have any good ideas for nice and easy to make Christmas gifts?!

I'm hoping to escape the work locker nice and early some nights this week and get that flowery top finished… promise some sewing updates soon!

Next up...

I have been talking about making some nice blouses and skirts for, like, AGES... so now is the time I think. There was a nice pattern for a blouse in this month's Burda which I am going to make up. I have been a subscriber to Burda for - wait for it - three WHOLE MONTHS now, and I haven't made anything from their patterns yet. I really like this blouse though - I think I am going to adapt the bottom slightly so that instead of tying with those long ties it just has a lapped band at the bottom with nice pearl buttons or snaps or something. That is much easier to tuck into a pencil skirt....

I cut the pattern out one night earlier this week. I have to say, the whole tracing palaver wasn't as traumatic as I thought it was going to be. Though I guess this pattern only has five pieces... anyway, having my nice new expanse of table top certainly made the whole procedure easier, despite the kitties trying to 'help'. I am hoping to eventually make this up in the lovely blue silk I got from gorgeous fabrics (and loads of others depending on how I like the pattern), but first I am going to make it up in some nice flowery fabric I had in my stash, a piece of Rose & Hubble cotton which I bought from the shop just down the road from me which sells ex Liberty fabrics (it is like an Aladdin's cave in there). I really like the fabric so don't want to mess it up but I reckon the pattern is pretty straight forward so hopefully relatively low risk... and inspired by the AMZINGLY neat work of Amanda I think I might try French seams on the inside - no thread to fray, woo hoo!