Oh dear, another year gone! and I also started this post sometime in December and hoping to finish it today. Today was to be the day of my tax return but it turns out I forgot my passwords for the online return so that is now a job for another day.

Actually 2023 been a rather strange year for me – there was a fair bit of change and some bereavements, got 2 new cats, and I took on a post grad course!!. Changes included me changing my sewing room (as I now am working from home) so its half office half sew (and my etching print press in the corner). I reduced the number of sewing machines to 6 – Featherweight, Elna Lotus, Singer201, Bernina Sport, Singer Excelle and Husqvarna Embroidery.

I hadn’t really sewn much in the year…. until I saw a Liberty Velveteen curtain fabric off cut at 5euro a metre – it was from an end roll from a upholstery warehouse and I really could not take my eyes off it, so spent all of 25euro and thought ‘COATS’. It was well worth buying as I hadn’t been enthusiastic about sewing for a while so really enjoyed the planning – and the sew of the coat. I decided to try the Pauline Trigere evening coat again and should have enough for a day coat (ie longer sleeves).

The cut was fine, except I decided to match the fronts. I really should not have bothered as I hadn’t noticed how bright the yellow flower was and hated the look of the fronts when they were opened… really screamed curtains and the balance of the flowers, ie yellow being centre, wall all wrong. The disappointment shows on my face in the photo……

So I recut one front and happier with it. There was no way there was going to be a bound buttonhole as the fabric was too thick, so I used the singer buttonholer. The backing colour is sand so there were sand threads sticking out after I cut the buttonhole which I coloured with a black sharpie! (and it worked fine). The button wouldn’t cover, so for this I originally had a gold 80s button, but have since changed to a taffeta covered button hole in a green gold shade which I prefer. After a few wears, I also added 2 covered ‘snaps’ (fasteners) as the single button is fine for car to bar, but not when you walk! I am really happy with the coat. It looks fine with a black polo neck and trousers in the day also. I got a few wears out of it throughout Christmas. (note first photo below is coat not finished – as sleeve lining not fixed, and buttons etc missing)

The other big sew was for a christmas party. Menopause weight meant my go-to evening trousers are no-way fitting now which was rather depressing for me. I did have a black wool maxi (thrifted about 10 years ago and rarely worn) that still fitted, so worked on making a top to go with that. The lovely green silk I made some years ago would need altering so that was a back up. I decided to remake the lilac silk top from a while ago in a better shade (the lilac looked dead with the black).

I had a thrifted royal blue dress in the workroom – loved the colour and the fabric looked good despite it being polyester and primark. the fabric/dress was well worn and the fabric was a bit ‘distressed’ in part if VERY closely inspected but it was still fine. And critically….. there was just enough fabric to cut the top from the skirt part. The hem band was used to make a side sash – and the scraps I used for facings and lining! Apologies for lousy photos, I tend to forget to take photos when I am out, so taking these in bad light in sew room

And best bit of all, the two weeks of intense sewing was just what I needed to kick start some making again! The second coat is still in planning stage, but of course I have since made a velvet top (more in next post), planning a velvet remake, and there is a black shirt dress waiting to be cut!