Little bit of a diversion today tigers. I wrote the Simple Sewing 101 - Alteration posts as I promised you ages ago, but they need a good edit and I don't have the brain space at the moment. So rather than confuse you with a long scattered ramble I've put this together till I can pull it together.

Simple Sewing 101- Tops and Simple Sewing 101 - For Beginners are the two previous posts in this series.

Below are an extended list of independent pattern companies that are worth having a look at if you are interested in sewing your own clothes. The list in the previous Simple Sewing - Part 2 post was aimed at beginners due to their excellent instructions.

I've tried many of these pattern companies. Of the ones I haven't tried, there is at least one pattern in their range I want to try. For this wider list I can't guarantee that each company writes well-written patterns (I know most of them do!) so do a google search first for bloggers reviews, and check the relevant instagram hastag for patterns you want to try. There you will get some honest feedback about issues, sizing and things to look for.

At the bottom of the post I've included a list of patterns I have sewing crushes on just to give you a place to start if you think we have similar taste.

Independent Pattern Companies

Tessuti

Papercut

Megan Nielsen

Mouse House Creations

Sewaholic

Cali Faye Collections

A Verb For Keeping Warm

Republique Du Chiffon

Wiksten

Grainline

True Bias

Tillie and the Buttons

Papercut

Named

Oliver and S/Lisette/Liesel and Co

Patterns That I'm desperate to sew! (but probably not going to get to*)

Marthe Blouse - by Republique Du Chiffon. Totally obsessed with this one - maybe using hoarded Liberty?

Morris Blazer - Grainline. I've printed it out but run out of time....argh.

Playtime Tunic - DONE! x 3 - Oliver and S

Lou Box Top - Sew DIY

Woven Linden - Grainline

Ilsey skirt - by newcomer Marilla Walker. This one is free.

Basics Tank - by Cali Faye Collection. I am super excited about this one. I don't want to jinx it but I think the shape looks almost perfect.

Enjoy and tell me if you think I've missed something super obvious.

Felicia x

* I'm headed off camping so no sewing for a month or so - flight is on Monday.

April 19, 2022

Making Fast Fashion: Some More Of The Grey

So I wrote last week a post asking “Is my making fast fashion?”. And then I did a video on Instagram discussing similar topics in a slightly different way. And as always, you lovely humans have helped me clarify some of my thinking with your thoughtful, clever commentary.

And while I think there is so much more to discuss, here are four key possibly-more-meta ideas that have come up for me out of those conversations.

In using the quote last week that suggested that there was no single answer, and suggesting that this was freeing, I really did mean that we should sit in the grey. Not that the lack of “an” answer to this question should mean we get to ignore the question but rather that the lack of “an” answer means that we need to keep asking bigger more beautiful questions. And keep asking them.

Is my making fast fashion?
Am I living my values or merely thinking them?
And how can I make those two things a little more aligned in this moment?

These are my big beautiful questions.

Yours might be different.

And importantly this leads to point 2.

April 12, 2022

Is My Making Fast Fashion?

We all have the capacity - and often the desire - to deny truths that show us engaged in things we know aren’t ideal. To minimise, avoid, distract and rationalise our way to feeling OK with our choices and our behaviour.

And it makes sense. It’s human to avoid the hard stuff, especially when that hard stuff involves us changing behaviours we enjoy. I do it. Regularly. And I’ve been doing it regularly in my making, for many years, in many ways.

“The term fast fashion refers to ….speedy production of ….clothing, ….. in order to meet the latest and newest trends.”

I do this. I produce things in a speedy way in order to meet the latest and newest trends.

April 5, 2022

Why Gauge Matters

These yarns feel very different. Yarn 1 is more hardy, Yarn 2 is lighter and softer.

Anyway so then I sat down to do the knitting. And just for the fun of it, and a smidge of curiosity, I knitted the same pattern, in the same size, using the same needles.

Same pattern. Same size. Same needles!

But I got two very different results.

March 29, 2022

Craft As Simple Mundane Forward Movement

Being super reductive, I often think of my craft as a reminder, daily, momentarily, that all three of these things are true in this moment. I capable of doing good things. There is something kinda fun in my life. And my life has possibility and forward movement.

March 22, 2022

Craft As A Virtuous Cycle*

Craft is a process that isn’t simply a straight line from materials to object, but rather it is an energetic feedback loop that cycles through the life-elevating process that is hand making. Making making us feel good, leading to more making that makes us feel good, regardless of whether in this moment that making is physical. Our craft practice acting as a virtuous cycle* - an ongoing process of engagement with the parts of me that feel most like me. Making begetting more making, leading to well-being begetting more well-being.

March 15, 2022

Craft & The Slow Nostalgic Finish

We have so many of these endings in life. The last few days of school holidays. The last few pages of a book we loved. The last weeks before a move in a house that has been a place of joy. The end of a relationship with someone we know we don’t want to be with but love .

Experiences where we are simultaneously grateful for what we have had and yet sad because of what we are about to lose. And finishing a big project is a loss. Yes there is beauty in the use but it is a different beauty on the other side of this point of discontinuous change.

We are no longer able to pick up the familiar comfort of the possibility available to us in the stitches. We can no longer sit in the grace of the space - and instead in time have to find other projects that may or may not fill us up in a similar way.