2018 Make Nine

How has a year passed already since I made my 2017MakeNine list?! Well, it has. And it’s time for dundundun #2018MakeNine! This challenge/tag is my favourite; it gives me a great injection of inspiration.

This is a series from Rochelle of Lucky Lucille and is the maker version of the “Best Nine” tag made popular on Instagram a few years ago. As Rochelle explains in her 2018 Make Nine post, it’s a gentle challenge in which you identify nine items you would like to make during the year; whether that be sew, knit or really any kind of craft! There’s no deadline, you can join in without being on social media, and it’s flexible. In short: it’s whatever you want it to be.

You can also follow this tag on Instagram: #2018MakeNine. I really love looking at everyone’s choices!

Time for me to dive in to my choices, which are a mix of patterns and fabric from my stash; fabricless patterns; and some that I don’t even have the patterns for yet! I probably should’ve shopped my stash a little more, oops! As I did last year, for those I don’t yet have fabric for, I’ve had a go at choosing some but it is subject to change. The goal last year was to work towards a wearable, me-made wardrobe and I’m rather happy with the progress I’ve made towards that. This year continues along the same theme with a sprinkling of new-to-me skills and styles.

2017 Make Nine

It’s that time again, where one looks forward to the new year ahead and begins making plans of what they’re going to fill it with.

Last year, I’d seen a challenge from Rochelle of Lucky Lucille that I thought was great: 2016MakeNine, and knew I definitely wanted to follow suit in 2017. Make Nine is Rochelle’s maker version of “Best Nine”; choosing your top or favourite nine Instagram posts that year. You can also follow this tag on Instagram: #2017MakeNine. It’s great to see how many have gotten involved so far!

The idea of Rochelle’s challenge is to select nine patterns or projects you’d like to sew during the year. These nine patterns aren’t designed to be the only things you’ll make during the year but instead, a plan to get you going and something to work towards. As she explains in her 2017 Make Nine post, her goal is to be flexible and forgiving. It’s not about failure, and it’s OK if you change your mind or alter  your plans.

So, without further ado, let’s get stuck into my nine patterns for 2017, most of which are patterns I already have in my stash. I’ve had a go at pairing them with fabric, although most of that is not in my stash (sadly) but the fabric may well change.

#SewBrizzle, or how I met a bunch of awesome sewcialists!

This time two weeks ago, we were still coming down from the amazing fun that was #SewBrizzle! I took my new(ish) proper camera and made sure to take lots of photos to share with you all so here they are (just a little late, I’m sorry!). With around 30 people in attendance, everyone said they had a great day and took away a few pieces of fabric and/or patterns, along with the excellent goodie bags organised by Marie of SEWN Bristol.

We had some ah-mah-zing #SewBrizzle bunting made by Amy!

Towards a completely me-made wardrobe

In some unexpected stroke of luck, I am up to date with my blogging reading. Confession: I marked many old to-read blog posts as read and started with a clean slate. But I think that’s OK because it had to happen. And I’m actually keeping on top of it! Even managing to comment on posts which aren’t months old. How? By reading a couple of blog posts in a morning at my desk whilst I eat my cereal (Rice Krispies this morning, in case you’re interested) as well as a couple of posts before bed. Bare with me, I am going somewhere with this post…

MMMay16, days 26-31

And here we are, at the end of MMMay16 — my first ever — and I am really rather sad it’s over! I’ve had a great time. And even though I didn’t need to put something me-made on this morning, I did anyway! Let’s take a look at the last 6 days.

 

#SewBrizzle: a sewing meet up in the South West

A sewing meet up is one thing I’ve never really attended. Sure, I’ve gone on sewing jollies with people I already know — so in that respect, I suppose I have — but I’ve not attended a countrywide one where you get to meet hoards of sewists. From big names in the sewing and blogging world to all the ladies (and gents!) keeping their sewing to themselves but loving it all the same. So, organising a sewing meet up without ever having been to one seems like a completely sensible idea, right? No, probably not! But I decided to go ahead anyway.

Let me introduce #SewBrizzle. Organised by Marie of sewnbristol, Amy and myself, the weekend day in May or June will feature a fabric and pattern swap and be a great opportunity to meet lovers of sewing, dressmaking, fabric and more. The name shamelessly takes its inspiration from the very successful SewBrum in Birmingham, organised by Charlotte of English Girl at Home. For those unacquainted, Brizzle is the colloquial term for Bristol, in the same way that Brum is for Birmingham.

Whilst this meet up will be in Bristol, everyone is welcome! We want as many of you lovely sewists to come as possible (you don’t have to be a blogger either!) so we’ve set up a Doodle poll with dates here: SewBrizzle Doodle poll. We’d really appreciate if you could complete the Doodle poll by Friday 15th April. This is so we can get an idea of numbers to reserve an appropriate sized area at the designated venue. You don’t have to leave your name if you’d prefer not to! And feel free to share the Doodle poll or this post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, on blogs and via email, etc.

All information about the meet up can be found on the SewBrizzle page here on my blog. Any questions, please just fire away!

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Image courtesy of Charlotte Powell, reproduced under a CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.