Celebrate Good Times

Things are going rather well lately: I've graduated in the best way I'd hoped, and found I myself not one, but two new jobs within a few weeks. On top of that, last saturday was my birthday. More than enough reasons to celebrate the good times, and for a sewist this means spending some quality time at the fabric store. By now, everybody knows all things related to sewing is what makes me happy. My best (early) birthday present was the serger. If you haven't got one yet: get one! It takes some time to get to know it, but after that it saves you so much time. It has allowed me to use the words 'sweater' and 'whipped up' in the same sentence. (More on that soon!) And it looks all pretty on the inside too. I used to show people my clothes were handmade by showing them the ugly unfinished inside, but now I'll have to find another way to convince them.

I'm also using my grandmothers sewing machine now, an old Toyota, and wow, she is so smooth! She makes sewing a real pleasure after my last machine. Very well maintained and all the accessoires are complete. My workspace is starting to look serious now! Although it would be nice to have a little bit more space, it still works. I draw and cut downstairs on the big table, and then sew upstairs.

Then I treated myself to some goodies from Sewaholic: the Minoru jacket and the Renfrew top. The Minoru seems like a great first jacket. I've actually already made a jacket before and it turned out allright, but I had to have the lining done by a shop because I couldn't figure it out. So I'll count the Minoru as my first since this time I'll actually know what I'm doing. The Renfrew seems (is, I know by now) a great starting point for all sorts of jersey and knit shirts.

All that I needed now was fabric, and my parents in law provided me with the means to get some of that. I went to a city nearby because the fabric shop in my town is not very good. It was still hard to find fabric for the Minoru, I couldn't decide what colour I wanted. After an hour I stumbled upon a very pretty, medium weight wool coupon in teal. It was 1,5 yards, so all I thought was well, I'll probably won't be able to make the hood. Ha! If I want to use it I'll have to make it without sleeves too. Very bad choice, but the wool is still pretty, and the satin lining I got for it is perfect. Maybe it'll be a suit jacket? I also got some jersey with diagonal black and white stripes to use with the Renfrew, a black cotton with some stretch and lining for a pencil skirt and some brown fluttery jersey. I'll have to go again soon to get some real Minoru fabric!