While I tried to get back into blogging, not all of my creations for 2022 made it on here. Sometimes it feels like I’m standing shouting in an empty room “look at this dress!” “these trousers are awesome” or “OK, so I screwed up on this one!” and nobody is out there listening. I miss the days when you got comments on your blog posts and reflections, now it’s all about the likes which is less personal, both on blogs and Instagram. And I’m bad at that myself, falling into the downward spiral (plus it doesn’t help that my blog reader of choice, Bloglovin’ is down a lot of the time. Is there another one?). I haven’t decided if I will keep this blog up and running, but that’s an issue for the future. For now let’s summarise 2022.
I sewed a total of 24 garments in total; a mix of outerwear, tops, shirts, blouses, dresses, men’s wear, children wear. Basically most stuff except for underwear and exercise clothes. I had a pretty good stride in the spring, then in the fall we did some major renovations on the house which sucked up a lot of energy and time, so sewing was put on the back burner.
As can be seen, I sewed a great variety of garments, but for pattern companies, Deer and Doe as well as Burda were dominating my sewing. I tried one new to me pattern company which was Danish company How To Do Fashion. Since I have quite a large collection of patterns, I try to use and adapt those, rather than buying new patterns, and when I do buy patterns it’s usually through Marketplace on FB.
As I was trying to figure out my top and bottom 5, I had trouble both narrowing down my top 5, as well as reaching 5 for my bottom list; a sign that I’ve figured out what I like to sew and wear. I mean, especially my Striped Stella, the thing that is bad with it is really minor.
Let’s start with the not so good, in no particular order.
I’m still not friends with viscose jersey, and this top also suffers from being too short in the waste. I wear it around the house, but what I actually need are some knit tops for work, this was not one. The question is if I will ever become friends with viscose jersey.
I like the style of the jacket, but I don’t like to wear it, the trouble is mainly the sleeves. They are designed to be 7/8 sleeves, but that is an awkward length and I thought they’d be full length on my short arms. They aren’t and are now neither full length or 7/8. Also, I was very lazy and machine-stitched the rib cuff closed, which created a very uncomfortable seam on the inside of the cuff. Let this be a lesson to me, not to cheat in these manners.
Green Aubetura
The search for a woven t-shirt ended, at least for now, on a D&D Aubépine/Datura mashup. I made which I liked, unfortunately the hem started to pill, this is my second version. I think the fabric I chose here, while soft, doesn’t have enough drape. It just doesn’t sit nice.
Striped Stella
This top is fine, but I made the neckline binding too loose, so it sits quite unflatteringly. It is an easy fix, if I just remembered to save the left-overs, but I worry about cutting the neckline down further. If I have the fabric left, I recon I should try.
Another attempt at making a knit top with interesting design lines. This one from Burda XX/2014. It sits weird (lazy me, not properly FBA’ing) and the keyhole gives too much cleavage if I pull it down. The neckties feel too tight around my neck, I don’t like too restricting clothes. It hasn’t been worn yet, and maybe it does in order to truly be tested.
Let’s move on to the good stuff!
Acajou Trousers
These trousers were completed in August, and since then they have been worn 35 times. They are so comfortable and practical with the big pockets and are in constant rotation in my closet. These were made in a polyester stretch twill, and I’m planning to upgrade to a denim pair.
I bought this fabric after noticing a lack of colour in my summer wardrobe. This dress really conjures a sunshine feeling, and I do love wearing (and sewing!) shirtdresses.
It should come as a surprise to no one that I totally love Deer & Doe’s patterns. In this case I really did the perfect matching of fabric to pattern and I love the end result. The perfect everyday skirt for warmer weather!
Case in point, three of my top five creations are made with Deer & Doe patterns. The cut on this dress is so smart, and paired with the cute fabric, it’s a quick outfit. What’s not to like?
There’s so many lovely memories associated with this dress, that it doesn’t matter that there is some wonkiness. The evening spent at a ball in Vienna was amazing and I’ll remember it forever. I felt really pretty and unique in this dress, which was everything I was going for. Plus, the dress even got to take a swirl on the dance floor in a proper Viennese Waltz.
By Eitchy 
