July in Review

Sewing, Alterations and Mending Projects

There was some selfish sewing before moving onto sewing for others.  Most of my sewing time this month has been dedicated to planning, cutting and sewing a special project that is still in the works.  From L (top) to R:  deep wine coloured (I know it looks purple in the photo) cotton knit pull-on skirt (OOP Butterick 5970), boy's dinosaur print shirt (McCall's 6972) and blue and ivory cotton pull-over top (OOP Butterick 5561).  

No time was dedicated to mending or alteration / refashion projects this month.  The dog days of summer require some time tending to never ending yardwork.  The neighbourhood squirrels have been busy digging up the vegetable plants and planting peanuts.  I kid you not.  But I digress.  I just saw the mending pile grow and peanut plants sprout up around the yard.  Maybe next month I'll tackle a few mending and alterations projects.  

Plastic Free July

I thought that I was pretty good at keeping plastic use to a minimum.  I have made and gifted lots of reusable grocery bags.  I've even sewn my own reusable coffee filters.  I use reusable water bottles and coffee cups.  I don't think sew anymore.  Even though I mostly sew with man-made fibre fabrics when I look around the sewing worktable I can't deny that there is more plastic products around me than I previously realized.  

Try to find thread packaged on a cardboard or wooden spool now-a-days.  In this part of the sewing world, they are no longer found unless you stumble across some at an antique market or second hand store.  Back in the 1970s, thread manufactures discontinued the use of wooden spools in an attempt to cut costs and increase profits.  The move to plastic spools cost manufacturers half the cost of wooden spools.  The cost to our environment is past on to everyone else.  Guttenberg threads use plastic spools that are made from recycled plastic bottles and their spools are recyclable.  But it's hard to find their "recycled thread spools" as many have noted.  I never really gave much thought to all those plastic spools before this Plastic Free July.  

Stash-busting

This month there were 4.5 metres of fabric, 0.8 metres of fusible interfacing, 1 metre of elastic and five upcycled buttons.  And I sold and de-stashed 45.9 metres of cotton woven and knit fabrics.   

Upcoming Plans

I was surprised when this cotton knit feather and dot print fabric was rejected when I brought part of my stash to sell.  Apparently, printed knits don't resell well.  This just wants me to turn it into something.  I originally picked it up when I was on the DVF wrap dress run.  I'm still thinking a wrap dress since there are over four metres here, but I think I might finally get around to sewing the Kielo wrap dress by Named Clothing.  

Or maybe a Marcy or Katherine Tilton dress?  Out-of-print (OOP) Vogue 9358 and Butterick 6784 are also contenders.  Or maybe a pair of cotton knit pajamas?  What do you think?  Hmm, I leaning towards the mid-section ease in the Katherine Tilton dress.  And cotton knit pajamas sound cozy.  What do you think I should turn this feather print fabric into?  

Happy Sewing!