Hello again! I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has messaged, sent love and thought about me in my absence. I'm pleased to say I'm currently doing well and looking forward to sewing {and blogging} more regularly again.  I'm really happy to introduce the Nottingham Top to you along with my Mountain View Jeans I made a few weeks ago.  The Nottingham is the newest pattern by Itch to Stitch and the Mountain View Jeans are a fairly recent one of theirs too.  Nottingham is a lovely quick sew for jersey fabrics, with just 4 pattern pieces ad looks far more complicated than it is to sew.  In the past week I've made 3 and I'm only sewing an hour or so a day at the moment!

Those of you who have been following me a while will certainly not be surprised to see the first one I made was in a floral fabric! I bought this pretty viscose lycra at Kingston Fabricland in March and love how it turned out for this. It has plenty of stretch, beautiful drape and good recovery and it was the first of my stash fabrics which called to me having seen this pattern and even better that it perfectly matched my new pink jeans! 

The pattern includes 3 sleeve options (elbow, long and butterfly flutter) a round neck and is relaxed in fit through the body but with slim sleeves.  I chose the elbow length for this one as I knew it would make a pretty summer top.

Like all Itch to Stitch patterns, the sizing is US 00-20 (31-46" bust, 33-48" hips) and is a printable PDF pattern.  An A0 version is included if you prefer to skip the taping and get a copy shop to print full size for you however the pages all went together perfectly when printed 100% on my laser printer and I'd already sewn my first one {bar hemming} within an hour from downloading the pattern!  

Welcome to the final day of the Itch to Stitch Love Blogtour.  Like many others when the news hit that Kennis, the designer behind Itch to Stitch had been burgled whilst away on holiday, I was deeply saddened and felt like I needed to do something to help.  I am always in awe of how the sewing community and bloggers pull together in times of need and this was no exception, before very long a blog tour was arranged and here it is, I'm so glad to be involved in this tour and do my part to help, as such this post contains NO AFFILIATE LINKS.

When considering what to make for my post of the tour, I was torn between sewing one of the few ITS patterns I hadn't yet sewn or going back to my ever faithful, favourite pattern of all time, the Marbella. Guess what won?!

I'm really enjoying taking part in blog tours this year, they are pushing me to create and try sewing some things I probably wouldn't have thought about before.

​Today I'm excited to be included in the Lulu & Celeste, Sprouting JubeJube Productions Back to School Tour now I hear you saying, "but don't you home educate?!" and yes, yes I do but we still have several groups which take a break over the summer and restart in Autumn time along with the need to change wardrobes for the new seasons weather.

Here in the UK, the Autumnal weather is wind, intermittent and unpredictable rain and temperatures. We spend a LOT of time outdoors so waterproofs and layers feature heavily for us.

I'm super excited by this outfit, It's just perfect for going to his forest group, walking through the countryside or even just playing out in the garden and I can't hide it from you any longer so here it is!

Welcome to my stop on the Sew Long Summer Blogtour hosted by Melissa of mahlicadesigns, it couldn't have come at a better time for us here in the UK as we've definitely seen a change in the seasons in the past week or two! 

As we say SewLong to Summer, my thoughts are turned to Autumnal sews and keeping the cold, wind and rain at bay whilst being able to remove layers on those days where the weather can't make it's mind up!  (Yesterday we had everything from 23°C bright sunshine to 11°C with thunderstorms and gale force winds!) 

Whilst I've been keeping up to date sewing cardigans, sweaters and hoodies throughout the Summer, I now need to think about heavier, warmer and drier functionality garments so where better to start sewing for Autumn than a coat!? 

Ever since I made my boys their first Elevation Hoodies (click for original blogpost) almost 18 months ago, my Husband has been pestering for one too!  In the beginning I had the excuse that the pattern only came in ages 6-12 months to 16 years, however a few of months ago, the mens version was released which took the available sizes right up to 3XL (up to 57" chest!) so I could no longer use that one! Then I had the excuse of it being Summertime soon so there wouldn't be any need for hoodies for a few months which seemed to pacify him a few more months, THEN, a couple of weeks ago, he saw me looking at this blogpost for a zipper front hack and I really couldn't think of any more excuses so figured it was about time I just made it for him, and what's a good outfit without matching mini versions for the boys? After all, they have both grown significantly since their original ones and could do with some bigger, warmer clothes too.

In my opinion, everybody needs a pair of classic tailored formal occasion or work appropriate pair of trousers in their wardrobe.  There isn't always time to make or buy a pair when needed so having them there, ready in case, seems logical to me!  With that, I introduce you to my newest pair! A pinstripe version make with the new North Point Trousers pattern from Itch to Stitch. Complete with all the necessary features including, single welt back pockets, slanted front pockets, zipper fly and hooks, belt loops and blind hems, they're the perfect pattern in my opinion for the job!

I'm not going to lie, these took a while to make! There are 29 pages to print and assemble (although they're trim pages and line up so well, that it's really not a chore at all!) and then the cutting of the fabric before embarking on a 79 step construction BUT I believe it is totally worth it for the quality, finish and fit of the final trousers. 

This Summer one of my sons broke his arm and needed it cast almost to his shoulder, this made getting tees on and off very tricky.  Inspired by the port access placket of the Pickle Toes Pattern Hope, I added a snap up placket to the shoulders of some of his tees.  I hope you never need it but I've put together a little tutorial for you just in case! A snap placket can either be done on ready made tees or as you are making a new one, this tutorial covers adding one to a new tee and I used the Pickle Toes Patterns Fried Pickles which is FREE with the code from their Facebook Group 

I've been using a lot of prints in my sewing for me and recently even pushing my comfort zone to using prints for trousers as well.  It's been great for my wardrobe in livening and brightening it all up but it created a problem I'd never had before when on several occasions now I realised I was pretty bad at print matching and didn't have many plain coloured or simple styled tops to pair with them and give me multiple ways of wearing each.  

So I'm working on a bit of a 'basics' project to fill the gaps whilst keeping a capsule idea in mind.  Looking at my wardrobe, most of my clothes are in the pink to purple colour range so I need to look at co-ordinating and contrasting colours which fit with those so that each 'basic' I make can be teamed with as many things I've already made as possible.  

With that in mind, I went looking for patterns full of options, patterns which I could make lots from but all be different and very quickly came across the Dublin Dolman pattern by New Horizons. Literally PACKED with options, it was the perfect start!

I'm loving being involved in blog tours at the moment, here is my stop on the first Sewing by Ti tour I've been involved in! I've followed Ti's blog and tours for quite a while now so it's a little nerve wracking to be involved myself this time! Ti's blogtours are all themed but what that means to us is up to our individual interpretation! This tour is themed "Dress up this Town" and my immediate thoughts on that were dresses for occasions, not just for Weddings, Christenings and evenings out but for the lunch dates with your girlfriends, for attending Church, for any occasion where you want something a little more than an everyday casual dress. What I came up with may not surprise those of you who know me and know what a HUGE fan of Itch to Stitch Designs I am, so here we have 3 dresses all from ITS all very suitable for occasion wear when sewn in the right fabrics whilst still working brilliantly as casual everyday dresses in others. PS. make it to the bottom for the great giveaways!

Ever since I made my Husband his football shirt from the Bram raglan pattern, he has been asking for some joggers to go with them, mostly because his legs are much longer than all the store bought ones fit and also because he wanted to be able to get them on and off over his shorts, boots and shin pads.  He practically brought me my machine and fabric when I asked if he liked the style of these from Wardrobe by Me, even when I told him he'd need to model them for release photos and here! So here they are, modelled with his Bram!