My Favourite Things

It's blog tour time again! Welcome to my stop on the Sewing by Ti - My Favorite Things tour, this has been ongoing throughout August and although we are nearing the end, there are still lots of favorite things to come!

When I heard about the theme of this tour, I thought I'd immediately know what my favourites were but alas, no! It seems I have many favourites in my sewing life. 

So instead, I made a bit of a shortlist....which maybe turned into a longlist?! 

1. Favourite Pattern Designers

Without a doubt my most favourite pattern designer is Itch to Stitch, the professional look and feel to the patterns, expert drafting, 'proper' techniques and finishings, ease of printing and constructing added to the fact that my personal style seems to be very in line with that of the designers' and that because of the built in bust adjustments in most of the patterns, I fit exactly into 1 size so no wasted time adjusting the patterns for my body, it's probably easy to see why!

Other designers which score quite highly on my favourites list are Wardrobe by Me, New Horizons, Sew Straight & Gather, Gracious Threads & Jalie

2. Favourite Fabrics

​As you can probably tell from the above photos, I use a lot of purples, pinks and florals for my personal sewing.  I also equally use knits and wovens, enjoying the different way each type sews. My absolute favourite fabrics are when the florals and colour schemes match, like in this stunning Art Gallery knit fabric from Lulu Fabrics UK 

3. Favourite Makes (from the past year)

This is a harder one to narrow down as I've liked 99% of what I've sewn this year {that's the whole point for me of sewing!} but there are a few which particularly stand out;

• Miss Ruby Tuesday Dress, made in SANDS charity bamboo lycra from Splashings of Fabric
• Skirted Tankini using Jalie 3023 and custom swim fabric from Kelanas Kreations
• La Paz Blazer by Itch to Stitch
• Dragon Tees hacked from the MBJM Hot Chocolate
• ​Snap up shoulder tees to help my son dress with a broken arm, hacked from the Fried Pickles Tee 

4. Favourite Tools & Equipment

• Coverstitch & Wooly Nylon Thread - Has made hemming jersey makes so much faster, neater and more professional
• 25mm Rotary Cutter & Large Cutting Mat - I honestly couldn't sew without these now, it speeds things up so so much
• Quilter's ruler - Mine is 24"x10". It helps in so many ways, perfect for cutting neck/waist/hem bands, checking pattern pieces are on grain, and straightening fabric edges.
• Laser Printer, Sellotape Dispenser, Old Rotary Cutter & 12" Metal Edged Ruler - For quick and cheap printing and easy construction of PDF patterns
• Dissapearing Ink Pen - perfect for marking darts, notches and backs of fabrics when they're similar to the fronts
• Hem gauge - quickly and accurately measures hems for easy pinning or pressing (has other purposes too but I solely use it for hemming) 

Looking through my list, it seems my favourite tools and equipment are all about speeding up the processes involved so I can get on with the actual sewing! ​

5. Favourite - Finishes & Details

To me, the finishing of the insides of the garments and the detailing are really important in making something look professional. So my favourites here include things like perfect topstitching, pattern matching fabrics at the seams and finishing the seam allowances, whether that be Hong Kong, French seams or bias binding or wherever possible fully lining garments.  These small things really do turn my projects from OK into my favourites.

^ Above - Bias binding finishing on the waistband of the Wardrobe by me Frida Shorts 


<--- Left - Pattern matching of the fabric down the entire front of the Itch to Stitch Chai dress

^ Above - Hong Kong Seam finish on all inside seams of the Itch to Stitch La Paz Blazer 


V Below- Double topstitching and rivet detailing of the Baste + Gather Birkin Jeans

I hope you've enjoyed reading about some of my favourites, maybe you've found a new designer, tool or seam finish you like or maybe you have a different favourite I haven't mentioned? Please do let me know in the comments!

Also, do pop by and check out the other talented designers from the tour and see what their favourites are as well!
​

Tuesday, August 1st: Intro Tenille's Thread
2nd: Stitching At Night
3rd: Sewing By Ti
4th: Needles To Say
5th: Very Blissful

Sunday, August 6th: The Fairy Dust Bin
7th: Anne-Mari Sews
8th: Sewing With Sarah
9th: Thats Sew Lily
10th: Stitching at Night
11th: EYMM
12th: Sew Sew Ilse

Sunday, August 13th: Lulu & Celeste
14th: Seams Sew Lo
15th: Tales From a Southern Stitching Mom
16th: Stitching and Making
17th: Creative Counselor
18th: Ma Moose
19th: Kainara Stitches

Sunday, August 20th: Embrace Everyday
21st: She Who Sews
22nd: Idle Sunshine
23rd: My Heart Will Sew On
24th: Lovely For Life
25th: Margarita On the Ross
26th: Anne-Mari Sews

Sunday, August 27th: Made By Melli
28th: Adventures with Bubba and Bug
29th: Auschick Sews
30th: Me Made ***You are here. □
31st: Living in Twinado Alley

​Affiliate links are included throughout this post marked with GREEN TEXT it costs you nothing extra but means I get a few cents if you buy the pattern after clicking through.  I would love it if you could use them if this post has inspired you but feel free to navigate there yourself if you prefer! All opinions expressed on my blog are entirely my own. Thanks, Sarah