The New Home, New Name

Kia ora!

It's a new year and time to refresh the blog. I've never been super happy with the original name I chose for the blog, it was a "it will do" moment when I started the blog. So first things first if you would still like to continue following me, and keep up with my sewing adventures, please update your blog reader.

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A few years ago I had labels made with my Maori name "Ahenata", and I sew a label into all the garments I make. To give a bit more cohesion to my 'me made' journey I felt I needed to make the blog a better fit. I'll keep the label name Ahenata and add the tag line "stitched by SJ", yep that me :-) and which is the perfect new name for the blog.

If you also follow me on Instagram, or if you don't now is a good time to start, you will also notice I've changed my profile name to sandra.ahenata

So with all that housekeeping done, it's time to go do some sewing. I'm currently working on Marfy 3885.

Happy sewing everyone.

Marfy Free Jacket Pattern - Part 1

This is the garment that I've been most looking forward to, the Marfy Jacket 1756 - one of the three free patterns made available this year.

I began by selecting a size 46.  Traced the pattern and cut my muslin.  Now here's were it get's interesting as there are no construction instructions.  The only thing that you have to go on is the artist impression and markings on the pattern pieces.

I started by sewing up the centre back seam and then attached the side back pieces to give me a complete back - easy!

Two months, 38 hours and counting

Back in October I embarked on construction of My Little French Jacket and it has been a bit of a journey.  I started with a hiss and a roar and was ahead of the game, each week waiting anxiously for the next sew-along post to come out - but then came the sleeves and a pile of other sewing that I wanted to do.  So when I picked it up yesterday, determined to conquer the sleeves I realised that it had been three weeks since I did any work on it!  Just as well I was ahead of the game, because after successfully getting those sleeves in I'm back on track, yay!  So I thought I would share a bit about the journey so far ....

I chose this cotton boucle and silk lining - both purchased from The Fabric Store here in Wellington.

Muslin pieces all traced and thread traced.  I selected a pattern size according to my bust measurement and made the muslin without any adjustments.  The upper body of the muslin was a great fit, but I had to let out the princess seams in the front for my waist and hips.  Minor adjustments in the scheme of things.

No sleeves thank you!

This week I've been working on my second Indie Pattern, the Go Anywhere Dress by Sewn Square One.  The pattern provides for three variations: a dress, a tunic and a top.

I selected the dress to make first up, with a woven pinstripe from my stash.  All was going well and literally finished today, BUT .... they just had to go - yep the sleeves just had to come off.

Cordova Jacket on the table

As I mentioned in my last post I am constructing my first Cordova Jacket for Indie Pattern month.

I went along to the Fabric-a-brac in April and acquired this lovely reversible fabric, 2.5 metres for just $25!  I immediately thought jacket when I saw it and the Cordova was ideal, where I could use both sides of the fabric in the jacket.

Stretch Lace Dilemma

I'm a little bit stuck on how I might go about attaching sleeves to this stretch lace dress, so I'm hoping my sewing blog friends might be able to lend me a helping hand (pretty please).

Doesn't look much just on the hanger!

The story so far:  using a pattern from a Burda Magazine, some beautiful stretch lace underlined with a cotton/lycra that stops at the sweetheart neckline but the lace carries on to cover the chest and shoulder blades - I've achieved the desired look for the dress, however .....

Progress with my Minoru

I am so happy with how my Minoru Jacket is coming along.  I've just finished attaching the lining to the outer jacket and just have the finishing bits and pieces to do now.