WHY SUSTAINABLE SEWING SHOULD STILL MATTER IN 2020

David Attenborough joined Instagram last week. And he got to 1m followers in 45 minutes, beating the record for the fastest rise. But more important is the reason why he chose to engage with the platform: because he is trying to reach younger audiences and raise the awareness on just how dire the climate situation is. He was also on BBC Breakfast on Monday talking about how if there is one small sliver of hope to save the natural world, we need to keep fighting. This prompted me to think about the topic of today’s post and how, in the…

ON AWAKENING, ALLYSHIP AND PUTTING IN THE HARD WORK

You can tell by the title, this is still not Business as Usual. Sorry, the summer dress post still does not feel right. Today is George Floyd’s funeral in Huston. And it feels it’s a different world since his horrific murder on the 25th May in Minneapolis. We’ve had protest here in the UK, as well as all over the world. People were chanting his name, along with Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, who were also killed by police brutality. And since the last few weeks, but especially since Black Out Tuesday a week ago,…

PAUSE TODAY

I have posted on my blog every Tuesday afternoon since the middle of November last year. Without fail. In 5 years of blogging, this is my longest, most consistent spell. And I am really proud. Not sure if you expected any content from me today, or if it makes any difference that I don’t publish. For all it’s worth, I did write and schedule a post, but I just stopped that. I will try to explain why in the best way I can, but before I do, I want to confess I am afraid and have always been, of conflict…

THE MIRAGE OF THE 100% HANDMADE WARDROBE | THOUGHTS ON ME-MADE-MAY 2020

We are in the middle of Me-Made-May 2020, and as you might have noticed if you read the blog or follow me on social media, I have not engaged with it at all this year. I have been working from home for the past 8 weeks and frankly, I do not feel at all like posting pictures of what I wear everyday. My working from home wardrobe was very unappealing and boring to me and I did not want to impose that on my grid either. I also feel that after 5 years of pledging, I have nothing new to…

SEW IN TIMES OF COVID

Other than this cheesy pun (hands up if you recognised the reference to Gabriel Garcia Marques’s Love in Time of Cholera, one of my favourite books), I really don’t know how to start this post. I have so many things going through my head, so apologies for a bit of a rambly post, but I guess I just wanted to share how I feel in relation to our beloved hobby in these crazy times. And it’s perfectly ok if you don’t feel the same, or even don’t want to read anything more the dreaded c-word (the new one, not the…

RTW vs Handmade | Is it really a competition?

Ever since I have been part of the sewing community, I came across two recurring themes. First is that RTW is bad, poorly made, using terrible fabrics and could never compare to handmade clothes (especially couture). The second is the fear of people who make their own clothes that they are not good enough and could never stand to scrutiny when compared to shop-bought clothes. So I really wanted to explore this apparent conflict between homemade and RTW and whether there is a place in our wardrobe for both. To note I am not talking about handmade but rather of…

SEWING CHALLENGES | IN OR OUT?

The Sewing Community sure love their sewing challenges. And of course, they all come with a hashtag… Myself, I am a bit on the fence, with my bum probably hanging slightly on the ‘against’ side. So, I wanted to explore this subject in one of those ‘conversation opener’ posts that I indulge in on the blog from time to time. I also did a quick straw poll on Instagram, and very much looking forward to discussing the pros and cons and getting your thoughts on the matter as well. Let’s dive right in. Sewing challenges – what are they? If…

DOWN WITH THE TWENTY TEENS, BRING ON THE ROARING TWENTY TWENTIES | 2019 YEAR REVIEW AND 2020 PLANS

Happy new year and new decade, dear readers! Pretty much as last year, I decided to give myself a long break over December and the holiday season and I just did not blog or engage in social media too much. I haven’t even done too much sewing either, it’s been a very lazy winter break. I feel a bit bad for being so unproductive (I’m sure there is a post in there somewhere about the pressure of being creative), but clearly my body and my mind were saying that I need to stop for a little while. However, even if…

ON SEWING AND MOTIVATION |11 IDEAS FOR WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR SEWING MOJO

Dear readers, I haven’t sewn in more than a month. Ok, I took up a pair of jeans for my husband, but that doesn’t really count, right? I am in a massive motivation slump when it comes to getting lost in my sewing room – which even a few months ago was the easiest thing in the world. If anything, I had to stop myself from doing too much of that and not be antisocial. A few weeks ago, I even had a sewing date with my pal Kate from Time to Sew, and instead of actually sewing, I ended…

Is the Great British Sewing Bee still relevant in 2019?

In 2013, sewing was put on the cool map like never before by a TV show that surpassed even the wildest expectations of their creators, Love Productions for the BBC. Modelled on the wildly popular Great British Bake Off, created by the same production company, GBSB got amateur dressmakers to sew on prime time TV.

And changed the sewing world in one unassuming swoop.

Season 5 is about to begin on Tuesday 12th February and I wanted to explore if, 6 years later, it is still as relevant and ground-breaking as it was in the beginning.