SEWRENDIPITY

DIY SCUBA RUFFLE SLEEVE SWEATER | FIBRE MOOD ROSALIE HACK
HANDMADE WARDROBE

DIY SCUBA RUFFLE SLEEVE SWEATER | FIBRE MOOD ROSALIE HACK

I have never been a sweater person. No, not me. People used to describe me as more of a pencil skirt + button-down shirt lady. And heels, definitely heels. But lately, comfortable casual has become more and more a thing for me. Enter dressed up sweaters. And by dressed up I mean fancy sleeves, ruffles, cute necklines and more. Yes, ruffle sleeve sweaters, it’s a thing! Meet Exhibit A, a ruffled sleeve sweater that appeared in my life and my wardrobe by complete accident. Yes, this top was totally meant to be a dress. And by that, I mean that…

28 January 2020
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WARDROBE TRACKER | OCT-DEC 2019 UPDATE + TOP 5 AUTUMN OUTFITS
STYLE

WARDROBE TRACKER | OCT-DEC 2019 UPDATE + TOP 5 AUTUMN OUTFITS

If you’re a medium or long term reader of this blog, you might remember that in 2018, I got a sudden urge to record every single thing I wore every single day for a year. I called it One Year Wardrobe Count project. And I did it! However, one year was not the end of it, I was hooked! I improved the original spreadsheet, and continued on, starting Year 2 on 1st October 2019. I was really trying to do monthly blog post updates throughout the first year, but it proved quite unfeasible. Not the number crunching part as much…

21 January 2020
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DOWN WITH THE TWENTY TEENS, BRING ON THE ROARING TWENTY TWENTIES | 2019 YEAR REVIEW AND 2020 PLANS
ACCORDING TO ALEX

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…

4 January 2020
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A STYLISH GUIDE TO CLASSIC SEWING | BOOK REVIEW
GIFTED

A STYLISH GUIDE TO CLASSIC SEWING | BOOK REVIEW

Earlier this year, I was approached by the lovely Sarah Gunn from Goodbye Valentino and Julie Starr to contribute some of my projects to their upcoming book. I had been taking part in the 2018 RTW Fast that Sarah organised, and posted some of my garments in the Facebook group, I was well chuffed that they wanted to feature me. And what do you know, a few days ago my copy arrived in the post, so I could not wait to share my review with you. Also, I’m very pleased to be able to offer one lucky winner the chance…

6 December 2019
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HANDMADE, LOCAL, SUSTAINABLE | TIME TO SEW ZERO WASTE BAG KIT REVIEW
HANDMADE WARDROBE

HANDMADE, LOCAL, SUSTAINABLE | TIME TO SEW ZERO WASTE BAG KIT REVIEW

[GIFTED] I’m so excited about this project, dear readers! This is a really special product review, as it’s probably one of the most sustainable collaborations I have ever had. It’s a bag that is quite high up on the sustainability scale: it’s made with fabric from post-consumer recycled garments woven in the Netherlands, recycled leather, uses a zero-waste pattern and it’s handmade. FULL DISCLOSURE: Kate (Time to Sew) is a good friend and she offered me the fabric and pattern for free to test the kit out. She didn’t actually ask for a review, just my honest feedback on the…

6 November 2019
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WHAT TO DO WITH HANDMADE CLOTHES YOU NO LONGER WEAR
SUSTAINABILITY

WHAT TO DO WITH HANDMADE CLOTHES YOU NO LONGER WEAR

If you are anything like me, with the swift transition from summer to autumn, or whatever this non-stop rain season is called, you might have been swapping your warm-weather wardrobe for the colder months one. I did that a few weeks ago and it provided a perfect opportunity to reassess and review my clothes in light of newfound style insights, changes in my preferences and wardrobe demands in my job, for both handmade and RTW items. This type of exercise usually comes with a massive purge. So I did a bit of thinking, a bit of research and I’d like…

23 October 2019
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DIY JACQUARD OVERSIZED JUMPSUIT
HANDMADE WARDROBE

DIY JACQUARD OVERSIZED JUMPSUIT

Hopefully, by now you know that I am all about building a meaningful and mindful wardrobe. That means thinking hard before jumping into a sewing project so that the resulting item fits into my life, wardrobe and style just right. This way, it will get loads and loads of wear (well, at least 30) and fulfil its life mission and respect the use of resources that went into making it. Well, I have to say that this jacquard oversized jumpsuit was not necessarily very well-conceived, but it did end up being one of my most worn items of the summer.…

13 October 2019
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ONE YEAR WARDROBE COUNT PROJECT | RESULTS
STYLE

ONE YEAR WARDROBE COUNT PROJECT | RESULTS

Dear readers, this is the big day!! I have actually completed my One Year Wardrobe Count project at the end of September and the results are in! Of course, since this launched a year ago, you might not remember what I’m on about. In a nutshell, I decided a year ago to track EVERY SINGLE THING I WORE EVERY SINGLE DAY for a year! I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t an easy task, and I failed a few times (ok, more than a few times), but I have a lot of data collected and I’ve had a lot of…

4 October 2019
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3 WAYS TO STYLE A TIERED A-LINE DRESS | MIRA FIBRE MOOD
STYLE

3 WAYS TO STYLE A TIERED A-LINE DRESS | MIRA FIBRE MOOD

You might remember from last year that I tried to start a blog series in which I styled one handmade item in 3 ways. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up being quite a series, with just one post, but I am looking to revive it today.

And what better candidate than perhaps my favourite make of the summer, Fibre Mood Mira?

Let’s check out how I styled Mira for work, play and comfort. Of course, you can apply these ideas to any similarly shaped dress, A-line with gathered tiers, to any other dress that you have in your wardrobe (handmade or RTW).

29 September 2019
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SUSTAINABILITY AND SEWING | WHAT IS THE MOST SUSTAINABLE FABRIC?
SEWING

SUSTAINABILITY AND SEWING | WHAT IS THE MOST SUSTAINABLE FABRIC?

In case you missed it, there is an Instagram photo challenge running at the moment, focusing on sustainability in sewing. I’m really terrible at those, but it did make me realise I haven’t posted any sustainability posts in quite a while. So I decided to cover a topic that I get asked about all the time, both in the sewing community, amongst my friends and family, but also at work. You might remember I am a sustainability professional in my day job, so my role is to advise designers and product techs how to make a garment as sustainable as…

6 September 2019
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