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How I stopped worrying and learned to embrace the creases | Linen Ann Normandy Maxi Dress
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How I stopped worrying and learned to embrace the creases | Linen Ann Normandy Maxi Dress

[Advertorial Feature] Readers, for the length of this post, let’s embark together on a bit of a fantastic journey. If, like me, you are looking out the window and can see frost or even snow, talking about a linen maxi dress might be a bit unrealistic, even crazy. So let’s suspend our disbelief for a second and imagine we’re in the Southern Hemisphere, or in the Caribbean or somewhere else that feels like a holiday. If you’re already living in one of those places, that’s ok, no fantasy journey for you, just a regular ol’ pattern review. Right, are you with me? Mentally…

15 February 2019
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Is the Great British Sewing Bee still relevant in 2019?
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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.

11 February 2019
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How to comply with the advertising regulations as a [sewing] influencer (blogger, vlogger, Instagrammer)
BLOGGING

How to comply with the advertising regulations as a [sewing] influencer (blogger, vlogger, Instagrammer)

If you live in the UK, you might have noticed that there was a lot of noise in the press recently (Jan 2019), about influencers and how they need to behave in order to comply with the advertising and disclosure regulations. Celebrities with millions of followers were particularly targeted, but let’s not forget that these advertising regulations apply to any content creator(bloggers, vloggers, Instagrammers etc), including sewing ones, who promote products or services on the internet. Also, the rules also apply to brands (even if you are selling your own products, such as digital patterns, for example) and how they…

8 February 2019
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Designer Stories | Kim Collins from Ann Normandy Design
SPONSORED

Designer Stories | Kim Collins from Ann Normandy Design

[SPONSORED] Readers, hold on to your patterns, a new series is coming up on the blog! I don’t know about you, but I am always super curious to know who is behind a brand, above and beyond the marketing and social media posts! I want to learn more about the person who founded a pattern company I love and how they came to be. So I concocted a series of interviews with indie sewing pattern designers, that will dive deeper into their personalities, what drives them and of course, what do they think about sustainability in the sewing community. I…

17 January 2019
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ONE YEAR WEAR COUNT PROJECT | DECEMBER UPDATE
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ONE YEAR WEAR COUNT PROJECT | DECEMBER UPDATE

I bet that you could not wait for January to arrive to get the latest updates on my One Year Wear Count project. Yeah, me either :)!  If you somehow missed the previous series here or the original ‘launch’ post here, the basic idea was that I write down everything I wear every single day for a year, in an attempt to understand what are my most worn items, but also as a way of slowly documenting my wardrobe by stealth.  So here we are with the December post looking at the patterns and wear stats for the Christmas month.…

11 January 2019
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18 Backwards –> 19 Forwards |+ Giveaway for my 4 years blogoversary
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18 Backwards –> 19 Forwards |+ Giveaway for my 4 years blogoversary

Happy new year, dear readers! I have been incredibly chilled (aka lazybones) this festive period and decided to procrastinate my way to January 2nd for the customary looking back/ planning forward post. I was re-reading the one from last year which was also posted in early January and I quite enjoyed it. The world did not end because I was late, so I’m cutting myself some slack again. Though I have an inkling feeling I should be doing something about that procrastination habit… Maybe… later… Anyway, here we are, early January 2019, how did that happen? I mean, other than eating and…

3 January 2019
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Waxed canvas bag | Niizo bag kit review
HANDMADE WARDROBE

Waxed canvas bag | Niizo bag kit review

I am definitely not a bag person. By that, I mean someone who has a massive bag collection and rotates them all the time, the right bag for the right shoes and so on. In fact, I am quite the opposite. The function is more important than anything else, and when I find that one perfect bag that I can use every day, I pretty much stick to it until it falls apart. I usually try to buy leather bags that I know will last a very long time, quite big totes with loads of pockets that in a pinch…

28 December 2018
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Baby Lock Enlighten | Overlocker Review
SEWING

Baby Lock Enlighten | Overlocker Review

A few weekends ago, my friend Kate from Time to Sew came over to mine for an afternoon of sewing fun. She had a jersey project for her son and wanted to use my overlocker, which happens to be a Baby Lock Enlighten. After a year and a bit of owning it, although it’s great, I became quite blase about. But when I saw her amazement at how perfect every stitch is every time, I realised how lucky I am to be the owner of such a fab machine. So, I decided it’s the time to share my impressions of…

21 December 2018
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One Year Wear Count Project | November Update
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One Year Wear Count Project | November Update

You might remember that in October I embarked on my epitome of wardrobe geekiness of a project, called One Year Wear Count project. The basic idea was that I wrote down everything I wore every single day for a year, in an attempt to understand what are my most worn items, but also as a way of slowly documenting my wardrobe by stealth.

I had quite a few interesting comments when I launched the projects (and thank you to all those of you who thought I am barking mad for not saying so!) so I think now it’s time, after two full months, to come back with an update. Strictly for statistical purposes, I will focus on November, but I will share some comparisons to September because I have the data, and I can’t stop myself from being a geek.

6 December 2018
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Boycott or Buycott? | Let’s debate as we try to survive Black Friday
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Boycott or Buycott? | Let’s debate as we try to survive Black Friday

Yes, that time of the year it’s upon us. And lo and behold, it’s turning from one day into a whole season of discount and general unbridled deal-ramming down our throats. Yes, that includes the sewing community, I have already seen discount codes popping in my Instagram feeds or in my inbox.
So, as a minimalist and a sustainability-minded person, this is probably the time of the year where I get riled up and I just can’t keep it all in either. And it’s now making its way on my blog as well.

25 November 2018
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