One Year Sewn… Autumn Edition

Phew! Every single One Year Sewn post this year has been late. I’m going to try and get them on time next year! Anyway, this post is to look back at what I had sewn in September, October and November of 2019. This season marks the beginning of my real big slow down of making things. For the past few years I have been making quite a lot, I had my son five years ago and none of my pre-pregnancy clothes ever fit again, so for the few years since then I’ve been creating a whole new wardrobe for my new body. Around this time last year I really didn’t need anything new so I have been creating a bit more slowly since then. As well as making some PJs for my little boy and some hiking trousers for my husband during these months, I made four garments for myself and it is these garments I will be focusing on.

The first thing I made at the end of summer/beginning of autumn was this Chalk and Notch Fringe hacked into a top. I never blogged this one because it was a Minerva make and I wasn’t sure when it was going live and I didn’t want to share the details of it too early. I have worn it quite a lot though. It was simple to make, and was nice to get some more use out of a pattern I already owned (it is a dress pattern which I made here, there is a tutorial to hack it into this top here).

I have worn it quite a lot and the fabric still looks great, BUT one of my expensive Arrow Mountain buttons looked worn/scratched after one wear. Even at the time, I didn’t remember bashing it or walking into anything so I am not super happy with these and won’t be buying any more.

Last autumn, I made my denim Ellis Dress, I had spent about a year wanting to make this and really took my time making it special. I said at the time it was my favourite thing I’ve ever made and I still think that’s true today. I’ve worn it every season with different shoes/layers and whilst the denim hasn’t really started fading yet (I don’t wash my clothes often) I just know this is going to get better with age. If you want to read the full blog post about it you can check it out here.

Next, I made this plaid Hinterland Dress in collaboration with Fibers to Fabric, I had bought fabric from them a couple of times already and when they asked if I’d like to choose some of their fabric to write a blog post about, I enthusiastically accepted! I chose this yarn dyed plaid cotton and made a hacked Hinterland Dress with it. I wrote about the details of the hack in this blog post. Like my Ellis dress, this idea had been in my head for over a year and I have loved and worn this dress loads and because the fabric is yarn dyed I haven’t seen any fading.

In December I made this Christmas Stevie top (pictured above), because I knew I wasn’t going to have chance to make the Christmas shirt of my dreams (that I finally made this year!) I had some festive tencel scraps in my stash that I had bought from Palava and managed to cut a Tilly and The Buttons Stevie top to whip up much more quickly than making a full shirt. I love it but only wore it a couple of times as it’s Christmas themed. I know a lot of sustainable activists have a big problem with Christmas themed clothes as the shops are full of them every year and they are worn once before they are donated/thrown away. I totally agree that this is problematic and make a deliberate effort to buy my little boy’s Christmas jumpers from charity shops. However, I have no problem making Christmassy clothes for myself, I love Christmas and wear my festive clothes from October onwards year after year! This top was worn a few times last year and has been in regular rotation for the last couple of months this year too. Love the pattern, love the fabric, no wear and tear so far.

I think what I have learned is, the makes that I have worn the most are the ones that had been dreamed up a long time ago and took a year or more to find the perfect pattern/fabric and time to make it exactly as pictured in my head. I also love the process of slowing down and adding loads of special details to my makes. The two dresses written about here are garments I reach for all the time and I love them so much. I can’t believe I only made four things for myself last autumn but I am pleased to be slowing down. I also am so glad that none of these need any alterations to make them more wearable, I think this is the first time I’ve written a One Year Sewn without giving myself a refashion to do!

If you liked reading this (I hope they aren’t too boring as I know they are basically just lists) you can find my previous One Year Sewn posts here: Winter, Spring, Summer. As always, I encourage you to get involved and assess which garments are wearing well in your wardrobe after a year or so of wear. Any warnings for us? Any great successes?