Deciding Where to Cut Cutting into someone’s treasured clothing or belongings is always the most nerve-racking part of making a memory item. There is no popping to the shop for another metre if something goes wrong, once the scissors go in, that is it. No pressure, then!

Finally Making Something for Myself! I spend an awful lot of time sewing things for other people. Cushions, commissions, gifts, alterations… there always seems to be somebody else's project sitting next to my sewing machine. So I decided it was about time I actually made something for me. Yes. Me. I know. Shocking. It All Started With a SHEIN Top… Pink broderie anglaise mock-up top handmade from a pattern created from an existing SHEIN top. The design was lengthened for extra

It Started With a SHEIN Top… I'd bought a top from SHEIN that I really liked the shape of. From the front it looked quite simple, but the back was what I really loved, open-backed with ties. There was just one problem. I wanted it longer.

Operation Cushion Next on our sewing-day agenda were cushions. My friend had recently decorated her lounge and wanted to make some new cushion covers, and she wanted zips.

So… Is Handmade Worth It? If you want the cheapest option available, no, handmade custom designs that are More Shabby Than Chic are not for what you are looking for.

In fact, some things don’t even make it out of my head before they go wrong. There are projects that have been unpicked more times than I care to admit. Pieces that were cut twice because I measured once. Things I was convinced would be the one that ended up folded into a drawer, never to be worn, gifted, or spoken of again. I have an actual drawer for them. A drawer of UFOs - unfinished objects - quietly waiting their turn.

This was one of my very first custom card projects, and in typical me style, I over-stretched myself spectacularly. By the end, my hair was thinning, my hands were permanently mimicking the motions of folding and gluing, and my Cricut and I were no longer on speaking terms. In all honesty, this project pushed me right to the edge of a breakdown. I can say, without exaggeration, that it took blood, sweat, and tears. Was it worth it? Yes.

I’ve found that small, consistent habits make a huge difference in staying productive without burning out.

As you can probably guess, my fabric choices can be as chaotic as my brain. That doesn’t mean they can’t work together, it just means they might not make sense to anyone else at first glance. I can get wildly carried away in a fabric shop, stroking bolts of fabric like a Victorian lady fainting over velvet and spending far too long gazing at colour ranges instead of making decisions.

But then summer rolled in, as it always does, and suddenly I had six weeks off work. Six whole weeks of no bells, no students, no deadlines. That was when everything shifted. With time, space, and absolutely no one policing my day, I really started to learn who I was, and I threw myself straight into sewing. I was on every sewing course going. If someone was teaching it, I was there, armed with a notebook and absolutely no self-control around fabric shops.