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.

I bought an overlocker. And apparently, once you own an overlocker, everything must be overlocked. Does it need overlocking? Irrelevant. Can I physically get it under the presser foot? Excellent. OVERLOCK IT.

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.

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.