Away from Home Sewing

For most of the month of November I am staying with my elderly parents. My sister ( who lives round the corner from them) is on holiday, and after my mother fell in September and spent a month in a community hospital it became clear that the original plan of them staying with me while she was on holiday just wasn’t going to work

So here I am in Reading on a prolonged” holiday” with my parents.

First thought was – what shall I do with all that spare time and how do I manage for that long. So I set about making a list of things to do. They included meeting up with some skiing friends who live there, meeting up with an old school/ university friend I haven’t seen in ages, joining a Gym and -of course- what an ideal time time to catch up on all those sewing projects and  sewing related activities  that I haven’t quite got around to at home.

So I packed my bags – including a hold-all of stash fabric, loads of patterns ( don’t want to restrict my choice) and my sewing machine and overlocker. OK the pile wasn’t quite as big as the photos above but it’s amazing how much stuff is needed to sew away from home. I also contacted a lovely lady I met on a fabric meet up arranged by  Pattern  Review who I knew lived in the area , who volunteered to meet up for a coffee and show me the local fabric shops.

Well, of course, not everything has gone to plan. I am over half way through the stay and have not had as much time as I thought to sew! Looking after elderly parents does take a lot of time- so much for having spare time

I have just however finished a make! I used some mid weight cloche fabric from my stash ( purchased from The Textile Centre) to make a Toaster sweater. I have already made the #1 version, so this time I tried out #2

Cutting  out on the dining room table- no sewing room here!

After reading other reviews instead of making the usual reduction in bodice length for my short waist I added length( first time for everything) – 1.5 inches. So glad I did as the length has ended up perfect

photos were taken by my 93 year old Dad

 

I am really pleased with the end result. It’s made up in a size 8 which is still a loose fit, but with the drape of this fabric falls well.

 

There is one mistake. I think I must have been REALLY tired when I cut this out- I folded the pattern down on the neckline fold mark and promptly cut out the front and back without the integrated fold over neckline! I have managed to rectify this by then cutting out the missing part( with seam allowance) and reattaching it with the overlocker. Luckily if you didn’t know , you wouldn’t notice!

I wore it for the first time for my tour of fabric shops- John Lewis and Fabricland in Reading centre to be exact

Great find in the former- sale curtain fabric in exactly the colour my son wants for a table runner

Then  on to Fabric Land with the intention of buying some black jersey ready for a New Year fancy dress party

Having successfully found that and some fasteners required for some baguette bags I then proceeded to buy 3 more lots of fabric.

 

So the result was one piece of fabric used from stash, 4 gained( and that’s not counting the table runner).Not exactly what I had in mind for my stash busting sewing whilst in Reading…..

However I  was then spurred on to get on with sewing when I got back from shopping and cut out my next two projects- a cocoon coat and skirt.

Thanks to Nikki for a great time fabric shopping and looking forward to meeting up again next week to visit Sewisfaction before I return to West Sussex