Lock down

I collect patterns. I do not just mean paper patterns but PDFs as well. I started collecting (and returned at least in my brain to sewing) in 2008. I actually started to print PDFs in 2009. I bought my first paid for pattern  in 2013.

I buy them (or get them for free as an email) and then in most cases I print them when I get them and then, because I am busy, I file them till I get time to put the pattern together and sew it up. In most cases this need for time to do the constructing of the pattern just never happens. Another pattern comes along and I do the same. Occasionally - as in hardly ever- I get round to making the item. In the meantime with all these plans I get my fabric sorted for the particular pattern I just decided I am making next. This goes into my stash, and I dream of sewing these things up. I have a loft full of A4 folders and box files containing printouts of PDFs. My partner regularly moans about the weight of all this paper stored in the loft and the ceilings will come down etc etc. Of course I ignore this and continue.

I also have my more recent downloads (waiting to be filed in the loft) stored in A4 folder and box files in my conservatory. Situated in the way under the table I use for sewing:

The loft and conservatory are in fact pretty much MINE. I only have a corner of the conservatory which is L shaped so this works well with a living area in the rest of it which has a TV and we live in it. But the dining table is off in the L bit and is usually my sewing table - except for a week at Christmas when it belongs to the familly. I have to admit I have a very understanding partner. He just lets me carry on dominating all this space.

Anyway the UK like most of the rest of the World is officially now in Lock down for Corona Virus. So the first few days I kind of wandered around being bored. My partner is with me and my dogs and hens so best enjoy our enforced time together. And my lovely hens get to go out in the garden more which is great for them, though less so for the garden. But then you have animals and you need to take care of them. I always wish they could be let out of the run more often. Over the next few weeks I suspect my perenials which are just emerging will suffer but at least my hens shuld be happier. But its such a waste of time just staying in and bumming around.

I finished the few sewing items I had already on my table - there is always a pile there.Mostly mens Tshirts - more of these as he wears them when I will get the photos taken.

Generally I cut my clothing in bulk, then sew in bulk. So I will spend a few hours overlocking, twin needle stitching, straight or zigzagging of multiple garments rather than make just the one item. I find this is faster and I am more accurate sewing than doing each item indivisually. But I always or nearly always end up using the same tried and tested patterns. Well its faster, I do not generally have time to actually put the patterns I own together or to trace them. Or even to look for them. It has to be something I want very very much to get round to it for me to make something new and often it will take days because I do it in between cooking dinner after work and it takes me all week for just one pattern. And lets face it I want to sew not stick bits of paper together or trace. So I just do not get round to it. But really I should try to do more interesting and NEW stuff. Occassionaly I will challenge myself but most of the time I just get on with making something because I really need a new top for work or similar. So there is minimal challenge but not minimal enjoyment.

But I constantly have all these hundreds of patterns are neatly filed in my loft or under my dining table.
I admit its a mess! Here you can see the stored PDFs as well as my storage box with my paper patterns. Many of them are unused as well and I have not bought any new ones for over a year!

Ofcourse I always collect the free PDFs. A friend once told me I am addicted to data. I collect even when I do nto print them. I have spent a week or so now deciding what I really need in my wardrobe rather than what I normally sew - tops, dresses and trousers but always the same patterns. The only exception is the The Vampires Wife inspired dresses which I went off on a  tangent about last year. I spent ages making the blocks and the dresses. I want to make two more for this year. This does prove if I can get myself motivated then I can get round to things. But again I am still making the same dreses because I like them and there was an initial challeeg and I am proud to have achieved it. But its another rut really isn't it?

Yes, I made the blocks which for me was a huge challenge and I could not believe it worked but its done now. Move on girl!

Yesterday afternoon, I decided I mostly need Bras - and the #braaweek challenge is of course running this year! So thats a good one. I actually have a drawer full of bras I am ashamed of. I hate when they peep out of my tops because they are all manky. old and in the case of the white ones grey. Ireally should make new ones - and challenge myself to actually make bras. Other people make beautiful and inique underwear. Time I got on that bandwagon.

I suppose partly its because they use so little fabric - which yes its a bonus but I do not want to cut into a new bit of fabric to then find I do not have enough for a dress etc. So I need to only use small offcuts and be less obsessed with the end results - at least initially anyway. Until I get to be good at this then I can buy sme expensive fabric and make some masterpieces. Right now they need to fit and forget the colour or fancy fabrics for now. After all looking at my underwear drawer ( no pictures here because I cannot handle showing this to the world!) really anything I make has to be an improvement on what I currently own. Anything that fits has to be better!

Well, I have all of the free Madalynne bra patterns and have had them years but only managed to make a Noelle, which I happen to love. Its not well made but doing a few more should perfect them. I have all the elastic and findings I need for a hundred bras! I kid you not. I bought the bits off Ebay ages ago. They took a long time to arrive but were very cheap sent direct from India.

I also bought the Seamwork Florence bra a while ago and have the free Mood bras so I put all of them all together yesterday. Of course bras are small so I managed loads of construction. It felt good to do small things and I felt like at last I am achieving something so I would recommend starting this with your smaller items if you do similar.

Then I was on a roll despite some back-ache so I put together the very first stretch dress pattern I bought from Burda which iI ill show you when I make it. I did not even own an overlocker when I bought that yet it remains unmade, and the Pauline Alice slip dress which I think was also free. And a dress from How to Do Fashion which I got from the Monthly Stitch indie pattern month years ago and so far have not made.  I now have loads of patterns to go at. I got all my wovens out of my stash and washed and dried them. I am intending to start my cutting session later today after posting this blog post. 

I think most of the cottons have previously been washed but I cannot now remember. Best to be on the safe side because I hate it when you make something, wash it once and it is too tight due to the fabric shrinking. I has only happened a couple of times but thats is just too many.

I have also sorted all my small stashed fabric bits for bras and cropped ( underwear) tops. Its in bags all over the room! I actually managed to fill 3 bin liners full of bits that are just too small for anything so really should go to the tip. I will have to find out if its open and if we are allowed to take things there. Otherwise they can stay in the back bedroom till they allow us out again.

 
I have also "rediscovered" loads of the old free patterns I printed from burda.com - such as The Partly Sunny Dress which I do not even know if you can still get it. I think its from Grosgrain. I really really want to make this andmay use my cartoon fabric for this one. Its only meant to take 1m of fabric too.
I got The Partly Sunny Dress from the old burda.com blog site.

Unfortunately, I was in hospital having the hip replacement when burda.com sent round the email to download all your patterns else lose them so I lost the lot. I luckily have all the freebies I had collected up till 2016 backed up but the newer ones are gone. Despite this I find on my hard drives that I have literally have thousands  of free patterns from the old part of the burda.com site where you could blog and share so I have loads yet to go at.

I do think the new burda.com site is crap. I have tried to use it and even bought 5 patterns from it but I just cannot find anything. Even then they did not send me the instructions for one of the patterns so I had to ask them for it and yes they sorted it but they never used to need to. It just worked. I used to use the old site to find what I wanted and then go and trace the pattern if I owned the right magazine. So I used it like a library. It just does not work even if you know what you want exactly now. The search function is rubbish. So sad because the old site was ace. I know things need to be updated but Burda have recked a once good site where there was a proper community. I got a voucher in fact for the burda.com site two days ago for 5 free accessory patterns. It does not work. I tried 3 times and but simply says the voucher code does not exist. Rubbish as well as being a complete wind up. Its apparently meant to help us find things to do while being in Lock down. Sad they could not even get that right because it could have gone quite a way to making people happier to have the new site.  The UK burda.co.uk is similarly rubbish. They go down regularly and you lose all your downloads so you have to keep getting in touch to get them sent to you. Never mind. I just won't be buying anything now from either of these sites. Its just too much hassle. I think if I want anything Burda now I will buy from the German site or buy old magazines from Ebay because in the end they ae far better value even if second hand. Anyway Burda rant over..........

They reckon we are going to be in Lock down for around 2-3 months. Assuming I can get motivated that will mean I can make all those long ago dreamed of designs I was so generously given by other sewers using the burda.com community. Many of the free Burda patterns from that time are wonderfully inovating and really very different from your bog standard patterns. I know some will have fitting issues due to being made for the specific person who designed it, but other than that they will make some wonderful items of clothing. I shall cut it all a bit big to allow for alterations. I have only so far started with about 12 patterns but I reckon I should manage a tracing session too in the next few weeks. Best not to get too ahead of myself with plans though else they will be just plans and nothing will actually come of this.

So today I got up to my now large pile of patterns which are all stuck together. Its 6:50am when I started writing this and I have already cut the individual pieces from my sheets and I am ready to go. I will keep you all updated as I get these things made. Since for the large part I am using off-cuts of previous projects for the bras, I am hopefully getting my stash well and truly under control as well.





And its really about time I used the woven cottons, because I am very "precious" about these and they have all been part of my stash now for at least 2 years and some since 2015! It would be so much better for them to be part of my wearable wardrobe. Nice as it is to have available fabric for a sudden project its also a waste when you have as much stashed fabric as I do. Though if this all goes to plan and I clear my stash from the shelves where it currenly lives, then I suspect I will have to fill those same shelves with my newly made clothing because there is no space in my wardrobes at all. I am not going to chuck out my current clothing for the new stuff either. What I am making here is fun stuff. What I currently have in the wardrobe is mainly work style clothing despite being me-made.

I have to admit I have completely recked the tidy rooms I started off with. There is fabric in bags everywhere. Piles of fabric on the chairs, patterns on the table and I have a back bedroom where I keep my stash thats in a similar state. I cannot sort what I need and manage to keep it all neat and sensible. I am creating at last and I intend to make the most of my time in Lock down.

Well these are my plans for the beginning of the Lock down. I suspect I will soon finish the currently planned projects and have to construct more of my stashed PDFs but I suppose at least now, finally, I will make these.

Coron-19 is awful but I probably would have got to retirement before making most of my upcoming projects without it. And scary as this definitely is, I have always wished for time to be at home to do this stuff. Like everyone we all want, and need more time. Its sad this is how we get it, but rather than sit watching TV I intend to make the best use of this as I can so that even if its next year before I wear some of this stuff outside the house and garden, at least I will have a host of new underwear and dresses to wear next time they let us do things like go to markets, car boot sales, gigs, shopping, parks country houses and restaurants.

I am sure I will survive Corona. I hope you all do too. And a bonus - while constructing all these patterns I also got round to listening to my hoard of audible books. I suspect I cannot hear them while sewing but I can whilst cutting out. At the end of this I intend to have a nice new wardrobe of clothing I made.

I will show you what I make soon I promise,

Take care and stay safe

Bracken