Top 5 non-sewing highlights of 2016

So this appears to be the third in a short series of posts for Gillian at Crafting a Rainbow's annual Top 5 of 2016. Today it's time for non-sewing highlights. I'm struggling with this a bit! And it seems strange to be blogging about a non-sewing thing on a sewing blog. But I suppose the top highlight of the year is being made permanent in my role after almost 2 years of secondment. I'm happy to be doing a job I love.

Ah, another highlight is getting C to take 2 holidays and 3 weekends on holiday in 2016. I have a stealth plan to slowly increase the amount of time he takes off work up to the level of days off that that normal people take. There's a price to pay when you have your own business, you work lots more hours than employees do.

This image is from the Royal Shakespeare Company's performance of a Midsummer Night's Dream which we saw at the Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow. Magnificent! This was a weekend holiday we had in April.

The next thing that's a highlight (and this is a fairly eclectic selection here....) is learning butterfly stroke at swimming lessons. I've been going to lessons for over three years and I'm loving it. I especially love strokes like this where I can pull myself through the water with my arms and shoulders. I really feel powerful and now have muscles! This has caused a few fitting hiccups though as it's subtly changed my arms, shoulders and across my upper back. Unfortunately I've now got a frozen shoulder (used to be 'ouch' but now it's very stiff and limits some movement) which has stopped the butterfly but I'm still swimming my favourite stroke, breast stroke, which is totally unaffected by the shoulder problem. That's not me in the photo above, just to be clear about that. There's no photography allowed in the public swimming pool I go to, quite rightly.

Well, I know there are only three things but I can't think of anything else for this category and I'm happy with that. These are three major things to me. Actually I'm a 'glass half full' person and generally happy and content most of the time. I obviously have my ups and downs but life could be a lot worse. It could be better too (go away frozen shoulder!) but it is what it is and it's good.

Top misses of 2016

Something strange about the title of this post but I'm not going to spend time trying to sort it. So, here goes for the next part of Gillian from Crafting a rainbow's annual round-up. They're not in any order of preference.

Miss number 1. Random squares blouse

Now, there's nothing actually wrong with this blouse. It fits beautifully and I love the squares fabric and the square buttons too. But it's just a bit...dark...and this makes it difficult to wear with jeans. I could wear it with black trousers but then that would make the whole outfit too...dark. I'll keep it and see if I wear it in 2017.

Miss number 2. Experimental make-up bag

I rather liked this. But it was too long and became a pencil case for C's work. I keep saying I should make myself another one and get the measurements worked out properly but there's always another lovely pattern and fabric to sew with that distracts me. I still need another make-up bag, by the way!

Miss number 3. Chrysanthemum print top

It's alright. I think I just don't like the shade of pink binding at the neck. And the fabric is not so nice a polyester. Some polyesters are ok but this one I'm not fussed about. That about sums it up!

Misses number 4 and 5: two New Look 6217 tops

I know, how did this happen? Two misses from my favourite top pattern ever!!! Well, for this top although it's made in a viscose, I'm just not keen on the print. It fits and the neckline is well finished and not too big or too small. Just not keen on it at all. I'll haul it out next summer and see how I feel about it.

My fabric choice is one problem with the other miss. I bought a triple crepe and it's a lovely colour but the fabric has a scratchy texture especially at the sleeve edges. The neckline I bound in purchased bias binding and it's too wide. So wide that I need to keep pulling it back up onto my shoulders and that gets annoying. Again, I'll haul it out next summer and see what I want to do with it. 

Interestingly I was having to work hard to find five misses. I'm going to take that as a good thing because it means I've been better with fabric selection and purchasing, and pattern choice. I've still got lots of things to blog that I've made recently so we'll see how that goes over the Christmas holidays. Just the small matter of photographing the final garment for my Vintage Pledge of 2016 but with Storm Barbara heading our way that's not going to happen anytime soon! 

The Top 5 of 2016

Ah, I know it's been a while since I posted on this blog but life is just full, at the moment. I came across Gillian from Crafting a Rainbow's annual sewing round-up and thought I'd add my things to it. Here goes for my hits of 2016!

Hit number 1. Cocoon cardigan

I absolutely love this and it's partly because of the lovely John Kaldor (not cheap) fabric with a portion of non-scratchy wool in it. The other part of why I love it it...batwing sleeves! What's not to like! I made this in April using the Jalie Cocoon Cardigan pattern and it's definitely suitable for a taller person (I'm 5'9"). No sleeves to set in and the only really tricky thing is attaching the band all the way around the edge. Once you've sewn/overlocked it, it needs a good press.

Hit number 2. The swimsuit

Yes, I sewed a swimsuit! And even more than that, I've been wearing it to swim in at a public swimming pool and not had any unfortunate 'wardrobe malfunctions'. If I can sew this, so can you. Although it does take a surprising amount of time to sew a garment which doesn't really cover much of you. This was a muslin that ended up wearable but I can see that the piece of elastic I used when I drafted and made a shelf bra is showing the effects of being dipped in chlorine each week. time to start planning the next one.

Hit number 3. Sutton Blouse

Live this too! I bought this before realising it's sewn with french seams. Oh well, another skill gained. Unexpectedly! I absolutely love this and would gladly fill my wardrobe with them. I was too much of a 'feartie' (ie. scaredy cat) to make one in silk but having recently sewn a silk top (unblogged but worn, washed and in the ironing pile) I've now got over that fear. I really like the fit on this top, love the v-neck, yoke and kimono sleeves and the high-lo hem...basically I love everything about this top.

Hit number 4. Pyjamas 

If the weather hadn't turned too cold to wear these I'd still be in them! It's a tried and tested pattern that I've used many times before and I like the loose, slouchy fit. Jammies are made for lounging about in, I say. I really wasn't sure I'd like these when they were sewn up but thought I'd take a risk with this out of my comfort zone beige-ey grey colour. I think brightening it up with dark red piping and buttons was safely within my comfort zone though.

Hit number 5. Flower top

Again this was a tried and tested pattern I've made many times before. It was the fabric that gave me the huge challenge when cutting it out and deciding upon pattern placement. The pattern repeats were printed along the edges, with gaps of plain fabric in between the flower repeats. I bought 5 pattern repeats thinking - one for the front, two for the sleeves, and allow 2 to match the pattern with the back zip. I needed all those pattern repeats! Facings were cut from the scraps and that worked well.

Now, off to think about the interesting fails...  

#sewingtop5 The hits and misses of 2015

Well folks, this'll be interesting! 2015 saw my first full year of sewing blogging so let's see what we have for 5 of the best...and 5 of the worst!

My number 1 favourite, favourite of all time would be this floral top which honestly gets washed and worn as soon as it's dry. Sometimes it was even ironed before wearing but not always...

Number 2 would have to be a Vintage pattern Pledge top using a pattern I'd used before in the 1980's. And I made a matching snood! Now that's what I call fun times, people.

Number 3...has to be my favourite going-out top. It's a simple two piece pattern but I took HOURS deciding on just the right pattern placement. It was a remnant I bought for about £4 so the challenge was really on to make something great with it!

Love Number 4! It may be 100% polyester, but this shirt is such a loud and very 'Me' print that I can forgive it. It's a definite hit. And I surprised myself by liking this new pattern.

Hit number 5 is this lovely floral shirt using another new pattern which has now become my go-to shirt pattern. The pattern has a two piece sleeve and this eliminates the need for fiddly placket sewing. Hurray! I love the fabric too with its hits of electric blue and acid green. 

And now, onto the Top 5 fails...the section of shame! Here we go, and in no particular order. Thankfully not too much stuff in this section but still...here's the first one. This was a green top I made using viscose jersey before I learnt (the hard way) that it's essential to pre-wash fabrics. It shrunk a bit bit and became too short for my liking. It was sent to a charity shop. It was also the first jersey fabric I'd sewn so there's always a learning curve.

Number 2 has to be this striped jersey top. Well, it was at the start of my jersey sewing career and the fabric itself was a thicker cotton with lycra. But it was just too thick and then I had second thoughts about the red and black stripes...Dennis the Menace anyone? I didn't even finish sewing it. It had to go. In the bin. And I didn't even blog about it. So here's its debut...and swansong!

And on to Horror Number 3. I think I have worn this Paisley blouse once underneath a cardigan and scarf. Since then it's been hanging in my wardrobe and will be butchered sometime in the future as the fabric is a lovely fine cotton. And I LOVE Paisley pattern.

Onto Number 4 in the Walk of Shame. This is the first cream top* I made and the fabric choice wasn't good. The sleeves were also too tight around the forearms and it was too tight across the back. If there had been any stretch in the fabric I might have got away with it but it just wasn't comfortable to wear all day at work. I think it went in the bin. *Not to be confused with my second cream top which is a success.

And last but not least in the galaxy of infamy, a pair of denim-look Ultimate trousers. I just don't like the fabric. It just doesn't have any sympathetic stretch, any stretch it does have is in the wrong places. What more can I say! They've been put away with the rest of the summer clothes but I don't know how long they'll survive come spring-time! 

So, that was the year that was. I have made a lot of tops! But I'm a separates person and don't really go in for dresses. There are also lots of other things I've made that I love wearing - all those pyjamas, jackets, yet more tops for instance - that haven't made it onto the hit list of favourites that could have gone on to the hits. And there are a few other things that could be added to the misses too but that's the way of life, isn't it?