Hello, fellow sewists.
I know it is fairly late in the month but I will take the opportunity to wish you a happy new year anyhow – hopefully you’ve all been making it through January and have been enjoying your sewing projects.
It has been some time since I gave my blog some real attention but as I paid the invoice to renew my hosting and domain for the website today I thought it was time to get back online and catch up with you all.
If you follow me over on Instagram (@shesewshappiness) or YouTube, you will know I gave birth to a baby boy at the beginning of December and I have, since then, achieved very little in terms of my sewing, as is good and proper – who wouldn’t want to steal as many newborn snuggles as possible?
This is not going to turn into a mummy blog but it would be remiss of me to not acknowledge how the blessing of motherhood has impacted on my everyday life; my priorities are no longer what they were and my time is no longer my own to selfishly follow my own pursuits as a priority. Nevertheless, you can expect to see some regular makes from me and maybe some more little person projects.
The latter half of 2022 was not the most exciting sewing time for me – with my changing body, my sewing style changed significantly. Stretch and comfort to accommodate a growing bump became the priority and my usual style – very fitted vintage inspired silhouettes – faded from view.
This year I am looking forward to getting back to my old aesthetic. Yes, there will be more jersey comfort makes – at the moment, I spend a lot of time at home with the little one – and I will consciously be keeping in mind patterns that are breastfeeding friendly. However, I am looking forward to sewing a lot more vintage styles, too; I have already made a start on the first project of Gertie’s Patreon this year – the Society Dress – and I will be digging through my collection of Butterick Retro patterns.
One of the things I am looking forward to is going through my fabric stash, especially the fancier woven fabrics that I had so many plans for last year which never came to fruition.
The thing I am looking forward to the least is having to make adjustments to my tried and true patterns as my body has changed considerably – there will be many toiles in my future. On a positive note, this means there will be a lot of learning opportunities. I want to get back to learning fitting techniques which is what I was really getting into before I was pregnant.
You may also be aware that I started a You Tube channel in 2022 and hopefully, now that I am back to making more varied projects, I will be able to upload more regular content over there so please head over and subscribe to my channel for more of my sewing adventures – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0Tcs_r7g4L3UJk29LLZdA
I’ll be back soon with some pattern reviews. You will also find me over on Minerva as I continue as a brand ambassador – https://www.minerva.com/people/1000998. Keep an eye on the Jenny Stitches blog, too, as you will find me over there: https://www.jennystitches.co.uk/blogs/news.
One of the highlights of 2022 was joining the Jenny Stitches blog team and I am looking forward to more projects this year – in fact, the first project materials arrived yesterday and I am looking forward to cutting into this Swooning Hearts Ecovero crepe which is one of the latest Fabric Godmother exclusive fabrics – it is utterly beautiful.
More soon,
Mary-Ellen x
awe what a beautiful photo and post. thank you for sharing!! I love sewing and was looking for blogs catered to people who sew x