Everything Old is New Again...and 2024 Favorite Sewing Projects

Oh how I have missed blogging. Instagram is now just too "insta" for me and although I'm a relatively frequent IG reader, less frequent commentator, it's just too too annoying. So I'm back to this tiny comfortable for me sewing, gardening, reading and traveling blog, basically for myself since I've always been a long form person...novels rather than short stories and series rather than movies. I won't bore anyone with life since my last post in April, 2020. If you're a friend, you know the details and if not then the details won't be that interesting since you too have had ups and downs over the last four plus years. But since I have always enjoyed the record keeping part of blogging, the end of th eyear provides a great time to post my sewing successes and disappointments this year. One thing I note is that I'm a repeat srwing person. When I get a pattern to fit then I'm going to make multiples. So let's start with a jacket I made three times this year,

This black and white Fabric Mart plaid boucle was perfect for a sudden April to trip to Paris and France when a generous friend invited 14 of us to use her house trade in central France for a week in exchange for chipping in for food, wine and cleaning expenses. I lengthened Simplicity 2858 to mid thigh and used the selvedge for trim and bias for pockets and sleeves. Then we had a madcap forty eight hours in NYC and I used a cotton print fabric that I'd saved for maybe fifteen years for the short version.

And the final version was in green plaid for a holiday trip to Paris, Starsbourg and London just a few weeks ago. My favorite souveniers are wearable items like the green plaid wool scarf that I found at Bon Marche, the oldest department store in Paris. Mr Lucky and I are so aware these days of how fragile our lives are and those of our dear friends and family. So we are taking time to wrap our selves in the warmth of relationships just like this scarf warps me in wonderful 2024 memories with him.

And I even repeat patterns for Mr Lucky, in this case Kwik Sew 3422, from a Liberty fabric that I found at Misan west a few years ago. He had just completed another week of driving the lanes of the Cotswolds for a week on the opposite side of the road with a stick shift on the reverse side of American cars and did it without a scratch...so the cars and trucks on this fabric always make us smile.

My favorite kimono topper is a copy from a Zara version and I made it three times this year with at least one more silk velvet one in mind:

Versatile Vogue 7832 is a Sandra Betzina bias dress that I have modified so many times in ten years. This year I focused on adding puffed sleeves for a few summer versions and I like the coastal grandma vibe...although I am neither a coastal dweller nor a grandmother. And yes, there will be more versions in 2025 since flowing summer dresses are cool and breezy and easy. And the peach silk nightgown version is from fabrric aging in my resource center for decades. When JoaAnn Fabrics wanted to go more upscale they were stocking some silks over 20 years ago. But that rebranding never really took and I bought silks for pennies on the dollar.

Final favorites is also my last project of 2024, Tessuti Sydney jacket in boiled wool Still figuring out the closure technique to use) and a hat/cloche from leftover wool jersey.