29/08/2014

Feeling Thankful | Lifestyle

image from Pinterest

I went for a walk along the beach after work today and saw the most beautiful sunset (unfortunately iPhone photos could not do it justice!) I sat on the beach for a while and thought about how thankful I am to live in such a beautiful county. With all of the bad that is currently happening in the world, sometimes we need to stop and take a step back and see just how good we have it.

I encourage you to take some time this weekend to stop and think about what you are thankful for.

- J x

Please click here to see my disclaimer policy.
facebook // twitter // pinterest // ravelry // bloglovin' 







25/08/2014

Megan-Clemente Combination | DIY




This dress is my second garment from my Love at First Stitch book by Tilly Walnes. It is a combination of the Megan dress and Clemente skirt. You can find the post on my first Megan dress here.

I was inspired by this pin on Pinterest. 





I made a few changes to the Megan top including making the top longer and replacing the dart tucks with straight darts. Originally I was just going to take the darts out all together, but realised the top looked frumpy and had no shape, so I decided to add in longer straight darts. 



I love the gathers in this dress, however because this material is quite stiff and the Clemente skirt has a lot of material, the skirt was very flouncy. I decided to take the skirt in slightly which made the it sit a lot nicer.



After undoing this zip 3 times I decided it was finally time for an invisible zipper foot! As I have an older style Bernina, it was harder to find the right zipper foot to fit my machine. There were a few stores in my area that stocked them, but I wasn't prepared to pay the $50 they were asking! I finally found this one on eBay for $27 (including postage) and received it within a week.

I am so glad I finally invested in one as it was so so easy to use. I used this great instructional video from Craftsy (free!) to install the zip.







Tilly always stresses the importance of finishing off your garments properly. By going that extra mile to finish off the raw edges, press the garment and hem it neatly, it will always look like a professional job.

I am really happy with how this dressed turned out! It will become a favourite during Spring and Summer.

Have you made anything from Tilly's book? I love how easy it is to customise the patterns to suit your needs.

- J x

Please click here to see my disclaimer policy.




18/08/2014

Yoga Girl Challenge | Lifestyle




There are always a few yoga challenges floating around Instagram. They usually consist of a different pose each day for a month. These are great for improving your practice and getting you out of your comfort zone, however once the challenge is over - that's that!

I was really excited to see the yoga challenge set by Rachel Brathen (aka Yoga Girl.) This challenge is very different to any other yoga challenge I have seen. The idea of this challenge is for these things to happen after the 21 days are up. They are a starting point for changing your life for the better.




If you read my Yoga Goal post, you will already know I have been trying to include yoga more into my everyday routine. These challenges will continue to help me change my lifestyle.

I encourage you to give Rachel's challenge a try and if you are not into yoga, try and relate the above to your everyday life. I believe the things listed above are things we should all be trying to do everyday.

Namaste.
- J x

Please click here to see my disclaimer policy.

11/08/2014

Organising my Sewing Patterns | DIY


You will have noticed from this post on cleaning up my craft supplies, I am trying to get a bit more organised with fabric, wool, general craft supplies and patterns! I have just finished organising the paper / printed sewing patterns I have so I thought I would share what I did with you.      



A friend recently posted this article from Craftsy on my Facebook and after reading through, I found it had a few really good ideas for organising and storing your sewing patterns. I really liked the first and second ideas, but space wise decided that the first idea of storing patterns in a folder was the best one for me!



I had a look around for the expandable sheet protectors (you can find them here or here) however I found they were quite pricey. Instead I opted for these Premium Sheet Protectors from Marbig (I purchased mine here.) They are a lot thicker than normal sheet protectors and worked well for me!



To make things easier to see, I made up a cover sheet for each pattern which included a picture of the pattern and the items that are needed to make the item (i.e. fabric, zips, buttons etc.) This allows me to quickly refer to what I need for a pattern, without having to get the instructions out.



I find that having them in the folder makes them really easy to flick through, and saves me a lot of storage space.

How do you organise your pattern stash? Are you a fan of PDF patterns or do you prefer traditional paper patterns?

- J x

Please click here to see my disclaimer policy.
facebook // twitter // pinterest // ravelry // bloglovin' 



08/08/2014

Sewing Projects | Insight






inspiration image - Pinterest // pattern - Megan Dress & Clemente Skirt by Tilly Walnes





pattern - Mathilde Top by Tilly Walnes




inspiration image - Sew Independent // pattern - tank top




pattern - Swing Dress by Merricks Art or Coco Dress variation by Tilly Walnes




inspiration image - Pinterest // pattern - existing maxi skirt




Inspiration - Ripcurl skirt / dress // pattern - DIY




inspiration & pattern - Coolirpa


A quick little insight into a few sewing projects I (hopefully) have coming up. Look out for blog posts!

- J x


Please click here to see my disclaimer policy.
facebook // twitter // pinterest // ravelry // bloglovin'