I’ve had a strong desire for more cozy clothing in my wardrobe all winter. A couple of weeks ago I cut out a Linden sweatshirt from some soft brown sweatshirt fleece. It took me ages to decide what size to cut. Lots of the Lindens I’ve seen online have been pretty loose looking. Looser than I’d like anyway. I love the look of the ones Karyn has made in Liberty Fleece. The fabric, all by itself, is pretty awesome but I also really like the fit. It seems a little closer. The size chart on the pattern suggest I make a 10 but when I measured some of my favourite sweaters I decided I’d try the 8 first. I got a bit of sewing time earlier today and hopefully I’ll be able to share my new shirt soon. I played around a bit with some decoration on the front and really like the way it is turning out.

I had enough fabric left over after cutting my Linden to also make a pair of pants for Maisie. I even did a bit of fiddling and added pockets. It’s the basic four-piece pants pattern from Brindille & Twig that I’ve made a few times before. It comes together so quickly and they fit Maisie really well. I got them sewn and finished last week and they’ve already seen some wear. Maisie got to pick the “secret” fabric for the pocket linings.

I’m also planning to make myself a new bathrobe. I’ve been on the hunt for a good, motherhood compatible pattern for a while and finally found what I was looking for in Almada in this month’s Seamwork magazine. Attached belt? Check. Sleeves that stay out of the way? Check. Pretty? Check. I’ll need to add some pockets for all the random things I am handed and I might lengthen it a bit to be more knee length but I think both those changes will work well. I’ve cut out the pattern but I think I’ll make a muslin to check pocket placement and ideal length before I cut into my fabric. I have two big pieces of a beautiful Nani Iro flannel that I bought, specifically for a bathrobe, before Maisie was born.

I had a bit of a Eureka moment when I was taping together the 52(!!!) sheets of paper for the Almada pattern. Since I was running out of regular tape I grabbed some wash tape instead. It was so much easier to peel and reposition sheets with the wash tape. Once I had everything in place I added regular tape to help hold it together. And as a bonus not only did the wash make all the lining up a little easier, my pattern looks super cute.

My sewing room is an especially colourful place right now. I’m getting ready to participate in one of the fall craft fairs. I had a table last year and found it a really fun and interesting experience. I liked seeing what everyone else had and talking to the people who stopped at my booth. I was right inside the door so I got to see almost everybody who came in. It was also a lot of hard work to prepare for and this year I got started a little earlier and very gratefully accepted my Mum’s offer to help out with some of the more mundane tasks like cutting shapes and trimming corners. I’m selling things for babies and mums: bibs, rattles, (my favourite) nursing pads and buntings. Most things are along a rainbow theme. I just think rainbows and babies go so well together. Rainbows are so bright and cheerful and still pretty gender neutral. I’ve a little list of additional things I might add if I have enough time but I’m not gong to stress myself out over them.

It almost always happens that just before we go on vacation I realize I need a new knitting bag. I start to plan out my vacation knitting and notice that something is travelling in a plastic bag and decide I can do a bit better. In this case I’d been planning a new bag for a while but only got around to making it when the check-in time for our flight was looming mere days away. When I made my first project bag back in January I’d been a little disappointed with the zipper. Not with my installation of the zipper - I was really pleased with how that turned out - but with the zipper itself. I did a little searching, discovered Zipit on Etsy, and ordered myself a small selection of really nice zippers for bags. I like the longer pull tab on a bag zipper. Somehow it feels more polished.

I made a couple of other changes with this bag. I didn’t have any heavy weight interfacing left so I used cotton twill for the lining and added a layer muslin to the outer fabric. I love the twill interior. I think I'll do it as a regular thing from now on. It holds its shape so much better than regular quilting weight cotton does and supports the pockets really well. I decided on patch pockets instead of a matching notions pouch this time for two reasons: 1) I was constantly losing the pouch at the bottom of the bag and having to hunt through my balls of yarn to find it, and 2) Maisie tended to find it first and claim it for her own - I don’t even know where it is right now but I’m pretty sure it’s full of crayons. I have plans to make Maisie her own special bag (I even got a fancy zipper especially for her) but it hasn’t been done yet so pockets for me. One of the pockets is big and the other is the same size divided in half to make two small pockets. I stuck my label on one of the small pockets instead of on the outside of the bag this time. Still there but not as obvious.

As soon as I was finished sewing I popped in my current cardigan-on-the-needles. A perfect fit. Yarn, knitting, tools, pattern, and buttons all nestled happily together and easy to find when I need them. And yes, I did pick my fabric to match the sweater that was going to go in the bag. It feels so neat and orderly.