Packing for a long trip and home at last

I've been away for awhile visiting family on the other side of the world. I want to keep up with my blog and not abandon it after a few posts as I've done with other blogs before!

Before I get back to sewing, I thought I'd put down some of my thoughts on what to pack! This I will review when I pack next time!

What to pack:
I took about ten times more than I needed! I found that some of my cotton woven tops could be hand-washed and dried really quickly. One of my scout tops I wore every day for about 10 days (washed every night of course)! This of course made me realise how little I really need to take on a trip - even if it is a long one.

I think I wanted to take everything that I'd made. I couldn't bear to leave my precious clothes
behind! What if I needed something I had left out of the suitcase???

Next time I'm going to take a small bag (carry-on size), and when it's full it will be closed. That's it. There will be no arguments (with myself) as to what to take.

Useful clothes:
I found that my slightly lengthened (in body and sleeves) Scout top and my Style Arc Fiona cardigan became the most important items in my wardrobe along with my Anita ponti pants in a lovely Tessuti material, my green Linden top for cooler weather and some oyster bengaline Style Arc (slightly widened and lengthened legs) Tori capri pants.  Oh and my Swoon cardigan that I almost didn't take with me because it was only the muslin (one that I'd come to wear a lot in the cold weather at home though). I wore my Plantain tee with the 3/4 length sleeves a few times too.

My own design simple A-line skirt and my tiny pocket tank cotton tops were great for the hot weather in Portugal. And did I need all those shoes??? Really - no!

I just need a bit of willpower and realise that I don't need to go on a sewing frenzy before I leave home - I honestly do have enough clothes for day to day wear. If I keep telling myself this it might just sink in!

How to start sewing again - I just don't know where to start! This always happens when I get back from a holiday. Any ideas???

Fun with Fiona (Style Arc that is)!

I'm planning a trip away soon and it includes a cruise with two formal evening meals. I'm not really into the formal wear at all - I just love comfy no fuss clothes. With this in mind I put together everything I had that was suitable for cruise evenings and found that I had everything except a Style Arc Fiona cardigan. 'Shrug' had come to mind, so looking through the Style Arc website I found exactly what I needed. A little longer than a shrug but not a big heavy cardigan.

I had been saving some Affinity wool jersey from Knitwit for something special. I had two lots of 1.8m - black and blue. I thought the black would be ideal. I practised on some polycotton (I can't remember the name) from Knitwit and it all went together perfectly. Fitted so well that I'm keeping that one (a plus) - even though it has polyester in it!

Hanging up over one of a few tiny pocket tanks (without the pocket).

I photographed the cutting layout to help me - it's a little bit light here but it might just be possible to see! 

It was hard to get the layout all in one. You can get the idea that with the sleeves and body in one it takes a lot of planning! 

Now to the cutting out of my black Fiona. Well let's just say that it didn't go perfectly at all. The material was so soft and floaty that it was difficult to cut out or keep on my granite cutting table (otherwise known as the kitchen bench/depository of all things useful). As I had made sure that all the pieces fit (it can be quite hard but it is possible) I cut out a pair of the collar pieces. Then somehow or other I discovered that the stretch on this fabric did not go selvedge to selvedge and I hadn't checked first. Lesson learned here - always, always always check. This meant rearranging the material and the pattern pieces. Quel horreur! The pair I had already cut out with stretch going the wrong way were useless to me and I didn't have room for another pair on my wool jersey.

This is where I decided to use the blue for that piece. I had no choice if I wanted the stretch the right way. Thinking about it now I suppose I could have used the pieces with the stretch going the wrong way - it might not have made much difference! Oh well - I ended up with a pair of blue collar pieces and a pair of black. Everything would be fine.

All the band pieces (collar and back) have to be joined together in two almost circles. Now Style Arc patterns don't give many instructions but this top has great coloured pictures - it was easy to follow - the first one I made proved that. But I sewed some pieces together the wrong way round and had to unpick on this soft, delicate fabric. In the end I thought to myself that it was ruined so I might as well just go ahead and finish it anyway. What did I have to lose?

It turns out nothing, because I'm quite pleased with my two Style Arc Fiona cardigans now.

Excuse the selfies - no choice for now!

And I have enough blue fabric for a three-quarter sleeved Deer and Doe plantain top - already cut out and waiting to be sewn. What do you think of the blue collar? Mr SLTS (who isn't very patient when taking photos of my clothes but I'm working on it) thought that it looked pretty good (high praise indeed because he hardly ever says anything about my sewing)! Thank you Knitwit and Style Arc!