Birthday Celebrations!

November 8, 2026 Bianca Silva

Hello, hello!

It was my birthday yesterday!

I started my day by running 5k and when I got home my girls woke up and we all got ready for the day.

Every year on our birthday’s my partner will make us any meal we request, so this year I requested crepes with crispy bacon, banana and syrup.

He told me he couldn’t make the crepes because our pans weren’t doing the job properly (according to him, he only uses stainless steel and that isn't great for such a thin batter🤷 ) so he made pancakes instead and proceeded to forget about adding my banana!

He made up for it though by adding an extra pancake with homemade strawberry puree and chocolate sauce! 😋

For lunch he made us a spanish feast and there was far too much food, we could have fed another family of four.

He made batatas bravas, chicken croquettes, pescaditos (deep fried fish), pork stew, pan com tomate (olive bread with tomato), roasted chourico, garlic shrimp, a mediterranean charcuterie platter and black olives with garlic.

For dessert he made burnt mint cheesecake topped with chocolate sauce and mint choc ice cream.

It was all delicious and we ate far too much! So much so, we were still full by dinner time so we just had a hot drink.

This week at college we started the next brief - shirt and sleeve block!

I am very excited for this one because we get to use our personal measurements to make our blocks meaning I will get to make something that actually fits me!

In this week’s class we were given paperwork to tell us the units we are going to cover and which dates they fall on.

This is going to be the longest brief in which we spend 20 weeks on it and this is going to take us up to the beginning of May!

So we started by double checking our measurements from week 1 that we did in September because our measurements do change. Once this was done, we started on our blocks.

There was quite a bit of maths involved like fractions, plus and minus and I really enjoy this aspect of the pattern drafting too.

I had a head scratching moment in terms of what one of the points meant but with some help, it then seemed obvious, like how had I not got that after reading it 13 times! 😂

I finished my shirt block with 30 minutes to the end of class so I decided to not work on the sleeve block, but also because the tutor hadn’t printed off the work sheets for us.

In one of the sessions, we are going to add our own style lines to it, so everyone is going to look different and I have so many ideas in my head, but I will have to narrow them down somehow. 😅

I go into much more detail about my classroom adventures on Youtube in case you want to hear and see a little more about what we get up to there.

I have launched a new event that is running on the 5th of December and it’s to help those of you who are stuck on your sewing projects.

Maybe you are too intimidated to get going on your sewing machine, or you have got stuck on a project, or you would like to master a certain technique.

And if you are unsure if it is the right setting for you, just email me before and we can have a little chat.

I’m limiting the workshop to 6 people for the 4 hour workshop so I can help each person with their projects.

As this is the first Sewing Unstuck, I am launching it with a 25% off.

Learn more here!

Here is your weekly reminder that I’m going to be on Sewing Street! 🤩

And that has come around fast because it’s less than 2 weeks away!

I’m going to be live on the 17th of November demoing a project and then the week after you get to vote, which of the 5 finalists is your favourite one!

Stitches of the Week

BeeSilva - Porto Case (New Pattern Coming Soon!)

A decision has been made - the pattern is going to be called Porto Case!

Thank you so much to those of you who helped me choose it!🥰

In between my other commitments, this whole week was spent working on making another sample of this case.

And I must say I love it! I love how all the colours work together, it’s just so exciting looking at it all.

There were a few things I decided to add to it in the process because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

One of the first things was adding handles. The case works perfectly fine without, but I love having the option of adding handles to things and it’s the perfect chance to add a bit more colour to a project.

The other thing I did was add foam to the gusset. Both with and without, the case works absolutely fine, but with, it gives it more structure.

I’m super excited to add this to my frequently used sewing gear but my youngest has asked me if she could keep it for her secret things.😂🥰

This may become one of their Christmas gifts this year, but I need to be time conscious as one of the other things I want to make them is a plush toy again.

There is still some way to go in terms of having the pattern completely ready for the retreat though. It still needs to be transferred to my usual document style and I need to print out the digitised pieces to make sure they print to the correct size.

Then I want to get them printed for each of my retreat guests, so the pressure is on!

Materials: Cotton, vinyl, mesh, foam stabiliser, batting and lots of zips.

Size: Big enough to fit an A4 booklet in - approx. 14.5 x 10.5 x 2.5 inches

Jaime Dorfman (Jaime Creates) - Bright Like a Diamond Cardigan from Fast and Fabulous Knits book

I am getting tired with how large this project is! 🫠

It feels like I’m complaining all the time about this one.

Too big, too chunky, taking too long…😅

Plus I realised this week I’ve been using the wrong size needle! And this explains why I feel it’s tight!

I did a test swatch and it worked out that I needed to use 9mm needles, so for the ribbing I went down to a 8mm which is what you normally do, you go down a size.

The needles I have don’t have the sizing on them, I have to check them on a ruler.

So this week I was looking for the 8mm needles to do the sleeve cuffs and guess where they were?!

In my project!🤣

The whole cardigan has been knit on 8mm needles and I only have a sleeve left, so I can’t change the size now unless I start over, and I ain’t doing that at this point!

Hopefully during blocking I’ll be able to stretch it out a bit.

I really love the colour and the stitch design so I do want to finish it and wear it.

It has started being a pain though to take to college on the tram. It’s quite large and I don’t have enough room, to the point where it nearly sits on the lap of the person sitting next to me.😂

Currently one sleeve is done, the second is nearly finished and I need to do the neck ribbing next.

Yarn: So Crafty Chunky Yarn in Green

Size: XS and added 8 rows to the bodice for more length.

Needle Size: 8mm needles-I definitely should have gone up a couple of sizes!

The Win: Some progress is being made.

The Drama: I’ve been using the wrong size needle!😵💫

Skill Builder of the Week

Backstitching vs. Lockstitch

If you’ve ever had your seams come undone it’s probably because you forgot this tiny detail.

When you sew a seam, the threads need to be secured at the beginning and end to prevent them from unravelling, and here are a couple of ways to do it.

Backstitching

This is the method most of us are familiar with! Sew a couple of stitches forwards, use your machine's reverse function to sew backwards over them, and then continue forwards along your seam. Repeat at the end.

Lockstitch

Some sewing machines have a dedicated lockstitch function, which secures the threads in place with a series of stitches without needing to reverse. Check your machine's manual to see whether yours has this feature - it’s normally indicated by a dot with a circle around it. Sort of like a bullseye.

When to use each one?

Both methods help secure your seams.

I would use a lockstitch when I want clean stitch lines and no appearance of stitches overlapping.

Some scenarios where this could happen is when topstitching and I won’t be able to hide the beginning and end of the seam within another seam, or when using a zigzag stitch. It doesn’t look pretty when so many stitches overlap each other here.

For everything else, I would use a backstitch.