I nearly didn’t have enough fabric for this one!

June 1, 2025 Bianca Silva

Hello hello, hope you’ve been keeping well!

#sewbloodpressure25 is finally here!

I hope you have had the time to scan your sewing ‘to-do’ list and choose a garment pattern to make this June !

From today until the end of June, stop putting your sewing off and tick one, or more, items off your list.

Please do yourself a favor and also get your blood pressure checked! A quick trip to the doctor or your local pharmacy can probably save your life.

Don’t put it off too much, my dad never got the chance.

If you are able to, please donate to The Blood Pressure Association charity using this link:

https://gofund.me/cab93786

And to celebrate your participation, you have the chance to win a prize!

Here are all the details on how you can participate:

I had a stressful moment with a sewing project I have been working on this week, but it was short-lived!

I still have not picked up any knitting this week, and it’s partly to do with not knowing what yarn I want to use from my stash. 🤔

I don’t have the colour in my stash that I want to make a sweater in and hand stitch flowers on, so it’s taking me some time to decide what I can make with what I already have.

May is now finished and I can’t believe that I manage to post a reel everyday of what I wore throughout the month!

It has been a challenge to not just remember to film, but edit and also try not to repeat outfits.

I am so glad the weather went a bit cooler towards the end of the month because it gave me a chance to reach for items I wouldn’t have if the weather stayed warm.

This helped me further in not repeating outfits.

Every day, I wore at least one me made item and only once did I repeat a pair of trousers, my pink Lander Pants.

The item I repeated the most was a pair of black RTW trousers.

So a couple of trousers more in my wardrobe would be very welcome.

The kids are still off school for a few more days, but it has been lovely to spend time with them riding bicycles, going to parks, watching movies and going to birthday parties!

Typical though that the weather has been wet when they are off school.😏

Stitches of the Week

The Petite Dressmaker - Ellesmere Dress

I love all of The Petite Dressmaker’s designs and I am so happy that I am able to be a part of another tester team.

I traced out all the pattern pieces, cut my fabric and looked at my scraps and thought “I still have some fabric left if I change my mind and want to add sleeves”.

Little did I know I had missed cutting out 2 skirt pieces!😱

And I didn’t have enough fabric left!

I raided my stash and only had plain yellow fabric to complement the floral fabric, but I knew if I used it, I wouldn’t really like the look of it and wouldn’t wear it.

I decided to check my ‘fabric to wash’ pile because I was hopeful I would find something else that would match better.

To my surprise, I found the exact same fabric!🤩

My 30 minutes of panic was quickly resolved and I could continue with my project in peace.

Fabric: Ditsy flowers on a white background cotton poplin(another length of fabric out my stash).
The Drama: Initially missing cutting out 2 skirt pieces.
The Win: Having enough of the same fabric for the whole dress and made a little progress on the construction. Plus, I am another fabric down in my stash!

Skill Builder of the Week

When to use a Zigzag Stitch

A zig zag can be used for so many different things. Here are some of the ways I have used it in my sewing projects:

- Finishing raw edges:

There have been times where I didn’t want to change the colour thread on my overlocker to better match my project. Instead, I have zig zagged the raw edges to keep them fraying.

- Buttonholes:

Since I feel hand sewing is not my forte, I have used the zig zag stitch on my sewing machine to stitch buttons onto my projects.

There is a specific foot that you can use which will hold the button in place under the presser foot.

Select a zig zag stitch on your sewing machine, and then there are 2 ways you can do this; drop your feed dogs or reduce your stitch length to zero, like this the feed dogs don’t move the fabric.

Rotate the hand wheel to check that the needle hops from one hole in the button to the other before pressing down on the foot pedal.

I usually let the needle pass over the middle 4-5 times and then cut the thread.

- Appliqué:

I recently drafted an Easter basket and used a zig zag stitch to make the edge of an applique look neat. I reduced the stitch length so the zig zags were closer to each other to make it look like a satin stitch.

- Mending holes or tears:

Once, I clipped a ‘V’ into the bodice of a dress I made my daughter. I used a thread in the same colour as the fabric and used a zig zag stitch to stitch back and forth over the area to keep the fabric from fraying or tearing even more.

Another great use for the zig zag stitch is to construct garments with fabric that have stretch. This stitch gives the fabric the space to move and stretch with the stitch so the seams don’t pop.

The zig zag is a simple stitch but has many uses.

Have you used it in any other way in your projects?