This Fiona is Getting Ridiculous

July 20, 2025 Bianca Silva

Hello, hello!

The end of the school year is fast approaching! Our’s finishes on Thursday and I have yet to get some Paphos Pouches started to give to the teachers! 😂

I think I work well under pressure and these are time sensitive projects that are making me feel just that… the pressure!

I know I will get them done, or so I hope, even if it means sewing them Thursday morning to give at the end of the school day.

Colours and fabrics are yet to be decided, but I have enough fabric in my stash and scraps to choose from.

Wish me luck! 💪

Reminder:

I have been organising to celebrate my 7 years of sewing with an incredible community who has offered me so much support over the years!❤️

It is going to be a day filled with sewing at Janome headquarters in Stockport with a few surprises waiting for you.

I want you to get first dibs for being lovely newsletter subscribers, so please check this link to join the waitlist as it will sell out quick.

https://beesilva.co.uk/pages/7-year-celebration

Stitches of the Week

Closet Core Patterns - Fiona Sundress

Week 5…

And it’s becoming ridiculous!😂

I have lost a little more weight yet again! And the dress is now too large around my waist.

I think I need to hold off making fitted clothing for a while. All of my trousers, me made and shop bought, are all too big for me now.

There’s not much of my clothing left that’s saving me from leaving the house naked! 😂

The current state of the Fiona dress is that the skirt is attached to the bodice, the straps are now in the correct position, topstitching has been done and I have made a start on the buttonholes.

I need to finish off the buttonholes and buttons.

I was looking at my button stash for which colour to go for. I have lots of cream, black and some clear buttons, but I think the cream might make it feel too summery and I may not wear it in the cooler months with a t-shirt underneath, and the black is just too dark.

I’ve used the clear ones as a size guide to make the buttonholes, but I only have 18 of them, not 21, so I will see what I am going to come up with.

Fabric: Blue viscose linen from Sew Hayley Jane.

Size: 4 bust, 8 waist, 10 hips. The measurements I used initially were 32.5/ 28.5/ 38.3, now they are 32.5/27/38.

The drama: Now that I’ve lost some more weight around my waist it’s too big!😣 So many hours of work have already gone into this already! I have roughly 2-3 inches of ease in the waist now when there should only be 1.

The win: Although a little large, the dress is nearly finished!

Rita Made This - Ellie Sweater(hack)

It’s finished!🥳

And I love it!

It has turned out so fun, wearing it instantly lifts my mood!

I embroidered a total of 46 flowers, one sleeve has 10 and the other has 12. I only noticed this when I laid it flat on the table. It looked a bit off balance but after trying it on, I couldn’t tell so I’m going to leave it as is.

It also came out a little short for what I normally go for. With a wet block I should be able to stretch it a bit, but I am not going to bother with that now. I will just wear it with high waisted bottoms for now.

I finished the neck ribbing and sleeve cuffs with a rolled cuff. I much prefer the look of this on my sweaters instead of just a cast off edge. I definitely recommend you trying this out if you haven’t before.

If you are planning to make something like this, I found it a lot easier to embroider the daisies without sewing up the side seams of the bodice and sleeves, it gave me space to work.

Yarn: So Crafty Aran Yarn(Cobalt)8575M. Contrast yarns: Yarnsmiths Create DK in Carrot; pink, green and yellow from CraftStash(now closed).

Size: S, hacked to accommodate a different yarn thickness. I maybe should have added a few more rows on the bodice as it came out a little cropped.

The Drama: I don’t want to embroider anymore daisies any time soon. 🤭

Take It or Leaf It Sweater - Karas Knit Eng

I started on this a couple of weeks ago. I had done the ribbing in between finishing the Ellie Sweater and I knit a few more rows this week.

To knit this one, you need to follow a chart. If you’re unfamiliar with knitting charts, it’s rows of squares(pictured below) where you read one row from right to left and the next from left to right following the instructions provided for each coloured/labelled square.

There was some information missing in the chart, so I contacted the designer and she confirmed that she would update the pattern and resend it(which at the time of writing this I have yet to receive).

I continued on anyway because it wasn’t that hard to work out and I am really enjoying the complexity of this pattern.

I have come across a mistake in my work and am trying to figure out which row I made it in. I put a lifeline in at the end of the ribbing and was planning to put one every 10 rows or so, but I was feeling confident and didn’t.

I undid 2 rows and still have an extra stitch, I am hoping the next couple rows hold the mistake so I don’t have to undo much more.

Yarn: Yarnsmiths Create Super Chunky gifted by Wool Warehouse paired with Drops silver thread.

Size: XS

Needle and Gauge: I intended to use a 9mm needle because that gave me the correct gauge, but without doing anything to it, my test swatch expanded. I am using an 8mm needle without testing gauge. The yarn suggests a 10mm for reference.

The Drama: I have found a mistake - I have an extra stitch on my needles.

Skill Builder of the Week

Mark Your Fabric Before Removing the Pattern Template

Doing this can save you a lot of stress later on, so try to get into the habit of transferring all the marks from your pattern template to your fabric before taking it off.

Markings like darts, notches, pocket placements, and buttonholes are super important later on, and they are much easier to mark during the cutting process than later on where you have to reposition the template over your cut out fabric.

You can use whatever tools work best for you and your fabric like chalk, disappearing pen, tailor’s tacks. You can even use masking tape to label your pattern pieces to differentiate similar looking pieces, and also to help you remember which is the wrong or the right side on those fabrics that are hard to tell.

These are a few examples of what and how I make the markings on my fabric:

Darts - I make a little snip at the edge of the fabric and a tailor’s tack at the point. Once the template is removed I connect these points using a ruler and chalk.

Notches - I make a little cut, usually ¼ inch, that doesn’t go past the seam allowance, otherwise it will be visible when the project is fully constructed.

Pocket and buttonhole placements - I fold the pattern template at the location of these lines and use chalk and ruler to transfer them to the fabric.

This will make your sewing experience so much easier and more enjoyable!