Crazy Exciting

Hello!👋

Hope you have been keeping well!

Monday started well with a trip to Leon’s Fabrics in Manchester to buy some fabric for my daughter’s Elsa dress. If you have not yet come across Elsa, she is the ice queen from the movie Frozen. 🙂

I bought some polycotton for the bodice and skirt lining, white organza for the sleeves, blue organza for the bodice overlay and the second layer of the skirt. And out the corner of my eye, I managed to spot a blue organza fabric with snowflakes which I am going to use for the third and last layer of the skirt and hopefully I can make a cape out of it too.

This needs to be ready by the 7th of June, so I will need to start this very soon.

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As for my partner’s parka jacket, I am ready to just have it finished. I have never spent this much time on a project! 🥱

I am pretty pleased with the progress I have made this week on this jacket. I have sewn most of the main pieces together, and I think all that’s left is the lining and zipper. But I have another 20 pages of instructions to go through. 😅

I just hope that by the time it is finished he actually gives it some use. This version was supposed to be a toile, but after realising how much time it has and is taking me, I have decided to do everything slowly and properly, because I really don’t want to make another anytime soon. 😅

I have had to set it aside for a little now because I need some hardware like D-rings and grommets before I can do anymore, so I will order these soon and continue with the jacket later.

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I have also decided to scrap painting my cutting table for now because I would have to sand it first and repaint, and I don’t want to have a room full of dust since I can’t really take the table apart now and do it elsewhere.

I was also tired of seeing my fabrics on the floor, so I have started to pack them away in the Kallax cubes by colour.

I still have my grey, cream and white fabrics on the floor, but now that I have organised the rest by colour, I can’t believe how much of each colour I have. For example, yellow fabrics, I love the colour but steer away from making myself clothes in it, I just feel like the colour washes me out. Yet, I have a whole cube and a bit of yellow fabric! 😱

Red and blue fabrics! I have 3 and half cubes full in each colour!!! Who knew I gravitated so much towards these colours.

All I want now is to be able to sew up a good chunk of these fabrics so I don’t feel overwhelmed by choice, although I think this will take me some time to do. 😣

I did manage to get a filing cabinet on Friday! I drive to Liverpool to collect it and getting it in the car was a mission, but we managed to fit it in! 🦾

I have already started organising my patterns and I am sorting them out alphabetically by company name. I am hoping this helps me find what I want to make easier and quicker than my previous method.

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You are the first to know...guess who is working together with Janome? Crazy exciting!!! 😍

I recently contacted Janome to ask if they would like to sponsor my challenge in June and through this we have now formed a partnership! 🤩

They have kindly loaned me their 5270QDC sewing machine and I am super excited to start working with it. (I even went to get it myself at Janome HQ and met the team! Will post a video about it soon. Stay tuned!)

It has so many features that my current machine doesn’t have and I am so looking forward to giving them a go!

Don’t forget that when June (in 6 days!!) starts, my sewing challenge starts too!

As a reminder, I have 34 prizes to hand out worth over £600!!! 🎁

Prizes are Janome, Kylie and the Machine, Tammy Handmade, The Fabric Boutique and Cashmerette just to name a few.

The entry rules are very simple:

• Sew a garment that you have been wanting to sew for a while.
• Donate £1 or more to the Blood Pressure UK charity via the link in my bio on Instagram, or I will post it here in my newsletter throughout the month of June.
• Please do leave your Instagram name in the message/comments area of your donation so I can match it up with your finished garment.
• Post your make any time throughout June using #sewbloodpressure24 and tagging me beesilva.creates so I can see your make and add you to the prize list!
• Any work in progress photos, please use #sewbloodpressure24wip. This is to keep the original hashtag free for finished makes only.

😎Confidence Corner:

“If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place.” -  Nora Roberts

Going after what you want can be pretty scary and nerve wrecking, but it will never happen if you don’t.

I have been fortunate enough throughout my life to have people around me that have pushed me to follow what I want.

It is scary to do it on your own, and many people don’t take the leap, but when I have been at my weakest and most vulnerable, I always had and still have  someone in my ear telling me that I can do anything I set my mind to.

A simple event that happened this week was the partnership that I was fortunate enough to form with Janome. 

If I had never sent them a message asking to collaborate with me, this would have never happened.

I am not telling you all to message Janome now 😂, but don’t hold back on things you want to do, life is too short for that!

🧵Today's Sewing Tip:

Waterproofing Your Make

I made myself a jacket using waterproof fabric a while ago, and it does the job, except for where there are seams. 😏 I was supposed to put seam sealer on the seams but got lazy and thought it would work without…and I was wrong.

As I am working on my partner’s parka jacket with a waterproof fabric too, this time I have added a seam sealer to all seams on the inside of the main fabric.

I left it overnight to dry and this is what it looked like the day after. 

And I am using the Stormseal Seam Sealer I purchased from Amazon.

⭐My Favourite Things This Week:

• Seeing good progress on the sweater for my daughter’s teacher.
• Making progress on my partner’s parka jacket.
• Meeting up with everyone at our monthly sewing social - Sew&Bond.
• Working together with Janome and getting a new sewing machine to work on!!
• Finally getting a filing cabinet!

🗓️Upcoming Plans

• Keep organising my Instagram sewing challenge #sewbloodpressureuk24
  (Are you going to participate? Let me know! 😊)

• Continue working on my partner’s jacket.
• Finish the neckband of the sweater for my daughter’s teacher.
• Start a new knitting project - test knit for RitaMadeThis.
• Make my daughter a princess dress.
• Organise my paper patterns into the filing cabinet.

🎬What I have been Watching/Reading:

• The Great British Sewing Bee (Reality Show)

Amateur sewers are brought together to take on challenges as they compete to be named Britain’s best home sewer.

It is so nice having the series back this year! My favourite pattern this week was the denim skirt, and I have been wondering if I should make one for myself with my partners old jeans 🤔

• Top Boy (TV Series)

Two seasoned drug dealers return to the gritty streets of London, but their pursuit of money and power is threatened by a young and ruthless hustler.

I have now finished all seasons and want more of it! This was one of those series that really dragged me in making me feel all the emotions, as it all felt it could be real life.

• Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal (Documentary)

A controversial dating site is launched in the early 2000s which sparks outrage in the press and intrigue among curious spouses.

• Power (Documentary)

This takes a look at the history and expansion of American policing and how different races were/are treated.

🎉Upcoming Events

June 2024 - #sewbloodpressureuk24 - Sewing Challenge on Instagram.
This is not an in-person event but a sewing challenge with the aim of raising money for a charity and awareness on the importance of monitoring your blood pressure.

Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event - 22nd of June 2024 11:45 - 17:15 - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester.
(5hr30m, an extra 30min than usual)
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND06
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond06/

Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event - 27th July 2024 10:15 - 15:45 - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester.
(5hr30m, an extra 30min than usual)
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND07
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond07/

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Thank you so much for reading my newsletter! And if you enjoyed reading it, please tell a friend about it to allow me to reach more people. 💖

Bye for now,
B! xx