Roma Necessaire 💖

Hello! Hello! 👋

Hope you have been keeping well!

I finally sewed down the zipper tab on my Palma Pouch!

I had left it for about 2 weeks just clipped in place, I even used it like that to take my sewing tools to my sewing social last weekend! 😂

I am planning on adding a few different options to the Palma Pouch pattern, so I am still going to work on it a little more.

I think I mentioned a few months ago that I was working on a mini version too that I would like to include as an option in the same pattern.

So I need to make a couple more of both the larger and smaller version to see if I want to tweak anything else further.

As it stands, these are the versions I have made as samples:

On the other hand, the Roma Necessaire is on a good track to being released soon!

We took some photos this week for the website and my partner has made some good progress on getting everything transferred over from the other website.

I still can’t give you an accurate date for the release, but fingers crossed it is just around the corner. 🤸🏼‍♀️

We are also adding pictures of the plain cord version to the website. This will show you that you can also create a plain quilted version as an alternative to the quilted squares.

I worked away slowly at my Lyra dress this week, and even though I was taking my time…I forgot to sew the waist ties into the side seam. 😑

I told you there was a high chance it would slip my mind.

I did remember to do the side slits though, so all my ideas are not lost. 

I am probably going to have to unpick the side seam to add the waist ties because I shortened them specifically for that.

If I just continue with the pattern and make thread belt loops to hold them, I won’t have enough of the ties to tie. 

Since I extended the button placket, I have also had to put the dress together in a different order, not that that has been a problem.

Something that I haven’t even looked at yet are the buttons.

I have some in my stash and I hope I have enough. I actually don’t even know how many I need, haven’t gotten that far yet. 😂

The leopard print viscose fabric I am working with has a little stretch to it which I didn’t realise when I first bought it. So I am definitely going to need to let the dress hang for a few days before hemming so that it has a chance to stretch out whatever it needs to stretch.

I am still in doubt about what I want to do with the sleeves though. 🤔

Long sleeve elasticated cuff, ¾ sleeve with or without a normal cuff, short sleeve…

I don’t know. I will probably get a better idea of what I want when I put the dress on after doing the button placket and collar.

My I’m So Basic Socks are still slowly coming together!

I love this self stripping yarn, Drops Fabel, it makes it more exciting to knit because you can see different colours on your needles every few rows! Keeps it interesting.

As I mentioned last week, I cast on a second project! 😅

This means I have a sock and a sweater in progress. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that, but I don’t like having more than one project on the go just in case I don’t feel like returning to one of them.

Years ago with my sewing, I had a few projects I didn’t finish and I never went back to them. By the time I reached for them, my body had already changed or they were no longer my style.

And I think sometime last year or the year before that, I left a knitting project for about 4 months while I knit two other projects.

So I made up this self imposed rule not to start another project without finishing the current one, unless I had some urgent deadline.

Although this is not the case with this one. I just needed to make my idea a reality....and I am loving it! ♥️

I am not sure how I came up with this colour combination, but it works!

The red and the purple are just so rich in colour!

I was originally going to repeat just the one set of striped colours together (red-pink-cream-pink-red), but something was telling me to add some random single stripes to break them up.

I think it is working out really lovely!

Every new project always seems to become my favourite. 😂

I’m sure I am not the only one this happens to. 🧐

I have settled on the sequence of colours now, and I am going to keep on repeating it for the full front and back panel, as well as the sleeves.

You know, ever since I started designing my own bags and hacking a pattern to make my silver beaded sweater, more than ever, I want to make my projects truly unique!

This is part of the reason why I continue to sew, and of course knit, make things for myself that no one else in the world has.

So here I am hacking 2 patterns this week, the Lyra dress from Tilly and The Buttons and the Gumdrops Sweater from Rita Made This.

I haven’t even finished these two knit projects I am busy with but I already have the next one planned in my head! 🤭

I want to make a cream coloured knitted sweater with flowers embroidered all over it. The same flowers I added to my Alice Vest test knit from Rita Made This.

I don’t want to forget about the sweater my partner asked me for though. 🫢

I am very quick to make things for my daughter’s or gifts for friends, but for him, things seem to take a back seat all the time. 

I am beginning to feel guilty now. 😔

Maybe I should cast on for his before my floral one. 🤔

We shall see.

Anyway, the yarns I am using for my socks are the Drops Fabel in Sunset and Cornflower Blue, and for the sweater I am using one strand of Yarnsmiths Merino DK Superwash (Sugar Plum, Bubblegum, Bright Red, Off White) together with another strand of Yarnsmiths Kid Mohair Silk (Sugar Plum, Rose Pink, Scarlet Red, Off White).

You can watch last week’s video here:

Alternatively, you can subscribe to my Youtube channel if you haven’t already so you can be notified when a video comes out. 

😎Confidence Corner:

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. - Voltaire

Doing nothing is still a choice. When we have the ability to help, create, or uplift others but choose not to, we are responsible for that inaction.

Have you ever had moments when you saw someone struggling and didn’t help, or had an idea that could have made a difference to someone but you held back?

Small moments of being kind, generous and courageous shape the world around us. A simple act, like checking in on someone, standing up for others or pursuing a goal you’ve been avoiding can have a bigger impact than you realise.

Challenge yourself to act this week. Help someone, be kinder to yourself or start that project you have been putting off.

The best way to live is without regret, forget perfection. 

🧵This Week's Tip:

Backstitching

I remember my first couple of projects coming undone at the seams because I didn’t realise that I needed to backstitch in order to reinforce the stitches at the beginning and end of a row of stitches.

So let’s have a look at why backstitching is important in our projects:

• Reinforcement: backstitching locks stitches at the beginning and end of a row of stitches to help create durability, especially on areas that will experience pulling or stretching like side seams or pockets.
• Prevents Unravelling: it keeps seams from coming undone at the edges.

You don’t need any extra tool to be able to backstitch, most (if not all) modern sewing machines come with this feature.

Check the instruction manual of your sewing machine to locate it.

How to backstitch on your Sewing Machine:

• Start sewing for about 2-3 stitches.
• Press the backstitch/reverse lever or button and go backwards 2-3 stitches.
• Release the lever/button and continue sewing forward.
• When you reach the end of your seam, backstitch 2-3 stitches.

⭐My Favourite Things This Week:

• I finished the Palma Pouch I was busy with.
• Making progress on the Gumdrops Sweater for my collaboration with Wool Warehouse.
• Making steady progress on my socks.
• Slowly sewing the Lyra dress from Tilly and The Button.

🗓️Upcoming Plans

• Continue knitting my socks.
• Continue knitting the Gumdrops Sweater.
• Continue working on the Lyra dress.
• Make one quilt block 🤔 (Is this ever going to happen? 😂)

🎉Upcoming Events

22nd of March 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester, 10:45h - 16:15h
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND015
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond015/

More 2025 Dates!

26th of April 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
24th of May 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
28th of June 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
26th of July 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event

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

Bye for now,
B! xx