These Days Are Just The Best!

Hello!👋

Hope you have been keeping well!

As you know from last week’s newsletter, I made a last minute trip to London to visit my sister and I took both my kids with me.

To get to my sister’s place from my house is quite the journey for anyone, never mind the children! 😩

It started with a bus, 2 trains, 2 underground trains and lastly a bus again! 😢

I was feeling quite nervous knowing there was so much travelling and changing transports because I had never been on long distance public transport with both of my littles, but they behaved so well! 🥰

They listened to mummy every step of the way, making my nerves calm down a lot! And I don’t dread the thought of taking them with me again.

Or was that just first time lucky? 🤔 😂

On the day to go and come back, I wore my bright pink Lander Pants from True Bias that I recently made, and my bright yellow RTW raincoat with the thought of, if they for any reason get separated from me, they would be able to see me from a distance or tell someone what I was dressing for them to look out for me.

The things one thinks about! 😅

To keep myself busy, which looking back now, not sure when I thought I wouldn’t be busy with a 3 and 5 year old, I took some knitting along to start a new project… a pair of socks!

Needless to say, the yarn never left the project bag. 😏

We got back home on Monday night, and have been taking the rest of the school holiday week slowly.

I have continued to work on the written instructions of my Quilted Squares pouch/bag and am feeling pretty excited about putting a PDF out there for, hopefully, other sewists to put their own spin on it.

The version I am using to create the instructions with is this one:

The contrast of the red and blue just gives me energy and love how it is turning out!

I did not start out wanting to put the blue webbing onto the red, but once I laid out the colours I had over the fabric, there was no question which one stood out to me most. 😍

I will get the written instructions finished this week for this one and see how to go about putting out a tester call for it.

For now, what you could help me with is give me some name ideas for the pattern please.

I feel like this is the most stressful part because once you give it a name, that’s it for life! 😂

My knitting recently has been slightly neglected as I have been dedicating a lot more of my time to getting my bag sewing pattern written out.

Having said that, I have nearly finished my Bicolour Snuggle Sweater by Anxious Girl Knits.

I have had to go back a little because you can quite clearly see that my sleeves are not the same. 😂

It was one of those things where I thought I had a really great idea for a bubble sleeve and it didn’t really work out like the vision I had in my mind.

So I frogged the red sleeve up to where I started the increases for the bubble, and am just continuing straight down to the cuff and will decrease it into a ribbing. So just repeating what I did on the cream sleeve.

It looks much better that way, especially with the yarn choice, the Pebble Haze Aran from Wool Warehouse.

The previous version I made was with boucle yarn which gives a teddy bear feel and it had more drape, you also can’t really see the stitches, just fluff. 

I need to remind myself why I actually decided to do my own thing for the sleeves… it was to reduce the wideness of it so it could fit into my jackets. 

So in a way, I am glad the bubble didn’t work out. 🤭

I cast on for another project too!

Like I mentioned earlier, I took some yarn to London for those moments that I wasn’t going to be busy with the kids, but that didn’t happen.

But the itch to start the socks was getting a little much, so I needed to scratch it a teeny bit.

I am following the Winwick Mum tutorial that was recommended to me by one of my lovely newsletter subscribers, you know who you are, and I am using the yarn that was gifted by said person too! Thank you so much!

I have started knitting the first sock with DPNs(double pointed needles) and I am hoping it goes a lot smoother than my first time trying them out.

I used them for the first time maybe 5 years ago now, and never picked them up again until now.

I prefer using circular knitting needles for all my projects because they are easier to manoeuvre.

Straight needles are just so uncomfortable for me, they get hooked on my clothes and are just overall uncomfortable. 

Even if a project needs to be knit flat, I still opt for circulars, I have not used anything else since I tried them for the first time.

So I hope I can work well with the DPNs and if this sock knitting catches on, I want to invest in a sock circular needle set. I know the needles and cables are shorter making it a lot easier and more comfortable to use.

I never mentioned it before, only because I just remembered and it happened in London, but I coloured my hair!

I love the colour red on me and had been doing my hair for the last 2 and a half years, but the time it took to do my hair was taking away precious time. Time that I needed to invest in my sewing.

So I took the decision to try and get back to my natural colour for a while, well at least as close as can be.

My sister is a hairdresser in London and owns her own salon, Hair Bay which is situated in Southfields, so every time I go visit, I get a little pamper. 🤭 ( Although this time the whole process took like 5 hours!)

Apparently to get red out of hair is a mission.

It needed to be bleached first. 

Funny enough when I saw my hair like this, I actually liked it, but my sister just laughed at me.

So of course we continued with the process until this came out:

My natural hair is a lot more ashy than this, but this colour was the best option to put on now and wait to see what happens because it will slightly wash out with time.

I feel a little boring now, but I think I just need a little more time to get used to it now.

Last but not least, we had our monthly Sew & Bond sewing social this weekend!

Spending time with this lovely group of ladies is always great!

Lots of stories are shared, sewing and otherwise. And there is just so much sewing experience all together in one room, everyone is always willing to help the next one when advice is needed. 

Some of the projects that were worked on were dresses, a blazer, a quilt and a dog’s quilt! 

These days are just the best!

Thank you so much to everyone that takes time from their busy lives to spend the day altogether.💖

😎Confidence Corner:

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill

Success isn't a straight line but a journey full of ups and downs. Instead of being scared of failure, we should embrace it as it is part of learning and growth. Each setback teaches us valuable lessons, sharpening our skills, resilience and self-awareness.

Remaining positive through these challenges isn’t easy, but we should focus on our goals and believe that each hurdle is getting us closer to our goals.

True success is less about avoiding failure or achieving perfection, and more about continuing forward and learning as we go.

🧵Today's Sewing Tip:

Sewing a Mitered Corner with Bias Binding

1- Unfold bias tape and pin it to the right side of the fabric. 

2- Make a mark ¼ inch away from the corner.

3- Stitch in the first crease that is closest to the raw edge, stopping ¼ inch before the corner and backstitch. 

Alternatively, instead of stopping and backstitching at the ¼ inch mark, pause at the mark, lift your presser foot, and rotate your fabric so you can sew off the fabric in the direction of the corner.

4- Fold the bias tape out away creating a 45-degree angle like this:

5- Hold the fold, then fold the bias tape down to align it with the raw edge of the fabric.

6- Stitch from the top down towards your next corner and repeat steps 2 - 4 again.

7- When you finish sewing the bias tape all around, fold and press it toward the other side, covering the stitch line and clip in place.

At the corner, fold the bias tape neatly by folding one side at a time to create the 45 - degree angle.

You may need to fiddle a little with it to get it to lay right, then press and clip.

8- On the right side of the fabric, topstitch close the edge of the bias tape, like this you will be catching the tape on the wrong side.

If you prefer to have no stitches visible, hand stitch the binding to the fabric using a slip stitch.

⭐My Favourite Things This Week:

• Spending time with my girls as it’s school holidays.
• Nearly finished writing the PDF instructions for my quilted bag sewing pattern.
• A new cast on! Socks. 🧦
• My Sew & Bond sewing social!

🗓️Upcoming Plans

• Finish up the Bi-Colour Snuggle Sweater from Anxious Girl Knits.
• Knit my socks a little more.
• Finish writing the instructions for my quilted bag pattern.
• Make some gifts for friends and family.

🎉Upcoming Events

Workshop - MAKE A QUILTED BAG with a ZIPPER AND POCKETS
Location - Gatley Hill House, South Manchester.
Date - 3rd of November 2024, 10:45h - 16:15h. (5h30m)
Price - 49.90£.

For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/make-a-quilted-bag-with-a-zipper-and-pockets/

23rd of November 2024 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester, 11:45h - 17:15h
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND011
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond011/

14th of December 2024 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester, 11:45h - 17:15h
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND012
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond012/

2025 Dates!

18th of January 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
23rd of February 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
22nd of March 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event
26th of April 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event

Question of the Week:

I need you! What should I name my new bag pattern?

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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