This Is The Year For It!

Hello!👋

Hope you have been keeping well!

Happy New Year! 🎇

Hope you had a good end of year and an excellent beginning to 2025!

Have you had the chance to look back at everything you experienced and everything you achieved?

Maybe it was spending special moments with family and friends, going to new places or mastering techniques within your hobbies, whatever it was, I hope you can see how much you developed in 2024! 💪

Set yourself a couple of goals for this year and see if you can work towards achieving them. I know I have set myself some goals, but don’t want to reveal them in case I jinx it. 🤭

I started this year by going back to check the written instructions for the Roma Necessaire, which is my first sewing pattern I am going to release in case you haven’t heard about it yet! I changed a couple of details and added a few more, so I hope that these will make sense to you, the maker!

I am excited about this and also nervous because I don’t know how this pattern and many others I have in the pipeline will be received by the sewing community!

As I am working on the last few details, I am making another sample to make sure everything works out. I am using various navy fabrics on a cotton poplin base and I am leaning towards adding pink straps for a pop of colour. 😍

Once I have this finished, I will be ready to put out a tester call! If you are interested in participating in my first pattern test, please keep an eye out on my Instagram page next week! 🤗

Other than this I have been struggling to sew.

I have a few plans I would like to get done before winter ends.

I definitely want to try to get the Mikal Fleece Jacket by Petite Stitchery made up, as well as a maxi jersey dress, something similar to the Nikko Dress by True Bias. 

I don’t own the Nikko Dress pattern, so I want to raid my pattern stash to see if I have something similar! 😀

Something else that I really hope to get done this year is a quilted jacket. This has been on my list for about 2-3 years now. I have gotten into quilting lately so I feel this is the year for it! 

On the topic of quilting, I would like to make a quilt as well.

I have never made one, and feel like it shouldn’t be a project to tackle in one go, but yes over the course of the year.

I want to, not sure I will actually manage to in reality, get one block done each month. 

It definitely sounds doable, so I just need to see if I actually fit it in.

I even bought some squared paper to help me design some blocks! 😎

My knitting, on the contrary to my sewing, has been going strong!

I made quite good progress on my beaded sweater this week, I have nearly finished knitting both sleeves.

I knit both sleeves to the same length first because I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to be ¾ or long sleeved. I have now decided that I want them to be long so I have a little more knitting to do on both sleeves and then add a ribbed cuff too.

I am still out on whether I want to add beads to the neck and sleeve cuffs. I need to see how many I have left and make some calculations to see if I have enough, otherwise I will just knit them plain like the hem ribbing. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I also managed to block my Alice Vest test knit from RitaMadeThis!

I actually used it a couple of times before blocking and I really like this vest! I just think that the opening at the front is a little wide for me, so whenever I make the next one, I will either size up, or add some more stitches to the front panels. 🤔

And since my beaded sweater is coming to an end, I applied for another test knit that is being done by RitaMadeThis, the Ellie Sweater! 🤭

I have had a look at my stash, because I don’t want to buy anything new and at this point in time, it looks like I am going to be using black for sure.

The other colour I am still deciding upon since I need to see what fits the gauge.

Next week I will be able to tell you for sure what yarn I will be using and hopefully I will have, at least, cast on by then because the deadline is the 24th of January! 😂

Putting no pressure at all on myself!

😎Confidence Corner:

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something. - Neil Gaiman

As we enter a new year, let’s remember mistakes aren’t failures—they’re signs that you’re trying, learning, and growing. They show you’re stepping out of your comfort zone, trying things you’ve never attempted before and stretching your abilities in ways that lead to growth

Every mistake teaches you something valuable. They remind us that it’s not about being perfect, it’s about growth.

So, this year, don’t be scared to make mistakes. Welcome them as a sign that you’re living, learning, and growing. 

Here’s to a year of trying new things, making mistakes, and becoming better because of them!

🧵Today's Sewing Tip:

How To Make Straps for a Bag

Making your own straps for a bag is a brilliant way to customise your project further. 

You will need to determine how long you want the straps to be and also how wide.

For the project I am working on, I want my finished strap to measure 1 inch wide by 30 inches long.

I have cut a piece of fabric that measures 4 inches wide (1’ x 4’ because I am going to fold the fabric 4 times) and 30 inches long.

It is preferable to use a fabric that has no stretch to it since you will be carrying a bag with them. The weight of the bag will pull on the straps and they will deteriorate a lot quicker if using a stretch fabric.

To make the handles more durable, add interfacing. You can add interfacing to the whole fabric piece to stabilise it well, however, I am using a cotton canvas for this project and it is a more sturdy and durable fabric, so I will only be adding a strip of 1 inch wide lightweight fusible interfacing (Vlieseline F220).

Take your fabric piece and press in half to create a centre crease.

Take the 1 inch strip of interfacing and place it with glue side down on the wrong side of the fabric and align one edge with the centre crease.

Press it in place using the manufacturer's guidance. For this particular fusible interfacing (Vlieseline F220), the instructions are to use a hot iron and press it in place for 8 seconds.

Fold the strap in half again and repress. Open it up and take each long raw edge to meet the centre crease and press.

Now fold it in half again and align the folded edges. Press in place.

On the sewing machine, lengthen your stitch length to 3.0 and topstitch ⅛ inch away from the edge down both long edges for a neat and professional looking finish. 

The colour of thread I used blends in so well with the fabric it is even hard to tell that the stitches on one long edge are even there.

DONE! 😀

⭐My Favourite Things This Week:

• Nearly having both sleeves finished on my beaded sweater!
• Blocking and wearing my black Alice Vest!
• Getting some last bits done on my bag sewing pattern - Roma Necessaire.
• Building all the puzzles we own with my kids! 🥰

🗓️Upcoming Plans

• Finish my beaded sweater. 🤔
• Make a start on a new test knit - Ellie Sweater by RitaMadeThis.
• Make the last adjustments to my first pattern - Roma Necessaire. Tester call coming soon!
• Make one quilt block 🤔

🎉Upcoming Events

18th of January 2025 - Sew&Bond - Sewing Social Event - in Gatley Hill House, South Manchester, 11:45h - 17:15h
Email bianca@beesilva.co.uk and quote reference: SEWBOND013
For more information: https://www.beesilva.co.uk/sewbond013/

More 2025 Dates!

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:

What sewing-related New Year's resolutions do you have for this year?

Sign in below to leave your comment. 🤗

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