Next two dates for local sewcialist meet-ups are: Wednesday 30th March, and Tuesday 26th April. Everyone is welcome (more information is available here).

I’ve booked a table in The Stable in Birmingham City Centre for Wednesday 30th, from 6pm.

In order for everyone to have an idea of roughly who/how many people can make it I’ve created a basic poll or let me know on social media. Add your name & tick the dates you’re planning to attend. If your plans change you can alter your selection. The poll can be found here: http://doodle.com/poll/eemuhrm2kkcuncbw

I’m off on holiday soon (to Reykjavik/New York/Boston), so work is busy at the moment as I try to wrap things up , and – of course – I’ve filled my evenings trying to make new garments/accessories for my holiday. I’ve knitted a new hat (I just have the pompom to attach) and have made good progress on a Clare Coat. I still have a long to-do list, but I find that as a holiday approaches the list items tend to look less and less essential! My main goal is not to be frantically making the finishing touches to my coat in the taxi to the airport.

As it’s been a busy week and I should be heading to bed, this is just a quick post to note that there is a short post by me on the Paprika Patterns’ blog, on the subject of making the Opal Cardigan pattern in a woven fabric.

I’ve already blogged my Opal Cardigans here, but couldn’t resist posting these photos taken during a recent weekend trip to Cornwall. These photos were taken in Cawsand and Kingsand, where my parents were renting a house for a week. This is actually close to where my brother will be getting married this time next year – expect lots of photos then!

I’ve mentioned previously that I’m a big fan of Pom Pom Quarterly magazine and their podcast. The Autumn issue was my favourite from last year, but I also really enjoyed the winter issue. Each issue has a theme, and the theme of the winter issue was Biba.

I have a bit of a Biba obsession. I love the Biba aesthetic, both the clothing and Hulanicki’s illustrations. Hulanicki’s autobiography is a favourite of mine, I previously reviewed it here.

I haven’t included any pictures here from the Biba-inspired issue of Pom Pom Quarterly, since you can see all the patterns on Ravelry. Instead, pictures below are from three books about Biba I borrowed from the library at work (Welcome to Big Biba book by Thomas & Turner; The Biba Years by Barbara Hulanicki & Martin Pel; The Biba Experience).

From a start as a small mail-order clothing company, by the 70s Biba’s product range included not only clothing for women, men and children, but a whole range of other supplies including home furnishings and food.

There are also some Biba-related sewing patterns. Barbara Hulanicki drew the cover art for some Le-Roy sewing patterns (e.g. le-roy 3150, 3051, 3056), and McCall’s released a handful of patterns based on popular Biba designs (e.g. McCall’s 2725, 2747). I’d love to track them down at some point.

The photos of Big Biba show a totally unique shop. Sadly it closed in 1975, although I believe the roof garden (now private) is still there.

One of these days I’ll get around to sewing a Biba-inspired outfit, and to knitting some of the patterns from the winter issue of Pom Pom. I might start with Nield, which is knit in a nice chunky worsted and has a lovely cable pattern.

I’m lucky to be able to take two weeks off work over Christmas, but it always goes really quickly, so before I go back to work – and back to normal – tomorrow I thought it would be good to do a wrap-up of 2015.

During 2015 I managed to complete all of the sewing projects below, which are also listed on my My Makes page, plus a number of projects I am yet to blog.

                        

                        

                        

                        

                        

                        

            

I learned to knit over Christmas 2013, but this year knitting became something I do daily (on my commute to work) for the first time. Because of this I now knit as often as I sew and love it (probably) equally. I also started to feel like a ‘knitter’ (e.g. like I knew what I was doing) for the first time, rather than a total beginner.

A key interest for me in 2015 was my Naturally Dyed Wardrobe project, where I explored using natural dyes in my dressmaking. I loved experimenting with natural dyes and am planning to continue this year, both growing/foraging dye plants and using extracts. I only had limited successful growing dye plants in 2015 (my biden plants did brilliantly, but the woad was a total failure) so am planning to order seeds from Wild Colours and try again in 2016. All of my posts on the subject can be found here.

My interest in natural dyeing led me to join the Birmingham branch of the Guild of Weavers, Spinners & Dyers, become interested in weaving and spinning, and purchase my first fleece – all things I’m looking forward to exploring further this year.  I’ve really enjoyed attending Guild meetings and learning loads from the other members. Birmingham also has Knitting & Crochet, and Embroiders’ guilds which I fancy joining, but may struggle to squeeze in.

The other key project I participated in this year was One Year One Outfit organised by Nicki. The aim for participants was to make an outfit from local sources, I chose to use British fibres, rather than limiting myself to a section of the country. It was fascinating to explore what is produced in the UK, and to generally learn more about production processes. All of my blogged #1year1outfit makes can be found here, and I’ll do a wrap up later this month as I have a couple more to share. I’m already signed up to participate in One Year One Outfit again in 2016 (sign-up is here), and, as a result of taking part, have generally become obsessed with British fibres in my sewing and knitting.

I released my first sewing pattern, the Lou Lou Dress, and a Sewcialist necklace with local artist Working Clasp.

I organised the second SewBrum meet-up which took place in October (on Halloween in fact), was attended by around 100 attendees, and raised £554 for the Made Up Initiative. I also got the chance to attend a couple of London meet-ups, including The Foldline launch party and meeting Nicki and Ute during their visit to the UK, and attended the latest #CCBloggers meet-up in Derby.

Me and Phil travelled to Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen, Bruges, and Brussels, plus I briefly visited Amsterdam for work. We’ve booked to visit Reykjavik, New York and Boston in March 2016, which I’m really looking forward to. I’ve started planning the trip by reading Seamwork articles, blog posts and guidebooks, but if you have any recommendations or would be free to meet-up do let me know.

In 2015 I had two articles published in Seamwork Magazine, with two more already in the works for this year. In keeping with my interest in British fibres these were profiles of TOFT yarn company (article here) and Cluny Lace (article here). Photographing alpaca in the sun at TOFT was one of the most enjoyable days of the year.

In 2015 I also basically stopped buying RTW (although I still have plenty in my wardrobe as my clothes typically last me years, plus I received clothes off family as gifts). I never particularly made a conscious decision to do so, I’ve just reached the point where I feel capable of making most of the clothes I need. I still enjoy going clothes ‘shopping’ but now it’s more with an eye to future sewing projects, or for Phil as I’m never going to have time to sew his clothes too.

Huge thanks for reading, commenting & following. As much as I enjoy sewing/knitting/blogging for their own sakes I also do them because I love being part of this community. I follow over 400 blogs (I think – is it just me or it had to see the total number in Bloglovin’?) and even more instagram accounts & love seeing what everyone is making and doing. I’m not making any specific plans for 2016, as I prefer not to plan ahead too much when it comes to my hobbies (I do enough of that at work, as a project manager). But I’m hoping for an equally varied mix of projects – plus time for my other hobbies, which include gaming, comics, and old movies.

Charlotte x