#MuseJennaB42mrw

My sew-jo has been a bit low lately, if you can’t tell from the lack of blog posts 🙂

But this is not a post to apologise for that, we all have our sewing ups and downs…this is a post about actually sewing.

It all started with a phone call from Kat at 4pm on a Saturday. We chatted about a lot of things and, of course, sewing. I complained about my low sew-jo and how I really just couldn’t be bothered right now…even though I have 4 projects already cut out. We talked about what inspires us to sew and I mentioned how I had a lot of fun sewing the dresses for TMS Frocktober 2014  because I was actively photographing them to share later. Kat said just recently she had really enjoyed Instagramming her Hummingbirds Clover dress progress and got a lot of fun and encouraging comments along the way…and that’s how #MuseJennaB42mrw started.

Kat’s challenge to me was to sew up one of my cut projects (specifically the Muse Jenna) before our planned afternoon tea on Sunday afternoon…the next day…

So I put the chicken in the oven for dinner, threaded my overlocker up with black and got to work, ‘gramming along the way 😉

I got as far as neckband before I stopped for dinner.

Then I finished up to the cuffs before I realised that I better choose some buttons. Nothing in my stash did the trick so I decided to go with pearl snaps. They play in with the slightly vintage vibe of the pattern and my fabric choice however by the time I dug them out it was dark and a little bit too late to be outside sewing with a hammer.

On Sunday morning I attached the snaps and then I was all done.

Apologies for boring inside photos…it’s taken me way too long to get around to taking these and the wind was not cooperating…so you get my soon-to-be-painted hallway wall 😉

The arms are a teeny bit long so I’ll adjust those next time my overlocker is threaded up black…and it’s just as comfy when buttoned up.

It’s such a fast make because I stitched about 90% of it on my overlocker, only using my sewing machine for the shoulder yoke gathers and the top stitching.

Muse has 4 patterns published now and considering it’s the creative child of one of my BSFF (Best Sewing Friends Forever) I’m a little embarrassed about how long it’s taken me to actually stitch something up.

I wanted this post to be a bit of a review of the experience…except that hasn’t happened!

I was skim reading and sewing so fast that I accidentally skipped a whole section and as I was interfacing the button band I thought, “whoa, shouldn’t I have attached the bottom band already?” And then I saw the ENTIRE page that I just flipped past in my haste 😉

But it’s ok, you don’t really need to hear what I think of the instructions because I know Kat and therefore I know they are awesome…this is the perfect wardrobe builder with lots of options, opportunity to personalise and to top it all off it’s an easy pattern to whip up in an afternoon…or you can take your time if you prefer 😉

You should check out her latest pattern, the Melissa…great name huh? 😉

The hearts are some sort of poly knit from The Fabric Warehouse but the black contrast is merino from my stash.

So this is a good time to mention that my favourite merino source is now online. Levana is merino heaven! So if you’ve been coveting some soft and warm NZ Merino then you’re in luck. Shipping within NZ is pretty reasonable and they will ship internationally, you just need to email them for a rate first. They will be adding more of their fabric range to the online store shortly.

THE DEETS:

Pattern – Muse Patterns Jenna Cardi, Size 38, variation B (hip length with long sleeves)

Next time I will shorten the arms about 2cm.

Fabrics – Poly knit: The Fabric Warehouse, $16/m. Black contrast: merino from stash.

I’m not normally a fan of cropped…anything…but I think I need to make the waist length version next to wear over some of my dresses come winter…but first I’ll sew up the Gillian dress, one of the other projects I already have cut out.

I learn’t a new NZSL sign on Valentines day…and the translation on the right 😉