Au revoir!

This is probably the last post here, at least for a while, maybe forever!

I’ve lost the desire to blog for a few months now and I’m not sure when or whether it’s going to come back. I wanted to wrap things up properly; what better occasion than a last year in review?

Once again, thanks to Instagram (where you’ll still be able to see what I’m up to, in case you ever miss me 😉 ), I’ve photographed everything I’ve made this year:

And once again, I’ve made more things than I would have thought: 32, which is not bad at all since I’ve really just sewn and knitted when I’ve felt like it!

Out of these 32 things, 5 are knitted, 1 is a little DIY necklace and the rest is sewn (half wovens, half knits).

Like last year (and the year before that, and the year before that, and…), most of my production consists of dresses, tops and cardigans. One thing that’s a first is that I finally made a swimsuit! I had cut another pattern out of the same fabric years ago, but had fell out of love with it, so I cut this new pattern out of the remnants and some of the pieces of the first swimsuit project, and goodbye UFO! This swimsuit is my favourite thing I’ve made this year!

As for the brands I’ve used, as usual it’s a little bit of everything, this year with a little bit more vintage: true vintage, vintage reproductions, vintage styles…

The biggest highlight for me outside of sewing/knitting in 2018 is without a doubt that I’ve just bought a house! It had been a completely unattainable dream of mine for years that suddenly became attainable thanks to a chain of events, and I couldn’t be more thankful for it. The house needs quite a bit of restoration work before Monsieur, the cats and I can move in, so in 2019 I’ll trade in my sewing tools for power tools!

Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading this blog, it’s been five fun years thanks to you! And bonne année 2019!

Another Year in Review

With only seven posts in a whole year, you’d think I wouldn’t dare coming back here for a yearly review, wouldn’t you? Well, you would be wrong! 😀

The fact that I haven’t blogged a lot doesn’t mean that I haven’t been sewing and knitting, and because I have documented most of what I’ve made on Instagram, I even had most of the pictures ready for my little annual collage:

I’ve made 35 things total this year, which is awesome since I haven’t been forcing myself to do anything, so 35 entirely fun sewing and knitting projects! But I do feel obligated to point out that a lot of these were quick sewing projects such as tees, panties and other easy jersey garments! And yes, I do count each pair of panties as a finished object, just because.

Let’s bring back the pie charts (made here) and have a look at the techniques used in the 2017 projects:

I’ve clearly been more into knits this year than last year! And a bit more productive knitting-wise, too. But no more millinery (the only hat I’ve made was knit), and still no shoes.

What kind of garments have I been making then?

Dresses and tops are once again the winners, closely followed by a new category, dancewear, and then another new category, underwear! I’ve also finally delved into the world of sock knitting and sewing loungewear. I was surprised to see that I’ve only sewn one skirt though (against five last year).

As for the brands:

How did I only sew one Deer&Doe pattern in a year?! Other than that, nothing surprising: a lot of Andi Satterlund and a little bit of everything else! And the beginning of a new love story with Ohhh Lulu apparently. Oh, and please don’t be fooled by the 3 “no pattern” projects: a pair of curtains, a knitted scarf and a sewn one; all three literal rectangles!

Looking back at the collage, I can see that I haven’t made a lot of technically difficult items, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been challenging myself into trying new things: before 2017 I had never knit a sock, nor sewn dancewear. Also, I had sewn a pair of panties in 2015, but never a bra.

One thing that makes me really happy is that I’ve FINALLY finished three of my UFOs! The curtains had been started years ago, as had this hoodie and this knitted top, so it feels really good to cross them off my list.

Another positive is that only one thing I’ve made has been a fail: this Dunbar sports bra, too loose to be wearable for its intended purpose. But all the rest has been loved and worn, a new record for me. It’s become a reflex for me to think about how I’ll wear something and whether I’d buy it in a shop, but also to prioritise projects I know I need (or really really want!), which seems to be working quite well.

The big negative is clearly… the blog! Seven posts in a year, how did that happen? I mean, this wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t have an interest or find any pleasure in it anymore, but I do, and so I find it quite sad to have neglected it so much this past year, watching the list of unblogged projects get longer and longer (in case you’re wondering, yes, I do have a list). There are of course things I don’t intend on blogging about, such as the boring bathroom curtains and even more boring bandana scarf, for which the blog post would be “I hemmed a piece of fabric. That’s it.”, but I feel like all the rest does have its place here. I know I wrote a few years back that I wouldn’t take New Year’s resolutions anymore, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so here’s my one and only resolution for 2018: I will blog on the regular again. By “on the regular”, I mean weekly(ish): unless I have a real reason not to (true lack of time, illness…), I will publish one blog post a week until I have caught up on my backlog. So watch this space!

‘Tis the Season!

Wait… How is it the end of the year already?

So apparently there were a few things I wanted to improve on at the end of last year, namely restricting my fabric stash to the number of cards my swatch album can contain, finishing some UFOs and blogging more regularly. I am very proud to say that I did not achieve even one of these goals-not-resolutions! 😂

I bought more fabric than I sewed, I added one UFO to the box of shame and I let my blog sleep at about the same periods as last year. But I’ve been blogging on the (sort of) regular again since September, so there’s that!

Contrary to last year, I didn’t try and cram everything I’ve made before the end of the year. I still have to blog 8 things I made (two tops, two skirts, two cardigans and two jackets). You can get a peek of them at the bottom of the photo montage below of everything I made in 2016, and I’ll blog them in the next year. Some of them (Ondée sweaters, gathered skirt, probably the Chardon skirt, too) don’t deserve a post of their own, but I’ll make sure to include them in posts about other garments when the occasion presents itself. I’ll also make sure to edit this post with links to the future blog posts as I publish them: Gato Morado cardigan, Bronze Brynja cardigan, Enfin Lupin jacket, cherry print gathered skirt…

Here are all the garments I made in 2016 then:I made 36 items this year, isn’t that crazy? Okay, one or two may be cheating: I finished knitting this cardigan in 2015 and only wove in the ends, blocked it and added the buttons in 2016. And I first finished the first dress of 2016 at the very end of 2015, only in January I made it much more wearable by lengthening it, changing the buttons and adding snap closures. Still, I’m pretty impressed with myself here! 😉

Just for fun, I’ve made some pie charts (on this website)! The first one shows the techniques (sewing, knitting, millinery – still no shoes this year) I’ve used:

The second one shows the distribution of garment types:

I’ve actually made four jackets, not two, but I included Monsieur’s and my goddaughter’s in the gift category. Also, I was surprised at how many tops I’d made, but then I remembered, five of them are Ondée sweaters. Not that surprising then! 😜

And the last pie chart is about the brands of sewing/knitting patterns I used:

I don’t think that blue chunk at the bottom will surprise anyone! 😉

I am really happy about how much I’ve been wearing most of what I’ve made. This playsuit is the only piece I haven’t worn at all, but I still find it very pretty so I’m not getting rid of it anytime soon. These culottes and tank on the other hand I’ve worn… but might end up donating nonetheless because I’m a bit meh about them. We’ll see how I feel about them come summer.

Other than these three, I think I’ve become really good at knowing not only what I like, but also what I like wearing. I almost always ask myself two questions before embarking on a sewing or knitting project: “What will I wear it with?” and “Would I buy it in a shop?” and this has proved to be very effective.

The pieces I’ve worn even more than the rest are my swallow print Sureau and my star print Cardamome, which are such nice replacements for my first Sureau, and this yellow rain jacket, so perfect for the Belgian climate! I’ve also worn my grey Lupin jacket a lot when the weather still allowed for a light jacket, but for now it’s waiting for Spring. All of my knits have been in heavy rotation, too. Even the last one I completed has been worn quite a few times already.

Before I let you go, I want to keep track of two non-sewing/knitting highlights of 2016. The first one is actually sewing related: I was lucky enough to fly to Toulouse and meet Eléonore and Camille to take part in a photo shoot for Deer&Doe, which was So. Much. Fun!

Source: Deer&Doe website

The second one has nothing to do with sewing: during our annual trip to Spain, Monsieur and I fell in love with a stray cat… and brought him back with us to Brussels (on a 12-hour journey of buses + plane, woohoo!)! Fernando was the most pathetic little thing; we gave him something to eat every day but he didn’t let us get closer than a metre without hissing and/or running away. Then one day I managed to get close enough and pet his head… and all of a sudden he became very affectionate with us and literally did not leave the front terrace of the house until we left! Pathetic skinny black and grey Fernando has now become a gorgeous black and white cat and, despite an estimated two years of living on the streets, seems to have perfectly adjusted to apartment dwelling. I was afraid he and Olivine, my first cat (who hates everyone but me – yes, even Monsieur!), would not get along at all, but they’ve been much more civil than what I expected. Olivine tolerates him, which is more than what I had hoped for!

The day after he arrived home!

To get back to the subject of this blog, this time I won’t take any resolutions nor talk about any goals, sewing or otherwise, and just wish you, just like I did for 2016, a happy, creative 2017!

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Happy New Year!

I love little traditions like this one, so here’s the 2015 Rue des Renards retrospective!

In 2015 I made 30 pieces of clothing! If you had asked me, I would have told you I had sewn/knit a little bit less than in 2013 and 2014, but it turns out it was only my erratic blogging that gave me that impression.

Out of these 30 pieces, there are:

– 5 knitted ones: 3 cardigans, 1 sweater and 1 summer top.

– 25 sewn ones: 10 tops, 6 skirts, 6 dresses, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of panties, 1 coat.

– No hats or shoes! My work schedule didn’t allow me to continue my shoemaking course, and I didn’t feel up to going on on my own (maybe in the future?). As for the hats, no real reason there, 2015 was probably just not a hat year for me.

I’m glad to report I have been wearing an impressive proportion of my 2015 clothes on the regular! The only ones I’d consider fails would be my nautical dress (I loved it, but the fabric – which I had prewashed, thank you very much – shrank in the wash) and my houndstooth one, although there’s still hope for this one: Sarah suggested that a slip might help the dress feeling less tight at the hips, and I’m going to try that! Now to sew a slip! 😀

I’m particularly happy with my knitting projects since I’d consider all of them big successes. They’ve all been worn a lot, depending on the weather, and I’d have trouble picking a favourite, but the black Zinnia has clearly been worn even more than the rest (purple Owls, orange Marion, mustard Tambourine and yellow summer top) since it goes with about everything and it even served as a jacket between seasons. What’s weird is how long it’s been since I completed a knit: the last one was in May! I have since almost completed two projects that only lack a few finishing touches (weaving in the ends, adding buttons…), but I have been putting off finishing them, I don’t know why…

My favourite sewing project has to be my Quart coat, I don’t think I need to explain why. I also love my Encina dress for summer, and my Mimi blouse, Nancy Drew outfit and Ondée twinset for all year round. Oh, and my Emery dress of course! And the rest of my Ondées. These are the garments that make me feel most like myself when I wear them.

I didn’t make any resolutions at the start of the year, but finally, I sewed the skirt I had promised my friend! She seems to genuinely like it and I’ve seen her wear it on several occasions, so I’d count that as a big win, too!

Another thing I’m glad about is that I finally feel like I have taken the reins of my fabric stash. It’s still pretty huge, but I have donated everything I didn’t absolutely love and nothing spills out of the cupboard where I store it anymore (I used to have fabric everywhere!). I now think twice before buying and know exactly what I need or not thanks to my swatch album. My next aim is to never have more fabric pieces than the number of cards that my album can contain. Slow and steady, I think I’m getting there…

There’s another thing I would like to improve on in 2016: I have amassed UFOs to the point that I now have a UFO box! So it would be really nice if I could, if not get rid of it, at least finish some of those UFOs and definitely not add anything to the box of shame!

And finally, it goes without saying that I don’t intend on blogging as sporadically as in 2015.

This is all starting to look an awful lot like New Year’s resolutions, so I’m going to stop right there and wish you a Happy, Creative New Year!

Terrible Twos

My blog is two today! Thank you SO much for reading and everything!

And a Cosy New Year!

No New Year’s resolutions this time; I have finally learnt my lesson: I hardly ever keep them and then I feel like a looser all year long…

Out of last year’s four resolutions, I only kept one, which was to make a drawing of each of my sewing projects. I filled my whole sketchbook (that’s 15 pages, glad I didn’t buy a thicker one!) and this was really fun to do, but I was still relieved when I reached the last page because this meant that at last I could focus on other drawings, and other drawing media!

I said I only kept one resolution, but one could say I kept one resolution and a half: remember my Stash Diet? I held on for six months, so there’s that! 😀 But after six months it started not being fun anymore and I started to feel like it impeded my creativity instead of boosting it, so I decided to let go! Still, if there’s one thing this resolution brought me, it’s the fact that I took the time to count how much fabric I own and especially to make a record of each piece in a very useful swatch album! Now at least I know exactly what I own and I don’t run the risk of buying something I already have (unless it’s totally intentional like those striped jersey knits I keep amassing – you never have enough striped jersey!). It’s also really easy to match a pattern with a fabric now that I only need to open my album to check the meterage!

The last two resolutions I didn’t keep were making the skirt I had promised to sew for a friend (shame on me!) and… increasing my sewing/knitting production! Why did I even want such a thing anyway?! I have no idea what possessed me at the time, because I don’t see how 26 sewn/knitted items in 2013 (that’s one every two weeks!) were not enough! 😀

Anyway, I almost reached the same number this year! Here’s a compilation of my 25 creations of 2014:

That’s:

– 15 sewing projects ( 8 dresses, 3 tops, 2 skirts, 1 hoodie, 1 elephant!);

– 7 knitting projects (4 sweaters, 3 cardigans);

– 2 hats (I only included those I made just for myself, not the ones I made for my collection);

– 1 pair of shoes (almost two, my second pair just needs a tiny finishing touch which I have been postponing for months! – and by finishing touch, I mean fixing a mistake ).

The creation I have been wearing most often is without question my pair of shoes! They really go with everything, to the point that I’m starting to question the relevance of my extensive collection of shoes, and that’s saying something!

I’ve also been wearing my Renfrew dresses, Winter Heather sweater, Sureau shirtdress, Polka Dot skirt, Watercolour skirt, self-drafted summer sweater and Adelfa cardigan a lot. Oh, and my poor boyfriend’s hoodie, too: it turned out the sleeve bands were in fact too tight for him to roll up his sleeves past his elbows, so he kindly gave it to me and I’ve been wearing it non stop at home!

Those are the pieces I’ve been wearing most, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been wearing the rest: the only one I haven’t worn at all is my Hollyburn hat, which I kind of foresaw when I made it but you know, I had to make my vision come to life! 😉

And the things I made after the summer haven’t been included in the “most worn” category just because I have had less time to wear them than things I’ve made before, but both my Japanese plaid dress and the last sweater I knit have been worn quite a bit since I made them! And I’m pretty sure the dirndl blouse will get a lot more wear come spring!

The only garment I’m not happy about, even though I’ve worn it, is my Aubépine dress. I still love the pattern, but it’s now official: I HATE the fabric! I hate its shiny quality (it doesn’t show in the pictures, but trust me!), I hate the fact that the front bodice piece got distorted and now has all those creases and I hate the sweat marks (sorry!) that appear within five minutes of wearing because it’s a synthetic blend!!! I’m almost certain I won’t wear the dress anymore, but I’m still hesitating between two options: salvaging the silk lining for another project and throwing the main fabric away, or donating the whole dress…

I guess only one fail in a whole year is not too bad… I also have three UFOs though: these two and what’s more of a WIP than a UFO, a burda skirt I put aside because I wanted to sew myself an outfit for Christmas Eve (the dress and cropped sweater you can see at the bottom right of the picture compilation) but which shouldn’t wait too long for me to finish it.

I won’t make any promises though, because you know how it works! 😉

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Estoy de vacaciones!

The sweater you see in the picture is the only garment I managed to complete before my departure to Spain. Both the Centaurée and Outfit Along dresses will have to wait for my return, sniff!

But I still took a suitcase full of me-mades with me, as well as the materials for two knitting projects (two projects in three weeks, one can dream, right?): the first one will be this cardigan (I’m in love! Mine will be fuchsia pink!) and the second one  this stole I started in April but has been hibernating ever since.

I’d  better keep this article short and sweet as I am xanaxed to the max to be able to handle the plane trip, so let me just wish you a very nice month of August, whether you’re on holiday or working. See you in three weeks!

MMM ’14 – The End!

When I decided on my pledge right before the start of May, I was really worried I was aiming too high and I would end up wearing the same four or five outfits for the whole month. I was also planning on sewing the things I thought were missing from my wardrobe during the month so that I could make it through, but I actually didn’t really need to rush and sew anything. This doesn’t mean I don’t need any new clothes per se, just that I didn’t need them to make it through the month. But what are those pieces I need?

The first thing I realised I needed is cardigans: I love to wear them over dresses and skirts as I find them much more versatile than sweaters, yet I knit more sweaters than cardigans. So from now on I’m giving priority to cardigans when choosing a knitting project (but not forbidding myself to knit some sweaters from time to time!).

The second thing is trousers. I had already realised that last year, but I still haven’t sewn any! I never feel the need for trousers during the colder months, nor in summer in fact, but when the temperature is too hot to wear tights yet too cold to go tightless I find myself at a loss as to what to wear. So trousers.

And the third and last thing is tops. Especially tops that are easy to layer. I usually wear a lot of long or 3/4 sleeved tees under dresses when it’s cold (that + layering two pairs of tights = the secret to wearing cute dresses in winter by the way), so I was lucky that this May was pretty warm (warmer than last year!) because I own exactly none that are me-made.

Other than that I must say I’m pretty satisfied with my me-made wardrobe: I really sew/knit things I find both pretty and useful. And it was really the best feeling spending a whole month wearing only things I had made myself! Also, I was forced to think outside the box and find a few garment associations I don’t think I would have thought about had it not been for my pledge.

So that’s it for this year, I just need to publish the last six days before I forget! And thank all the adorable people who took the time to leave such nice comments here or on flickr, and Zoe for hosting the challenge again this year! 🙂

DAY 26 (Monday)

The dress is me-made, and the outfit is pretty similar to the one I wore on Day 21, so I don’t have anything more to say about it than what I said about the other one.

DAY 27 (Tuesday)

Or, the last time I was able to wear heels before I cut my pinky toe against the edge of my bed, ouch! I’m not even sure the part that fell off (yes, a tiny part fell off!) is going to grow back. But I was supposed to write about my dress, not my toe! It’s the first time I wear it to work without a sweater over it, and when I saw the pictures I realised with such a thin fabric I may have spent my workday flashing my (not me-made!) underwear to unsuspecting students. Ah well, what’s done is done!

DAY 28 (Wednesday)

One of my favourite skirts with one of my favourite tops. I love red and pink together!

DAY 29 (Thursday)

Yay May and its numerous holidays! I had the day off so I spent the whole day at home and literally didn’t set foot outside. A whole day knitting on my couch. Bliss. The dress is me-made of course (it’s not like I’m wearing very much else!), it’s the first dress I ever sewed. I wrote about it when I wore it last year on Day 4.

DAY 30 (Friday)

Wearing boots on a pretty warm day was not the best idea in the world, but I needed comfortable shoes to let my injured toe heal. The skirt and tee are me-made, and you’ve seen them both already this month, the skirt on Day 9 and the tee on Day 18.

DAY 31 (Saturday)

I’m wearing my me-made shoes and one of my oldest me-made dresses to celebrate the last day of Me-Made-May ’14. It was probably one of the last times I wore that dress I used to love: not only were my finishing techniques pretty lacking at the time I made it (look at that uneven hem from the twisted side seams!), but it’s also getting too old. I wrote more about it last year (Day 8).

See you next year for the sequel! 😉

MMM ’14 – Week Four

Only one week left, woohoo! Not that I don’t like wearing my makes of course, but I also don’t usually have to bother putting together a different outfit for each day of the month, so this part is becoming a little bit tiresome. Also, even though taking a picture everyday has been proving easier than last year, it’s seeing pictures of myself every day that has become kind of annoying.

DAY 19 (Monday)

Nope, I didn’t go to work dressed that way! 😀 I had to stay home sick so it’s kind of a miracle that I found something to wear that was entirely me-made and comfortable enough to spend the whole day resting on the couch. Also a miracle that I managed to smile for the picture. I’m wearing a me-made skirt and top. I only wore the shoes to go out and do some emergency grocery shopping and it was so hot outside I wished I had put on sandals instead. Other than that a very comfortable outfit.

DAY 20 (Tuesday)

I don’t feel really at ease going tightless to work unless it’s really really really hot and I don’t own any me-made trousers, so I put on the next best thing in order not to suffer from the heat: compression tights! The skirt and blouse are me-made and I’m kind of running out of things to say about my clothes! 😀

DAY 21 (Wednesday)

Once again, not a lot of things to say. The weather got colder but not too cold either, so a 3/4 sleeve dress without a cardigan was the way to go. Add some flashy tights and instant cute! This must be my easiest dress to wear and I need a million more.

DAY 22 (Thursday)

Same weather as the day before, same strategy minus the flashy tights! I also need a million more Renfrew dresses! I took the picture coming back home from work right after 8 am when I realised I had gotten up three hours too early since I had forgotten that I exceptionally started at 11 am on that day.

DAY 23 (Friday)

I’m wearing a me-made skirt and top to leave for a weekend at the countryside with my knitting group! Later in the day I put on a cardigan, but I didn’t take a picture. You’ve seen the skirt already, but I think this is the first time you see that top. It’s actually a refashion I made years ago. I even thought to take a picture before cutting into the original garment, so you can see the boxy tee it was before. I used a Burda pattern (there was a short sleeve version in the magazine) and I was a beginner at the time so it doesn’t look too good from up close, but I still like wearing it despite that and the fact that it shows a lot more cleavage than what I’m used to. It originally showed much more by the way, too much for me, so I gathered the shoulders in order to make the neckline smaller.

DAY 24 (Saturday)

Since I wasn’t home, I cheated and took that picture on Sunday coming back from my mini-trip. I spent the day knitting then going for a walk (hence the unusual sneakers!) with my fellow knitters and wearing a me-made skirt, T-shirt and cardigan I’ve already told so much about on that blog I’m going to stop right there. Oh yes, one more thing: I almost ruined my skirt climbing up a mossy tree that made big stains, but I managed to clean them away, phew!

DAY 25 (Sunday)

Apparently this has become my Sunday skirt! This time I’m wearing it with my knitted blouse. The weather was pretty warm and I needed comfortable clothes for the ride back to Brussels, and this outfit fit the bill perfectly.

In the morning I wore a sweater I can’t believe I’m still putting a link to seeing how much I’ve been wearing it this month, so I put it on again later in the afternoon just for the picture in order to give you an idea of how it looked with that outfit. Once again, not a lot of things to say except that I liked the outfit both with and without the sweater very much.

Conclusions of the week:

– I need trousers.

– Knitting getaways are the best!