3 years in and getting adventurous!

As the three year mark has been approaching, I've been thinking about how much my sewing and style have changed and (hopefully) improved over the years. I've made things that I never dreamed I'd be able to make and I've pretty much given up my bad high street shopping habits, spare a few sets of underwear and the odd garment here and there. So to mark (just over) 3 years in making, here's a look at 3 things I never thought I'd swap buying for sewing, and how they're shaping my future sewing plans:

1. Shirts (or to be more precise, anything with a button placket)
I've avoided button holes for the majority of my sewing 'career' for no good reason - it was probably a dodgy one early on that put me right off. As a result, I never thought I'd make a shirt or shirt dress of any kind and the last of my very rare high street purchases was in fact a button up yellow shirt from &OtherStories - my excuse for buying it being 'I couldn't possibly make this myself'. All that changed in my desperation to own another &OtherStories garment, an oversized shirt dress, which I took the plunge and replicated with the Ralph Pink Sahara pattern at the beginning of the year.

Shirt and shirt dress sewing!

Since making the Sahara Shirt, I've twice casually treated myself to some amazing buttons from Textile Garden, sewn up the Ready to Sew Jane Shirt, made the Vogue 9186 dress with its concealed button placket, and have a couple more button-holed projects in the pipeline...

Latest shirt, with Textile Garden buttons

And coming up, a Named Reeta Dress for #sewtogetherforsummer

2. Fitted knits
I always swore I'd never move into sewing with knits. I didn't wear them very much anyway and on the rare occasion I did, I thought I could save myself the hassle by buying something from the high street. But the further I got down the sewing line, the more natural it felt to transition into sewing with stretch fabrics. My introduction to closer fitting knit garments was the Papercut Pattern Rise Turtleneck, a firm favourite that you'll probably see me wearing with or under most of my other makes. I even tried a hacking it to rip off a top from Finery. A bunch of basic t-shirts is on the cards once I stop getting carried away with more exciting projects.

Many iterations of the Rise Turtleneck

I've recently made, but not yet had chance to photograph, the DP Studio Knit Asymmetric Dress and wow, I never could've guessed I'd be making or wearing something so 'stretch/body-con' a few years ago. It's probably one of the most interesting garments I've ever made and I can't wait to share it! Here's a sneak peak:

DP Studio Le003 first try on - excuse the messy room!

3. Outerwear
Again, I was sure that I'd never make a coat or jacket of any kind and used this as an excuse to spend a small fortune on the French Connection one, with a lining that shredded at the blink of an eye. I forced myself to step out of my comfort zone and try outerwear last year with the Papercut Patterns Waver Jacket, and so another garment dropped off my 'acceptable to buy' list. Making the Waver was one of my most enjoyable sewing challenges, so I followed it up with the made the Named Yona Coat as last year's winter jacket.

Waver and Yona coats

I'm just about to start making what I think might be my biggest outerwear and sewing challenge so far, and one from my #2017makenine - the Named Isla Trench Coat in denim. Watch this space!

Named Isla Trench

A few things that still haven't made the jump from my 'acceptable to buy' list to the 'I can make this' pool are lingerie and jeans - now it's down in writing, I should probably give them both a go. Judging on how far I've come in the last few years, it's a definite never say never...

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this! What's the handmade garment that has surprised you the most? The thing you never thought you'd be making in your wildest dreams?

Thanks again for sticking with me through the last three years - here's to many more to come!