The Creative Jolt I Needed

I think I must be craving a creative break from knitting. I did some jewellery making at the end of the summer as an attempt to get a creative jolt and quite enjoyed it. However, what I really wanted to do was some sewing. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with the poor quality of everything available at retail. I also buy way less than I did when I had a full time job which means I want very specific things which are often not available. The other sign was I bought a few patterns and a piece of tweed for a jacket. 

I mentioned the craving to sew to a friend and the next thing I knew she got me to go fabric shopping twice! On the first trip I bought upholstery fabric and recovered all of my living room throw cushions. I had searched for replacements in a few retail shops and the cost IF I had found something I liked was crazy. 

On the next trip I bought fabric for a dress and some notions to get me going. Oh but I needed some serger needles which required a trip to Toronto's fabric district on Queen St W. It turned out my serger needed a tune-up and my sweet husband took it to be repaired and picked it up once it was ready. 

  

That trip for the needles lead to a few other purchases. I've now made a white faux fur vest, and a pink oversized knit top. 

 

I completed them while I waited for my serger to come home. The vest is fully lined so no seam finishes were required. I did french seams on the top and finished the double turn hems by hand.  I used a hand finished band on the neckline. The dress is almost done, I just have to complete the neckband and hems.

The top is to wear with these fabulous suede boots my husband gave me for Christmas 2017

Then Craftsy did a free week of classes and I went a little crazy watching and reminding my self of my forgotten skill set. I've dug up my old tailoring notes to review before I start that jacket. 

If you are worried that this will become a sewing blog, don't be, I suspect this is just a lull in my knitting activity. I might share some sewing fitting resources to help knitters which I've done in the past and they are often my most viewed posts.