March Happenings
March saw the return of the Instagram photo challenge #MIYMarch hosted by Wendy Ward and Dressmakers Social. Every day throughout March we have been given a different sewing related prompt to use as photo inspiration for Instagram.
I didn’t take part last year as I was still fairly new to Instagram and the sewing community but I was raring to go with it this year. It’s a great way of getting to know other people and I’ve lucky enough to actually meet two lovely sewing ladies in real life that I came across on Instagram thanks to the challenge.
The other great thing about this photo challenge is it’s made me think outside the box a little and get creative with some of the prompts as well as highlighting a few things that I now what to challenge myself to sew in the future.
Here is a little snapshot of some of the photos from the challenge.
- Den – I love my little sewing room and so, it seems, does a lot of people on Instagram. It always does well when I post a picture of my sewing space which I have to say makes me really happy. I’ve put quite a bit of effort into making it an enjoyable space to spend my days in so I’m always really happy to get lots of lovely comments about it. I promise it is not always as tidy as it looks in the pictures!
- Special – These two patterns were given to me by my Nan when I started sewing. The left is the one she used to make her own wedding dress in the 50s and the one on the right she used as a basis for my Mums wedding dress in ’86 – although she took a lot of the poof out of it!
- Mansew – I am incredibly guilty of being a selfish sewist but I have promised my husband that I will make him the Finlayson Sweater this year. Taking part in this Instagram challenge is what prompted me to actually purchase the pattern. The prompts were given at the beginning of each week and I had nothing to post for this one. If that’s not a good enough reason to spend money on a pattern, well I don’t know what it!
- Summer – I combined this one with another Instagram challenge #sewtogetherforsummer which you can read about here. The challenge is to sew a shirtdress. Any shirtdress you like. I’ve had my eye on this one for a while and am using it alongside the fabric that came in the March boxes. There are sponsors that will be giving out gifts to those who take part… and I’m one of them!
- Community – I posted this quote because I think it rings true of the sewing community on Instagram, everyone is so friendly, helpful and always there with a kind word or message of support.
- Muse – This one took me a while to decide on. Whilst there are many people whose style I admire I don’t think I really base my own style on anyone. There’s that topic again. That being said, I do love the style of Jessica Day in New Girl. Cute, feminine, a little quirky, a touch of vintage and she rocks a lot of polka dots!
- One Day – I definitely need to make myself a pair of jeans one day. I’m not so much scared of the construction process, I’m quite up for that challenge. It’s more the fitting process that I’m not so keen on. I feel like I would need to buy a lot of denim to make a good few toiles before I get around to the real deal.
- Under – I have never sewn any underwear. It seems to be really popular to make your own lingerie at the moment and there are some really gorgeous patterns out there such as those by Evie la Luve so again, maybe one day.
- Library – I’m a sucker for sewing pattern books it seems, the latest being Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book which is stunning although I am yet to actually use it.
I have really enjoyed being able to take part in MIYMarch this year and am already looking forward to next years as well as some of the other Instagram challenges that will take place over the coming months, including Me Made May.
In other, non-sewing related news, this month I have become obsessed with not one, but two tv series’ that I missed first time around. Both were pretty big but for some reason I just totally missed them. The first being Lost which Andy and I are watching together. He’s watched it before and is loving seeing my reactions as things unfold. We’re on series 3 of the boxset now and I have so many questions, but Andy is being very good at not giving anything away not matter how much I ask.
The second series I’ve been watching on my own, is Gilmore Girls. I watched the first couple of episodes when it first came to Netflix but didn’t think too much of it. I decided to give it another go when I started getting on my exercise bike in the mornings whilst Andy is still in bed (I’m an early bird… he’s a night owl) and I’m hooked. I love it and I really want to live in a little town where everyone knows each other. Is that a real thing in any country?!
Tell me what you’ve been up to during the lovely month of March!