Dearest Hive Needleworkers and Clothing Enthusiasts!

This has been the most favoloso week of sewing in Atelier McMA, as we get closer to the date of the expo of my new ‘collection’: the mastery is slowing manifesting, the labels are being sewn into necklines and waists, and the rack is piling up with new items that I have completed!

And it is VERY exciting to have shown my clothing to a couple of old friends this week, and to have them react super positively. This enthuses me a lot. I feel embraced by folks’ support – both online here, and in the real life, and the momentum that has been building is all the more palpable every week.

I completed (almost!) 3 significant pieces this week. One was a transformation, which I’ll show you here, of a blouse into a jacket:

My Beloved @vincentnijman treated me to a more-expensive-than-usual blouse, that we both adored as soon as we saw it: this marvellous pale-yellow fabric with big drawn flowers on it.... though a bit weird structurally; a wrap-around style, but fixed (closed) at the front, so it had to be put on over the head (and was tight to put on in this way!), so it really didn’t fit well at all – very lumpy at the front and not sitting at all nicely around the shoulders.

Even before Vincent paid the (10 x my usual budget!!) price of 5 Euros, I had committed to investing in it only as the base for a jacket project. It was too fabulous a blouse to leave sitting there in it’s dysfunctionality. It needed a make-over, and I felt called to the good work!

Most fortuitously, as with many of my 50c stall buys, I had a great ‘matching’ cotton top that I’d also bought that weekend. In my mind, I felt already that it might even be the correct size to sit quite neatly inside of this yellow blouse, and act as the perfect lining.

Then there needed to be a zip – I checked my nice collection of loads of different sizes and colours of zippers, and found one that would be perfetto so long as I cut it to the correct length. It needed to be open-ended at the bottom: I had this nice vintage metal zip, which I really prefer to plastic ones. If they ever seize up, you know that you can run a pencil nib along it a few times, and it seems to ‘oil’ it, and make it work smoothly again. On the other hand, a plastic zip, once blocked, is mostly done for.

The work on this blouse-to-summer-jacket was very chilled-out. I was passionate about working on it straight away, because this is the perfect season for a lighter wee jacket, plus this would be the optimum garment to go over a strappy dress or jumpsuit type of thing – of which I have a few.

It was also very pleasant to work on a special item just for myself, whilst on this drive to get as many top-quality pieces of clothing as is possible, complete for the expo in a couple of weeks… It led to me making a special ‘showstopper’ (not sure that is the correct word, really, but you get the idea) dress, which I cannot wait to unveil (as I shared in a sneak preview glimpse of it via Ecency Waves earlier this week). It’s a white, layered frock with vintage linen pieces put together: one embroidered tablecloth, an old underskirt, plus a deconstructed dress and apron….

Back to the wee jacket: with much tweaking, minor unpicking of stitches, a few moments of doubt, and at least one session resorting to handsewing when the machine got jippy with me… Out came this lovely garment that I have worn every day since making it! It is a perfect blend of funky and fun, stylish and comfortable, playful and informal – but also quite elegant for over a dress in the evening.

Making an ‘interlude’ piece like this has helped in loosening up my approach greatly. Doing something for myself again helps me recognise where I am over-thinking it in places, and lets me explore more spontaneous instincts – as when we picked up the jacket-to-be in the first place.

It was lovely to almost co-create a piece with my dearest-dear Vincent, too: it helped me listen to feeling and pleasure in making – which turns into harmony and good results, essentially. A non-verbal creative process is always, for me, superior/ more fulfilling, than one where I am mapping things out before I make them. I always find surprises throughout the process too, when I am less ‘in my head’ and more in the wholistic immersion in (a purer) creation.

Having completed the jacket last Monday, I immediately went on to make the two other garments which I’ll tell you more about next week: it’s getting closer and closer to the event, and I have many labels to sew on! And a pop-up undesigner clothing boutique to set up!