Barry’s New Shirt

Hello blog world 🙂

I felt an urge to make contact with you all 😂

We’ve been confined to barracks because of Barry’s health issues but really it’s not been so bad

Barry has been working throughout and mostly staying his upbeat happy self

I’ve been nurturing plug plants in the greenhouse and they’re almost ready to be put into the many pots and baskets in my possession, this is an early photo, they’re much bigger and more colourful right now

I need to wait for the tulips to finish showing off though, they’ve been spectacular!
These parrot tulips are a particular favourite

I feel so privileged to have a garden to escape into right now 🌈

Anyhow….I was going to tell you about the shirt that I recently made for Barry

We bought the fabric years ago, Barry was with me at the time and he spotted the fabric. Sadly the bricks and mortar shop is no more but it’s still available online and has the occasional pop up shop. https://www.buttonupandstitch.co.uk/

These tricky times have given me a deeper need for creativity…the first few weeks of lock down were particularly trying for me, I felt unsettled and not able to concentrate on much. I kept starting a project and then moved on to another. I’ve been doing a lot of baking and a lot of eating 😱. Our freezer is full! I’ve made rainbow paper hearts for the window..I really love them

I’ve tidied up the garden out the front now…

Last week I decided I needed to sew something that would really keep my mind occupied. So many things going on in my life right now which are out of my hands. I’m trying to just take things one step at a time and deal with what has to be dealt with as and when. It’s easier to write that than actually do it though 🤔

So, I had a look through my fabric stash and came across the Classic Cruisers fabric. It had already been washed in preparation for sewing. Seeing the fabric made me remember that I’d been promising to make another Party shirt for Barry for at least a couple of years…remember this one from 2014?

He needed another one and I needed something challenging to sew

I decided on the Colette Negroni Shirt pattern, I’d bought that pattern a few years ago.. I love the construction…

Pattern matching on the pockets and centre fronts nearly blew my mind but I think I’ve done an ok job

There’s 2 pockets, the pockets are meant to have flaps too but I don’t think I could have pattern matched anything else 🤯

This shirt was completely sewn on my Vintage Singer Featherweight including the buttonholes. I used the fabulous buttonhole attachment that was sent to me from America by a very generous and kind sewing friend 😍 Buttonholes on my modern machines aren’t a patch on the consistently perfect buttonholes this vintage attachment produces

I didn’t need to overlock any of the seams as the pattern explains how to create perfect flat fell seams

I love sewing at the dining room table but I do make a lot of mess! Think I like being near to Barry right now. The Featherweight is a quiet machine and he doesn’t mind me sewing in the background. I’m not sewing into the evenings though, I don’t have a much stamina as I used to have…

All in all this was a brilliant diversion for my overthinking brain and I’m keen to make him another but in a plain coloured linen, I’m a bit pattern matched out for a while 😂

He loves his new shirt…

My next project might be to give him a haircut! 😂😂

One of the contestants on the latest episode of the Sewing Bee used this pattern…what a coincidence that I made a shirt this week too. I wonder if I can second guess them for next week? 🤔

Some live plants have just been delivered so I’m off to play in the greenhouse

Thinking of you all in these unusual and trying times

Lots of love

Marianne x