The Handmade Capsule Wardrobe makes list

In my previous post, I went through my planning process for my upcoming capsule wardrobe.

Since then I have gone through my current wardrobe and removed most of the items. I wanted to be able to really see what I was working with. I stuck to my list and I only kept the items that were handmade and fit in with the plan.

This was a great experiment to see what I was working with. I haven’t gotten rid of any of the other things yet, but I can see a trip to the charity shop in my near future.

It’s actually pretty amazing how well I have been trucking along without all that stuff. It just goes to show that you really don’t need as much as you think you do.

Anyway, now that the decks have been cleared I can get on with the fun part – making the new items.

This whole process has really revived my sew-jo. I cannot wait to get stuck in with a good session at my sewing machine. A few things to bear in mind – I am not making an entire wardrobe, just things to be added to the handmades I have already made. That said, I haven’t really done any cold weather sewing before so I am making a lot. The list also seems to be in constant flux. While a lot of the things are pretty set I am allowing a few adjustments and I am not giving myself a time limit to get this all done. What I can make I will and if I can’t get to it all that’s fine too.

Here is what my makes list looks like for my Autumn Winter Capsule Wardrobe 2019:
Bottoms
Navy rayon blend Alina Sewing and Design Co Chi Town Chinos
Dark wash Megan Nielsen Ash skinny jeans (Sew My Style July)

Navy True Bias Hudson pants

Dress
Chalk and Notch Orchid Midi dress with long sleeves (Sew My Style June)

Tops
Chambray Hey June Cheyenne Tunic
White and rust striped double cloth Cheyenne shirt
Leaf print Rayon Slub Style Arc Safari Sam shirt
Khaki rib Sew Over It Edie top with lengthened sleeves
Pink Ponte Sew House Seven Toaster #2

Leopard print Hey June Handmade Halifax Hoodie

Layers

Alina Sewing and Design Co Fulton Sweater Blazer

Sew Over It Cocoon Coat

Knits
White Chenille Paintbox Autumn Breeze
Pink wool Espace Tricot Turtle Dove
Caramel Espace Tricot Getting warmer cowl
Hand dyed Espace Tricot Getting Warmer hat

Sage at Six months

I can’t believe this is so late. I had it all typed up and ready to publish on the 17th, but it looks like it never went up and then I got sick. Oh well, let’s pretend you’re reading it on the day alright?

Whoop! Happy half birthday little girl!

This is the start of the time I enjoy most with babies. I remember loving the age with Willow and I’m really excited to be here with Sage. Things get really interesting with a baby who is now eating solids, is much more personable and mobile, and wants to be in on the action.

Sage is following in her big sister’s footsteps and it so much fun at the moment. We still have our grumpy days but on the whole, she is a happy little thing. She is quick to smile and now we get full belly laughs and giggles that are so infectious that you can’t help but join in. She particularly loves to laugh at you when you make strange noises and funny faces. Of all the people in the family Willow does this the best and Sage loves it. The two of them will play together for ages (peek-a-boo is a firm favourite) and just laugh and laugh. It melts your heart that’s for sure!

Development

The big news in development this month is that we have started solids. More on that below. The second biggest development is that we have cut our first tooth! I noticed the little bugger poking through on Wednesday.

Teething has been an issue in this house for well over a month. Sage has had days when she has been a right bear. It makes me nervous because if we’re this grumpy for the first one, heaven help us with the rest of them. We’ve had enough drool to float the navy and with that has come a face and nappy rash. She has had a terribly runny nose, has been sleeping poorly. Oh and griping. So much griping.

In terms of her milestones, she’s doing very well. She loves blowing bubbles and raspberries, she tries to copy facial expressions and turns towards sounds. She definitely recognises her name, rolls over in both directions, jabbers and coos a lot, drags objects towards herself and is now sitting without support. On Sunday, she was sitting on her own, reaching forward for a toy and then coming back up to her original position.

I’ve heard people say that the second baby develops faster and this definitely feels like its moving at light speed.

Sleep

Sage is still doing well on the night time sleep front, but there is always room for improvement. She still sleeps in our room. We have the odd bad night, but on average we’re still only experiencing two night waking – one around 1 am and one around 5 am. I have noticed that she has started waking more frequently after midnight in the past few weeks. I think this is the beginnings of a sleep association problem and I am taking steps to correct it now.

I have started with some gentle sleep coaching to get her to start falling asleep independently. It seems to be helping. I have read and loved the book Precious Little Sleep by Alexis DuBois. She speaks in a way I understand and her website of the same name helped a lot when we sleep trained Willow. So I’m hoping for a little of that magic again.

One big issue for me is the early rising. She will often think she’s had enough sleep and be ready for the day at 4.30 to 5am. I am definitely not ready to start the day then. I try to lull her back to sleep and sometimes I’m successful, a lot of the time I’m not.

Naps are also still a bit hit a miss. She can sleep anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours. We’re on a three nap a day schedule at the moment and we have a new rule of no sleep after 5pm otherwise the night is a write-off.

Eating

Sage was at that point where she’s trying to grab food off plates and put them in her mouth. We had a very near miss with a bowl of soup one day. So I decided it was time for solids.

She’s been very enthusiastic about this development. She gets grumpy if I’m late with one of her meals. So far she’s been having two meals a day of plain veggie purees. I have been introducing single veg once every two or three days. She’s always a little unsure of the new flavour at first, but by the second go-around she’s fully on board. She likes to grab the spoon and help me feed her. I followed this tack with Willow as well and I’ve not had major drama with picky eating, so I hope this will do that again.

She has really enjoyed broccoli, sweet potato, cauliflower, avo and butternut. She’s not the biggest fan of carrots though. I think she’s ready for blends now so I will cook up a bunch of different flavours for the freezer and I will also introduce some fruit soon.

 

The handmade capsule wardrobe

I have long been a believer in a small, well thought out wardrobe. I love being able to mix and match my clothing for maximum wear. For this reason, capsule wardrobes have always appealed to me.

But somehow in the enthusiasm of learning to sew and the wake of pregnancy and postpartum, my wardrobe goals have fallen by the wayside. Things are seriously out of control right now and the simplicity of a capsule wardrobe is once again on my mind.

This year I decided to be more active in challenges like Sew My Style and Me Made May. And these two challenges have once again highlighted my need to reevaluate my clothing situation.

One of the aims of Me Made May is to get you thinking about how your makes integrate into your wardrobe – to make sure you are wearing the things you worked so hard on. It also helped to show me what I wear the most and where the gaps in my wardrobe may be.

I also have other goals that I have ascribed to the challenge. Initially, I wanted to start a ‘make and replace system’ where I would replace RTW items with me made ones when the projects were completed. I have also been on a RTW fast for the past few months already and hope to continue for the next year or more. A dream of mine has always been to have a completely handmade wardrobe.

Being part of the Sew My Style my challenge where we are working towards making a complete capsule by the end of the year has also been eye-opening.

All of these thoughts and ideas have been churning away in my head for a while now and I have had a moment of clarity. If I want a handmade wardrobe that is achievable and enjoyable I need to go back to a small, concise capsule wardrobe. It seems so simple that I don’t know why I never thought of this before.

So I have gone back to the drawing board and done a proper capsule wardrobe planning session for the first time in years. Luckily, a lot of what I have already been working on will fit in with those plans so it’s not all wasted time. But I feel so good about all this that I thought I would share some of the planning with you.

I have a two-fold goal in mind:
One – I want a wearable wardrobe in as short a time as possible that is 90% handmade.
Two – I don’t want to overwhelm myself by having to get everything finished in a rush. So instead of an Autumn and a Winter wardrobe I will be making a singular one – cold weather.

Weirdly there is not much online about sewing a capsule wardrobe. There is plenty about how to shop for one. But I specifically want to make everything. In my search, I found Sew Uprising and she has fabulous resources on planning and making a capsule wardrobe as well as an ebook, which was a huge inspiration for me. A lot of my previous capsule wardrobe habits came back to me very quickly, so this was more of a refresher for me, but if you’re new to it all this is a good place to start.

Step 1: Gather inspiration
This was pretty easy, I have had a Pinterest board for ages where I save all the images that appeal to me. I opened it up and had a good look at the images looking for commonalities to show what was appealing to me at the moment.

Step 2: Define your style
While sewing has made me braver in some of my fashion choices, I am very much a creature of habit. I like what I like. Participating in Me Made May also served to show me what I reach for most often when getting dressed. It all underscored something I already knew: I’m a simple separates girl. I like pants, particularly jeans and I dress very simply. I would say my style is Modern Classic with a Twist? While my default setting is to reach for a classic pair of pants and a shirt or tee I do like to have a few ‘left of centre’ pieces to choose from.

Step 3: Planning
This is where I started actually compiling the list of what to make and besides actually making stuff this took the longest. I started by choosing bottoms, then tops and then layers. My experiences this past month and the work I did in the workbook highlighted the fact that I need more handmade bottoms in my wardrobe and a lot more tops that aren’t a printed fabric. Once I’d narrowed that down I started picking colours, fabric and patterns. I already knew I wanted to shop my pattern stash as much as possible. so I took inspiration from the things on my Pinterest board that looked similar to patterns I already owned.
I liked the way it was laid out in the workbook and I pretty much kept to that format. Only four tops, bottoms etc. didn’t work for me, however, so I took the liberty of making a few tweaks. But, I did strive to keep things as streamlined as possible. In previous wardrobes, I had a tendency to go seriously overboard and I still didn’t end up wearing all my picks.
I am very proud of the fact that when it was all said and done my wardrobe came out at 34 items. That is huge for me! I didn’t count what I consider to be base items like tanks and plain tees. But I have also included things I haven’t made yet as well as the upcoming Sew My Style Challenges.

Overall I’m very pleased with the planning process. My makes list has been slimmed down a lot and is now less overwhelming. My problem previously has always been an inability to decide and then stick to that choice so I always ended up with an over-inflated wardrobe. This time I really tried to make sensible choices and to choose less.

My hope going forward is that I will only need to add in a handful of items here or there to freshen things up again, but this is the core wardrobe filled with items I both look forward to making and wearing.

Sew My Style: March

Another late one, but I’m all caught up now…I think. March’s Sew My Style pattern was the Blackwood Cardigan by Helen’s Closet.

I have seen so much about the Blackwood cardigan online in the two years I have been sewing. Everyone seemed to be a huge fan of it and I was keen to give it a go.
So when it came up as one of the patterns for cardigan month I took the plunge and bought the pattern. Then I let it sit there and never made it.

Well, it’s not quite that bad, I just never got to it in March like I or the challenge had intended. The month just ran away with me and all my energy was focused on getting ready to go back to work and enjoying my last days of maternity leave.

I did manage to get this cut out in early April though when I should have been making Chi Town Chinos. But I digress. For my first one, I used a lovely Navy French Terry from my stash and cut out View B, which is the shorter view with no pockets. I really like the shape of this cardigan and felt that the shorter version would lend itself better to the structured terry. And I was right. It came off the sewing machine looking a bit like a relaxed blazer which I loved.

I wore it a few times and really loved the shape of the cardigan, the length of the arms and the vibe it gave off. I just wasn’t a fan of the colour. But I wore it to a get together with friends recently and my friend who has to wear navy to work every day loved it so much that I gave it to her. It looked fabulous on her too. All this means I never got to get pictures of it.
However, this is a quick and easy make, so once I finished my Chi Town Chinos I whipped a second one up as a bit of a palette cleanser. I used this lovely two-tone embossed velvet that I bought from Chamdor and its gorgeous. I also plan to make the longer version in a fabric with more drape down the line as well. I’m just keeping an eye out for the perfect fabric. I want a sweater knit of some variety.

Sewing this together was very easy. I used my overlocker for the whole thing and I got to use my brand new tailor’s ham and sleeve roll to press all the seams. That was a lot of fun.

The construction of this cardigan is very simple as it has no closures and it quite a slim fit. This is definitely a wardrobe builder piece and will be a workhorse in your wardrobe.

Pattern: Blackwood Cardigan from Helen’s Closet $14 (I got a discount as part of the Sew My Style Challenge

Fabric: Two-Toned Embossed Velvet Chamdor Faktory Sales R49/m

My daily pumping routine

As I’m now back at work I need to pump a few times a day in order to reach my goals of breastfeeding Sage for a year.
Pumping schedules are very individualised as we all have different time frames that we are working to. I thought I would walk you through mine so you can see how I fit it into my day. There are three things I keep reminding myself of during this time. Its hard and not so fun, but the rewards are worth it. I need to keep flexible about how much I have to pump each day yet stick to a routine that keeps my supply up. The whole schedule is driven by Sage, not me.
Right so here we go. I worked pretty hard to build up a freezer stash before I went back to work. So my pumping routine starts the night before. I take a sachet of breast milk out of the freezer and allow it to defrost in the fridge. Put the sachet in a bowl in the fridge. I learned that the hard way when one of my sachets sprung a leak and leaked breast milk all over my fridge!
The only pumping session I have that is not based on Sage’s feeding schedule is at 10pm. She usually goes down for the night at 7pm and sleeps through to 2 or 3am. So I use that time to get an extra pumping session in. This bottle will usually serve her for the next day and the breast milk from the freezer will sort her for the next feed (She has two, sometimes three bottles during the morning).
I then sterilize everything and pack my pumping bag for the next day. I take everything with me in a cooler bag to work. I have a Tommy Tippie electric breast pump and a Mooka Silicone pump. I use these together to make a double pump and it works really well for me.
I can only fit one pumping session into my morning work day. I usually do this at about 10/10.30am. I take myself with my bag off to a quiet boardroom and get set up in the far corner. I take my iPad with me so I can watch some Youtube videos I saved offline. I’m very good at this now and can be set up and pumping in no time. When I’m done I pack it all up and head to the kitchen where I rinse it all and store the whole back in the fridge ready to take home.
This is where things get tricky. If Sage has just eaten when I get home I need to pump at home. I quickly sterilize everything while I eat lunch and then I pump. Usually Sage is napping during this time, but if she’s not then my childminder will just look after her for a bit longer for me. If she hasn’t eaten then I feed her as normal.
I will often use my Mooka during normal feeding sessions on the opposite side from which I’m feeding her. I collect all this milk into one sachet and they all add up to one extra pumping session. It’s amazing how much milk you can collect this way. Then I transfer everything over into the freezer.
As I said, this is what works for us. I’m pretty flexible in how much I have to pump as some days Sage is hungrier than others. So far she is growing really well and my supply hasn’t suffered from me going back to work. In fact, I’m getting more milk with each pumping session as my body acclimates. Also, I’m not opposed to her being topped up with formula in a pinch, but breast milk is always the priority.
I did a lot of reading up about pumping while Sage was in the hospital. I never got it right with Willow (but as I was home with her I didn’t have to). So I needed to spend a lot of time researching and learning how to pump effectively. I found Pinterest was a great help here.
So that’s how we do it. I would love to hear about your experiences with it. When did you wean? I’m starting to find that Sage gets frustrated with me now if my let down reflex takes too long as she’s getting used to the instant delivery from a bottle. Have you experienced the same? How did you get around it?

Sew My Style: April

Look at me go! I actually finished a challenge in the deadline! April’s challenge was Alina Design Co’s Chi Town Chinos and spoiler alert, I’m really chuffed with these.

This make has been a lesson in patience for me. I have been really short on sewing time and have been frustrated by disruptions at every turn.

I just want to sit and sew, but unfortunately, that is not where my phase of life is right now. Instead, I have been grabbing short snippets of time here and there. Still, given all the challenges I was really surprised by the progress I made. It goes to show that even a little bit of sewing each day will still yield results.

I have wanted to make the Chi Town Chinos for a long time. The style of these trousers is very much in my wheelhouse. But I was quite intimidated by them. I have owned the pattern for ages but was never brave enough to take the leap. This month’s #SewMyStyle2019 prompt and #SewBrave gave me the nudge I needed to finally jump in. And in the end, working at a slow but steady clip has been a really good thing.

I decided to use a grey cotton chino fabric in my stash to make the shorts first as a sort of wearable muslin. I like making a tester garment that allows me the freedom to make mistakes. And believe me, mistakes were made. I had the seam ripper out on quite a few occasions.

I bought this fabric a year and a half ago to make the chinos but the colours ran when I prewashed it. I was left with a fabric that was splotchy and uneven and I was so upset by it that I chucked it into my stash and let it languish there.

When the beginning of April rolled around I decided that I would make up the shorts and it turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. The uneven colour has given this shorts a relaxed lived in vibe that I actually really like, who knew?

For the pocket bags, I used this neon feather peach skin which was leftover from an Ogden cami I made ages ago. I love the little detail of the fun bright colours in the pocket but this was my first mistake. The peach skin is quite slippery and flimsy. This made my pockets unwieldy and difficult to sew. It’s also difficult to tell the right side from the wrong with these and that led to my second disaster. A combination of sleep deprivation and a drive to get as much done in as short a time as possible had me making silly mistakes. I sewed my pocket facings on the wrong side of the pocket bag and then the wrong side of the shorts leaving me to unpick everything and start again.

Alina has done a fabulous job writing the instructions. Even someone who is operating on little sleep at the moment managed to follow along and turn out a decent pair of shorts. The pattern prepping and pocket sewing seemed tedious to me at first, but in the end, I loved that all that hard work was put in at the beginning. It meant that the construction of the actual shorts went very quickly with no back and forth. I am especially chuffed with the buttonholes on my pocket flaps. I have never done ones with rounded bottoms before and I really like them!

After the first misstep, everything just came together so smoothly. I really recommend you use the sew along. The photo-rich posts in the sew along were exactly what I needed to make it all make sense.

The fly was particularly fun to sew and so much easier than I had expected. What is this life? Zip flys have always broken my brain! Alina’s instructions are lovely and make it a pleasure to put together. I did a literal victory dance when they were done.

But the best part? I tried these on for the final fitting and they were practically perfect in every way. It was like magic. I had left the back extension in as recommended for my measurements, but in the end, I didn’t need them. The shorts legs stand away from my body just a touch, but when you fold up the bottom of the shorts that problem disappears.

I love the fit on these, I love the relaxed vibe they give off, I love where they hit on my thighs, these are not booty shorts, for which I am grateful. This pattern is legit.

This pattern is very detail oriented with plenty of topstitching and bar tacks. These details give the shorts such a polish professional finish. I also really enjoyed the process. I have come to love topstitching and I love seeing how I improve project after project.

I cannot wait to get my pants finished now. First up is tackling those welt pockets. I am also pretty enthusiastic to try the Bermuda expansion pack, make the skirt and try Alina’s wide-leg hack on her blog. I have been bitten by the bug and I now want to make all the chinos.

Pattern: Chi Town Chinos by Alina Design Co bought as part of the Fall/Winter 2016 Bundle on Indiesew ($45) Came with the Lonetree Jacket and Vest, The Bonn Shirt, the Toaster Sweater #2 and the Chi Town Chino Expansion pack 2

Fabric: Grey Chino Cotton from Chamdor Fabrik Sales (R49/m)

 

 

Me Made May Pledge

I had grand plans to participate in Me Made May last year but had to put them on the back burner when the nausea of my first trimester with Sage put me out of commission.

So this year I’m back and I’m determined to do it up right. I may post a few photos here and on my social media, but for me, this Me Made May will be more about taking a good hard look at my closet and seeing how my handmade items are functioning within it.

I have three pledges that I want to make for Me Made May.

One: I would like to wear at least one hand made item every day of the month

Two: I would like that handmade item to be something different every day if possible. I am allowed to repeat items if I absolutely have to, but I’m sure I have enough for quite a bit of variety.

Three: I would like to focus on finishing up projects I have had on my sewing list for ages and start a system that means I replace a RTW item with the me-made one each time I complete a project.

It has been a dream of mine since I started taking my sewing seriously that I would one day have a closet that was filled with Me Made items. So I’m taking this opportunity to put myself on a RTW buying ban. This ban will be a year-long project. I hope that this means that I will see the holes in my wardrobe that I need to focus on. I think this will help me to figure out how I want to direct my pattern and fabric buying.

I’m really excited for Me Made May. I haven’t really been able to participate and I do think that my handmade items sometimes get lost in amongst the RTW items in my closet. It’s a ‘can’t see the forest for the trees type situation’.

The month that was: April 2019

How is it the end of April already? And I still haven’t managed to get one of these posts up yet this year.

I actually wrote one for March which I have just found languishing in my drafts folder. Turns out I never posted it. You didn’t miss much. It was filled with little remarks about how it was the end of March, I had no time to post, write, shower, etc because of a new baby in the house. Thinking about it very little has changed, except now I’m back at work and have a whole new set of dynamics to deal with.

All this combined meant that April was a bit of a blur. But one that I quite enjoyed. It’s amazing what a little adult interaction after months of isolation will do for you. I have enjoyed being at work, challenging my brain and doing things that are not completely focused on the baby. My situation right now is great because I can do adult things in the morning and still spend plenty of time with Willow and Sage in the afternoons.

To top off what was a pretty decent month was nearly a month’s worth of short work weeks at the end of the month. So I’m counting April as a success. Bring on May.

Sewing – I have managed to do some sewing this month. It’s not as much as I would have liked, but its better than nothing. I focused on easy projects to start off with such as my long overdue Blackwood cardigan, many pairs of baby leggings and a floor pouf made from scrap fabric (which is still not finished) I also had a repair to do on a vest and I started prepping my pattern for my Chi Town chinos.

Cooking – With the start of the cold weather, I have been back on the soup train. I love soup, its fun to make and pretty low maintenance. Just the way I like it. I have also started preparing baby food. How did we get here already?

Drinking – Too much coffee and tea. This is my default setting and it’s not good because I think it keeps Sage from sleeping well. I’m going to have to work on this one.

Hoping – To see an improvement on the sleep front with Sage. I’ve had to make a few changes recently and I hope they bear fruit soon

Loving – All the pics of the new Monarch Jacket pattern release from Allie Olsen. I saw a floral scuba and ponte version that I adore and just have to recreate!

Hating – the inconsistency in our house at the moment. I’m the type who loves a good routine and not being able to plan things drives me nuts.

Buying – In April I definitely bought far too much fabric. Is there such a thing I often wonder? Turns out when you’re not churning out all the projects, yes, there is.

Watching – I’ve been rewatching How I Met Your Mother and Gilmore Girls. But I have also seen two great shows on Netflix: One Strange Rock and Our Planet. Both are definitely worth a binge

Sporting – flat work boots and skinny jeans. I love this look with a button-down shirt or a thin knit jersey. It’s a great way to look put together that is easy to throw on and comfy to wear.

Laughing – at Sage who has reached that full out belly laugh stage. She will only laugh for Willow though. The rest of us have to work so hard for the laughs but Willow will have her laughing and therefore us laughing until our sides ache.

Admiring – my beautifully sewn buttonholes. There was a time when buttonholes would make me break out in a sweat, but now I have a few under my belt and they have definitely gotten so much easier and better looking. A good sharp needle definitely helps!

Thinking – about my goals for Me Made May and wishing there was also a Me Made October or something. May is the start of the cold weather for us so I never get to make use of my huge collection of summer clothes. I’m always scrambling for winter stuff. So this year I really want to focus on finding and filling those gaps. I’m looking forward to participating properly this year.

Planning – My cold weather sewing and wishing I could have hours of uninterrupted sewing time. I’m in love with what I’ve chosen and I’m so excited to make it all, but I’m a little short on time.

 

Zero Waste Sewing and Scrap Busting

One of the downsides of sewing as a hobby is the waste it can create. The longer I sew the more interested I become in waste-free sewing.

I have been looking for a way to use up my scraps for a while now. Usually, I take them to H&M to be recycled, but I have quite a few larger pieces that are too big to just chuck out.  I try to reuse them as best I can and I have found this to be much easier with knits than with wovens. With knits, I can make kids clothes or panties. But wovens prove to be trickier.

I have been looking all over for ideas on how to use up the awkwardly shaped scraps and I have come across a few that I have tried out now.

As I said for knits, the options are endless. For adults, one of the easiest projects is to make bralettes and panties. I love the Megan Nielsen Acacia underwear pattern and I have the Oh LuLu Hyacinth pattern, but I haven’t made it yet.

But when it comes to knits I really enjoy making stuff for the girls. My favourite patterns here so far are the Sadie and Sam Hadley Leggings (Size premie to 5years), the Patterns for Pirates Petite Pegs and the Patterns for Pirates Wee Lapped Tee (both 0 – 12months).

You can also try the Patterns for Pirates Jolly Roger Raglan for bigger kids the Made for Mermaids Bonny Leggings, the Peek-A-Boo Patterns Jolly Joggers, Baja shorts or Rio Racerback or the SchwinDesigns Harrison Hoodie, Lucille top, Hello tank or Millie Blouse. A few of these patterns are girls only, but the majority are great unisex patterns. I love that they all cater to mixing and matching fabrics, colours and patterns. This really helps you to use up most of your scraps to create something truly unique.

For the wovens, I think the fastest way to use up the scraps would be to pattern hack a bit. I’m not quite confident enough to try that but I have seen some nice examples that I think I will give a go. On the Sew over It Instagram the other day I saw Becky colour blocking a Silk Tank and that gave me some idea.

One idea that I came across and love is the Floor Pouf by Closet case Patterns. I adore this idea. You can use your scraps to create a unique piece for your home! Genius. Even better: this is a huge cushion that you can stuff with all your scraps as well. I also think this would make an awesome gift for someone. I have started making mine and it’s a fun project that is coming together faster than I anticipated. I decided to use pom pom trim for mine, but the pattern calls for handmade piping which will use up even more scraps. You can access the pattern for this by signing up for the Closet Case Patterns newsletter.

Megan Nielsen also has a great post on her blog for making rugs out of scraps and I’m sure the same principle can expand to baskets which I think I’ll give a go.

I will say that I think zero waste sewing starts in the planning process. I know I’m guilty of buying fabric just because I like it and not because I have a specific plan for it. I also get all caught up in the joy of fabric buying and overestimate how much I’m capable of making. So I end up with fabric I bought for plans that never materialised. I need to be a lot better about only buying what I’m going to use.

Our morning routine – working mom of two

Our mornings have changed quite a bit since Sage came on the scene. And just as I got used to how they played out, my maternity leave ended and I headed back to work. It has been quite the learning curve. But I feel like I’m finally getting a handle on it.
Sage is a bit of an early riser. She tends to start her, and thus my, day at around 6am. After that the morning is a hectic whirlwind of baby feeding, kid waking, children dressing and mom dressing franticness. I struggle in the mornings. Anything that requires much thought is not my strong suit, so it has taken me a while to get into the swing of things, but now we have a nice thing going for us. This is what our mornings look like.
6am – wake up
My alarm goes off at 6. Sometimes I’m already up because Sage is and sometimes I pip her to the post by a minute or two. She’s pretty consistent with her wake up times. My first order of business is to get up and feed her. She only feeds twice during the night at the moment so she is starving at this point. Once she has been sated I have a few minutes where I can stumble to the bathroom and start my skincare routine. I like to do this first thing then it has time to sink in and work its magic.
I keep things really simple here and mostly do it on autopilot. Quick cleanse with Micellar water (currently using Nivea), eye cream (Justine Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream), Serum (Justine Youth Serum), Moisturiser (Justine LuminEssence Day Cream) and Sun Screen (Eucerine Dry Touch Sun Protection Gel for Blemish Prone Skin SPF 50).
Then I collect Sage and we head to the kitchen to make some tea. When I have this life-giving nectar in hand I can start putting my makeup on. I set Sage up with some toys on the floor at my feet and I run through a very quick routine. I have this routine down to about 10 minutes now and I’m really happy about that.
I then throw my clothes on and fix my hair and I’m done
7am – Get the kids ready
My pro tip is to get yourself sorted before focussing on the kids. That way if time runs away with you, you are ready to just head out the door.
So once my makeup is on I can get Sage dressed for the day and we can have a quick play together. Then we head to get Willow up. Waking Willow up is always a gamble. Sometimes she wakes up in a great mood and sometimes she is seriously dopey and sleepy for a long time after she wakes up.
Once she’s up I head back to the kitchen to get myself some food and to get Willow’s yoghurt. She cannot start her day without yoghurt.
Sometime between 7 and 7.30 am Sage is usually ready for a nap. So I set Willow up with her yoghurt for a bit of screen time and I settle Sage down for a quick sleep. Once she’s down I get Willow dressed for the day, finish my breakfast and brush my teeth.
Usually, at this point, my childminder has arrived so I let her in we have a quick chat and discuss the plans for that day and I pack all my pumping equipment into my bag ready for work.
If Sage gets up at this point I squeeze in one more feed before the school run. If she’s still asleep I leave her with a bottle.
Sometimes we won’t sleep at all during the morning. On those days I feed her before I leave and let the childminder put her down for her nap.
8am – School run and commute
Then its time for a quick squirt of perfume and Willow and I are out the door for the school run. Willow’s school is five minutes from our home so I get her there in really good time. We walk together to her class where I leave her in the care of her teachers and say goodbye. It all takes about 10 minutes and I’m on the road again by 8.15.
If traffic is smooth I will get to work in about 30 minutes. If it’s rough it can take me 45 minutes but I am usually at my desk by 9am. I start my day off by making a cup of tea while my computer boots up and then I get stuck into my to-do list.
I have one big pumping session at work, usually between 10 and 10.30am. I hole myself up in the boardroom for some privacy and peace and quiet.
Then it’s back to work until it’s time for me to leave at 1pm.