I maintain that, despite all the Christmassy marketing, autumn goes until mid-December, which means I’m only a month late in makeing this quarterly sewing round-up! So much happened for me in the world of sewing in the fall of 2021 and I’m so excited to finally share with you!

October

In October, I got back in the groove with YouTube after taking the summer off. Even though, I didn’t quite stick to the list I made in my October Plans video, I’ve really come to love everything I made in October! Everything is green because my overlocker was struggling and it finally met its end in November. RIP, cheap overlocker.

In addition to making I did some, ahem, very vulnerable writing for SewQueer. The theme for September and October was around “Sewing for your Inner Child.” Initally I thought it was going to be a funny ha-ha piece about how I hated itchy labels and fabrics as a kid, but as I dug deeper, I realized how much sewing truly means to me as a someone with chronic illness and sensory processing issues.

It ended up being as stressful as it was cathartic to write, and I’m really glad I invested that time and energy. It revealed a level of gratitude that’s been really grounding the last couple of months. You can find my piece Sewing for my Inner Child Is Sewing for Sensitivity over at SewQueer!

November

In terms of making, November was a really fun month. I experimented with a couple sweater patterns (including the soon to be updated Sew House 7 Toaster Sweater!) and I refashioned a skirt to pair with one of my tried-and-true tee patterns!

November was also really exciting because I got to start working with Forget-me-not Patterns! I’m so excited to be growing my sewing freelance business! I had been doing some one-off projects for a couple other sewing businesses, which I love doing, but it’s great to have a bit more consistency. I’ve admired Jo and her designs for so long and I am pleased as punch to get to strategize with her on marketing and social media!

December

I didn’t sew one single thing in December! Between a heavier than usual freelance load, the holidays, a nasty cold and the death of my overlocker, I opted to just step away from sewing altogether in December. And I’m so glad I did! Our holidays were fairly low-key and I loved it. It was so great to just hang at home and play with Lego, make tasty food and enjoy each other!

Before The Netherlands went back into lockdown in mid-December, I got to go see some live theatre! For my birthday back in September Paul bought us tickets to my favorite musical The Last Five Years. In English! I’ve tried seeing theatre in Dutch, but my language skills just aren’t quite good enough yet, so this was a real treat. Orange Theatre Company did a fantastic job!

Lastly and perhaps most exciting in terms of sewing, I upgraded my overlocker! When I got my old one two years ago, I read all the reviews that basically said “It’s better than nothing, but once it breaks, it can’t be fixed.” So I knew what I was getting into and then fact that it functioned as well as it did for two years is pretty great. I definietly got my €80 worth, despite all its, um, quirks.

This time around, I decided it was really time to actually invest, so I asked around and the resounding answer for my pricepoint was Juki! I ended up going with the exact model my friend has because she told me how it’s super easy to thread and how she never has to adjust the tension – it’s like the machine just knows!

The first time I used this machine, I literally cried. It’s so nice. So quiet and stable. Not trying to run off my sewing table all the time. And she’s super fast! I can sew up a knit garment in almost half the time as my old serger. I’m still so amazed! I love having matching thread for all my projects because threading is to easy. I couldn’t be happier.

Bye 2021

So that’s a wrap on 2021! I may or may not do my usual mushy reflection blog on the year, but I’ll definietly write a little something for 2022 and my hopes and goals for sewing and blogging in the coming year. But until then, thanks for reading and happy 2022!