alterations to some big woolen trouser-kilt items: Kesityu and I found some amazing wool kecks in the 50c stall, and they will be perfect for some retro-rural-island-fashion-bonanza moments when I travel north!

Dearest Sewing-Mastery Friends!

I've spent hundreds of hours sat like this over the past weeks; cuppa and podcasts, or old episodes of Project Runway on in the background...

I love the new challenge for our vibrant #needleworkmonday community, and have been hemming and hawing which of the three topics to focus on... and having been soooo darn intensely immersed in sewing this past month in particular, I loved the idea of addressing all three.

some glorious straps/ ribbons/ colourful things, which are packed for my travels, alongside essential items for sustenance... they will transform something that I am wearing, or something I find there.

I'll do this (write for the challenge) when I am arrived at my travel destination, but in the meantime, I've been in a needlework frenzy, prepping for a long voyage north around the midwinter.

reworking my major winter coat: I over-sewed on it, and now am not taking it!!

As @kesityu.fashion and I have referenced in our recent posts, we really opened up a volcanic flow of ideas, inspiration and energy in our recent collaborative sewing-fest!

my favourite tartan trousers, transformed from children's size to my size, with this strip of scarf fabric down the sides - but it needed the bottoms of the legs to be widened somehow, as they were too tight - but I only had one left-over button, and wanted to add buttons on both legs...

It takes some discipline to contain such a big outpouring, and to actually earth all the excitement and visioning: not too much discipline, which can bring contrived-ness and rigidity into our creations, but a dedicated attention to working through whatever is coming up for us, as we get more intensely involved in the mastery of our craft.

I started anyways: cut the bottom of the strips, and finding the old scraps of the scarf to create an edging for it.

So I'm excited to have been transforming and repairing multiple garments for my journey - as you can see above - the main ones were the two pairs of tartan trousers and the trouser-kilt, and my rainbow-skirted jumper-coat (sweater-coat). All bar the jumper-coat are now packed, and I am counting the minutes until I trundle up to the bus-stop on the main road above the medieval quarter...

barely have space in my rucksack for my sewing bag; stressful moment!!

I love the process of re-inforcing clothing for a colder place, and for travelling: it is beautiful to revisit a favourite item, and make it even more favourite. Above and below is the waist of the tartan trousers with the side strip: I had two buttons at the waist, but decided to close one button-hole and use the second button for the bottom of the legs - I love how this happens that we have everything that we need to hand, if we're willing to be flexible!

The old (waist) button-hole was quite beautifully edged with blue thread, which I had added when I did the first renovation. Now I closed over it with a more camoflaging thread.

This above is the process of edging the curved hole I'd cut out from the bottom of the side-strip.

The wee strips that I cut and sewed for the loop-holes, which I made out of the scraps.

And the lovely finsihed loop-hole.

The finished look is quite smart, I feel!

Swiss silk vest interlude: I got a few seriously amazing items at the one euro stall on Sunday: this vest was by far the best buy!

And back to the jumper-coat.... Ooooh, how I laboured over this, the past month!!

I added a new layer of waist to it, which ended up being quite problematic and clunky, as I hadn't thought through how the sewn-in-half scarf would sit - the seam inside it stuck out, so I tried to add a kind of canvas insert inside the length of it, but this made it even more clunky.

Anyways; meantime I got on with the other big transformation I wanted to make: covering up the not-well-constructed collar.

As you might be able to see here, the new piece I attached right over the old - all hand-stitched, as the piling-up fabrics are quite thick now!

I really enjoy sewing big thick felted wool items together!

The collar was quite pleasing, though in the end the coat feels less ideal than I hoped, for the weather and for looking spectacular... I still learned a huge deal in the process, but need some time (and distance from the garment!) to feel into what the better solution will be. A trip across mountains and seas is a good space to get clarity of mind in!

My love to you all: I hope you are cosy and well, and enjoying the midwinterfesting! Looking forward to sharing more from my travels, soon!

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Prepping winter wear for a long journey to the north...