Okay, time for my Sewjourn summation!  We’ve been going to Sewjourn twice a year for about three (or is it even four?) years now, so as a group we’ve got ourselves figured out.  We roster breakfast and lunch provisions, eat out on Friday and Saturday nights, and generally just SEW!  And talk and laugh (and sometimes cry), of course.

I like to have as much cutting out as possible done before I head off to Sewjourn, and this time was no exception.  I was working hard on using up scrap fabric, leftovers from other projects.  Unsurprisingly, I have plenty of these oddly shaped and sized scraps.  Eventually I had a plastic tub full of cut out garments, with their associated patterns and notions.  Garments get completed so quickly when this is already done!  I usually take about double (or triple, maybe even quadruple) as much as I could possibly get finished in the time we have available.  This gives me options, so that I can sew what I feel like sewing.

The sewing didn’t actually start off all that well.  After a lovely lunch with the other early arrivals and setting ourselves up in the Studio – although we always make our beds in the House as soon as we arrive, knowing that by the time we stop sewing (usually after midnight) there is no way that we’ll be feeling like making a bed but more like just falling into one – I started on a pair of StyleARC Kerry cargo pants, but without the cargo pockets.  But I just wasn’t feeling the sewjo.  I constructed them, didn’t have the matching colour overlocker thread so used something that coordinated, forgetting that I was later going to roll up the pants cuffs and the seam finishing would be visible.  And then they were too long, so the turn up is super bulky.  I’m not sure whether I’ll unpick the visible overlocker threads and refinish the seam edges with something matching, and cut a heap from the bottom before re-hemming and re-turning up, or if I’ll just offload them to the oppy.  Felt quite flat after making those, really!  But moved on to a StyleARC Tilda top, a pattern I’d used before but in an unsuitable fabric.  This time around was much more successful, and I could feel some sewjo starting to return.  So I started another top, from Simplicity 2254, but went to bed before I finished it – because by then it was around 1.30am.  Some of my more sensible companions had gone to bed at 10.30pm, but I know that others didn’t make it until well after 2.00am!  My problem is that I’m not so great at sleeping in.  I tend to wake at around 6.00am, and although I can sometimes doze, generally I can’t.

But this time I did manage to get around 6 hours of sleep, hooray!  Straight back to the studio and finished off the Simplicity top.  And I liked it!  The sewjo was definitely returning.  So it was on to a StyleARC Alice top, then to a skirt, top and vest combination.  Then another sleeveless tunic.  Whew!  I was on a roll!  By the way, ALL of these garments were knits, so seams were finished on the overlocker or left raw.  It makes for extremely fast sewing.

Eventually I decided that I’d better make something for my daughters.  They love to see what I’ve made for them when I’ve been away.  An Oliver + S knit Hopscotch dress for Stella, a Hopscotch top for Clare, and then Hula Hoop skirts for each of them.  After that were a couple of Oliver + S Sailboat skirts for Clare.  Wow!

And of course, by now the entire weekend is a blur.  What did I do when?  Who was I talking to about that?  Would you like another glass of wine?  Or some more chocolates?  Oh wow, look at that dress you’ve made!  That top!  That skirt!  And that top!  And those dresses!  That bag!  That quilt!  Your crochet!  Shall we have dinner?  Would you like another glass of wine?

I finally assembled McCalls 8238, which was the 90s pattern I’d blogged a couple of weeks ago.  And I suspect that it is a fail.  I’m not feeling the love.  Despite lowering the neckline, it still feels too high.  Bummer.  However, a bias cut is rather lovely.  I might refashion this dress by removing the neckline facing and recutting it into a V.  Shall think further on that one.  The bust darts are also a bit too high.  Maybe I should just re-house it.

And just before we had to pack up and leave I finished off another dress for Stella.  So in summary, over the weekend I had:

• around 12 hours of sleep
• around a bottle of wine
• far too much chocolate
• forgotten to have some conversations that I was hoping to have
• yummy food
• the inspiration of talented women
• the support of wonderful friends
• lots of chats about lots of things
• and finished three garments for Stella, four garments for Clare, and nine garments for me.

So now I’m all stocked up with enough blog fodder to get me through to Christmas, I reckon.