April makes

I have no idea where this month has gone, but as April is almost at an end it’s time to share what I have been up to for the last few weeks!

As soon as Sew Liberated showed a sneak peek of their new Slow Shirt pattern, I knew I wanted to make one! I have a couple of shirts/shackets made in flannel and I wear them a lot, so I knew this would be a worthwhile addition to my wardrobe. The only fabric I could find that I really loved was from Blackbird Fabrics, but the shipping cost from Canada was prohibitive. Luckily, the fabric went on sale shortly after I spotted it, so I was able to order some!

I sized down and made my shirt in the 2 and I’m please with the fit – it’s oversized enough and very comfy, but doesn’t drown me. I’ve worn it several times already and I’ve had lots of compliments – people are particularly impressed by the giant pockets! Although the weather is warming up now, this will be perfect to throw on over shorts and a t-shirt in the cooler evenings over the summer, so I’m sure I’ll get plenty more wear out of it before next winter.

I’ve completed one other dressmaking project this month, which was the Papercut Ashling Dress from my #makenine2026 plans. The jury is still out on whether I like this make or not! The fabric is a beautiful navy and tan gingham seersucker from Merchant and Mills, but it reads as quite drab and I think the colour combined with the ruffles looks a little Victorian. The waist is dropped and very wide, which is a new shape for me to get used to. I popped this mirror selfie on my Instagram stories and lots of people said they liked the dress, so I’m hoping I will grow to like it too after a few wears!

I didn’t have any plans to start a new quilting project this month, but I was totally enamoured with a beautiful vintage quilt that I saw for sale a couple of weeks ago, and I decided I needed to immediately have a go at making my own version. The quilt featured 49 adorable little kittens, each hand-appliquéd in a pretty feedsack fabric – my favourite! I’m so pleased with my finished kitten block and I now have plans to make more to sew a small lap quilt. I certainly have enough pretty feedsack fabrics for this project, and just need to stock-up on background fabric and Bondaweb next time I’m working at Hometown.

My knitting needles have been super busy this month, and long train journeys to Liverpool and back gave me plenty of time to work on my WIPs. My first finish was this Manhattan Hat by Tori Yu, which I made in a gorgeous skein of worsted weight yarn that I bought from Loop, London last spring. This knitted up really quickly and I absolutely love it – the colour is so lush!

My second finish was this DRK Everyday Cowl by Andrea Mowry in two gorgeous skeins of DK from The Little Grey Girl. I had seen a sample of this cowl on her stand at several yarn shows and loved it, so I decide to buy the yarn to make my own when I visited Whitstawool in September last year. It was a pleasure to knit, and I’m looking forward to wearing it in the autumn.

My trip to Liverpool was to celebrate 20 years since we graduated from Liverpool Hope University, and it was just like old-times hanging out with two of my housemates and fellow trainee teachers! We visited the campus and had a tour, then drove around our old haunts and neighbourhoods. We also climbed the Anglican Cathedral tower, wandered around the city centre and Albert Dock, and ate lots of delicious food – it was a great weekend!

I didn’t read many pages of my book on the trip, but I am really enjoying ‘Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets’ by David Simon, creator of The Wire. My husband is a huge fan of the series and I decided to watch it as it is referenced so often in Small Town Murder, one of my favourite podcasts. I enjoyed it so much I decided to read the book and it is just as enthralling.

It’s my birthday on Friday, so we’ve booked a night away at Romney Marsh Shepherd’s Huts to celebrate and I’m really looking forward to escaping the kitchen renovations (we’re on week 10 now, and work is underway again after an 18 day hiatus while our builder was on holiday.) It’s the middle of lambing season on the farm and I’m really hoping I get to meet and help bottle-feed some of the babies! The farm is close to Rye, so we’ve also planned a trip to Merchant and Mills – sounds like the perfect birthday to me!