This year seems to be absolutely WHIZZING by – here we are at the end of another month already! I’ve been a busy bee during August, so here’s a round-up of all of my projects.
I bought the Betty Silk Lala Pants pattern at Threads Festival last year and added it to my #MakeNine2026 plans with a nice summery version in mind for the warm weather. I picked up the crinkle cotton from The Sewing Space while I was at the shop teaching a workshop, and not only is it lovely to sew with and wear, it was very reasonably priced!
I was between sizes in the pattern and opted to make the smaller one, but I think I would have preferred the trousers with a bit more ease. If I made them again I would also adjust the rise – I do love a high waist, but it’s just a bit too high for my short bod!
I actually made two pairs of barrel leg trousers this month! The second pair is another version of my beloved Ready to Sew Emile Barrel Pants, this time in leopard print twill. I absolutely adore the finished garment, but unfortunately the fabric snags and pills really badly, so I think they will end up looking tatty quite quickly. I still plan to wear and enjoy them as much as possible!
I taught my Buckthorn Backpack workshop this month and had an overwhelming urge to make the Tote version of the pattern, so I did! Most of the materials came from my stash, but I needed some lining fabric, which was the perfect reason to buy some adorable Ruby Star Society cotton that I had been yearning for.
This was a really fun project and I enjoyed adding a patch, a label, a zipper pull and a zipper tab to make the bag as cute as possible! It’s a great size and shape, and the internal pockets are brilliant for storing all my various notions and tools. It has been the perfect home for this month’s knitting project!
I was planning to take my time knitting this Sabai Top, but I have absolutely breezed through it and loved every minute! It’s a super easy project and doesn’t use much yarn at all – I actually had a full ball left of the 5 I bought. I used Sandnes Garn Line in the colour-way ‘Spicy Orange’, purchased from the lovely Tangled Yarn in Cheshire. It’s such a gorgeous shade and I’m looking forward to styling this with lots of different garments in my wardrobe to make the most of the late summer sun.
We haven’t been on holiday this summer as we are off to Australia in October to visit my dad, but we did have a night at Champneys to celebrate our wedding anniversary! It was a lovely, relaxing trip and the weather was fabulous – we could have been abroad! We each enjoyed a spa treatment and then spent the rest of the time swimming, sitting in the jacuzzi, reading, napping and eating lots of delicious food. We get a 75% discount on stays through our Vitality life insurance and we definitely plan to make use of this deal again!
The book I took with me was Orlando by Virginia Woolf and I’ve just finished it this Bank Holiday weekend. I was inspired to buy the book after a visit to Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, and it was a really fun read. I’ve actually got another title by Woolf lined up for September, which is linked to a day trip I will be taking!
As well as reading, doing a bit of parkrun tourism, and sewing, I also did some baking this weekend! Laura came round to knit and chat, so I made us a Jamaican gingerbread loaf from a new book I couldn’t resist buying at Hometown. It tasted as good as it looked, and I’ve already bookmarked several other recipes to try out this autumn.
Baking in our new kitchen has been such a joy, and having the whole house finished feels absolutely amazing! I have been waiting to demolish our awful garage since we moved in, and as soon as the building work was finished I booked this in. Last week, two guys spent five hours taking the structure down and removing it, including the asbestos roof, and I am THRILLED that’s it’s gone! Our garden feels enormous, and looking out of the kitchen and studio windows and not being able to see that brown monstrosity was totally worth the wait! Watch this space to see what we will be building here in its place.
September is going to be another busy month, and my priority will be making my outfit for London Frocktails! I made a special trip to The New Craft House a couple of weeks ago to choose some fabric, and I have 90% decided what pattern I am going to use – now I just need to get sewing! Hopefully, I will have finished the project and will be able to tell you all about it in my next blog post – wish me luck!
