As the weather warms up (or attempts to) I inevitably start having fantasies about balmy summer afternoons, sipping drinks on someone’s patio, the smell of a barbeque, the sound of ice cubes in a glass, the smell of freshly-cut grass… and even more inevitably, in these fantasies I am wearing the perfect summer dress. This year, perhaps, I’ll finally get there. I have four 1940s-50s patterns secreted away, and I would like to try and make at least one of them this year. (I also said this last year, but never mind.)

When my mind turns to a new interest or hobby, I like to delve into it as much as is humanly possible, so I’ve been looking for interesting and/or inspiring sewing sites. Here’s what I’ve turned up in the past few days:

Sew Retro: I could spend hours browsing through the archives (and have, in fact). It’s a group blog for people who make vintage patterns and retro clothing, and there are a lot of photos of finished garments! Often the pattern drawings are posted alongside the photos, which is very useful - I’m used to knitting patterns coming with several full-colour photographs, so you know exactly what it’ll look like, but when using old sewing patterns you have to rely on the cover illustration. Some of my favourite posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Suzical.co.uk’s list of sewing blogs: Pretty self-explanatory - sewing blogs ordered by their Technorati ranking. I read quite a few of these. A Dress A Day is one of my favourite blogs out there.

U-Handblog: Lisa Lam’s excellent bag making blog, with oodles of free patterns and tutorials (a bag to match your summer dress, maybe?). She also runs a flickr group for handmade bags, and another specifically for bags made using her tutorials. An old favourite of mine!

Vintage Sewing Patterns Wiki: A valuable resource where people can browse patterns and see related blog posts, reviews, and sellers of said patterns.

Flickr Group - New Vintage Wardrobe: In their own words, “a group dedicated to the use of old patterns to make new fashions and vintage fabrics featured in new clothing.” Lots of photos, obviously.

Flickr Group - Vintage Apron Patterns: What, you never imagined yourself baking cakes wearing a sweet little flounced apron to protect your (immaculate) dress? Must be just me.

Flickr Group - Vintage Patterns: For sharing and viewing the envelope art on old patterns.

Now, with all these resources at my fingertips, I can hardly fail! (Famous last words.)

A new and relatively demanding job has kept me away from things, but I’m settling into a comfortable routine and am slowly beginning to get back on top of my commitments. I think it’s good to have one’s life shaken up a bit, but initially it’s a bit of a shock to the system. I’m enjoying the challenge (I don’t mean that in a PR-veneer type way, it’s actually rather fun!) but the weekends really can’t come too soon.

The typically unpredictable weather means that layering is essential, so I’m still plodding along on my Darcy and I’ve started a new cardigan from the same book (Kim Hargreaves’ Heartfelt) called Faith. I don’t think the photos in the book really did it justice - I wonder if it’s a little large for the model, actually - but once I’d seen naganasu’s beautiful version I knew I had to knit it.

I’m not the biggest fan of RYC Bamboo Soft, the recommended yarn. I mentioned my problems with it in an earlier post, and I wasn’t convinced it would hold up very well in a big, fairly heavy cardigan. The colours and price weren’t ideal, too, so I went for a soft cotton yarn in Garnstudio’s Safran. It’s very soft, the colours are to die for, and it’s not too expensive. It’s a dream to knit with: very smooth and not at all splitty. I chose the brightest turquoise they produce, and it’s so vibrant it practically glows. See for yourself:

To counter this eye-searing project, my Darcy jacket is quietly growing. The texture is delicious, and the gentle dove grey a pleasure to look at.