Making Miscellany 3:5

May flowers

Hello, hello and welcome to the May edition of the Making Miscellany! Apologies if you looked out for April and missed it — life intervened! But I’m excited to be sat at my table writing to you on this last day of the month.

Even if the adage “April showers bring May flowers” has been turned on its head here in Northwest England—after an unseasonably sunny six weeks, the last parts of May have been wet, wet, wet—flowers seem a fitting enough place to start today.

It was pretty flowers that, at the last minute, grabbed my eye on a recent visit to Cool Crafting, leading to an impulse fabric purchase, and possibly my quickest ever transformation of fabric into a finished garment:

This is a Jackson Tee by Helen’s Closet. I went down quite a rabbit hole, looking at all the jersey top patterns I had (and a few more I didn’t), feeling like it was maybe … boring? … to make a pattern I’ve sewn so many times (at current writing, I have four Jackson Tees, and one Jackson Pullover).

I’ve been casually participating in Me Made May this year, and my Jacksons have been fixtures … I’d venture to say I wear them at least twice a week! A sign that the pattern really works for me, to be sure, but equally, I wondered, do I want a drawer full essentially of the same shirt?

Ultimately, though, I loved the fabric—which is a cotten linen blend jersey—so decided I wanted to make something absolutely bankable with it. Probably in part influenced by the garment I had sewm immediately before: I’d cut into meterage of precious and long stashed Liberty (LIBERTY!) lawn to make what I thought would be an easy, breezy, eminently wearable top—the kind of thing I’d throw on when I wanted to feel comfortable, but also put together (because to be honest, wearing a top that may have required ironing always makes me feel like I have my sh*t together)—and the end result, well … the less said about it the better!

I used this tutorial to guide me through binding the back neck.

So, a reliable, simple favourite it was, both because I knew it would get worn, and also that it would give my sewing confidence a boost after my Liberty fail! To make up for my lack of adventure when it came to pattern choice, I decided to try a few new-to-me techniques, adding self binding to the back neck (fiddly, but the end result is so pleasing!) and improvising a curved hem, using an old RTW t-shirt as a guide. And, I’m happy to report I’m delighted with the result (in fact, I’m wearing it as I type!)

(I can’t wait to see these results!)

Flowers have also been the star of another project … I’ve been slowly, slowly working on some hats for my two wee girls. The appearance of sun and summer temperatures in April meant the scramble for sun hats began earlier than usual in my house, with the attendant digging through underbed boxes to see what we had and who it might fit this year … the answer was, not a lot!

I had some leftover denim from my most recent pair of Bobs (Bobs have been another mainstay of my Me Made May wardrobe; if I’m not careful, I’ll soon be wearing Jackson-and-Bob every day!) and thought I’d use it to make the girls sun hats for Easter (I thought this about 5 days before Easter … queue deluded laughter).

I traced out the pieces for the free Waves and Wild Sandcastle Hat and started embroidering. I don’t have much experience, so initially the expanse of blank denim was daunting. I pulled out Arounna Khounnoraj’s Embroidery: a Modern Guide to Botanical Embroidery to help me get started; it’s got a lot of great inspiration.

When your trousers match your embroidery project! (

After the first few flowers, I accepted that I was going to have to buy the girls some sun hats for this season. Partly because I’m slow, but also partly because, as lovely as these will be, they aren’t going to offer the sun protection or functionality needed for say, a full day out on the fells. But also this is a project, I think, to be savoured. I always like to stop and look at flowers, and I have really enjoyed stopping and thinking how I might roughly suggest something we’ve seen on a walk or bike ride. The forget-me-nots remind me of a beautiful afternoon in the orchard; the small white flower with pink lines, of a forest full of wood anenomes. So I will keep taking it slow, and hope the girls’ heads don’t, well, grow too fast!

If nothing else, this project has justified the copious pictures I take of flowers each spring -- a few from this April and May!

It has very much been a project I’ve dipped in and out of, though, partly because it feels a bit of a pain to get it all my embroidery bits out! It’s got me wondering how people who embroider regularly organize their supplies and keep their projects — especially if they want to be able to take their embroidery along with them. (Suggestions very gratefully received!) I’m hoping to take advantage of long June evenings (I prefer embroidery by natural light) to make some headway.

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My knitting needles have not been empty, and here and there I’ve been baking too (most recently, an adapted almond-y version of these rhubarb bars, which are delicious) … but these projects will keep for another day. As is always the case during Me Made May, I’m feeling extra inspired to get to my sewing machine. Seeing how often I reach for one RTW and increasingly worn overshirt in my closet, I have resolved to actually get on with making one of my own (I have had the pattern pieces for this one cut out for months, maybe a year!)

As always, I’d love to hear what projects, big and small, you’re making (or dreaming about!) at the moment. Let me know in the comments or feel free to reply to this email.

Thanks, as always, for reading, and see you next month!

Katherine