The sewing Weekender 2020

I sewed joy. Actual joy. The sewing Weekender made me do it and I haven’t been happier in a long time. When I finished my make I had this amazing sense of achievement, satisfaction and joy at sewing that I haven’t felt in a long time, definitely not since my pre-baby days.

And so these Jenny Overalls are joy in garment form.

I love these overalls. I love the fabric. I love the pattern. I made them in one of my favourite weekends. I am writing these up properly for a full blog post, with lots of pics to follow but I just wanted to capture the joy.

The sewing Weekender was wonderful. (There’s lots of info about it on the Fold Line website if you haven’t heard of it before.) I’ve been before to the in-person event in 2018, I flew down from Glasgow to Cambridge and had an amazing weekend. Meeting everybody, listening to talks, chatting and sewing (my blog post on my make from 2018 is already scheduled).

This year was of course different. And I loved it even more. By going online, I was able to join in by still being at home to take breaks to feed my munchkin and then pass her back to daddy and do more sewing.

I didn’t sew for a crazy amount of time each day but I managed to finish a complex make in a couple of days. And I worked completely differently to how I normally would. I altered it when it didn’t fit. I pushed through the annoying, hard finishing touches and got it finished. It’s so unlike me, but I felt so accomplished when I finished stitching my final seam.

There were so many people involved. The contributors were fantastic – such a variety of videos – new to me as well as familiar faces. Fascinating topics and some new crafts to try out. The Zoom chats were really fun too, sewists from so many countries, time zones, all of us sharing our makes. It was brilliant.

I posted throughout the day on Instagram, chatting with others participating. I got so much inspiration from other makes too, and a lot of help when looking for ideas for a broderie anglaise top. Let’s just say I used my goody bag well, and might have more than one top to share in future!

And the final, small matter of fundraising. We raised a fortune for NHS & blacklivesmatter charities. Thanks a million to Charlotte, Kate & Rachel. I can’t wait to come back next year! For now, I’m off to buy more fabric and finish off my videos.