Out with the old and in with the new...

A bit of a hodge-podge post today, in two parts....

Part 1: Out with the Old

After seeing comments about it by a few different people on instagram I decided to see what this whole "Konmari" thing is about. It's a very interesting concept, and as someone that definitely struggles with keeping things tidy I was eager to give it a go.

The key points I've taken away from the Konmari method of tidying are 1) choose what you want to keep, not what you want to get rid of, 2) keep what brings you joy, and 3) sort by category, not location. The brings me joy part was a little tricky to start with, but I figured I could interpret that how I wished and in the end, despite my scepticism, it all turned out fine.

The author of the method, Marie Kondo, also outlines a suggested order for going through your possessions. You start with clothes, as she describes them as one of the easiest categories; a statement I'm not sure is quite as true when you have made most of your clothes. Therefore, I tweaked the order a bit by starting with the categories of clothes with the least me-mades to ease me into the process.

It took me an afternoon to go through all my clothes and shoes, and at the end of it I had a big pile of bags full of clothes I'd chosen not to keep. I've since sorted these out and have a pile of hand-mades that are still in great condition that I'm hoping to sell, as hopefully some other people will be able to get some joy out of them now instead of me.




In the first instance I've listed all the items I'm hoping to sell on this page of my blog.

If you are of a similar size to me, or know anybody that is, (some things are a little big or small, but most fit me, size information is listed) please click through to see the items that I'm hoping to sell. I wasn't sure how much to try and sell them for, mostly hoping to cover the costs of the fabric, so if you are interested in anything but aren't sure about the price please shoot me an email and we can discuss.

Part 2: In with the New(s)

And one other exciting thing that I wanted to share quickly is that Darren and I are engaged!!

We are both very happy and excited, and I am particularly excited about my new ring. We had the ring custom made by a local jeweller to our ideas and description, and it was perfect for us to be so involved in the process since we are both very creative people.

  

So of course, I have now started thinking about making wedding dresses, which is a just a lot scary!!! I haven't gotten any further in the process than knowing I'd like to make it, but since we're not planning on the wedding for a while yet I've got some time to up-skill!

Ralph, now with added cherries

Do you remember Ralph? Ralph is a skirt pattern that I drafted and shared the first version of here (wow, back in March of 2013, how time flies!). That first Ralph was a little big to start with, and then became unwearable when I lost some weight.

I examined that version and determined that the back (and placement of the side seams) was largely alright, it mostly needed width being removed from the front. So, after determining how much width to fold out of the front panels of the skirt I have remade Ralph, and this time the fit is perfect!

I want to say that the fabric for this version is a printed stretch denim (or something similar), but I don't know, as the fabric was a gift from the lovely Mindy when she was culling her fabric stash quite some time ago (Thanks Mindy!).

Now the fit is perfected, I'm looking forward to making another version of Ralph with some of the fabric I got in Vancouver last year.

Important social sewing update!!!

For anybody that doesn't already know, GJs are moving.
They are moving on the 24th of May, which means that our next social sewing on the 30th of May will be at the new location.

Their new location is:
31 Steane Street, Fairfeld VIC 3078
( Cnr Sparks Ave & Steane St )

I have also updated this information on the social sewing page of my blog.

Unfortunately the new location does not have great public transport access. There are a couple of buses that run along Darebin Road nearby (the 510 and 250 I think but check that) but I'm not sure what the Saturday timetable is like. Some of the lovely ladies attending have already offered up their car pooling services so if you need a lift hopefully something can be sorted out if you shout out.