6th February | #sewpadsforuganda24 | Finished Lyra dress! | tweaks and plans

Hi!
Thank you for joining me for another video, it’s been a while thanks to illness but I’m back for a makes, tweaks and plans chat!
Below are the account and links that I mention – if I’ve missed anything please leave me a comment.

New Look blouse pattern https://www.sewdirect.com/product/new-look-n6707/

My Etsy shop https://ettiejewellery.etsy.com

@mountainsewing (Instagram) Catherine is coordinating the challenge in the US
@helcatmichaelsews (Instagram) Helen is coordinating for the UK

Great resources on reusable pads at @arosetintedworld4561

Lyra dress by Tilly and the Buttons https://shop.tillyandthebuttons.com/products/lyra

Nova coat https://papercutpatterns.com/products/nova-coat

M7325 tunic pattern https://www.sewdirect.com/product/mccalls-m7325/

Green gingham from https://legendtextiles.com/

Made for Mermaids Winnie pants https://www.madeformermaids.com/product/winnie/

Fleece back french terry from 1st for fabrics https://www.1stforfabrics.co.uk/product/brushed-back-french-terry-jersey-bottle-green/

Sewing sewcial being organised by Yvette @blossomsandwich4232 also organiser of #surreysews

Hello my name’s Tanya and this is my channel just let me so thank you very much for joining me I hope you are well wherever you are I’ll start today’s video by saying what I’m wearing um cardigan is just a ready to wear cardigan from um new look and the blouse

I’m wearing I made towards the end of last year and I have talked about this before in one of my Vlogs um it’s a new look pattern um got it here n677 and um it’s got this color option with some Ruffles which you can see there or you can just have a plain

V-neck you can have um the sleeves which are actually pleated at the top you can’t see it too clearly on picture but they’ve got pleats and then it’s gathered into a band a sleeve band at the bottom or there’s another option which has got elasticated um sleeves and

You can probably see it’s back to front um I did write on the packet lengthen which I did want to do um but obviously I forgot to do it when I made it so it comes up a little bit short on me not super super short I must have a longer

Torso than the model um because here it hits a sort of below her waistband but me it hits me just of at the start of my jeans um which has definitely put me off wearing it uh but I thought I’ve I’ve got to get some use out of it I do like

It it’s a pretty color I like the color as well so I found this um cardigan v-neck cardigan and I thought I’ll pair it with this and just have the color over the top and I’m enjoying wearing it because you can’t see how short it is underneath the cardigan the one thing I

Have noticed though and if I make this again I will um have a think about how to tweak this um you can see it happening here already the collar is attached to the bodice with a facing and during the day while I’m wearing it that happens which is a bit annoying but

Because the collar is so big I’m just going to go back and uh sew that facing down to the bodice and hopefully that will sort it out it might be something to do with the weight of the collar sort of pulling it open during the day not

Really sure why that happens um but I made a size 10 and I graded out at the hips because you can probably tell from the pattern it’s quite a boxy fit it doesn’t have any darts so it’s probably actually quite actually it might not be great for

Beginners because while it’s not got any darts here you’ve got the pleats at the top and you’ve got the Ruffles around the collar you could do the simpler version and just sort of gather in the sleeves um but yeah no darts so I graded

Out a bit as well so that is that um I am also wearing some earrings that um I made and I wanted to take the opportunity to say a big thank you there were um a few of you I think that might have watched one of my Vlogs or perhaps

You on Instagram um I talked about my Etsy um jewelry shop around Christmas time um and how I’d sort of been left in the Lurch a bit by um um Market falling through and some people did go to my shop and buy some bits I think it was

From here because when I looked at my um uh what do you call it analytics I suppose it said they came from social media so if you one of those kind people thank you very much I really do appreciate it um so that is what I am

Wearing um the main thing I wanted to talk about today was um a challenge that is running it’s mainly happening I believe in the US and it is um a challenge called so pads for Uganda 24 I’ll put the name name of the challenge

Up here for you and it’s being run by um a charity called treasured vessels and a lady called Katherine in the US who is Mountain sewing again I’ll put her tag up here she is coordinating all of the the pads that are being sewn so these are reusable

Sanitary towels that are being sewn by SE in the community she’s collating them all and then this charity is going to send them off to this community in Uganda um there is a lady in the UK that is um pulling them all together for anyone wants that wants to take part in

The UK and her name is um Helen and she is Hell Cat Michael S again I’ll put her tag up here I’ll also put it down below if you don’t have time to to write it you find it now um Helen is very kindly said that she will post them all off

Herself so if anyone does want to take part in it just drop her a message you can find her on Instagram and she is going to send them all off I did ask her would you like a donation towards the postage because obviously if she’s got a big parcel

That’s probably going to cost her quite a bit and she said she’s all right to do it and unless you know it gets to like a a massive amount of pads to send off um and then she might ask for a small donation from people um so for me this

Is a really important cause um period poverty is a big issue around the world and I know it’s even an issue in the UK having been a secondary school teacher for many years I know it’s an issue for girls that if you don’t have um enough money to buy pads or

Tampons then girls do skip school it also has implications um not just if you can’t afford them but period poverty goes on in other ways because if a girl has a really heavy period she doesn’t want to go to school in case she leaks if their teacher doesn’t let them out

During the lesson um and she leaks and has an accident she will not want to go to school so some girls do miss school for that reason and the period poverty kicks in because it’s having an implication on her education so if it’s an issue for us in the UK it is

Definitely an issue in other parts of the world as well so while sanitary taals might not be um the preference for some women I think it’s fantastic to give women the option if that is what they want to use then they have them available so um what I did was I just

Drafted my own pattern but there are lots of patterns out there for free you don’t have to buy one um there is a fantastic blog called a rose tinted world and she has created a table which tells you um what material to use for the inside padding um how much you would

Need of how many layers rather you would need depending on the fabric and also on the flow so for example if you were using um an old towel you might need just two layers of towel for a lighter flow and more if it’s heavier Etc so if

You go over to a rose tinted world if you’re interested in making up some reusable sandwi towels she’s got this fantastic table on there which shows you how much to use so all I did was just Trace around a pad and then add a bit of

Um seam allowance and for these ones I have included some wings which I just drew on like that sort of rounded triangle shape so when I was cutting out my fabric I tucked the wings in like that and traced my um towel padding around that and then for the front

Fabric and the backing fabric I opened them up and did it like that and then I added a couple of poppers if that doesn’t make sense if I’m not being very clear um have a look on also Mountain sewing she’s got a tutorial and that Rose tinted world has

Got tutorials on there as well but they’re really really easy to make um I’ve made up a few using some leftover cotton that um what I did with mine is is I included a little bit of waterproof nylon fabric that I had from um a

Waterproof bag and I just cut out a bit here to add a little bit of extra protection and I’ve stitched it down I’ve stitched through the towel and the cotton I used two layers of towel for mine and apparently that quilting effect is quite good um for wicking away

Moisture as well and then I’ve added some poppers so cure on like that that so another reason I really wanted to do this and also talk about it today was because I think people need to try and address the stigma that there is around periods um for many women in the world

Talking about periods is something to be embarrassed about and ashamed of and like I said I was a teacher so I know that students are very embarrassed about it but none of us would be here if women didn’t have period and it’s not something that girls should learn to be

Ashamed of and embarrassed to talk about um likewise boys should be used to talking about it is perfectly normal and natural um I had a student once a male student who came into my classro um at the end of break and he had fallen over and cut his knee and he

Had blood dribbling down his leg and he rolled up his trousers didn’t have a tissue was making a big show about it and I said sorry you’re you’re going to have to go and get a tissue you can’t come into the classroom bleeding and he turned around to me this

14-year-old boy and said what’s the matter miss you bleed every month as if he was sort of trying to shame me that I was embarrassed about blood um so everyone in the class had went deathly silent waiting for what I was going to say and I just said sorry

You you trying to embarrass me that I have a menstrual cycle cuz that’s not something to be ashamed of you need to go and get yourself a tissue and you’re not coming back into my classroom after speaking to me like that um but it was just an example of

How I think the issue of periods can can be embarrassing for some people and if there are women in the world that can’t go out about their daily business because they don’t have access to Sanitary products I would love to be able to help as best I can um um so yeah

I’ll step off my little soap box now but it’s something that I feel quite strongly about and I’m I’m happy to be able to support in a little way so if you would like to take part in sewing up some of those pads um check out the um

Accounts down below there are other Charities that do it as well um there’s a charity in the UK called the Patcher Mama project and they are the Patcher project on Instagram I think um they do pads for refugees I think in other countries but they coordinate it and

Send them off from here um I think as well the soap pads for Uganda challenge is also looking for people to sew up little wet bags little zipper bags for um women to put the pads in um so if you um like sewing little zipper pouches as well I think they would appreciate

Something like that too okay um so what else did I want to talk about um oh yes I have finished um my Lyra dress so I talked about this in my last Vlog that I’m sewing up a Lyra dress for my children’s baptism at the end of the

Month and I’ve had a bit of a bumpy road with the Lyra the first one I ever made it was far too tight around the chest and when I looked at the pattern I could see the arms side was really scooped out which meant you know there’s obviously

Not much fabric there so when you move your arms it’s going to pull so I did a TW just making up a shirt version again I showed this in my last video so I will try to find um the clip and I’ll put up there for you so you can have a

Look um and in that shirt TW I just added a little section to the arm side just to make it a little bit straighter not so scooped and I think it has helped it feels much more comfortable this the shirt and the dress that I have now made

Up so I will show you the dress here and I made it out of this lovely soft cotton lawn fabric that I got from gold HW Ro quite a few years ago in this lovely uh royal blue cobalt blue with it’s got like a coraly pink and

Yellow I’ve added a little label I made this that’s from Little rosy cheeks I raised the bodice I shortened the bodice rather by about 3/4 of an inch um because it was a little bit low from for my liking I like things to be a little bit higher on my waist and um

I’ve used little shell buttons that I tend to use for a lot of projects I think they’re just really easy they go with go with most things I haven’t done a button on the top collar because well firstly I would never button it all the way up anyway and

Secondly there’s too much bulk there for my little machine to get through as soon as my button hole machine feels any kind of bump there it it doesn’t like it and it it doesn’t work so I just tend to avoid button holes if it’s a little bit too thick and

Bulky and I’ll you can probably see from the picture that I attached I did the midi version so I’ve got the two tiers and yeah I think what I’m going to do with the sleeves at the moment they’re elbow length but I am planning to turn these up to make a cuff I’ve

Used the I’ve made the Rita dress pattern before by named clothing and they have a nice cuffy detail on that so I’m going to go back to that pattern and use that just to to turn it up so it’s h got nice cuff detail on it there so I’m

Really pleased with that um yeah came together quite well and I think those tweaks have sort of helped a little bit with getting a better fit for me I’ve just noticed the sun’s come out it’s amazing nice to have Sun I just dropped my kids off at school and it was raining

On the way back and now it’s it’s sunny so that’s great very nice um what else have I been up to I have made a couple of tweaks to my Nova coat I finished this I can’t remember when I finished it a month ago I think a couple of months

Ago and same as this I just found I wasn’t really wearing it very much I mean mainly because it’s not very practical for me doing the school run at the moment because I like to have a waterproof and a hood because the weather’s so terrible at the moment but

Also what was putting me off was the fact that it didn’t have any closures to it and I like my coats to be nice and cozy and secure so I went back and sorry just let me show you I’ve added a couple of poppers to it so I’ve added one of about there

Using these big poppers sewing them in by hand and then another one just at the top of the pocket so the pockets there and the snaps about there um what I found was when I was putting the poppers on the inside layer of the coat how you say

That um I stitched through all layers which was absolutely fine and what that helped as well was um the fabric was quite spongy so where this lapel turns under this facing turns under it just wouldn’t press and it wouldn’t hold that shape so it was quite bouncy and sort of

Turning out which I didn’t like much so by sewing those poppers down I’ve secured the layers and it’s just keeping it in place a little bit but on the front part of the coat that goes over it I couldn’t Stitch through all layers to do that inside poer because you would

See it from the outside so what I did instead was top stitched down the front and because it’s quite a busy Fabric and very fluffy you can’t really see it anyway and I think even if you could see it I wouldn’t mind it too much if you

Need it you need it and then I just stitched through the one layer just catching one layer when I sewed them on so pleased with that it’s made it much comfier warmer to wear and what I also did was where I attached a coat hook I found when I was hanging it

Up it was pulling the coat sort of open because that facing is just sewn on there so I can’t really show you because I’ve thrown it down but if I do it on this front bit you’ll see what I mean it was pulling it open like that I didn’t

Really want it putting that much pressure on the seam so I’ve top stitched it down on the back so you can see that row of stitching but it doesn’t really bother me that much it just means that this is more secure so when I hang it it

Doesn’t pull so I just did a row of stitching stitching in the ditch between the main Fabric and the lining fabric just along the top there so it keeps it a bit more secure yeah so that’s made it a lot more comfortable and enjoyable to wear for

Sure um the next couple of things I want to talk to you about are some plans that I have got coming up and one of them I have mentioned before and I am ready to get going on it I’ve have traced out the pattern pieces I’m going to cut out my

Fabric today and it is this mol’s pattern which is M7 325 it’s got lots of different options um and it’s really quick and easy to make I’ve made this up for my sister and I was surprised it’s only got four pattern pieces for the version I’m making and it comes together really

Quickly I’m going to make version D but with the length from A and C so this shorter version so I have the full length sleeves elasticated cuffs but just that shorter length what I’m also going to do is bring in this neckline you can tell from the model it’s quite

Open and when I made it for my sister we found out that this neckline actually comes down really really low it hits right at the apex of the bust and because it’s quite a floaty um style it does open and the version I’m going to do doesn’t even have neck ties so it

Just be flapping around all over the place so I’m going to raise that um by a couple of inches as well so bring the neckline in raise that and I am making it up in this cotton gingham fabric which is kind of hard to show in this

Light it’s not this emerald green color that it’s coming up as on the camera it’s just a sort of forest green bottle green um in this lovely cotton that I got from Legend textiles um I think about a month or so ago so they probably

Have still got some in stock and I heard Cara from so so mad talking about um Legend textiles the other day um it was originally Sam from s Gurley who put me on to Legend textiles and I couldn’t believe the amount of fabric they have on that website and the prices as well

Are so cheap I think this was about £250 a meter I have talked about this previously so sorry if I’m boring you but I did actually have to buy sort of double the amount that I wanted cuz gingham is usually in a narrower length but even doing that5 a meter for a

Lovely cotton fabric I think is really good value so yeah looking forward to getting started on making that up what else have I got planned um oh yes Winnie pants again sorry to bore you another thing that I have had on my list to do for a while so

You’ll know if youve watched my Vlogs before I had a bit of a mist mistake with the Winnie pants I made them up first time round with the direction of stretch the wrong way round so I had to make them a bit narrower which meant I

Couldn’t do the pin tucks and when I wear them there is quite a bit of vertical stretch so I’m going to have another go at making them this time hopefully getting the stretch the right way around but looking at the fabric I went ahead and bought exactly the same

Fabric again from first Fabrics because it’s so lovely and soft looking at the fabri fac I was thinking it is actually quite a stretchy Fabric and I I don’t know if there’s that much difference between the vertical and horizontal stretch so that’s one way and that’s the other way it’s a

Little bit more resistance that way but not loads so I’m a bit worried that even after making them up for a second time perhaps they’re still going to be a little bit too stretchy the fabric isn’t perhaps quite stiff enough I don’t know but I

Think I just need to go for it and have a go cuz yeah it’s been on my list and I really want to make a pair of Winnie pants I think they look lovely um so that is it for everything that I have been making one last thing I

Wanted to mention was um I went for a lovely sewing meetup on Saturday so we weren’t actually sewing it was a get together we met up thanks to lovely IET who is Blossom sand sandwich and she also runs stash Hub um her and a lady called Mel Keen run a little sort of

Sewing Community for s s is a county in the south of England in the UK uh it’s quite a big County so people come from all over to these these meetups which is lovely they’ve had one in woking they did a picnic and there’s been a fabric

Swap um there’s also going to be a sewing social in w on the 24th of February so if you are free on the 24th I think IET said she’s still got a couple of tickets left so if you contact IET uh Blossom sandwich and let her know

Um’ be great to see you along so yeah we all met up in a bar in Guilford it was lovely to meet other sewists and have a nice chat um really lovely to be able to do those kind of things and be part of the sewing Community because not much

Seems to happen for sewing sort of in the the south south of England where I am so I think I just checked my notes one last time that’s everything that I wanted to talk about today so I hope you have enjoyed today’s Vlog hope it hasn’t

Been a bit too jumping around and and waffling I never know if I’m making much sense when I when I do these videos but thank you so much for watching and for sticking with me I hope you are well wherever you are whatever you are doing

And I hope to see you again soon thanks very much Bye