//THE WARDROBE PROJECT//

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Is anybody still here? If so, hello guys! It's been over a year since I posted anything in this space, but lately I started missing blogging! To be honest with you, 2018 was a really strange year, filled with lots of ups and downs, but mostly downs, too many hours of work and overall a quite exhausting year. It was also a year that went by really quickly, as if I was not really paying attention to the days and just letting them slip away with the blink of an eye. So I decided that 2019 was not going to have the same fate with the past year. This year I want to be more mindful and to try living in the present moment more.

January for me was a month of self care and awareness. I took time to make a routine for myself, which I try to follow most days, I really paid attention to my fitness and eating habits and I tried to live with more awareness in my everyday life. I'm a type of person who likes organizing and taking the time this month to do all these things, I think will really help to set the tone for the rest of the year. But only if I'm mindful about them(little note to my future self).

Up until now, you will be wondering all of that is great, but we are not here for your personal diary, we are mostly here for the makes. The previous year really fatigued me to a point that I lost any desire for anything remotely creative. But lately I'm itching to get back at it. My list of to-sew is growing bigger everyday and thanks to the amazingness that is the Instagram sewing community I'm not seeing it getting any smaller soon.

So, consider this post my welcome back to the blogsphere and I hope we see each other here soon.

I'm wondering, do you still enjoy reading blogs, or are they slowly being replaced by Instagram/YouTube and other social media platforms? 

Hello, hello, hello!! Happy New Year everybody! I hope you had a wonderful time over the holidays and you are ready to conquer 2018 with lots of creativity. This year I struggled a lot with keeping up with my blog, to the point that I thought that maybe I won't continue with blogging this year. For me the hardest part is taking photos of my finished garments. And I mostly blame Instagram for that. Don't get me wrong, I love the direct communication Instagram offers and how stress free posting about a project is, but I think that's the reason I often forgot or I am too lazy to photograph a project for my blog. But I decided to give it another try this year and see how it goes.

 Today I want to share some of my 2018 plans and projects:

1. I decided to participate in the 365project over on Instagram. To be honest I'm afraid I won't follow through in the end, but I would love if by the end of the year I could have a full year in photos.

2. MakeNine2018. I'm still not set in a list yet, but a post will follow about my list when I do. I won't bother with a 2017 recap, because let's just say 2 out of the 8 is not a satisfying percentage!

3.Bullet Journalling. This will be my second year using a Bullet Journal and I couldn't recommend it enough! I use it to organise everything from my daily life to my sewing.


4. I'm thinking about participating in the #shirtmonth challenge over on IndieSew. It's been a long time since I last sewed a shirt and I'm really loving taking my time with projects that need more attention to details.

5. This year I'm also determined to read more books, so any good book recommendations are more than welcome!

6. I'm looking forward to the Design Your Wardrobe project that Seamwork magazine is planning for February.

This year I won't make any sewing resolutions, since I found I only think about them until the end of January and I'll just go with the flow and whatever strikes my creativity!

So, how about you? Did you make any sewing resolutions this year? Will you be participating in any projects this year? 

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Hello everyone! Today I'm here to share some thoughts on the Slow Fashion October. If you don't have any idea what that is, you can read more about it over on Karen's blog. She started the whole initiative 3 years ago and in my opinion it's one of the most interesting issues that the sewing community has ever raised.

Slotober for me can be expressed in so many views. Over the years I enjoyed reading many different opinions about the subject from other makers, and it has always been a thought on the back of my head, but I decided that this year I'd like to think more about what it means to me and how it affects my journey as a maker.

A little bit about my personal history on the matter

I never been one to be really obsessed with trends or shopping for that matter. I used to enjoy shopping, but now I find the process really tiring and meaningless. I much more prefer shopping for patterns, fabrics, notions and yarn these days. In my early years of college I was the same as pretty much the majority of people on that age. I wanted to have clothes, the more the merrier, quantity over quality and so it goes. I was never really happy with my wardrobe, I constantly had that I-have-nothing-to-wear feeling when I was in front of my wardrobe and I was really struggling to have my own personal style.

Then I discovered sewing.But for me at the beginning was more or less the same. Lots of cheap fabric(the only kind of fabric my college budget was allowing me), resulting to makes that I didn't love as much and didn't make it in the passage of time.

Two years ago, I read the genius book called "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo. I threw out my ufos and badly-made garments, donated the majority of my clothes to friends and charities and never looked back. I stopped shopping for clothes except on the rare occasion that something I really like catches my eye and I started being more conscious about my wardrobe. That's when a-very early-stages-form of what my personal style is like started forming. I completely changed the way I sewed. I took some pattern-drafting lessons, that teached me a lot about patterns, what I like and what is worth of my time. I started buying good quality fabrics and giving more attention to details on my sewing.

But I find that I am still a bit confused with my sewing and with what my personal style exactly is. So I will use this Slotober to try and figure out my style and wardrobe. I find that sometimes with my sewing I get so overwhelmed(I blame Instagram on this!) to make all the things, that I don't pay as much attention as I should to my makes.
As for the ethical aspect of this issue. I am constantly try to educate myself and be more conscious about what I buy. I wish I could be more selective, but being a 26-years-old hard working to be able to afford my own place, pay my bills and live my life doesn't always gives me the opportunity. I'm fortunate to be able to still buy fabric that has been made locally in Greece, so as fabric goes, this is as close t ethical made as I can go right now. I would like to think that one day I will be able to be the proud owner of a wardrobe of which I would know every origin of every single piece in it.

For me it is not about being perfect in every little aspect of your life. After all we are all humans living in a very s**t world right now. From animals being treated bad to fast fashion and so many more issues. In my own opinion if everyone, tries to be more conscious even about half of the things  we should be in our everyday life, it will result to such a big impact on our world. No one is perfect, but we can try and be as close to that as we can.

If you made it until the end of this really lengthy post, thank you so much for reading my thoughts on this issue and I would love to hear your opinion about the subject. What is Slow Fashion October for you?

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Hello and happy new month lovely people out there! Autumn is officially here and I couldn't be happier! Dressing in layers, wearing my handmade knitted garments, hot coffees and watching a movie under the blanket are only some of the things I love about autumn. It's funny how much we change growing up, I remember I used to hate autumn when I was younger!

So, I'm here yet again to share with you what happened on the previous month and what I'm planning for the new one!

THINGS I'M EXCITED ABOUT FOR THIS MONTH:

-Dressing in layers
-Lots of knitting
-Family birthdays
-Winter fabrics

ON THE SEWING TABLE:

-I also was a pattern tester for Kommatia patterns J006 Parka pattern! Another pattern I really loved making!

For this month I don't have anything planned yet. To be honest I'm not really happy with my wardrobe at the moment and I'm currently in the process of trying to figure out how I can organise my makes better for a more cohesive wardrobe. I'll maybe share more about this in a coming post.

ON MY NEEDLES:

I believe that this is the month I will finally finish my Find Your Fade shawl by Andrea Mowry! This one has been on my needles, since June!

I also working on a birthday present for a friend and I casted on the front piece of my Ondawa sweater.

I thinking about making a Penguono by Stephen West, after seeing Molly's (A Homespun House) version. Has anyone made one? Any thoughts about it?

 READING:

I'm currently reading "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. So far I like it!
If you do have any good book suggestions, please let me know in the comments!

OTHER THINGS:

Last night I finished watching the third season of "Broadchurch". This series is sooo good. I totally recommend it if you like mystery and are looking for a new series!

So, I totally failed on #sewphotohop this month! I did participate until the middle of the month, and then I fell off the wagon. But I really loved seeing everyone's posts and I did discovered lots of new accounts!

I'm really excited for Slow Fashion October this month! If you don't know what that is, you can read more about it on Karen's blog.

I hope you had a lovely September and are excited for the new month. Do you have any sewing/knitting plan for October?

Do you have any outerwear sewing plans for the coming months? I would love to hear about them!