At work we do Secret Santa – it’s been going for eight years, organised by the marvellous Mandy (from the Finance team), supported by Steve our (now ex) Land buyer. They love dressing up and bringing joy to our teams. But it is always fun – you get the name of who you are buying a gift for, a cost limit, and you give it to them as a hopefully lovely suprise.This year I declined to participate because I just had too much on. This year I declined to participate because I just had too much on.
But when I read about an internet based Sewing Swap I thought – yes! What a great idea. This great challenge, organised by Sewchet, is to buy, create or find a present for a fellow sewist, costing no more than £10, adding something homemade or free, and send it to an address in your own country. I researched my target by reading her blog – finding out what sort of things they like, their colouring and preferences. I had fun doing it. And this is what arrived!
My Secret Santa is Megan from Pigeon Wishes. Want to see who she is? She has some great photos and animations on her blog. What a stylish woman. I love this summery shot of Megan wearing a Cheong-sam and parasol.
Do you want to see what was inside my parcels? Megan has got me right, hasn’t she? A nice big piece of charcoal wool jersey, some bright pink lighter jersey, a pattern to make a classic pair of tailored trousers, and a sweet Lucky Lady button collection. Bravo! I love my presents. I shall enjoy making something nice with all of these. Thank you Megan for your thoughtfulness and I hope you too had a very Happy Christmas.
Do you think Megan was suggesting I made the pants in the grey jersey? An “amazing fit” sounds pretty compelling. This was my only sewing based present!
Did you get any sewing presents this year?
Seamsoddlouise
What a fabulous pressie. Lucky you.
Mary
I have that pattern and was going to try it but my starting measurements were so far off theirs I didn’t. I’m a pretty standard US RTW size 12 tall. My extra length is in my legs, not my rise. That pattern did inspire me to make an Ottobre pair of trousers and I was very pleased with them. I got a lot from reading all the fit info that came from the Simplicity pattern. It is all worth reading.
Your sewing gifts are lovely. I gifted myself 7 yards of stonewashed linen in navy and stone gray to make some new dresses for summer. My ‘uniform’ linen dresses are getting shabby since I wear them a lot in summer. I rediscovered some silk scarves inherited from stylish relatives so have matched my fabric to them to enjoy some pops of pink and yellow with my plain yet lovely linen dresses.
Sheila
My only sewing based present was the stitching Santa, too! I did get a yarn winder from my son who was happy to get exactly what I asked for (men have no idea when it comes to shopping, do they?) which was great. The grey and the pink would look fab together as a top and trousers – what a lovely gift!
Jennifer Miller
What beautiful fabrics you received! And the charcoal does seem like a great choice for the pants pattern, I’ll be watching to see how the “fabulous fit” works out. And buttons called “Lucky Lady” – that has to be a marvelous omen. Very nice gifts indeed.
I received one sewing gift….the opportunity to raid my mom’s sewing cabinet. Oh yes, it was fun (and I exhibited great restraint).
Anne
I like the grey jersey. I think the trousers are for woven, though – might be wrong. A nice surprise to get! When I was trimming the waistband of the pleated skirt for Helen (I’ve blogged about the wearable toile) I used pinking shears to reduce bulk and fraying but my old shears were no good. I got a lovely new pair for Christmas.
Jenny
What a nice idea and I agree that your present is lovely. It looks like more than £10 worth to me but perhaps Megan shops at some of those fabulous shops in London where everyone pays a lot less than I do for beautiful fabrics. Sigh! I asked for some serger thread for my new (and first) overlocker and I received two boxes so I was very pleased. I would love to receive a surprise piece of gorgeous fabric but my whole family are non-sewers and wouldn’t have a clue what to buy, without specific instructions.
Megan
Thank you so so much for your kind words! I’m so happy you liked what I picked! I was really nervous!! I didn’t want to be too adventurous and stuck with the colour palette showed on your past blog posts. I wasn’t suggesting the grey for the trousers, I saw you were adventurous, so I though if you had a classic shape it could go with a bold print but I didn’t want to pick a print for you!!
If you are ever free this exhibition is on http://www.fashionspacegallery.com/exhibition/mad-boy/ and it would be amazing to meet you and chat sewing/fashion 🙂
fabrickated
Megan – I loved my gift and I would love to go to the exhibition you mention. It is close to where I work so I could do it during the day, say lunch time. Or early evening, or the weekend. DM a suggestion. Thanks so much for following up.