Guest post – Nessa from Nessa’s Place

Hi everyone, today I’d like to introduce you to my newest blogging friend – Nessa of Nessa’s Place! We were paired up together for the Nautical Craft Swap – she sent me the sweetest gift, you can see it below. Nessa has been kind enough to write a guest post, so you can ‘meet’ her as well!

Hello readers of Modern Vintage Cupcakes! What an honour it is to be saying hello to you all on this creative page. I am Nessa and I write two blogs: one is called Ma Wee Hens where I write about my new adventure in keeping backyard hens, but my main blog is called Nessa’s Place, where I write about all my stitching endeavours.

A wee bit about me
I live in Scotland where it has been nothing but grey clouds and wet since 2009. But as much as I love living here, unfortunately I am not Scottish and don’t have that lovely accent! The British enjoy telling me I am Antipodean – meaning I am from the islands that are directly opposite the British islands on the globe. If a Scot digs a tunnel through the earth they would arrive at the Antipodes – Australia/New Zealand. The odd thing is, that I grew up in Australia and whenever we dug holes we were always digging to China?!
I grew up in Victoria, Australia but moved to Scotland for work in 2005. In 2007 I fell in love and got married in 2008. So now I am staying put here in this beautiful land. I do love living here with the heather on the moors, the lochs in the glens and the hills outside the windows (they call them ‘mountains’ here but we know that they don’t know what real mountains are!)

My Creating
I have sewn, stitched and knitted since I was a teenager and could think of nothing better than to get home from school, throw my pyjamas on in front of the TV and do some tapestry or knitting.

Knitting
My first knitted item was meant to be a teddy bear’s scarf but my rows increased so much that it had to become an A-line skirt for my Barbie doll. I improved my knitting skills by making small baby projects like booties and cardigans in the round. They knitted up quickly, providing me with a sense of accomplishment. I wonder what ever happened to those little knitted treasures? I once knitted a cardigan for a boyfriend. I’d even read that knitting for a boyfriend was like jinxing the relationship but I didn’t want to believe it and thought it was true love…which it wasn’t. Since then I have happily only knitted for myself.

Stitching
I did a bit of tapestry work, which led me to cross-stitch. Both projects were huge, framed pieces. I always believed (and still do) that if you are going to spend all that time and effort on a project then it must be one that you REALLY want to own and that you will love.

Sewing
My Mum sewed quite a lot when we were growing up. I do remember asking her to only sew during the ads whilst we watched our favourite TV shows, as her Elna Lotus would make the reception go all stripey when she sewed. I always loved old fashioned things like Anne of Green Gables, Annie and Little Women, so my first ever attempt at sewing clothes were floor length gathered skirts, shawls and simple bonnets for my sister and I to use for dressing up games. At least now, as an adult, I can spend my money on good fabric and proper patterns and make the dresses of my dreams!

Mostly I only sew things for myself that I really want to wear. I do sew for others as well, but not very often. So far my projects for others this year are to make my husband a tweed wool jacket and a tartan waistcoat for my Dad, who might be visiting from Oz. For myself – well the wish list continues with mostly dresses.

Blogging
I only started blogging in 2012. I stumbled across a Pattern Review website, as I wanted to try a particular pattern but the pattern envelope was styled in such a strange way that I had no idea what it would actually look like on my figure. That’s when I found out that people actually wrote quite in-depth blogs about sewing, fitting and constructing patterns, the very same patterns that I was thinking of sewing! It was a revelation. in the beginning I just bookmarked people’s blogs that were interesting to me – this led to some overflowing bookmark folders and I couldn’t keep up with them. Transitioning from blog lurker to blog commenter was rewarding. I realised that I could be encouraging and that I could help people with some of their sewing dilemas or technical issues. Being useful motivated me to want to write my own blog and record my own creative progress. I do live in quite a rural place, with no other sewing enthusiasts to befriend, so to be a part of a sewing community has been really the best part about blog writing.
I also really love seeing how patterns and outfits look on real life people of all different shapes, sizes and styles.

How I “met” Kat
I first started following Kat’s blog when I saw her giveaway on the February Sew Grateful Week posts. I think the first things I noticed about her blog were the photo-a-day challenges which give a lovely glimpse into everyday life in Wellington, and her detailed photographs of her handmade garments. The first garment that I remember impressed me was a blouse that she had made and used adapted patterns to create her own version. It was really unique and a very cleverly made item that showed a great sense of ingenuity and creativity. So I’ve been a follower ever since.
I enrolled in Rachel’s House of Pinheiro International Craft Swap this year and was paired up with Kat. This was great for me, as I was already familiar with her recent posts, but it gave me a good excuse to scroll through her previous posts and “get to know her” a bit better. But those photos of her sweet baby boy were pretty hard to scroll past – what a sweety!
We were asked to create something crafty for our partner and include a small gift. Here is what I made for Kat – it’s a lunch bag
I also sent along a piece of retro kitchen print fabric and some British ribbons.

Here is what Kat made for me – it’s even reversible!

I also received some DELICIOUS honey flavoured chocolate from New Zealand and some very jazzy pens.
Thanks for reading! If there are any comments, I will be sure to pop over to your blog pages and enjoy “meeting” you too. Hope you all have a very productive and creative year ahead!

Thank you so much Nessa! It’s been so lovely getting to know you, and I am in complete awe of your 1850’s dress!!! I’m looking forward to following your blog and seeing what you make next. 🙂