Anything but a one man job cont…

…as I mentioned in my last post, there were just some things I couldn’t DIY myself, so I called on the talents of friends for these things. Two of these beautiful makes fit very nicely together in our wedding Yurt. …

Dreaming of … a budget where I can buy everything from Anthropologie

What would you buy if you won the lottery? I love playing this game. Obviously I’d give half to charity 🙂 and then I’d donate a wing to Hogwarts so that even though I didn’t get to go, my kids would be able to, but apart from that I’d probably blow the whole lot in Anthropologie!

A few weeks ago I visited my Grandma in Bath and we spent a good portion of our day browsing in Anthropologie. I fell in love with this dress. And this one. And this one. And…you get the idea!

Anyway, the Gallery Row dress was my absolute favourite. The fit was great, the length was perfect and the fabric draped beautifully. It was farrrr to low though, which was a shame. But then I reminded myself that I can sew. This had the added bonus of saving me £158. I already had fabric that I wanted to use – it had the same drape as the original dress and the navy blue is actually more my colour.

So I pretty quickly got to it. I used the burdastyle dress with gathered rectangle skirt for the bodice. My muslin was the lining of the dress and I had to shorten the darts substantially – they were trying to crawl up my throat! I also moved the zip to the CB so that I could use a chunky metal zip like the original dress.

For the skirt I cut a full circle skirt and an extra quarter circle panel. I wanted to add pockets to the front of the dress (like the original), so I used this extra panel in the middle of the skirt front and then sewed in seam pockets in here. Very subtle, but practical I think you’ll agree. It also meant that I could lightly gather the skirt to make it even more full.

I made a fairly slim petticoat to give a slightly more vintage shape. I couldn’t find a tutorial that made much sense to me, so I followed my own ideas and made a very simple version with a gathered cotton slip and a net layer to give some shape.

Overall it was a pretty simple dress to make, but I love the outcome. The lining of the bodice fits perfectly, but somehow the outer bodice is slightly looser. I actually really like the way this has turned out. It looks great with a belt and the fabric slightly overlapped. At least I think so! Still holding out for the funds to shop exclusively in Anthro, but for now I’ll settle for making use of my sewing skills!

Dreaming of…bluebell woods and Day 4

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I have no intention of posting daily Me Made May photos, but today I went for a walk in the Forest of Dean AND wore something Me Made, so it seemed a shame to miss out on the opportunity to share with you.

This is one of the first dresses I ever made and one of the ones that I wear most often.

It was made pre blog, but here are the main details;
fabric £1 p/m – upholstery fabric
bodice – self drafted
skirt – gathered rectangle

It was a beautiful day and we took some lovely photos.

10 points if you can tell me who any why I’m posing like this in this photo!

Selfless sewing

And about time too I think. This is the first male garment I’ve made and I was quite nervous about it. So – Martin has asked me to make him a shirt a few times and I finally felt ready …

Watch this space…

I would like to start this post by saying that I’m working on some new projects to show you all. Alas that’s only halfway true (ha ‘alas’ – I don’t think I’ve ever seriously used that word before). I have been working on some projects, but purely in mind / sketch form. So don’t get too excited, but I can show you one of my sketch book pages for an upcoming project…

So far I have selected the pattern and taken the fabric out of my stash – woop!

I’ll keep some others back so that I don’t make this post too exciting – ha ha ha.

In other news – it was my birthday last week and I was spoilt rotten 🙂 with amazing cakes and gifts – just look at all these books. Another reason to watch this space as I plan on devouring the contents of the books just as much as I devoured (yes it’s already in the past tense) the cakes and putting them to good use asap! Thanks lovely friends and family!

This book is HUGE!!!