Truffle

Here I am on sewweekly. I am so pleased to have a post up. As promised, here is the inside of my dress:

Even better, I hemmed the dress using vintage hemming tape:

 This tape was sent to me as part of a sewweekly swap last year, I was so pleased to get to use it. The hand sewing took a couple of hours in front of the tv and was worth all the hassle, the dress came out really well.

Lesson learnt: take your time and have an end result to be proud of!

The valleys are low...but the mountains are high

Two steps forward, one step back. I have now put the 22 inch invisible zip into my Colette Truffle FOUR times. Four. Yes. Twice today.

#1 I managed to put the teeth in the wrong way but notice before I have done too much. OK, quick unpick about 8 inches. Not too bad.

#2 Get the zip in OK on both sides but the waist seam doesn't quite match - it's just out. I sew up the seam anyway THEN decide I really ought to try again. Out it all comes.

#3 Get the zip in great. I take my time and even baste it in to try to get the waist seam to match. It's still a little out but I decide I can live with that. I sew the facing in and finish the seam, Then zip it all up to admire the finished article. That's when I notice - the shoulder strap is twisted. See pic above. My heart sinks. Swear a bit. Make a cup of tea. Rip it all out.

#4 I think it's right this time! The middle vertical seam is the zip. The horizontal seam is the waist. I am very proud.

Should I have left it alone after the second time? This time last year I would have been thrilled just to get the zip in let alone have anything line up. Am I getting too fussy? What do you do when you mess up?

First you gotta speed it up, then you gotta slow it down....

If last year was all about meeting deadlines and challenges then this year is all about getting it right and taking my time. So I have made a not-wearable muslin (my sewing teacher calls it a toile - no idea why not a muslin) out of an old sheet to try to get the fit right before I make the dress. So far I have spent about 8 hours on this project - anyone recognise the pattern???? The dress is nearly finished.... I have added quite a bit to the length and done some "full bust" type adjusting to stop the inevitable gaping. Fingers crossed!

Other recent crafting, I took the idea seen here to make some magnetic dolls to put in my little girl's party bags after her 4th birthday. Sadly I couldn't find tins so I made little bags to keep them together for the fridge.

Finally, this isn't crafting but my girl looks like such a sweet vintage bathing beauty I have to share:

See you soon xxx

What is my style anyway?

I have a nearly four year old. Small children are obsessed with "What's your favourite....". Her favourite colour is pink or red. Her favourite tv programme is Peppa Pig. Her favourite clothing is dresses. Her favourite animal is a giraffe (because it licks).

This is easy for her. It's very clear cut. She asks me "what's your favourite?" and usually I make something up - I don't usually have one I love more than the rest. But I do have a favourite book:

My favourite book of last year (!), my favourite sewing book ever, The Colette Sewing Handbook. It really is making me think. I am currently pondering page 32 "Editing for your style". This is about wearing things that make you happy. The author Sarai Mitnick suggests picking 5 things you love to wear to help work out your style. Thinking about them and what makes them special.

So here are mine:

Number 1:

This is a silk flower. It has a sort of crocodile clip in the back, I think it was for your hair originally. It was in  my stepfather's mother Eileen's  house when she died. She was nearly 100 (She had one child, late in life. My stepfather is 74 now) and it was over 10 years ago that she died. It's handmade and I like to think that either she or one of her friends made it and wore it in the 1920s. I wear it clipped to a shrug. I was going to wear it on my wedding day but it didn't look right in the end. It's a bit grubby but I daren't wash it - it would be ruined.

Number 2:

I bought this little handbag from ebay. It was the seller's aunt's bag from the 30's or 40s. It's battered but I love it. When I take it out I can't fit much in it but that's not the point.

Number 3:

My blue suede shoes from Monsoon. Spotted in a store in the summer but not bought because of the cost, they preyed on my mind until weeks later I tried to buy them online and they had Sold Out. Panic. Then I drove to my nearest Monsoon 30 miles away and luckily they had a pair. Phew.
Number 4:

This is my grandmother's opal and diamond ring. I think it was her mother's and I got it in her will. One of the opals was damaged and I got it mended even though I had very little money at the time. I wear it nearly every day and I just love it.

This is my Gran with my Dad in 1990:

Number 5:

This is my Colette crepe dress from earlier this year. I really like it even though I can see the flaws in it now and where my sewing was not that great. I made it on the old machine and the tension problems are obvious in the stitches now I know what I am looking for. But I was so proud of it and I wore it it Gemma and Dan's wedding.
You will notice I am also wearing the silk rose, holding the bag, and I have my grandmother's ring on. Only the shoes are not there, although this pair, also from Monsoon, nearly made it onto the list. I am also very fond of the glasses I am wearing in this pic.

I have no idea what conclusions to draw about my style from my "top 5". It seems I like things that are old, don't mind if they are grubby or battered but am attached to sentimental things.

What are your 5 top things to wear? Have you ever thought about it? What do your favourite things say about your style?

Party frock: I Made That Look. Sort of.

Once upon a time I saw a dress I really liked in Monsoon (a British chain store I really like but that is on the pricey side, for me anyway) that was too expensive. I wrote to Mena on her website http://www.sewweekly.com/ as she does a spot called "Make This Look" in which she explains how you could make it yourself at home. She featured my dress! (note for British readers: I felt like Jim'll Fix It had actually Fixed It for Me!)

 Of course, I bought the pattern and the fabric and then did nothing. No dress. No nothing. Slight guilt pangs. Bigger guilt pangs.

But now I have Made That Look: Tah da!

The more alert and eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that it has now moved away slightly from the original. It is the same dress, honest guv'nor.

But obviously I made it in a blue taffeta. I am wearing shoes from Monsoon so that must count for something, surely? They are blue suede shoes, so I had to have them.

I made a blue dress because it was one of my Fall Essentials Sewalong colours, on the mood board I made.

The dress was supposed to be similar to the one on the top right of my board. If I am honest, I probably should have made it without the sleeves. They were a bit tight and impeding.

I wore my new frock last night to my work party, we went out for a meal and disco combination evening. I have no photos of that because I always dance like a loon and get sweaty and embarrassing at these events, especially during the eighties music section..... so much fun.

So here's another photo with my princess instead:

This Colette pattern is a real treat, no tricks here

About 6 or 7 years ago, when I didn't have a rugrat to keep me busy, I used to watch a dreadful tv programme called "Celebrity Fit Club". In it, overweight "celebrities" were humiliated into losing weight and made to weigh in each week wearing the same outfit they first started in. Anyway, one of them, whose name and identity completely escapes me (I didn't know who she was then either, but I know one thing, she wasn't very fat), weighed in each week in a dress that had me drooling. I just loved it. In the end I sent a begging email to the tv company asking where she got it. I expected no reply - after all, it was a bit weirdly stalky to send emails asking about the clothes of this contestant. Amazingly, someone nice from wardrobe let me know that the dress was available from a Brighton boutique called Get Cutie. This was the dress I fell in love with:

The dress is still available now from their shop. It costs £130. At the time I didn't have £130 to spend on a dress, I didn't have a sewing machine, I didn't have the skills to make a dress and it didn't even cross my mind that I might one day.

Fast forward about six years to May this year. The dress was forgotten. (Just as well because although I probably have £130 squirrelled away if I spent it on a dress Mr T would do his nut. Just like a squirrel, lol) But I went on a lovely meet up and fabric shopping expedition in London with girls from http://www.sewweekly.com/ and saw a similar fabric I liked. I bought enough for a dress. I took it home. Stashed it. Until..... the Hallowe'en challenge this week on sewweekly! (to be honest I forgot about it again until now - it must be my age)

I chose this pattern, recently acquired and winking at me seductively from my sewing table

It's one of three new patterns available from http://www.colettepatterns.com/

So I made my dress, six years later. My lovely friend Gemma was a good enough sport to take some photos outside the 14th century church in my village. Even though it was a bit embarrassing.

Stuff I like about this dress:
The pattern is super easy. It took me about 6 hours including tracing the pattern, cutting out etc etc. I made it mostly at my sewing class although I didn't need any help - it is such an easy and clear pattern. I even made piping and put it around the neck and waist:

Stuff I will do differently next time:
I may go a size down on the bodice but do an FBA. I'll stick to the same size skirt. There will be a next time, I love this pattern.

Happy Hallowe'en!