So, yeah. SNOW. Not impressed. Not impressed at all.
I hope this Friday evening finds everybody well. I'm grand, if cold. I'm bloody glad to have got to the weekend. I had a brilliant time last weekend what with all the drinking and the dancing, but I'm not so young anymore and it took me most of the week to get over it!
It has been a much better week though, despite the shitty weather. I managed to get that work situation that was bugging me out resolved, and that's a massive relief. I don't want to get into it too much here, but things are a lot better. The job itself still sucks, but at least that problem has been sorted out.
I wasn't in work on Wednesday and spent the day sewing (lobster Elisalex, when it stops snowing I'll get her on and model her for you) and saw my friends Dr. Hannah, Dr. Hayley and Dr. Lauren for coffee and a potter in town. Sadly it was too cold to take my coat off, so I couldn't show off my new dress to them, but I did get Nic to take some photos of me before I turned blue!
As you might know, I'm hopefully going to be teaching dressmaking at Berylune in a few weeks' time. I'm not sure how sales are going, but I rather suspect that the 'orrible weather makes sewing a summer dress less than appealing. Still, it can't stay like this forever so if you're local and you fancy giving it a go, you can book onto the course here. You could learn how to make a Colette Hazel dress, and even give it a little variation like this:
![Wednesday 20th March 2013]()
This is my fourth Hazel dress and with the others, I stuck pretty closely to the pattern. However, as you might have observed, I am a sucker for a full skirt. A few weeks ago Tasia of Sewaholic sewed up a Hazel with a fuller skirt and I thought "Yessss! I need this!" I had this pink star-print cotton that I had bought a few days earlier while chatting up the owner of my local fabric store, Royal Fabrics, and it fit the bill perfectly.
This modification is ridiculously easy to do. Tasia cut the skirt pieces for the largest size, but I went with my own gathered skirt method, which is just using a dirndl. I cut the front piece the full width of my 45 inch fabric and the two back pieces half that width each. Simple.
![Wednesday 20th March 2013]()
As I'm going to be teaching this, I decided to otherwise stick with the pattern instructions so I did not line the bodice. Usually I don't much enjoy faffing around with facings, but of course Colette instructions are so clear and simple that it's all very easy. I didn't put pockets in the skirt, although I had them cut out. I'm not sure why, I just decided I wasn't feeling pockets so gave them a swerve this time. The only other modification I made was to insert a lapped zipper rather than a concealed one, and I plan in my class to show my students how to do this too, if they like.
![Wednesday 20th March 2013]()
I was so taken with how Tasia's Hazel looked with a belt that I pulled out this blue belt that came with an Emily and Fin dress and I think it looks pretty neat! The waist in this dress has a fair bit of ease, which will be nice when it's lounging on the grass in the park kind of weather, but for now I wanted something with a bit more shape.
I'm pretty tough, but not tough enough to be dandering round like this all day so one of my million cardigans came to the rescue:
![Wednesday 20th March 2013]()
It sounds a bit silly but until I saw Tasia's post, I hadn't considered adding a fuller skirt to the Hazel bodice, but I am really pleased with how it looks. It's partly the super twee fabric, but I think this dress is ridiculously cute. I'm looking forward to being able to wear it in warmer weather with these rather ridiculous sunglasses I bought on Wednesday:
![]()
Yes, I know there are five-year olds who would deem those sunglasses too immature. But I love them. Sadly, I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to wear them because:
![]()
So, yeah. The weather really needs to start playing ball because I'm really not into sewing winter stuff. HELL NO.
We're having some friends to stay this weekend and I need to bake them a cake. So I'm away to do that. Stay warm, everyone!
Oh yeah, and Google Reader blah blah Bloglovin...
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
I hope this Friday evening finds everybody well. I'm grand, if cold. I'm bloody glad to have got to the weekend. I had a brilliant time last weekend what with all the drinking and the dancing, but I'm not so young anymore and it took me most of the week to get over it!
It has been a much better week though, despite the shitty weather. I managed to get that work situation that was bugging me out resolved, and that's a massive relief. I don't want to get into it too much here, but things are a lot better. The job itself still sucks, but at least that problem has been sorted out.
I wasn't in work on Wednesday and spent the day sewing (lobster Elisalex, when it stops snowing I'll get her on and model her for you) and saw my friends Dr. Hannah, Dr. Hayley and Dr. Lauren for coffee and a potter in town. Sadly it was too cold to take my coat off, so I couldn't show off my new dress to them, but I did get Nic to take some photos of me before I turned blue!
As you might know, I'm hopefully going to be teaching dressmaking at Berylune in a few weeks' time. I'm not sure how sales are going, but I rather suspect that the 'orrible weather makes sewing a summer dress less than appealing. Still, it can't stay like this forever so if you're local and you fancy giving it a go, you can book onto the course here. You could learn how to make a Colette Hazel dress, and even give it a little variation like this:
Etoile dress - Colette Patterns Hazel dress
This is my fourth Hazel dress and with the others, I stuck pretty closely to the pattern. However, as you might have observed, I am a sucker for a full skirt. A few weeks ago Tasia of Sewaholic sewed up a Hazel with a fuller skirt and I thought "Yessss! I need this!" I had this pink star-print cotton that I had bought a few days earlier while chatting up the owner of my local fabric store, Royal Fabrics, and it fit the bill perfectly.
This modification is ridiculously easy to do. Tasia cut the skirt pieces for the largest size, but I went with my own gathered skirt method, which is just using a dirndl. I cut the front piece the full width of my 45 inch fabric and the two back pieces half that width each. Simple.
Bodice view...
As I'm going to be teaching this, I decided to otherwise stick with the pattern instructions so I did not line the bodice. Usually I don't much enjoy faffing around with facings, but of course Colette instructions are so clear and simple that it's all very easy. I didn't put pockets in the skirt, although I had them cut out. I'm not sure why, I just decided I wasn't feeling pockets so gave them a swerve this time. The only other modification I made was to insert a lapped zipper rather than a concealed one, and I plan in my class to show my students how to do this too, if they like.
I was so taken with how Tasia's Hazel looked with a belt that I pulled out this blue belt that came with an Emily and Fin dress and I think it looks pretty neat! The waist in this dress has a fair bit of ease, which will be nice when it's lounging on the grass in the park kind of weather, but for now I wanted something with a bit more shape.
I'm pretty tough, but not tough enough to be dandering round like this all day so one of my million cardigans came to the rescue:
I'll probably still be wearing this dress with this cardigan come July, damn British weather!
It sounds a bit silly but until I saw Tasia's post, I hadn't considered adding a fuller skirt to the Hazel bodice, but I am really pleased with how it looks. It's partly the super twee fabric, but I think this dress is ridiculously cute. I'm looking forward to being able to wear it in warmer weather with these rather ridiculous sunglasses I bought on Wednesday:
WORK IT
Yes, I know there are five-year olds who would deem those sunglasses too immature. But I love them. Sadly, I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to wear them because:
There are no words for how unimpressed I am right now
So, yeah. The weather really needs to start playing ball because I'm really not into sewing winter stuff. HELL NO.
We're having some friends to stay this weekend and I need to bake them a cake. So I'm away to do that. Stay warm, everyone!
Oh yeah, and Google Reader blah blah Bloglovin...
Follow my blog with Bloglovin