Getting my money's worth

I made another mission maxi dress last night. My friend is having her graduation party today in Coventry so naturally I wanted something I could comfortably travel in. Most of my clothes do not fit me anymore  because I have been at the cakes. As you can see from the pictures, it is obvious that I have added a couple of pounds.

Mr.Dibs has been  making funny little noises about my weight gain....muttering here and there. I ignore him of course. He recently decided actions speak louder than words, and registered me for the Great North Run in September. It is a half marathon, and he says he will do it with me. hmmmmm. Last week he dragged me to a running shop, to get me fitted for running shoes. 30 minutes and £100 later, I had a pair of running shoes. Now, the only reason I am going to run that half marathon, is because of that money. I need to squeeze £100 worth of running from those shoes, just as I am sqeezing my money's worth out of the mission maxi pattern.

 

 I used a jersey fabric I bought last year in Utrecht when I went to Holland. It is quite soft and drapey, quite different from the fabric I used for the last mission maxi dress, which was thicker.  The fabric I used last time got a lot of love from alot of you. As I said, I got it from Walthamstow market, in the first fabric shop on your right when walking down the market from the station. I can't remember the name of the shop. They do have alot of border prints, so if the fabric I used is sold out, I'm sure you will see other nice border prints.

I have somehow lost the pattern for the neck and armhole bindings for this dress, and cut new ones using an estimate of what I thought the original width of the binding was. Unfortunately when sewing it, I found out it was really small, so I had to unpick the stitches. Halfway through the unpicking, I decided to stop, because, sod it, it was 2am, and I had just finished a bottle of wine, and I was not thinking straight. Unpicking stitches in a knit fabric is seriously not cool. I cut off the neck binding,because the wine whispered it was the best thing to do, then cut a really wide band and used it as the binding. The result looks like a cowl neck. It is not the end of the world as I thought because my friend and her sister-in-law quite liked it, so, yes, like a phoenix, my damaged dress rose out of the ashes, or is it from the ashes?

 Ok, this last picture captures perfectly my mood in the garden. My garden in London is quite miniscule, so I was excited to be in a really big garden, and I was literally jumping for joy. Now if you will excuse me, there is wine to be drunk, and cake to be devoured. To heck with Mr.Dibs and his weight gain mutterings, 5 more slices of cake today won't make any difference. Or will they?

  

How do you do it?

I have been trying to take pictures of my Elisalex dress muslin, and I am making a right pork pie out of it. How do other people take such amazing self portraits?

Anyway, I am in the process of making the Elisalex dress. First muslin coming up:

So far so good. The bodice front fits ok. I have not made any adjustments yet, but I have a feeling the back might be a bit dodgy. I tried taking pictures to show what I mean, but of course, I'm not that skilled. I feel it gaps abit at the back. Did anyone else have that problem? Or is it just me?

For the skirt I cut a 14, but then realised I was being overly optimistic about my sizing. I think I might be a 16 for the skirt. Oh well, I need to adjust that, or just go with the gathered skirt. The only reason I made a skirt with this muslin was because I thought the bodice was too short. It is actually ok. Sits exactly on my natural waist, which is a first for me.

I don't know which fabric to use yet. Most of the suitable fabric I have are only 2mts, so a trip to Goldhawk road might just be what I need.

And now, for your eyes only, exhibit A, of my muslin documentation.....See what I go through for this blog?

Could that be sunshine I spy over the horizon

Why yes it is!

Its summer time here in the UK....well almost....you see, I have been living in the UK now for 8 years, and I have come to the all too obvious conclusion that the sun and the UK had an affair ages ago ( long before any of you were born so don't think about it), and can't stand each other now. You know that state right? when you fell in love, and loved really hard, then woke up one day and asked yourself what you ever saw in that person? Yep! that is what the sun is thinking right now, hence why it can't bear to be seen round these parts. It comes around sometimes, mind you, but just not always, not like its other loves, like San francisco ( Mela I'm still hating), my home country of Cameroon, and of course, Spain, with its beautiful islands, that act as refuge for fed up Brits who want abit of a tan in December.

So, I guess the long and short of it is, I made a dress......to prance about while the Sun was passing by, on its way to new loves. I used the mission maxi pattern. I have made this before, here and here, and I think this is the one I love most.

One Meet-up to rule them all!

What a day I had yesterday. Rachel was hosting Lizzy ( all the way from Australia people), and Rachel being the sweet person she is, decided to make an event of it. What better way to show hospitality than to get more than 40 women together who all share the same passion?

The day started at the V&A museum  which unfortunately I could not attend as I had other pressing things to do at home ( real life always finds a way to spoil my best laid plans). I am sure as the days go by, you will see various accounts of what that part of the day was. I heard it was epic. Rachel even had a professional photographer there. How awesome can Rachel get? Word is there will be pictures available soon, so watch her blog for those.

I met the girls in Goldhawk road, as it is only a 20 minutes train journey from my house, and they were already injecting some much needed cash into the British economy.

Claire, Catherine, Roisin and Janene

Paris and a Milestone

Yes Paris!

I went to Paris for the first time last month, and I was absolutely enchanted. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of the city, but you can google it, and I can assure you, millions of pictures will pop up.

I went for my alumni reunion, and decided to hang out with some cool peeps, just because I'm cool like that...you know?. I went on a Friday, but met up with Veronica and Sandra on Sunday, for what turned out to be an amazing day ( thanks girls).

So, on Sunday, I was picked up from my hotel by Veronica, who treated me to some French crepe, and believe me, I have never tasted crepes so good. Why don't we make them like this in London? We met up with Sandra later, and then drove to a fabric market in another town called Sarcelles. Again, I do not have pictures of our time here because Sandra and Veronica were quite vocal about not wanting me to take my camera into the market. Thieves you know! So if you need someone to blame for any lack of pictorial evidence, you know where to look.