I made a dress!

And it has tractors on it. Hell yeah!

By Hand London Elisalex bodice with pleated skirt

I bought this fabric last summer with the intention of making a skirt but when I finally sat down to sew it called out to become a dress instead.

Ah, the classic I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-my-arms flappy pose. Clearly modelling isn't my forte. I don't know how sewing and personal style bloggers do this without looking like a wally.

Although I have been sewing (off and on admittedly) well over ten years this is the first piece of clothing I have made following a proper pattern as up until now I've either taken rough patterns off existing pieces of clothing or made alterations. Not one to stick to something simple I chose an intermediate skilled pattern, veered off track and drafted my own pleated skirt, tackled an invisible zip for the first time (ok, I did swear a few times as the foot kept sticking) and decided to fully line the dress. I suppose it was a bit like a relatively novice baker picking a frasier cake or macarons as their first baking project but I managed. If you're determined, read your instructions carefully and work slowly you will get there.

I originally intended to enter my dress into the #sewdollyclackett challenge last month but after some fitting issues with the bodice toile I ran out of time went in a huff for a couple of weeks. It was too tight all over despite careful measuring and tackling a full bust adjustment (first time I've done one of those too!) but luckily I roughly fixed the bodice fit by reducing the seam allowance all over. Interestingly I received an email from the pattern supplier a couple of weeks ago apologising that there had been a massive fault with the reprint of this pattern and they have since sent me a new copy. At least I know (or hope?) that the fitting issues weren't caused by my complete stupidity or oddly shaped body. 

So the dress is perfectly wearable and I love it but it's not without fault. The back hangs slightly lower than the front, I forgot to match up my back seams when I inserted the zip, (doh, rookie mistake!) a few of my skirt pleats are uneven and I accidently cut through my skirt lining with my pinking shears (arrghh!) but I managed to patch it with a green tractor. Now it's a funky feature.

The princess seams on the bodice also sit too low for my bust. A handy tip: make sure you're wearing a well fitting bra before you take your body measurements. Sounds obvious but I bought new bras (after being properly fitted) half way through making this dress and my new bras have given me gravity defying bewbs. This is probably why the princess seams don't sit right as they were fine with the toile.... oh well.

I can live with these mistakes though as it is a first dress and there are loads of details which I'm proud of such as my first invisible zip, how invisibly I hand stitched the hem, how neatly I inserted the lining (it wasn't easy fabric to work with) and my unintentional but awesome placement of a green tractor in the middle of my right shoulder strap. Oh and my dress matches the colour scheme of my bedroom!

I'm looking forward to trying the correct print of this pattern to see how the fit compares. Fingers crossed it's better and it takes me less than a month to make!

lately I have been.....

baking birthday trifle cakes!

 

 (Do not bake this if you're pushed for time. The jelly won't set in 3 hours. It's also a good idea to remove the bottom layer of greaseproof paper. Doh!)

I have also been dressmaking....

 and buying tulips...

What have you been up to?

Rearranging

It has been a week of reshuffling bits and bobs. It's only Thursday and the dresser display has changed multiple times already. I keep wanting to change arrangements but at the same time I have favourite pieces which always seem to sneak back onto the shelves.

My green milk glass cake stand being one of them. I move it to one side but somehow it always ends up back in the middle taking centre stage.

The Johnson Brothers Greydawn teapot usually sneaks in somewhere too.

And I find it very difficult to put away any of my Taunton Vale pieces. I'm a sucker for bold 1970s florals.

I get an immense amount of pleasure from jumbling up different types of floral patterns. They technically shouldn't all work together but I really like it. I'm not one for sticking to a particular style. Art Deco fine bone china, pastel '50s, bold and colourful '60s/'70s, girly Cath Kidston, retro Orla Kiely, I love them all.

The eagle eyed will have noticed that my blog has had a bit of a revamp this week as well. I hope you like the new turquoise background and header design. Although I like picture headers I felt like having something plainer and more typography focused. Who knows, I'll probably change it all again next week!

Is anyone else suffering from reshuffle-itis this week?

Vanilla cake with strawberries and cream cheese icing

What? Three posts in one week?! I'm as shocked as you to be honest. It has been a busy couple of weeks in the kitchen.

I have another birthday cake to share! This cake was baked at short notice for a family friend on Wednesday. When pushed for time I usually default to a victoria sponge recipe as it's quick and simple to put together and always a crowd pleaser.

The recipe is more or less the same as my vanilla cupcakes, except the sugar, margarine and flour are bumped up to 7oz (200g) as I used 3 duck eggs to make enough mixture to fill two 18cm round tins. 

For filling and decoration I kept it simple with cream cheese icing (using the Hummingbird Bakery's recipe), strawberry jam and chopped strawberries. I may have eaten a few strawberries dipped in the left over cream cheese icing.... oh so good!

This is also the last cake to have been baked in our old gas oven. It was almost sad to see it go. It's the end of an era! We now have a brand spanking new rangemaster. Dare I say our kitchen almost looks posh! (I'll never want to move out...) Country Living photoshoot here we come! Whenever I'm in the kitchen now I just stare at it in amazement, similar to when I got my kitchenaid two years ago (ok, I still stare at it in amazement.) I'm hoping I'll bake something in the new electric oven(s!) this weekend. It'll be a new experience!