Playing Catch Up!

Hello! It’s been a while eh? I know, I know…in my last post, I hinted at the possibility that I might try and keep going with some posts, but it just never happened, and I lost every bit of enthusiasm for keeping up with anything blog-wise, and I guess I went into a bit of a funk. I suppose it was to be expected, given that my wrist was all plastered up and I was unable to perform even simple tasks myself, like washing and styling my hair or pegging washing out on the line. Anyway, the good news is that I was fully discharged from the fracture clinic 3 weeks ago, and the consultant said my wrist had healed very well. I’ve been doing Physio for a few weeks now, and I’ve now progressed to strengthening with small weights. I can drive again, too, yay! So let’s start playing catch up!

My sewjo is returning, and I’ve just finished a new Fibremood collab that I’ll share in a week or so. In the meantime, I need to just catch up on a couple of projects from earlier this Summer. First up is what I wore to Welsh Frocktails, which was held way back on May 10th. I didn’t make anything new to wear, and instead, I dug out the very first dress that I wore to the Dressmakers Ball back in 2017. The plan was to give it a major refashion.

I searched Pinterest for ideas, eventually deciding on an asymmetrical shape to transform the dress into a top which I could wear with some palazzo pants that were part of my outfit for another ball in 2019.

The first thing I did was to let out a few seams. The dress was a little, ahem…snug around my bust and waist. Then I unpicked most of the ruffle, which I put aside while I sorted out the hem. I just took the scissors to my dress and tweaked the hemline until it looked about right. I confirmed it with a proper try on with the palazzos. I ignored the original grey lining of the dress and used an ivory lining to face the hem, so that it matched the palazzos if you were to see the inside of the hem. I just trimmed the grey lining level with the waist and finished it off with the overlocker.

Finally, I made some of the ruffles narrower and sewed them back onto the dress following the asymmetry of it, tumbling down towards the hem. I’m really pleased with how it turned out and glad to make use of something I already had. Here’s the official photo of me taken at the venue by the wonderful photographer Polly Lovegrove, plus one of all the attendees and a bonus one of me dancing :). What a truly fabulous evening it was! If you ever get the chance to attend a Frocktails event, you should go. You’ll be guaranteed a wonderful time, and you’ll meet amazing sewists from all over the world.

Next, I have a quick make to share that I sewed at the end of May at the monthly sewcial that I attend. I’m going to Greece in early September, and I need a new kaftan to wear over my swimwear, so I used a tried-and-true formula to sew one up. The fabric is a sarong that I bought on holiday in Greece last year. It’s very similar to sarongs that I’ve sewn with before (see here and here), with the design being mostly rectangles for the body and sleeves with a little shoulder shaping and a small bust dart. As with my other kaftans, I kept the fringing along the bottom and created a drawstring to add some shape under the bust. I’ve used mostly French seams, and I strengthened the neckline with a little strip of interfacing before binding it. It was a fun project to sew, but not without a minor mishap when I had to re-cut part of the front after realising I had a turtle in a very inappropriate place at the lower front, lol! I can’t wait to be wearing this on the beach!

I just have one more catch-up post to share with you, which is a blouse made way back in April. Look out for that in a few days. In the meantime, how are you all? Let me know in the comments.

See you in a few days.