you can stretch right up and touch the sky

Hello dears,

I am not doing very well at keeping my in touch am I? I had good intentions of making a dress a month (a good aim for me) and being here much more than I was - but I got somewhat sidetracked over the summer...

I was having a very lovely time though. I am so lucky to live in a very beautiful spot. We have been here nearly a year now (one year next week) and I love this home we have found. We have a ferry crossing to France very locally, but I wasn't organised enough to sort out our passports, but as it was our first Seaford summer it felt like a holiday for sure.

My favourite memories of the summer are of one very hot weekend of impromptu sea swimming with Rose the little fish. I did some sun bathing on the beach which felt like it had been a long time since i last did that, and it just felt wonderful. Rose was very tentative towards the sea at first, but as soon as the first little wave hit her feet and she realised there was nothing to fear she couldn't stay away - she just wanted to be immersed in it as totally as she could, little teeth chattering from the cold and bare bottom shining in the sun!

Another lovely day that stands out for me is a lovely one i spent alone with Rich while Rose hung out with Nanny Jo and Grandpop. We walked over Seaford head to the seven sisters (quick refresh at the pub along the river, including a free portion of chips from our table neighbours who had over ordered) and back again in time for tea.

It is starting to feel very chilly around here now.

I hope you had a nice summer too. And enjoying cosying up for autumn.

Love from Emily. x

In a jam

Another little wedding post - just to mention our jam! (I am on a roll!! jam rolypoly)

I wanted to make our favours to thank our guests for being with us on that special day. At christmas i had made some jam for presents, and thought this would be a lovely idea for the wedding too.

I thought it would be nice to have a bit of rose in the flavouring, as it was a romantic occasion. I found this perfect recipe from waitrose - so simple - but delicious - Raspberry and Rosewater.

I made the labels so that they also doubled up as place names, and found some sweet fabric for the lids so they added to the table layout nicely.

Our epic wedding cake

As well as our flowers and bridesmaid's dress, my mum also made us our wedding cake (super mum!). And what a cake! I had enjoyed doing my research and showed mum a few pictures of the things i liked - mostly more flowers! and just look:

Four tiers (five really including our double tier!) so wonderful. The cake is all fruit cake which is amazing as we are still enjoying it!

My sister helped with the icing - all 10kg of it! And we had a lovely surprise when we cut it as they had signed it:

The cake toppers were my own handiwork (i think i had the easy task!) I had seen some gorgeous little peg toppers on etsy and elsewhere, and decided i would have a little go at copying them! My painting skills are very limited, but the outcome was quite sweet i think:

Rich ended up with a bit of varnish round his neck, but i think apart from this it's quite a good resemblance!

Matrimonial Flora

Our wedding feels like a long time ago now, but I have just got our photos back and very happy to relive that most wonderful time.

I enjoyed planning for the wedding a lot, and between my mum and I, we managed to do a lot of things ourselves to make it wonderfully personal.

We just had a small guest list for our ceremony and reception dinner, so it was not too much of an overwhelming task to do the tables ourselves. I managed to collect lots and lots of glass jugs and vases from the charity shops, the odd one each week did the trick, and mum grew a lot of the flowers in her garden. Unfortunately because of the late start to spring this year, not everything was ready - but mum did a good job of finding some lovely sweet peas and freesias and cornflowers and roses and carnations - and of course lots of gypsophelia-  from roadside stalls, the supermarket and the florist. It was nice that the vision was quite a relaxed garden flower type theme as this meant that we could just enjoy picking what we liked and it was such a lovely activity for the day before the wedding to keep my nerves at bay!

And here is a lovely picture our hosts at the pub tweeted - they said that the dining room had never looked prettier.

And Liz and I made our own bouquets which made them extra special for us - and suited our outfits too.

So lovely all these flowers. xx

Wedded Knit

So.... my wedding cardigan did cause me a bit of a hassle (you might have been able to tell). But i am pleased to report a happy outcome! i managed to finish this knit in the knick of time, and here we are- the finished result:



Our wedding day was such a beautiful sunny one, but I did wear this all evening and it features a lot in our cake cutting pictures! (Look at our amazing cake!)



I think i will be holding on to this pattern to make myself another one day. It is such a sweet design.

xxx

Something Old

I just wanted to take a minute to share with you the story of my wedding head dress.

I was so lucky to be able to wear this beauty. It belonged to my Great-Great-Grandmother and here she is wearing it on her wedding day in 1905 (a bit of a grainy picture - but you can tell she looks grand right - and you can see the flowers on her head)

After this it was split in half to make two half bands and here you can see my Great-Grandmother on her wedding day wearing that (she is in the middle with the flowers). The other half went to canada - i wonder if it is still there?

Next my Nanny wore it - here she is with Granddad on their wedding day - exactly 56 years before mine and Rich's wedding - 8th June 1957.

And here is my mum and dad - and the headdress as well. She made her own dress too - I think similar to mine with a simple silk dress with lace layered over.

 

And here we are- 2013

We had do do a little renovation work to get it ready for me to wear. My mum had done a good job of attaching it to her veil, but as i decided not to have a veil afterall it needed a bit of strengthening to be sure it would fit and stay on my head all day. I found some little paper flowers too to help make it look a little healthier. But I think still going strong for over 100 years of weddings.

What a lucky charm.

xx

Bridesmaid

As our wedding was just a little one, I decided I didn't really need a lot of bridesmaids, and asked my sister, Liz, to just be there for the little tasks (like holding my flowers when i said 'i do') and she was happy to do this job! thanks liz.

Of course, she needed a dress though!

My mum was wonderful to offer to make this for me so I could keep concentration on my own dress, and other tasks. I drew up the pattern, and echoed some of the design features of my own dress - mostly just the dart positions. This meant that we had lots of freedom to have the design features that Liz wanted like some little sleeves and a full skirt.

I did have final say on the fabric though. And this was another difficult task! Fabric shopping can be quite hard work.

I had thought about a Liberty print because they are all so pretty, but also considered a real sixties pop flowers fabric, as i know this is more something Liz would like. We found this fabric by Liberty called Susanna and were quite close to going for it...

But i had a bit of a feeling it wouldn't be quite right on the day, picturing the flowers we were having and thinknig of my dress - all much more 'pretty'.  And i would sit and look at Liz and think that a smaller, closer pattern would suit her better. So i went back to the drawing board. There are so so many beautiful designs, but it seemed like there was something not quite right with a lot of them - either the colour palette was too autumnal or monotone, or the pattern was too small, or it was all too pink (Liz prefers to wear blue to pink so i was trying to accomodate this so she would be pleased)

After a lot of deliberating though I narrowed it down to these two:

Poppy and Honesty:

Claire-Aude:

During my research period I stumbled upon this grand blog and this helped bolster my faith in my vision. And as they had gone for the claire-aude, i decided to opt for the Poppy and Honesty - this one did seem the prettiest to me. Now I look back at all these options I know that we did the right thing!

It really worked out beautifully - Liz looked so lovely, and she found her dream shoes to wear with it. And somehow the flowers we had collected seemed to be the same colours too - so it really felt that it was all meant to be. I am pleased i trusted my instinct on this one!

The Ultimate Dressmaking Project!

What a busy few weeks I have had - but we did it - it's done - the wedding was wonderful!

It has been very difficult for me to keep up with my blog, mostly because all the things I have been doing i wanted to keep secret so as not to ruin any surprises one the day.

There was of course one project which was strictly top secret which I am now very very excited to share - My wedding dress!

My starting point was finding a pattern i liked. I know that i can make my own patterns, but i decided i wanted a vintage style and find that using an old pattern gives a much more authentic shape and fit - there's something about the way they are cut which i just can't seem to replicate.

I also had in my mind that i wanted a little over layer on the top. I had seen a dress in a flea market which had this and i thought was just really nice. But apart from this I didn't really have any other criteria. I thought it would be hard to settle on a design as there are so  many lovely ones on offer, but as soon as I saw this one i knew it ticked all the boxes (also I knew as hard as it was, i had to be bold and go for it!) Simplicity 6227 from 1965.



I thought this would give me quite a lot of options too as wasn't sure if i wanted a full length or knee length, but I had my eye on view 3, you can see top right.

It's a very simple design, with a straghtforward dress (as you can see in view 2 bottom middle) with a pretty little blouse and over skirt layer to finish it off (in lace for me) Perfect for our simple little town hall wedding.

I had a bit of a panic to begin with as the original pattern i bought had the pieces for the blouse missing! The seller was wonderful about it, but it was a bit of a mission to find another in the same size - luckily I managed to find a size 11 and a half - strange but close enough!!

The next big task was finding the fabric. I found a wonderful website - Platinum Bridal Fabrics. They have such a huge range of the most wonderful lace. I learnt a lot about the difference between a corded lace and a chantilly lace, and all the other varieties too. I ordered many samples but it really was hard to know what to do as they all seemed to be so different, and it was hard without seeing a large piece to know how the pattern would repeat and how the fabric would drape. I loved the corded laces as they were just so beautiful, but after not really finding one that was quite right for my dress, I cast my search a little wider and came across one sample called Melissa, a laser lace, which means it is made up of little fabric shapes sewn onto a tulle background. This one was sewn on with silver thread and was such a pretty design  -although much different in style to the corded laces, I really had a good feeling about it.

I put together my toile and was SO pleased - it was the most perfect fit (except for a little alteration at the neckline) and this was such a useful task to help me work out how i was going to arrange my overlayers, and which fabrics to use with the lace. I tried a bit of chiffon and organza but decided to go for a layer of silk tulle over and under the lace on the skirt to give it a bit more presence, and a lovely soft romantic look.


The toile and mock up of over skirt - complete with lace - i was very excited for this glimpse of what would be!

For the under dress I decided on ivory dupion, and lined with silk habotai. and even the tulle i used was silk. All silk! It was very lovely to be so indulgent. I remember showing you the package when it arrived, and was dying to share the contents and now i can! I loved draping this about - although was a little bit shy with it to begin with - so beautiful and so white (ivory!)



So beautiful - the perfect uncut fabric - it arrived on the roll!! - so special.


the pattern pieces ready to cut out - a nice simple one.

There was a little 'bump' in the road though, as just after i had made up my underdress and the over skirt I found out that we are going to have a BABY (so much joy!) I did shed a few tears over my dress i will admit (but also i was feeling sick and sorry for myself probably), and was unable to look at it for a few weeks, not just because I was sulking, but also for practical reasons - I didn't really know what needed to be done! I safely reached 12 weeks though and had got over the shock and although was nearly 18 weeks pregnant on the big day, I only needed very minor alterations - just enough to let out the seam allowances a the waist, and I did alter my overskirt so it was a little more streamlined than the original, and not so ballooning (I felt like a bit of a marshmallow originally!) I was lucky that the dress did have plenty of space around the tummy - it was just the waist that I needed to hope wouldn't expand too much - everyone was helpfully suggesting i elasticate it but it was too late for that! I think the wedding came at the perfect time though - not just because it was the most wonderful blue sky day, but also just because the dress was still so comfortable - i think a week later and it might have been a squeeze.

And so here are some pictures for you of the finished dress. It is so lovely to have it revealed now. I know it doesn't look exactly the way it would have without the tummy (no cinched in waist here!) but this is the way it was meant to be an I am so pleased with how it looked on the day - it did seem to have bump reducing properties and although i think if i had known i would be pregnant before i had started the dress, i would have chosen a different design completely, it was actually wonderful that i didn't as this was perfect and very flattering - and had i known i probably wouldn't have been brave enough to go for it

final nervous moments before the ceremony

 

(Just married!!)

Merrily Marriedly yours,
Emilia. xx

Knit take 2

So - I have had a busy few weeks and so an update is very overdue!

I have been making all sorts of things to contribute to our wedding - which is just THREE weeks away now. That's not very long! My dress is not quite finished due to the need for some unexpected alterations (more on this another day) - but I am quite confident again (tomorrow Rich is out from dawn until dusk and so a good chance for me to concentrate!)

The one project which i have been most worrying about is my cardigan.

I introduced this project back in March, and was very pleased with myself - but as i got further into it i realised that i wasn't really happy with it. I got quite far and nearly finished the back, but i just started to feel that it was a bit too fussy, and not really what i wanted, and i was really having trouble imagining the finished item.



Here you can see my progress. But my doubt was too strong, and so after much turmoil I decided to start again (gulp!)

This time i was much clearer that with my dress the best complimentary item would be something sweet, but just something plain so the dress can be the shining star. I didn't really have the time to search too far and wide, but this might have helped me to not get too carried away and I was very very pleased to find this charming lovely pattern:


fetching and very feminine - destined to be one of your best loved knits!

Hurruh!

I am getting there now - but I have had my doubts over the last few weeks when i have assessed the scale of the task and my looming deadline, and taken into account my other tasks. But now i just have the final front piece to finish and feel like maybe it will be okay!


(lovely!)

I hope i will have some good news about this one very soon!
yours, knitter on a deadline,
Emilia  xxxx

an exciting delivery

so i should fill you in on the latest of dressmaking activity over the past couple of weeks.

It all began when this enormous parcel arrived for me!
What could it be (i already knew!)

my wedding dress fabric! sent on the rolls. How special is THAT?

And just in good time too. Rich went to Southend-on-sea-on-Saturday and it gave me a really good long run of wedding dress making.

It took me quite a long time to get started (i think perhaps some subconscious fear) but i had a lot of fun unwrapping the fabric and draping it about (i am very pleased with my fabric choices - it took a lot of thought to work out what to choose but my 'less is more' theory paid off)  I had to make a small adjustment to the paper pattern as the toile had highlighted a bit of bagginess in the bodice and this seemed like a real chore to start, but once i got into the swing of it i really managed to get a lot done- much more than i first hoped.

Then i had a panic when i realised Rich would be home soon, so here is headless Harriet with a duvet over her and strict warning:



I don't think Rich will peek though. He is very trustworthy.

I will be very excited to reveal this project. Only 10 more weeks... uh... oh.....

x  x x x

cardi-sock

As you might be able to tell, i am in full wedding mode at the moment and very much enjoying all the opportunities for beautiful projects! Although our wedding will be in June, i really can't ever leave the house without a cardi, especially if i am going to be out into the evening! And so i thought it an essential task to knit myself a woollen for this occassion.

It has been quite a marathon to find a pattern for this project - i think i spent longer on this than even finding my dress pattern! To begin with i saw some beautiful bolero type cardigans,  but I had to think of the dress and what would go best. and also they didn't really look all so warm (this is the good thing about looking for a pattern in february - you are a good judge of what will be snug) so i thought the best thing for style and practicality would be a neat fitting waist length cardigan that i could button up for warmth if needed.

So that narrowed it down a little, but then i decided  I wanted something lacy because that is the prettiest. I knitted so many samples from my knitting stitch book, and scoured the internet for all patterns. I think i was being very fussy!!

Then i came across this pattern. For a sock (this one is called Lingerie and is by Maria Naslund, available on Ravelry) Such a pretty one!  This was the lace i was searching for! just not quite the right garment. Although i was worried i was making life very difficult for myself i decided to have a go at transplanting (right word?) the lace designs in the sock onto a cardigan pattern. It was quite tricky working out the number of stitches i needed but now i have got myself set up it is quite straightforward to use the charts in the sock pattern. I've had to do a couple of alterations to the pattern as the cardigan doesn't have the same shapings as the sock, but I am hopeful!

The wool i am using is quite a plain one. i had always thought i would want to really splurge and use a silk or cashmere, but when it came to it, i felt it would look sweeter to have something simple and a bit woolly and i got some lovely cream merino wool 4ply from blacksheep yarns (i recommend this supplier for some very good prices and some lovely wools)

Here is a glimpse at the beginnings. i don't want to give too much away, but also i am very pleased with how it is going and not very good at being secretive. Rich has seen this much too so i don't need to worry about him stumbling across this picture. As it grows though i know i should try to be a bit more mysterious.

yours laced up (finally!),
emilia. xxx

Wedding Toile

Now I am focusing my dressmaking energy on the ultimate indulgent project - my wedding dress! (YES!)

This weekend Rich went to visit his mum so i was able to make my toile. And i am very excited now. The pattern i've chosen is perfect (except that there were two quite important pieces missing, but I have found a replacement for those so panic is over!)

I can't really show you any pictures yet though. it's a secret! but i will be able to share more come June.

This has been so useful to me too as as really made me think about the fabric i need. I am learning a lot about the qualities of the different silks. And after much poring over my samples i have finally made up my mind regarding the lace! I think that is the hardest part over now - it was quite overwhelming at times, but know i have done my mock-up, i am certain of my choice.

(these are a few of the samples - all so beautiful)

All this has made me so excited.

yours, emilia bride. xx

Glitter Knitter

Using the pattern for my soft yoked cardigan, I got some festive cream wool and knitted this one for my bridesmaid's evening outfit.

Here we are in action! You can see me here with my new camera - Diana Mini!

The wool was called Aria DK by James C Brett. I went for it because of all the sequins.



A lovely special knit for a lovely special occasion.

yours glitter knitter,
Emilia. xxx