What year is this?

It's 2015 now! Where has the time gone?! I hadn't realised my last posting on my blog had been over a year ago - that is a long time ago.

But i am really pleased to let you know that I am back (hopefully) and I have made a dress! This is a happy time for me - it's been such a long while since I made one of these - in fact the last dresses i made were maternity dresses - many big tents for my big baby tummy.

But now I have something like a waist again i thought maybe it was time to make some less tentish dresses (although i do still like to wear those ones)

I have been thinking i need to start making some clothes again for a while now - it struck me that i really did used to make a large proportion of my clothes, and i had been struggling to find the sort of things i really like to wear. It's so nice now that i have a bit more time in the evenings and during naptimes (when i am not doing some hoovering) to start to make some things to revive my wardrobe.

So we were out in Brighton this week (because now we live in Seaford - but i am sure i will speak more about this at a relevant time) and we wanted to have a tea so we went to the C&aH fabrics cafe which is good when you have a pram, and also good when you really like wool and fabric. I had earned enough stamps on my loyalty card to get a free £5 gift voucher so it was a sign that it was time.

I found a couple of lovely pieces i really liked. This pink delight, i couldn't resist it even though i don't really have anything pink, and never wear this colour, but it looked so pretty and summery, and i had in mind that dress of Holly Golightly's and decided to be bold.

Unfortunately my fabric doesn't have tassels but i think it's still very festive.

Rose enjoyed wearing the fabric like a little Russian doll toddling about. Yes, that is her there - she is eighteen months old now.

The pattern i used was this one, my wedding dress pattern - which has a very similar bodice to Holly's. I altered the skirt slightly to give it a bit more of a fuller shape. I was a bit nervous about it still fitting me, so I just used 1cm at the seam allowances rather than the 1.5, and the result was a perfect fit!

Rose is normally much better dressed than me these days, but today we were a good match

It was a lovely feeling to have made something new and i am really really pleased with how it came out, and that i hadn't forgotten all of my dressmaking skills. I am going to try very very hard to make time for this pastime. i have a small pile of lovely fabrics now so will be back soon.

yours, one year older, none the wiser,

Emilia x

i like this outfit

After the success of my tunic, i decided another skirt and top set would be good to mix to help mix and match a little.

I found this remnant a few weeks ago and thought it was just really a sweet pattern.

I made the skirt just by folding the fabric in half and seaming down the back, and then elasticating at the waist. Although unfortunately i don't have a waist anymore so had to make a decision about where the skirt would sit - under bump or over bump. i decided over bump was the more comfortable choice, although perhaps not the most flattering. but i've stopped worrying about that sort of thing really (my poor new husband!)

The top i made for this set i used the pattern for my tent dress and shortened it, rather than the tunic pattern i made. It worked really nicely.

It's nice to wear a t-shirt with the skirt too. I only really do that indoors though as i am a bit shy of wearing anything too figure hugging in public. Sometimes when the baby moves about it makes some funny shapes out of my tummy! scampy baby! x

expanding wardrobe for expanding me!

I have been quite enjoying dressing my big tummy, but i have very much missed wearing skirts and tops. I had a little trip to the highstreet and found a very practical jersey skirt - good for stretching over all sizes of tum! But what to wear with it?

I just got myself a little piece of blue fabric and went about making a tunic top. the pattern was the same as i used for this little two piece suit - but just made a little longer in the body. i haven't drawn a new block for my new shape - that might be an interesting project though - i wonder what shape that would come out.

annnnyway - here you can see what a simple shape it is - just some bust darts, but otherwise very straight:

it was looking a bit like a hospital gown, and not the denimy sort of look i was aiming for. I found this lovely trim though which really helped! i think i have more patience these days as sewed it all by hand and enjoyed that task.

 it is such a comfortable little outfit. good for a lazy weekend day. x

little legs

Soon we will have a baby come to live with us! And i am really very much into nesting mode. We have managed to clear our spare room so we can make it more like a home for him in there. And I have started collecting some warm woollens as am very aware he will be with us in November and the start of the cold months.

Ebay has been a wonderful source for hand knit cardigans and jumpers and i've managed to collect some real gems. I decided my hand making energy will be best directed having a go at making some trousers for baby. I can already tell there are some good legs on that little one - he is exercising them well.

We don't know if he   will be a boy or a girl. But everything does seem to be quite blue... but i thought it will be easier to sew lots of bows onto blue things, but making girls clothes into boy clothes is more challenging! There is logic there somewhere.

Anyway, with this leggy mission in mind, i managed to find some good patterns for trousers and leggings.



This knitting pattern was one i found after a charity shop rummage. i stormed through the little leggings  in no time...



The wool i got in the sale and it is lovely and soft, but i am not sure about it for a cardigan/bonnet/mittens (i ran out for the last few rows and had to improvise - odd foot). I will definitely try to do another pair of these though in something a bit woolier that will lend itself better to creating the whole suit (my poor baby!)



I also was pleased to find this dressmaking pattern to be able to make some little things using my sewing skills. The baby looks a bit hot in all those clothes, but it seemed to be a perfect collection for the winter, including a little jacket and dungarees (i want to make those in corduroy!) for now i have had a go at the little trousers in this brushed cotton fabric. They are so soft!





They were supposed to be lined, but i thought this might just all be a bit much fabric in the end (now i look at it, perhaps this pattern is for out-wear) Because i just used a single thickness it did create the need for a bit of improvising with the turn ups and waist band, but i am pleased with how i managed.

Snug baby.

Blooming Marvellous

Having an ever changing body at the moment is really keeping me on my dressmaking toes! I am quite limited with what i can wear from my wardrobe at the moment, but there are a few little gems which are seeing me through (my betsy dress and this old faithful yellow tent dress and this little gem are my new best friends!)

And here are a couple more new(ish) items which I am really getting a lot of wear from (made during wedding fever with no time to blog) They use the same tent dress pattern as my new checked dress, but just changing the fabric has given them their own styles.



This lovely daisy dress i really adore. i just love the fabric. It is a lawn cotton so is really light and floaty and although identical to my other tent dresses, the drape of the fabric seems to totally change the style.





 And this one is made with a crisp cotton, but as the fabric was quite narrow i had to streamline the shape and wear with a belt. This is definitely a good one for getting a seat on the train!

I bought a little basic stretchy skirt from H&M last week so I am hoping this will open up some new possibilities for me.



And for now I have this remnant to play with - there is a metre and a half and I am hoping perhaps a tunic and skirt would be a nice change? I will let you know what happens! xx

Emilia. xx

Mod Maternity

So now i am getting quite a big tummy as the baby grows and grows! I am enjoying having a nice round tummy - although there are some bad points, one of these being that i am down to about 5 dresses i can actually wear!

My waist seemed to fill out quite early which ruled out all of my skirts (eek). And even a couple of my empire line dresses i thought would be a good bet are not really so comfortable anymore. But luckily i have this pattern to resort to - my trusty tent dress!

Stylish and practical for this time!!

I found this lovely check fabric i thought would make a nice change for me too:

And although i normally steer clear of high necks, I included the funnel collar for a bit of a change for me - i was feeling quite radical with this project! (perhaps i was a little bit influenced by the cover of August vogue)

I found these good buttons in my jar which finished it off nicely (my buttons holes need a little practice though i think!)

And here i am in all my maternal glory (and there is my wedding dress in the background - lovely dress)

Wonderful to have a new dress! I'm happy about that - if not quite scruffy after my dressmaking day...

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

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

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

9 blue dresses...

...hanging on my door

It is that time of year again ... show time! And I have been chipping in with some costume making. These dresses are part of the schoolgirl's costumes. They are wearing them with little white pinnies and they look so lovely in them (although to the girls themselves this style of dress is just not cool!)

If you can, you should definitely go along to the show, A Cautionary Tale, performed by the Sussex Youth Ballet Company. A guaranteed treat.