The ruby dress; Simplicity 2444

As I mentioned last week I went to a Burn's night and thought a new dress might be in order, so thus the Burn's ruby dress.

The pattern was free with a sewing magazine and the fabric was in my stash (I think it cost about £13) so a really cheap dress.  I love the colour of the fabric which is a deep red, with a black sheen, you can probably best see it below, where I'm also showing off my pretty invisible zip!



I love the fabric, and the skirt especially with a fluffy petticoat, but there are some problems.  The main one is it is a tad tight (which did encourage sitting up straight and eating very little - not necessarily a bad thing).  I made a muslin which fitted well, but I think the problem was that the bodice was too long and I shorted it by reducing the shoulders, which I now realise pulls up the waist and thus makes it smaller.  A good learning experience that I need to shorten the bodice at the correct line in future (and I am discovering that I have a slightly short bodice).

I lined the bodice and sleeves with some rose satin which feels lovely.  I don't think I would line the sleeves again as it was pretty fiddly and probably not necessary.

The darts look a bit off here!  I made the hem look pretty by using some stretch lace.

The other bit of news is yet another addition to the family ... .

yes another kitten, this time Gemma's birthday present.  This cutie is a rag doll cat which is a house cat who likes being handled.  She has settled in really well and even had a bath.

Her name is Bronte and that makes 2 dogs and 3 cats in the house, although this is temporary as she will obviously move out with Dan and Gemma when they go.

Not much else this week but lots of rain which has been a good excuse for lots of knitting and  and watching Poirot and the Bletchly Circle.    We have also really enjoyed a fantastic dramatized animal series called Hidden Kingdom - if you haven't seen it give it a watch on BBC I player because it is amazing!  I'll leave you with a few of their fantastic images.

The plum pudding skirt; a dior inspired suit

I can't believe I haven't blogged for a month for all sorts of reasons, but back now and here is a brief round-up. I completed a skirt to match my Dior jacket,  worn here with my new Faux fur collar from Joules, snuggly!

The fabric is boiled wool, and believe it or not the most expensive fabric I have used so far.  It also stretched like mad even though I used stay stitching.  The pattern is the 6 panel skirt from Gertie's New Book of Better Sewing blogged about here, and pictured below.

Check out my bling too a 1950s Christmas broach which I bought from America on Etsy.

 

The skirt is lovely to wear and very warm, especially as I fully lined it, just the thing for winter weather.  I love this skirt pattern it's so flattering and will definitely make more.  So far this is my favourite outfit  I have made and I have already worn it quite a bit to work!  Very brave.

I've been busy completing a cardigan, a hat, another cocktail dress and almost completed a jumper, so pretty busy and future posts will cover these.

I had a lovely two week holiday just at home.   It started with the staff Christmas party, yes that is me being wrapped as a parcel in the middle (wearing my handmade Vogue cocktail dress - they had great difficulty trying to wrap my puffy petticoat).

We all enjoyed our Christmas: the dogs sported bandanas for the day (can you tell there were treats just above).

There has also been some ridiculous dressing up of dogs (can I point out this is not something we usually do!).

The cats loved the wrapping paper ..

Dan made all the Christmas lunch (Quorn in case you are wondering as we are all vegetarians) including yummy    squash tartlets.

The weather was actually good for a while so we had a lovely walk

The sun didn't last though and 10 minutes after this we were absolutely lashed by hail.


I turned 58 on December 29th, with lovely wrapped parcels ....

... a trip to Lancaster Antique Centre and tea and cakes of course

Traditionally we go to the cinema on my birthday evening, but a dearth of good films meant we stayed in and watched Star Trek into Darkness which I had seen but thoroughly enjoyed.

Obviously I am now well back into work and busy; this week I have been on radio Cumbria talking about New Year's resolutions (no I haven't made any), been to a Burns' night, unfortunately vegetarian haggis is not my kind of thing but the Crannach was yummy.

After all this I'm ready for a quiet weekend with plans for some blouse sewing and jumper knitting.  So till the next time (and not a month away) enjoy your weekend and week.