Dresses

 So here we are again, another May of Me Mades’s. Head on over to Zoe’s blog to find out more. Honestly this year I’ve started out without a pledge or plan, just chucking on my me mades as usual, but today I think I have decided on my focus for this #mmmay17 Yes that is a giant pile of clean laundry on my sofa! #mmm17 day 3 and I have been feeling guilty for not giving myself an actual challenge this year. I wear me mades most days, but I have gained a lot of weight recently….gotta love the peri menopause and a knackered thyroid 🙄 Trying hard to focus on body positivity instead of diets which make me sad….anyway this all means that lots of my clothes just don’t fit well anymore, so this month I am weeding those out and starting afresh! Today I am wearing a #maudeskirt Which co incidentally I am talking about on my You Tube Channel; this week it is part 2, just search Lazy Seamstress on You Tube to find me 😊 ...

I have been casually searching since sometime last year for the perfect pair of dungarees and the perfect pinafore. The dungarees are for another day, this week I have been concentrating on Pinafores! I was planning to draft my own pinafore, something vaguely 70’s inspired and fitted at the waist, since that might suit my rather ample curves. Then I spotted the Freya dress pattern that came free with a copy of Simply Sewing, and it seemed to fit the brief well, yay! No need to draft my own pattern! I firstly made it up in some faux suede. I made the largest size, but sadly was a bit snug, though wearable. ...

I’ve been a little bit (unintentionally) quite on here recently. I do hate when blog posts start with an apology, but I’m going to apologise anyway, to myself if no one else! Life around here has been very busy with work, so I can’t complain about that, at least I love my work! I have still managed to fit in a few sewing projects for myself though, and if you follow me on Instagram you will have seen those, already. There have been a couple of circle skirts : ...

Yeah, I know it’s already 12th January! My children didn’t finish school and college until 23rd December, which means they only went back to school and college on Monday…is it really only four days ago? Why am I so tired? Poor Eden had to go back to college on her birthday! She was less than impressed to say the least. I now have two adult children, since Eden turned 18 on Monday! It’s a strange feeling. Christmas was quiet (well as quiet as it gets around here!), and I did a lot of cosying up on the sofa, a bit of crocheting, but not a lot of anything else, which felt good. In fact so good I’m finding it rather hard to get back into the normal routine. Grey January skies certainly don’t help. ...

This time of year calls for cosy , and cosy for me is anything that feels like pyjamas, but looks enough like clothes to wear during the day! This dress is soooo comfy, it really feels like a nightdress, can be layered with various jumpers and cardigans, worn over jeans or leggings, or tights. I used my Nell pattern again, but probably could’ve gone down a size, it is a little big. ...

One day last week I decided I hated most of my clothes. I was sick of trying to fit my ever expanding waistline (sad face) into dresses and skirts that refused to co operate. So over half of my wardrobe went in a charity collection bag…well, more than one actually! I have only kept clothes that I really love, and my new sewing resolution is to sew things I really want to wear, and to satisfy my urge to sew random clothes I will sew with someone in mind and spread the joy. ...

I sew every day, I sew for work, I sew for myself, I sew for college and I sometimes sew for gifts. July is a busy month here, three birthday’s, end of school year…this year it’s even more hectic with Sid about to leave Primary school, so lots of events and visits and special days and parties and assemblies. Sid has ASD so all of this has to be handled carefully. Florence’s birthday takes a lot out of me emotionally, grief even after 7 years is exhausting, it demands your full attention, and if you don’t give it you soon know… Work is easy, I get my deadlines and my projects and I get on with it happily. College is finished now, but my coursework needs handing in by the end of August…guess who is very behind with the course work? So, a normal person might spend their time catching up with that rather than starting three million other projects right? Seems I am not a normal person…this past week instead of course work, I have sewn a pair of dungarees, two teacher gifts, pyjama bottoms, a summer kimono robe, and this dress! I can’t actually decide if it is procrastination or therapy sewing, maybe both? ...

Gosh I’ve been slow with this one! The Nora dress and her sisters Nell and Nancy made their debut on my blog last summer, and I kept meaning to release them as a pattern, but then kept putting it off, with one excuse after another, then Sam Sterken the editor of Sewing Made Simple magazine expressed an interest in Nora and asked me to let the magazine release her, which gave me the boot up the bum I needed to get things going again with this design. I’m really pleased how the chambray version turned out, it looks great on the model. Nora is such an easy dress to wear. I have several of the first drafts that I wear in rotation over leggings or jeans at least once a week. The pattern can be downloaded from the Love Sewing website here the instructions are in the magazine, which also comes with two free paper patterns. ...

I rarely buy sewing patterns these days, unless they are vintage finds. I prefer to draft my own designs. Last week though I aquired two new sewing patterns for me! I was smitten by Marilla Walker’s Bennett Dress as soon as I saw it, and knowing Marilla’s style, plus the need to stitch up something lovely in a hurry I thought I’d give it a go. I wasn’t dissapointed, in fact I was really pleased with the result, and wore the resulting dress twice in one week! I used a lightweight poly cotton blend I’d bought in Abakhan. As always Marilla’s pattern and instructions were faultless. I chose the printed pattern this time, and I love the cute hand printed envelope it came in . Trust me, packaging is hard to figure out when you are a small independant designer with an equally if not smaller budget for such things, and I’m quite envious that I didn’t think of doing something as cute with my paper patterns! (Which are still on pause…best not talk about that right now! ) ...

So, I had a birthday, I’m now the grand old age of 47, and feel every second of it recently! Angus often jokes with me that I have outlived my biological usefulness now that I am no longer having babies or feeding them, lately I have felt, all too keenly the truth in that joke! India turned 20 on Saturday, and spent her first birthday away from home. I can’t quite believe I am the mother of a 20 year old! She has grown into a lovely young woman, but she will always be my first baby. ...