I've been having a brilliant weekend. I was working from home on Friday which is always a bit of a mixed blessing. It means I can be warm and comfortable - and no bloody fleas - but I always feel like I have to work twice as hard and there's nobody to talk to. The coffee is better at home, though. I had an early lunch at Stone Monkey with Lucy where we caught up on all sorts of things and talked sewing. She has some of the beautiful Michael Miller Springtime in Paris fabric and we discussed the possibility of turning it into a fabulous dress. It was really great, as it always is.
Nic and I had a very quiet Friday night in as we were both totally knackered, and I was up bright and early on Saturday morning because I had lots to do and I had a new dress to be wearing...
Sewaholic Cowgirl Cambie dress, worn with Office 'Love Me Tender' shoes and a vintage handbag
My Cowgirl Cambie, at last! The fabric arrived on Monday and I started sewing this on Monday night. As this is my fifth Cambie (counting my first one, which is no longer active) there were no surprises at all with the construction of this and sewing it was lovely. By Wednesday night the dress was hemmed and hanging up. I put it on on Friday morning and the motherflipping concealed zip jammed at the waistband and I had to take it out to get out of the dress! I basted in another concealed zip on Friday afternoon and same problem. Extremely annoying. I had interfaced only one of the waistbands but the fabric was too bulky for the concealed zip to get past. So, I sulked for a bit. Then I cleaned the kitchen. Then I put in a hand-picked lapped zipper and had a gin and tonic. It was all good. I'm honestly not sure why the concealed zip gave me gip this time, because my polka dotty Cambie is made of stiffer fabric and it was fine. Hmm. Anyway the lapped zipper worked fine but I'm not going to show you a picture of it, because it's not brilliant. It did save this dress, though, and at least all the tiles in my kitchen are nice and clean now.
Anyway, apart from that small annoyance I really do love the dress. I mean, how could I not? Look at the fabric!
Alexander Henry From The Hip in blue
I've been after this fabric for ages - ever since seeing another dress made from the pink version of it. I bought a Get Cutie dress made from the black colourway but sold it on ebay as I didn't like the fit or the nasty polyester lining. I bought this from Fabric Rehab and, come payday, I'm going to treat myself to the pink version although I'm not sure yet what I'll make with it. I wasn't prepared for just how hard I'd fall for this shade of blue, though. Isn't it fabulous?!
There isn't a lot to say about this pattern that I haven't already said five times. Or that Lizzy hasn't said 17 times. It is the hardest working pattern in my stash and I'm not done with it yet! Oh the other thing to say is that this is the first time in ages I haven't had a long block of, like, a whole day to make a dress. I made this over the course of a few evenings. This is harder when you don't have a dedicated sewing space because it means my sewing shit is all over the living room and there were blue threads everywhere! But the up side is spreading the joy - especially when work is quite shite it's nice having a project to work on in the evenings. I hemmed the skirt by hand (of the shell - the lining is machine hemmed) and of course I had to handpick the zipper. I actually love hand sewing, it gets me into my zen place. So as well as having a bunch of sassy-as-fuck cowgirls on it, this dress was therapy. You can't say better than that hi boy.
COWGIRLS FUCK YES
So I wore this fabulous frock to meet up with a lovely local sewing blogger, Helen. I met her off her train and within about 30 seconds we were gassing away like we'd known each other for years! I showed her around Leamington's fabric shops, although neither of us bought anything, before we sat down for tea and cake in Vinteas. It was brilliant fun and we got on famously - as in fact I have done with every other sewing blogger I've had the privilege to meet. Gosh we are a talented, attractive, funny and basically amazing bunch of lassies. Well done us! Helen headed off after coffee to meet her fiance and reassure him I wasn't an knife-wielding weirdy and I dandered down to the train station for the second time that day to meet my friend Clarabelle.
I've known Clarabelle since we were eight years old and met on a local youth club trip to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the cinema in Cookstown. She moved to the midlands a while ago and it was high time we caught up. Nic and I showed her round Leamington and took her for a late lunch in The Clarendon.
QUARE TIGHT GIRRRRRLLLLS
It was great craic altogether and after dinner at home we took Clarabelle out to Wilde's for cocktails (lovely bar, full of wankers) and The Somerville for gin. And that bottle of Prosecco she brought with her was emptied at some point over the evening too. It's some kind of magic that I'm not hungover to all shit today. I think it was the protective magic of Clarabelle's keyring:
"Kenring" (tm The Rev)
It was wonderful to see her and catch up with her and gossip about all manner of things. I hope she comes to visit again soon. She headed home early this afternoon and I have been relaxing ever since, readying myself for a busy week ahead. I'm hoping I can borrow a bit of sass from those frolicking Cowgirl ladies for the rest of the week. Now it's time to watch Scott and Bailey and make dinner. Living on the edge, me.
No comments:
Post a Comment