I want to eat shrimp off an old gay dressed as Baby New Year

Hello all! I hope everyone has had a very happy and relaxing couple of days. I have - Christmas Day itself was hectic and long with so many family members to see, but it was excellent. I spent Boxing Day curled up on the sofa knitting and watching old films with my sister, and today I hit the shops with my parents and my sister. I didn't go too wild in the sales but I had a voucher for my favourite shoe shop from my brother (I scored pretty well in Sibling Secret Santa) and I may have* bought another pair of shoes and a dress as well (*totally did.)

So, I may not have the chance to blog again before 2013 is out due to family commitments and suchlike, but I did want to take part in Gillian's Top 5 series. I'm going to try to roll the whole thing into one blog post though, so there are probably going to be lots of photos. 

I'm going to tackle the sewing fails first I think. On the whole I've had a very good sewing year, but of course there are always a few things that don't get as much love. This list was harder to compose than I thought it would be, which is good! So, onward for...

 Misses of 2013

Polka Dot Problem dress - New Look 6000

In theory this dress is great. I love the colour, and the polka dots. It looks... well, it looks okay in these photos, I guess. I don't like the fabric and I'm not wild about the fit. I've only worn this dress once since I made in in January. I do want to make a green polka dot dress, but not from nasty synthetic fabric.

Colette Patterns Parfait dress

This makes me a bit sad, actually, because this beautiful fabric was a gift from my mother-in-law and the buttons were a gift from my friend Lucy's children. I saved the fabric from another sewing disaster but the truth is I just don't suit the Parfait dress. I've had a couple of bashes at it and it's just too mumsy for me. I gave this dress to the charity shop and the pattern to Vicki Kate.

Ms Peacock dress - Vintage Vogue 8789

There's nothing really wrong with this dress. The fabric is lovely, and both it and the pattern were a gift from Minerva Crafts. I just don't wear it. I think this might be a problem of association as the occasion I made and wore it for was ruined by a horrible, sickening migraine and it ended up being very stressful - so I think the dress has been marked by that. I think I'll reappraise it in the spring, but it might end up going to the charity shop as well.

Barry's dress - Sewaholic Cambie dress

I think I covered my feelings about this dress in my post on it a few weeks back. It's just too pale on me - and sadly, it's a bit too big as well. I have it packed away now until the warmer weather because it might look slightly better on me when my skin isn't pale blue and turns instead to its springtime colour of a slightly warmer shade of pale blue. It's a shame because it's nicely made and the golfer fabric is pretty cool, but it just doesn't do it for me.

And that's it for my misses - I couldn't make it to five! That's reassuring in a way - my handmade dresses have been getting great play this year, and these are the ones that are notable for not being worn. I do know what I like to wear and what I feel comfortable in, and that's what I've been sewing - I'm hoping that by the end of 2014, I will have even fewer misses!

My Top 5 hits of 2013 list has been even harder to compile, which is a good feeling as well! 

Top 5 Hits of 2013 (in no particular order)

Beauty School Dropout Dress - By Hand London Anna dress

My first By Hand London Anna dress, this one is a bit of a showstopper. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd wear - let alone sew - a maxi dress with a thigh-high split in the skirt, but I'm so glad that I did! I love the fabric, which was a gift from my darling Handmade Jane, and the dress itself reminds me of a brilliant day meeting up with lots of other sewists on the Goldhawk Road before spending the afternoon with Nic and some old friends in a pub garden in Camden. I've since gone on to make twelfty more Anna dresses, the pattern fits just perfectly with my life and my style, but this one has a very special place in my heart.

The Dolly Holiday dress - By Hand London Elisalex dress with a pleated skirt

This dress really makes me happy. It's my own interpretation on a dress by Limb, but made at a fraction of the cost. I love the shade of red and of course those cheeky cowgirls. I'm very happy with how it fits and I always feel brilliant when I wear it. Again, this dress is imbued with really happy memories as its first outing was to a party at Chez Sew Dixie Lou. Yes, I got horrifically shitfaced and so did Nic. Yes, I passed out on the floor of the hall. Yes, it would have been horribly embarrassing if it weren't for the fact that the friends I was with are so totally amazing. Throwing shapes on the dancefloor in this dress remains one of my happiest memories of 2013:

Feckin Birds dress and Lobsterlex dress - By Hand London Elisalex dresses

It might be cheating to count these two dresses as one, but I don't care. As soon as I saw the Elisalex pattern this time last year I knew it would be the perfect match for this lobster fabric, which I got at a swap in Birmingham last November. The Elisalex bodice has become basically one of my blocks, but I love the dramatic tulip skirt as well. I know it's divisive in the sewing community, with a lot of people fearing that it will make their hips look bigger. I can understand that, but I really like the very exaggerated shape. I have slim-ish hips and I like the way this gives me curves where there might not be any otherwise! One of the things I have loved about discovering By Hand London this year is how quirky their designs are and I can see many more of their dresses in my future.

The Nana dress - New Look 6886 with a gathered skirt

I have worn this dress so many times this year. It was snowing while I sewed it (hence the rare indoor photos) but I was able to wear it on a warm day in Paris in May, and lots of times over our lovely hot summer. I had wanted the Bernie Dexter dress made in this fabric for ages, but I'm so glad I made my own instead. Not only did it save me money, but this dress is so much more satisfying to wear and it always makes me feel happy to wear it.

Comic Muse dress - By Hand London dress with a circle skirt

I'll not repeat myself here because I blogged about this dress last week. I just love it. It's basically my perfect dress. I wore it on Christmas Day and it was fit for the task of eating a big dinner and running around after children all evening, so I'm calling this one a solid win. Hurrah!

2013 has been a really good year, sewing and crafting-wise. Counting up my projects, I have made 58 dresses, 1 jacket and 5 cushion covers - 64 completed sewing projects in total. I also crocheted a granny square blanket for our flat, and a hat and scarf for my father-in-law. I find crochet really exacerbates my RSI so I can't do very much of it, but knitting doesn't seem to have the same effect. I won't be able to count my Miette cardigan in my 2013 total but I should have it finished very early in the new year and I'm really pleased about that! I'm going to be working in London a lot more often in the new year so having a more portable craft is going to come in handy, I think.

One of the cushions I made - these were a Christmas present for my mother-in-law to go in her nautical-themed home. I made one and Nic made one!

I've been very prolific this year and am pleased that so few of my dresses have gone into the fail category. I feel even more pleased with myself when I consider how busy work has been this year - since being promoted in May I've basically been doing 1.5 jobs as we've been so short-staffed. Imagine how much I might have made if I didn't have a (more than) full-time job! Add to this the fact that I have been teaching at Berylune - I've really had a very busy year.  I'm not sure if 2014 can live up to it - and I'm not sure I have the space in my wardrobe, to be honest.  

As well as being a good year in terms of sewing output, 2013 has been pretty awesome in terms of what sewing has done for my life. Teaching at Berylune has been brilliant because it helped me get to know Amy, Emily and Fiona - all three of whom have become really good friends. I went along to lots of sewing meetups, including two massive ones in London. These were all really good fun but on the whole I preferred the smaller meetups when I had more of a chance to talk to people. In the past year I have made some truly super friends in the shape of my fellow Spoolettes. Not only are they all super hot and sexy, but they'll set you straight on sewing questions and will not judge you for drinking champagne in a bowling alley. Sewing is a fucking awesome hobby, no question about it. A big shout out to Clare, Emmie, Sally, Jane, Vicki Kate, Rehanon, Nicole, Amy, Marie, Kat, Helen, Alison, Lizzy and Sarah for becoming really good friends in the past year. YOU GALS THO. Sewing has made me happier and more confident, and a big part of this has been the friends that I have made.

In terms of sewing goals - well, I genuinely try not to set myself too many goals for my hobby. I find it takes the fun out of it. I do have one goal for 2014 and it is wedding dress-related. It's basically this: MAKE A FUCKING AWESOME WEDDING DRESS. And find some excellent shoes to wear with it.  I also want to keep doing what I've been doing throughout 2013, which is to wear the dresses I've made, and to make dresses that I want to wear.

An outfit shot from a few weeks ago. Sunday 8th December 2013 - Electric Boogaloo Anna dress and Irregular Choice Edna heels

All in all, 2013 has been a pretty excellent year. It's been full of happiness and good things - a wonderful holiday in Paris, spending time with loved ones, new nephews. I got a new job that makes me a lot happier and that makes a work-life balance easier to achieve. Nic and I got engaged. If 2014 is even half as good as 2013 has been, it's going to be brilliant.

Now, I have waffled on for far too long. I will say farewell now until 2014. Thank you to everyone who has read and commented and emailed and tweeted me throughout this year - it means a lot to me, truly. Have a very happy new year, and see you in 2014!

Weird in a good way. Like going to the gym drunk.

Afternoon all, and happy Christmas Eve! It's snowing and stormy here in my corner of Northern Ireland but, as the song says, since we've no place to go - let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. My plan for today is nothing more intense than drinking coffee, knitting and cuddling a small dog. So that's good, isn't it?!

Thank you to everyone who commented and tweeted following my last post. Losing a pet is very sad but everyone is bearing up well. I think having that other wee rascal Mini around the place is helping a lot. Right now she's lying at my feet and it's very nice indeed.

I said in my last post that I had one more handmade dress to show you before 2013 was out, so here it is. I made this dress last weekend and then packed my lovely little sewing machine away for the holidays. I was short on time and wanted some instant gratification, to be honest, so stuck with what I knew and busted out the Anna pattern once again. As I sewed, I listened to one of my Christmas presents from Nic - Sticky Wickets by The Duckworth Lewis Method. So, the Sticky Wicket dress was born:

Sticky Wicket dress - By Hand London Anna with a pleated skirt, worn with Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

I bought the fabric in The Quilter's Den in Warwick so, as you might expect, it's a quilting cotton. It's actually very soft and has a good drape, and it was on a buy one get one free offer so I got 2 metres for £12. Sweet! I didn't write down the name of the print, but the fabric is by Bernatex and I think maybe the style is called Millennium? Anyway, it's maybe a bit different to my usual loud colours and novelty prints but I was charmed by it. And, you know, buy one get one free and all that.

There's a touch of the mid-century about this print and I really like the combination of the deep greens and blues with the teal, white and black.  It's a winner! I only bought 2 metres so I didn't concern myself with print matching, and I drafted in one of my favourite skirt patterns, the pleated skirt from NL6824. As it's drafted the pleats basically match up with Anna's bodice pleats so I only needed to fiddle about with them a bit to get them to match up. This sewed up really quickly and just in time for me to wear out for breakfast last Tuesday morning with Nic. We went to the newly opened branch of Bill's on the parade and it was nice enough. I like Bill's a lot and I can see how it will do well in Leamington but the branch there does need to get its act together a wee bit. Still, it was nice not to have to cook or even think about breakfast as we were both feeling a little bit tired. On Monday night we'd been out for dinner with Rick and Lauren, and after a few bottles of prosecco our living room turned into a disco and it was after 3am before I crawled into bed - and even later for Nic. It was a good night, though.

I'm physically unable to stay away from the Kate Bush records when I've been drinking. Just as well I already hate my downstairs neighbours.

Anyway, I don't have much more to say about my 11, 397th Anna dress variation except to claim it as a late entry for Sew Green December as there is a fair bit of green in the print.

My youngest sister likes this dress so much that she has asked me to make one for her as well - she has picked out some Blackwatch tartan from Minerva Crafts and I'll sew it up for her early in the new year. My wardrobe has struggled to keep up with my sewing output so maybe the solution for that in 2014 is to do a bit more unselfish sewing. Just a bit more. Let's be realistic here.

Here's what it looks like from behind. See my total disregard for pattern matching across the bodice?

Anyway, right, it's lunchtime on Christmas Eve. I think it's time for me to tuck into a mince pie and pick my knitting back up. I'll be back between Christmas and New Year with my Top 5s for this year, but until then I hope you all have a very happy merry Christmas!

Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.

Morning all! Apologies for the radio silence over these parts - since I last wrote, I came back to Northern Ireland for Christmas and everything has been really busy since then. It is really nice to be home and even more so because I'm able to spend lots of time with my siblings. I've met both of my new nephews, Joe and Fionn. They're equally gorgeous and delightful; both hilarious and darling in different ways. There's only a four-week age gap between them and already you can see their distinct personalities emerging. My parents love being grandparents and my sister and brother have each taken to parenthood very well. I'm thoroughly enjoying being an aunty and it has very definitely NOT made me broody.

Sadly, our beloved family dog Paddy died yesterday. He'd become very sick in October and although he'd made an amazing recovery then, over the last few weeks he'd become very ill again. He couldn't see or walk, he could only eat when Daddy was syringe feeding him and over the last few days he'd lost his hearing as well. It was heartbreaking but also sort of a blessing when he died yesterday afternoon as he had no quality of life left at all. Daddy had been nursing him basically around the clock and it hurts to see someone you love suffering.

Daddy sent us all this picture of Paddy last night.

Paddy was a great dog. He came to us as a puppy and he had been abused, so he was scared of everything and couldn't even bark. As he gained in confidence he started to try and he sounded ridiculously hoarse. He wasn't the brightest dog - he lacked balance and frequently fell off things. He loved to sleep in a flower pot, despite being far too big for it. He stole washing off the line and tools out of the wheelbarrow and one day he came home with a whole cow's leg that he either found on the road or stole from a nearby meat-packing factory. Despite his size and his eventually very loud bark, he was the softest and gentlest dog. He'd chase and hunt rabbits - as dogs do - but that was the extent of his aggression. He couldn't give you his paw without falling over, but he always gave it a good go. One of my favourite memories of Paddy is from this past summer when we took him and Mini to Benburb Priory. Next to the river there are some metal steps. Daddy carried Mini down and we tried to encourage Paddy down them. Try as he might, he couldn't get up the nerve to go down them. He kept getting to the edge and you could see him trying to will himself on, but he just couldn't. He'd lost his nerve so much that Daddy couldn't coax him down the bank either. We had to go back up the steps and take an alternative route and then Paddy was away, tail up, barking in happiness. It won't be the same without him around here.

Here's Daddy with the dogs on top of Navan Fort in the summer. Paddy is just like a streak of movement in the top of the frame because he was so excited - there were lots of rabbits around!

So, while it has been very sad these last few days, it's good to be here. I would have found it much harder if I hadn't been here to share this with my family. And, while it's heartbreaking it's also good to remember what a happy life Paddy had and how much he was loved.

I can't really imagine ever moving home now because I have made my life in England, but a big part of my heart will always be here. It's good to be able to come home. When Nic and I were home in the summer I bought some fabric in Belfast. In fact, it was on the day that we got engaged! It took me ages to sew something with it. Not because it was very precious or rare - I've since seen it in a few other fabric shops - it was just hard to know what to do with it. Eventually I settled on an old favourite - Simplicity 2444. It just seemed right.

Beech Valley dress and Irregular Choice Can't Touch This heels

The fabric came from Paragon Fabrics on Donegall Pass, which I visited following a recommendation from Lynne. It's a great wee shop - packed to the rafters with fun fabrics and staffed by very helpful people. I'd never been down Donegall Pass before - to be honest,  you'd not have much call to unless  you were going for something specific down there - so I'd never have stumbled upon it, but I was glad to visit.  This fabric is cotton poplin by Hill-Berg fabrics and I bought 2 metres at £4 a metre. There's enough of the purple in the print to make the white wearable, I think, and I really like how it looks.

The fit in the bodice looks a bit screwy in these photos, but it doesn't so much in real life! I made my usual shoulder adjustment to the bodice and used my narrowed skirt pieces to fit them onto the 45" wide fabric. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that it fits fine. I'm happy with it anyway.

I might have to put 2444 on time out for the start of 2014. Gosh knows, I love that pattern, but maybe it's time to branch out a bit. Maybe. 

I named the dress Beech Valley after an area of my home town of Dungannon. It's a pretty name for an area that's not hugely attractive, as it's home to the bus depot and a massive supermarket! Still, I spent a fair bit of my teenage years in that bus station and this dress will always be a wee taste of home, so it seemed fair enough.

My posture is delightful in this one but I'm including it because it made me laugh - I can't remember what was making me laugh here but I look so goofy!

I have one more handmade dress to blog about this year and, as I'm separated from my sewing machine now, it will be my last of 2013! I'll try to fit in taking part in Gillian's Top 5 of 2013 series as I've been enjoying reading everyone else's entries. I'll need to pick up the blogging pace a bit. In place of sewing, I've been getting back into knitting and have been teaching myself to knit a cardigan. I think it's safe to say I'm not a natural knitter as I've had to rip back many mistakes and even now I've made progress, I have a fear that I'm going to have to rip right back to the start. Still, as Rehanon would say, what is life if not for learning. I'll get there eventually with it I'm sure. 

Right, I must away and get ready. My sister and I are heading into town to do some last Christmas shopping and to go for coffee somewhere. I will be back with further dresses and cheerier subjects soon. 

Shorts over six inches are capri pants; shorts under six inches are European

Yo yo YO. I hope everyone is well on this grimy Monday afternoon. I'm in full holiday mode now, which is lovely. I woke up this morning at my usual time, remembered that I didn't have to go to work, remembered about the super-boring meeting I'd be missing as a result, and did a dance of happiness in bed. Hurrah! Over the weekend, Nic and I went for a long walk, saw some friends and had our own little mini-Christmas complete with gift exchange and Christmas dinner. It's been really lovely. I managed to fit in some sewing, as well, which was great. My sewing machine has now been packed away until the new year, so I squeezed in as much as I could before I packed it away. I made a dress on Saturday evening and even though it's skipping the FO queue (I have a lovely dress that I finished and photographed weeks ago, patiently waiting its turn on the blog) I'm going to show it to you today because I love it so much. I'll blog that other little dress at some point soon, scout's honour.

So, this dress. On Saturday morning, Nic and I had a little mooch around Leamington. I had an itch to make a new dress, but didn't have anything in my (by now very limited - I need to do some fabric shopping) stash that was doing it for me. Leamington has four fabric shops, not counting the sari shops in the old town, so I was fairly sure I'd find something. I had that annoying thing where I had something unspecific in mind, but specific enough that nothing I saw was quite right. I was frowning at the bolts in Harlequin when Nic picked up a piece of fabric from the remnant box, and it was just perfect. This is why I take him fabric shopping, I swear. The man has skills.

Poppies by Belleboo Fabrics

The remnant was £12.70 for 3.5 metres. Bargain! The fabric is a medium-weight cotton lawn with a lovely drape to it, and there was more than enough to do anything I wanted with it. The fabric reminded me very much of this rose print cotton that Dolly Dagger have used on their Scarlett dress:

Dolly Dagger Scarlett dress - and doesn't the model remind you of our own beautiful Marie?

I've admired that dress for ages but, as ever, I'm very cheap. It's £149 and, while it's undoubtedly a beautiful frock I'm unsure what the quality would be like. I bought the gingham version of this dress on sale a few years ago and it's nice enough, but even on sale I don't think it was worth the money. I had to adjust it a fair bit to get it to fit, and even then the neck-line is too low for me to be able to wear it without a camisole underneath. Still, I love the shape and the style and luckily, I knew just what would work to get the same effect. After pairing the By Hand London Anna dress bodice with a circle skirt earlier in the year for the Distant Sun dress, I knew I was onto a winner. So that's what I did.

Nah, seriously though.  I know that's not all that fascinating, but that's my process, dudes. Here's the dress, anyway.

Comic Muse dress worn with Irregular Choice No Place Like Home heels

Yeah. This may actually be my favourite thing I've ever made. I'm wearing it today for a fairly relaxed day. We're going out for dinner later with some friends to a small pub, so I decided not to wear a petticoat with it today, but it does look fab with one. The skirt is so swishy! I love circle skirts and they're ridonculously easy to draft, and so much fun to wear. Check it out:

The front step was too narrow to do a full twirl, sadly.

Seriously, I love it so much. The whole time I was sewing it, I was like, "hm, yeah, this will be pretty nice, it's hard to go wrong with a floral dress" and then I put it on and was like "HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME I NEVER WANT TO TAKE IT OFF CAN I WEAR IT TO BED." It's kind of magical how much fabric can change from the bolt to the garment.

And, I finally got a photo of my back that I don't totally hate. This truly is a magical day.

The neckline isn't lopsided. I'm leaning weirdly. Still, though, I don't hate this photo so progress.

The reds and greens in this dress work well in this festive season, but I think the poppies are springy enough that this dress will work into the spring and summer, as well. So that's good - I'm a fan of clothes that can cross seasons. A man did stop me in a shop earlier to tell me how festive I looked, and when I looked confused,  he pointed to my shoes! But, yeah, I would wear these in the summer as well, I guess.

Shit. I'm goofy.

So, the weather has turned really mild and, while I wasn't cold at all in this dress (with a cardigan and jacket) it is horribly grimy and drizzly. Luckily for me, my lovely friend Lauren gave me an amazing umbrella for my birthday so I was able to take it out for a spin...

I love this jacket. It makes me feel like Jean-Luc Picard.

The umbrella is from the V&A and it's made me swear off cheap umbrellas for life. It's so beautiful, light and sturdy and just all-round awesome.

COME AT ME, RAIN

Anyway, that's the craic with me. I think this might be my favourite thing I've made so far, and that's saying something. I can't believe I almost passed this fabric by - I think the moral of the story is that I always need to bring Nic fabric shopping with me. He has excellent taste.

ACTION SHOT

Right, boys and girls, I'm off. I've a few things to do before we go out later and I won't get them done gabbing here all the live long day, will I? See you later. 

You're swearing now that some day you will destroy me. Remember, women far better than you have sworn to do the same. Go and look for them now.

Evening all! Tonight's Dispatches from Dolly Clackett comes from the end of a very long work week and the end of a busy year. Yes, I know it's not 2014 yet, but today was my last day at work until 6th January and I feel like I've earned the break. I'm sure that as the old year creeps towards its end, I'll be in a better position to reflect on this year in general; right now I'm just relieved to have made it to the end of this week without punching someone in the face. I have a lovely weekend of fun ahead of me now, though, and some sewing time as well before I head off for the holidays. Hurrah!

I haven't done any sewing this week because I've either been too tired or too busy, but I so still have a few projects photographed and on my hard drive. Last week, Handmade Jane held a giveaway for 1 metre of fabric from Sew Scrumptious. She showed this fabric, and suggested making a 'Dolly Clackett style dress' with it.

Springtime in Paris by Michael Miller fabrics

I mean, who was I to argue? That description really made me chuckle, because Jane is not the first person to have used it - I've read this on a number of other blogs in the last few months. So, I guess that indicates either that I'm in a style rut, or that I've found my style and it works for me. Naturally, I prefer the latter! I didn't win Jane's giveaway, but I did go on ahead and buy myself a couple of metres of the fabric. I would have been rude not to.

It's actually not the first time I have sewed a dress using this fabric. My friend Lucy asked me to make a dress for her from it last year. I'm not normally much given to selfless sewing, but Lucy is a really excellent person and I'm always happy to make an exception for her. I didn't manage to get any photos of Lucy's dress, but I used the bodice of Butterick B5748 and gave it a gathered skirt, and fully lined it with some pale blue polka dot cotton. Is it breaking that great sewing commandment, 'thou shalt not copy' if it's yourself you're copying? Either way, I don't care, and that's what I did.

Boum! dress - Butterick B5748 bodice with a gathered skirt, worn with Irregular Choice 'Windsor' shoes*

This is the dress I mentioned in my last post. The one I spilled champagne on. I think that's a fitting way to christen a Paris-themed frock, myself! I wore this to my staff Christmas meal - minus the petticoat - last week, having sewed it the night before. Unlike Lucy's dress, I didn't fully line this one because I wanted to be able to wear it with a petticoat. Looking at these photos, I'm not sure how often I actually will do that, because it does kind of look a bit derpy sticking out the bottom like that? Oh well, whatevs. 

As soon as I finished the dress, I wanted to put it on, which is why I wore it to work the very next day. I really, really love it. I don't know why I waited this long to buy the fabric, especially as it is the companion to the Paris Ville fabric that I made the Nana dress from, and I wear that dress all the time. It is covered in totally fabulous ladies, as well as some lovely Paris landmarks:

This lady in the blue dress is looking at the Eiffel Tower in the distance, just as I did on my last trip to Paris. Also: PINK POODLE FTW.

I like this lady's stripy dress. It's a bit like a Tiramisu. I wonder if she's given herself an ice-cream headache, or, as she's standing in Place Saint Pierre, if she's trying to decide which fabric shop to visit first.

At the Arc de Triomphe in a nice green dress. Fucks given: NONE.

I could show you all of the ladies on the dress, but I won't bore you all. Although, as well as the pink poodle there's a schnauzer (which Nic has already named Asta) and some little cats. Awww.

Here's a little close-up of the bodice. There is one where I look less goofy, but where's the fun in that? I did consider cutting the bodice in a different spot so I didn't have any headless ladies on my dress, but that didn't really work out. Ah well, live and learn. 

I now have a ridiculous number of dresses with some kind of Parisian theme. There are seven that I've made and one shop-bought one. And I do have some more Eiffel Tower fabric in my stash. That might seem excessive. It probably is excessive! Still, as I'm sure you're used to hearing me say by this stage, I don't really care. The prints and fabrics are lovely, but also they make me happy. Nic and I have visited Paris three times, and I hope that we'll return many more times. I have so many happy memories of our times there. It's not some blogger cliche, I promise. I don't think I'm OMG SO FRENCH or that the French are more chic or any of that nonsense. Paris is dirty and smelly, and it's expensive and I wouldn't want to live there. But gosh, I love it there. I don't think I could get tired of visiting, and I really don't think I could get tired of making Paris-themed dresses.

Here I am at the Eiffel Tower in June 2010, with a Laduree Carrier bag. SO FRENCH. SO CHIC. I still have that stupid carrier bag, actually, hanging on my wardrobe door.

It's blurred because it was raining and it was taken on a phone, but here I am on Avenue Emile Zola, in March 2008. In a fucking beret, no less. It was quite cold, though. The lady who served me in Monoprix that afternoon thought I was French. In fairness, I was wearing a beret and buying champagne and camembert at the time.

And here I am in 2013. I haven't aged a day, I'm sure you'll agree.

Nic and I are considering going to Paris for our honeymoon next year. It's a great place to visit for people who have our interests of cheese, wine, fabric, history, jazz and comics. I'm sure I'll end up buying more twatty, touristy Paris fabric when I'm there, and I'll have no regrets. YOLO, as the young people say.

Right, this photo is purely for all you who said "oh yeah, it's good to see the back of the dress, Roisin!" because I hate this. I can't get it right with back photos. It's either like HELLO BACK FAT, or my back looks weirdly scrawny (which I think it does here) and, you know, my slip is showing. Sigh. I do love the way the back of this bodice scoops down, I think it's really cute. I love the fit across the back, and I think my hand-picked zip is the bomb. Just ignore the other photo faux pas, right?

One final photo; a close-up of the shoes. They deserve a photo of their own for being so utterly darling:

With those big floppy bows, they almost run the risk of being a bit Sloaney, but I like them anyway. I suppose I could tone down the Sloaneyness by making sure not to wear them with a floppy bow in my hair.

Anyhow, that's your lot for this evening. As I said up above, I'm on holiday! So I'm off now to watch Poirot, eat pudding and drink fizzy wine. Hurrah for Christmas!

Me, I have simple tastes. I like to kill my enemy, take their gold and enjoy their women.

OH, hello! I hope you're all well this Sunday evening. I'm not. I mean, nothing serious, but a head-cold and enough to mean that I've spent the day on the sofa in my pyjamas, watching back-to-back episodes of Sex and the City and Law & Order. That's a lot of Chris Noth, right?! But it's all good, because we have a lovely pie from the Cotswold Pudding and Pie Company for dinner, and I only have five days left of work. Can't be bad.

Anyway, that's the craic there. As you can imagine, I've been having a very low-key weekend. Nic and I got out into yesterday's beautiful sunshine to do some Christmas shopping and to have a delicious pub lunch at the Star and Garter, before coming home to watch Inspector Morse and eat homemade vegetarian enchiladas. Hibernation FTW. As such, I really have nothing exciting to write about this evening! The highlight of my week, apart from all of the DVDs, was my staff Christmas meal on Thursday. Half of my team are based in London and although we've usually held staff get-togethers in the midlands, this time round we all went to London. We had a meeting in the afternoon which was - well, it was as exciting as these things usually are. The meeting room we were in did have an awesome mural, though...of a car park. It's not the car park belonging to that building, either, As far as I can make out, it's just a random car park. We had champagne to celebrate a good year and then everyone got their Secret Santa gift. I still haven't worked out who my benefactor was, but whoever it was did brilliantly, giving me some Matryoshka measuring cups and a beautiful Matryoshka brooch. We had our meal in a restaurant in St James's Park, and it was really lovely to watch twilight descend over the park. It was a good day. I was glad of having Friday off work though as drinking in the daytime meant I had a horrible headache for most of Friday. Totally worth it, though.

As I'm still catching up on blogging about recent makes, here's one from a few weeks ago. I bought this  great Makower fabric when Nic and I were in Cardiff at the beginning of November. It's kitcshy as you like, but of course I couldn't resist the print:

Ah! That photo is quite blurred, sorry! The fabric is by Makower and the print is of spools of cotton. I bought it from Butterfly Fabrics on City Road in Cardiff, but I expect it's pretty widely available and I've seen it for sale at Fabric HQ recently. It's a quilting cotton, but reasonably lightweight with some drape to it. I think it's pretty cute! Anyway, I wanted to sew something with sleeves, so went for my old faithful Elisalex variation. And so you have it, the Spoolettes dress:

Spoolettes dress - By Hand London Elisalex with a modified skirt, worn here with polka dot tights from Falke and Escape Boutique bow-front heels. I have an embarrassing amount of shoes with bows on them.

I modified the skirt pieces on this dress by turning it from a tulip to an a-line skirt, because I didn't think the fabric had enough body to hold that lovely tulip shape. The box-pleats are sort of lost in the very busy fabric, but I think that's fine.

I had a slight disaster when pinking the waist seam to reduce the bulk, in that I cut a hole in the top of the skirt! It was irritating, but not fatal, and I unpicked the skirt and reattached it with the hole caught up into the seam allowance. It's the kind of error that would have really upset me in my early days of sewing, but which now just makes me shrug and get on with it. I'm not sure if my solution was the best one, but it seemed to work. I'm just glad that I don't wig out over this stuff any more. It makes life easier.

This is another dress that looks fine in the photos but which is now slightly too big, but after Oona's suggestion on my last post I've put it through the washing machine on a scalding wash to shrink it ever so slightly. It's a bit of a cautionary tale about measuring yourself more regularly. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but after a very busy few months I'm now a bit smaller all over, and there are a few favourite patterns that I'll have to re-trace as a result. This is one of them. And after all my hard work on that FBA, as well! Heh. Seriously though, I know that sounds like a humblebrag and I really don't mean it that way. I just need to remember that it's worth taking measurements more frequently than I have been. Bad, lazy seamstress etc.

Back view. I don't normally include these although I nearly always get Nic to take photos. They look weird, which is why I usually balk at posting them! But someone did email me recently and specifically ask for them - and no, not in a weird cardigan fetish guy way. I think. In any case, one of the lovely design features of the Elisalex dress is the scooped back, so here it is!

I wore this dress to work a few weeks ago, just after I'd finished it. I was in a meeting all day, and at about 5 o'clock my back was getting pretty itchy and I went to scratch it, only to find that there was still a pin in the zip! This is not the first time something like that has happened, in fairness, but previously it's been an errant pin in a hem. Not, you know, in the bodice! I fished it out and started cracking up, which was fine except for the fact that it was my first meeting with my new line manager. Ooops! Luckily I think he thought it charming rather than deciding that I'm a complete loon, but only time will tell I suppose. In any case, I do think he was impressed that I'd made the dress myself, so there was that. It's probably just as well that he knows now that I'm a complete dick, anyway. I confirmed that fact in the team meeting on Thursday, when I spilled champagne all down my dress. KEEPING IT CLASSY. Luckily champagne doesn't stain, because that was a new dress as well.

So that's all the craic with me anyway. I'm aware that I might be seeming less than enthusiastic about this dress, which is unfair - I think it's really cute - but I'm somewhat off my game at the moment. I think I need to go to bed and watch some more of Rome. Nic and I are burning through S2 now, and it's good oul craic. Marc Antony is cracking me up, and my crush on Titus Pullo is growing with each episode:

Ray Stevenson as Titus Pullo

He's lovely, isn't he. Like Pacey, but Irish. I still spend most of every episode exclaiming how glad I am not to be a Roman, though.

SO GLAD NOT TO BE A ROMAN

With that, I shall say valete, citizens! Until next time.