I'll never do better than you. You're a cook in the bedroom and a whore in the kitchen.

Hola! I hope you're all keeping warm and having a good week. Mine so far has been grand - I got a big project signed off yesterday at work, which was both exciting and nerve-wracking. I've been able to get some sewing and some knitting done, as well as some gin-drinking. No ironing, so my ironing pile is threatening to engulf the flat, but sure you can't have everything. The ironing will keep, I might just have to rope the area off with some of that yellow safety tape. Maybe it's in fact safer to stay well away from that ironing pile, actually. Yeah, that.

The weather is still pretty horrible - I am so ready for spring - but, much like last year I'm sewing away as if there isn't a freezing wind and heavy rain. That's just how I roll, I guess. I've never much been able to get excited about cold weather clothes. Having fallen pretty hard for my first Christine Haynes Emery dress, I was keen to sew another one up basically straight away. So that's what I did last Tuesday afternoon when I got home from work. I used this excellent Michael Miller fabric that I bought from Ditto at the beginning of January:

Home Ec by Michael Miller. Ironic, because Home Economics was my most-hated subject at school, tied jointly with PE

Yes, I know. So feminist, isn't it? Here's a print of a load of women in aprons doing very domestic things in a kitchen. They look very happy and very smug about it. I had spotted this fabric on a dress from Modcloth about a year ago, and I have been playing basket roulette with it ever since.

Modcloth 'Bygone Days' dress in 'Bake Off' - this is no longer available, as far as I can tell

This is cute, right? But the way the lines of the dress break up the print kind of does my head in. I don't really understand why you'd use a print like this and then frig about with it. but maybe that's just me. Anyway, I'd bought myself 2 metres of this fabric thinking it would make a cute strappy sundress for the warmer weather, but Emery intervened and so that's where I went with it.

On Opposite Day dress - Christine Haynes Emery dress in Michael Miller 'Home Ec' fabric, worn with Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon bow shoes

Holy extremely pale face, Batman! I'm not sure that red lipstick is working for me - I'm not much of a one for a lot of make-up, to be honest - but I sure do love my dress. The Emery dress is a really great canvas for a novelty print like this. The simple lines let the fabric do the work. So, suck on it, Modcloth. I like my dress better.

Bodice view. Wrinkles due to poor posture. Stupid face: model's own

I do feel like a total fraud in this dress because, seriously. I spend so little time in the kitchen. I can cook reasonably well (I make very good enchiladas) and I can bake when I can be bothered. I'll make Nic a birthday cake. I wouldn't starve if I lived alone, but I probably would eat more toast-based meals than might be healthy. I just don't really enjoy cooking or baking. Luckily, Nic quite likes cooking and he's happy with shop-bought cakes AND he does nearly all of the washing-up. The kitchen is not my domain, is what I'm saying, and so I will never be any of the women on this dress. Especially not that bish in the blue dress holding the cake aloft like it's Simba in The Lion King. Actually, I might be that woman standing by the fridge. She looks like she's looking at an iPad before going into the fridge for some gin. That sounds much more my speed, to be honest.

Cardigan girl - because obviously, it's February. I'll be wearing this with a cardigan.

There isn't really anything much to say about the construction of this dress. I experimented a bit by increasing the darts at the back neckline to lessen the slight gaping there but I'm not sure if I would do that again. It was only very slight in the Blanche dress, and I wonder if that small adjustment has contributed to the slight wrinkling under my bust. It could also be down to the slight difference in the fabrics, although they are both medium-weight cottons. Anyway, who knows. I think I'm splitting hairs because I'm still very happy with how my dress fits.

And I'm not going to lie, I am genuinely pretty amused by how the print of this dress is basically the antithesis of who I actually am. Well - no more so than cowgirls or tropical pinup girls, obviously, but still. Those girls seem pretty awesome. The ones on this dress are just smug hausfraus. With, admittedly, very nice dresses.

After my last Emery post, I had lots of people asking me how much fabric I used and whether the yardage listed on the pattern envelope was right. As far as the yardage goes, I have to confess that I didn't look at it so I don't know. I used 2 metres of 45 inch wide fabric for each of my dresses and it was plenty. Admittedly, I omitted the pockets and I have gone for the short-sleeved version of the dress,  so you would need more if you wanted to do that. Also, I didn't pay any attention at all to pattern matching. On plaids or stripes or ginghams? Yes, I'd worry about it. But on a print like this? Fuck that, basically.

Back view with NO pattern matching. I get that this might make some of you twitch, but I honestly don't care that much about it.

Thankfully Nic is very accommodating of the fact that I'd always rather sew than cook, or that I'd rather be reading than measuring out flour. And I'm especially lucky that he never grumbles about the fact that  I hardly ever do the washing up. Really, in many ways, I'm not ideal wife material. OH WELL.

This is my idea of fine dining

Nah, I'm not as bad as all that. I'm exaggerating for comic effect. I do that sometimes. 

I have to tell you again how much I like the Emery pattern. It was a total investment and I already have at least two more planned in the coming weeks. Luckily for me, any of you who have come this far are aware of the fact that I like sewing multiples. One of the ones I have on the go is a pretty Valentine's themed one using fabric kindly sent to me by Offset Warehouse. I'll share that with you next week, but part of the deal was that I'd tell you about a little Valentine's Day competition they're running. What you need to do is sew something up using their beautiful red shirting fabric and your creation should fit into one of their two themes, 'Love and Romance' or 'All The Single Ladies'. Email a photo by February 14th to info@offsetwarehouse.com and you could win a treat for you or a loved one on Valentine's Day, a voucher for Offset Warehouse and the cost of the fabric you've used will be refunded to you. I'm really looking forward to taking part in the challenge, and I hope some of you lovely sewing bloggers will too - I'd love to see what you all come up with!

Anyway, I'm going to leave it here. I've got shit to do. I'll sign off on one more picture of my dress, though, because I love it. Laters!

This is also new shoes face. I now have all the colours of these shoes. No KitchenAid mixer in this house, just lots of shoes.