Did someone talk about a job opening? Because guess who's got two thumbs and was just cleared of insurance fraud?

Hello hello! What's up, pups? I'm rattling through this week and after I finish for the day tomorrow I have a little bit of time off, hurrah!

I've been having a good week for a number of reasons but probably one of the best ones is that I had a job interview on Monday for a promotion in my department and I got it. YEAH BOI. Interviewing for an internal job is really stressful - it's very weird being interviewed by your colleagues, and especially so when you know that if you don't get the job, you have to keep on working with these people. I've been there, and that sucks. That sucks hairy balls. The interview was nerve-wracking as fuck so when I heard that I'd been successful I was more exhausted and relieved than anything else. Anyway, by now I'm feeling more like:

Tell me there isn't a Ron Swanson gif for every occasion and I will laugh in your face

Anyway - it's been a busy week at work so I haven't really got around to celebrating but I plan to tonight and over the weekend. I have a bottle of champagne in the fridge and everything. I've worked really hard over the last year and a half in this job and have learned so much and it feels really good to know that I'm good at my job, and to be rewarded for it. I mean yeah: I'm going to be doing plenty of crabbing over the next few months when work is really busy, but you know. That's always the way.

So that is the craic with me this week. AND I have a new dress to show you as well! I made this dress a few weeks ago when Nic was in Amsterdam at a conference - if you read this blog regularly you might remember that weekend I had a sewing, gin and watching Luther binge. Ah. Good times. Anyway, I can't remember the exact circumstances around making this dress but the story of it is, I saw the fabric in the haberdashery department in House of Fraser in Birmingham. Annoyingly, they were selling a knitting bag made from it but not the fabric itself but this was enough to convince me that I needed it in my life:

The Fox and The Houndstooth by Andie Hanna for Robert Kaufman fabrics

I had seen this print in various online fabric shops but it took seeing it in real life to make me really want it. I love this combination of colours and the little foxes have the CUTEST faces. I ended up buying it from Fabric Inspirations - this isn't an affiliate link, but they're absolutely brilliant. They have a fab range, great prices and I've never been unhappy with an order from them.

So anyway, given the cuteness of the foxes I had to make a similarly cute dress from it. And WHOMP, THERE IT IS:

Tommy Timberlake dress - By Hand London Flora dress with a gathered skirt, worn with Swedish hasbeens heart sandals in red

This isn't the dress I intended to make, really. I had been thinking about making another Flora dress with a pleated skirt, and maybe using the skirt pieces from Simplicity 1419 again. Something about this print resisted that, though. Maybe it was the thought of folding those little foxy faces into pleats that prevented me, I don't know.

I do think the potential downside to gathering the skirt on this dress is that - well, it really does look like an adult-sized version of a little girl's party dress. It does. Less so on my body than on the hanger,  in fairness. But yeah. This is a childish dress. I don't shy away from that and it doesn't make me dislike the dress. I recognise that I am lucky enough to work somewhere in which a dress with a print like this is totally acceptable attire. Dressing in this way hasn't prevented me from progressing in my career, as this week has proven. So, essentially, I'm good with it.

Excellent advice there, Joe.

The bodice and a slight case of crazy face

In terms of the Flora pattern - since making and wearing this dress I've realised I need to make a couple of minor adjustments to the next one I make. Namely, curving those waist darts slightly to address the slight wrinkling you see under the bust there. But otherwise, I am really delighted with this dress and I will be adding a gathered skirt to the Flora bodice again. I think it's pretty cute.

I wore this dress on Sunday. Nic and I had breakfast with friends and then went for a walk in the fields to the Saxon Mill. I can't believe how lovely the weather has been and it's just as well, really. I've been on a sandals-buying binge all summer and I want to keep wearing them for as long as possible. I've amassed quite the collection of Swedish hasbeens clogs and I have another pair on their way to me as we speak (hey, I had to buy a celebratory pair of Promotion Shoes, right?)

Red peep-toe sandals: always a classic!

Every time I post a picture of my Swedish hasbeens on instagram, I get questions asking me if they are comfortable. It's always hard to say whether a pair of shoes is comfortable but I do find these shoes comfortable once they've been broken in. The wooden sole takes a bit of getting used to because it's totally inflexible and also the leather can be quite stiff. These red heart sandals took a fair few wears to break in but the same pair in pink were comfortable and soft from the word go. So, it varies. Cici Marie wrote a nice little post about how to break them in, if you're curious. Anyway, I know it's autumn now so this is probably totally irrelevant to most of us in the Northern Hemisphere - but still. I fully intend to wear these with tights as the weather gets colder.

Derp face out-take for my girl Heather B. I don't even know what I was doing here. I mean, apart from looking MAJORLY HOT, obviously.

So anyway. That's the craic there with my dress. The weekend I made it, as well as binge-watching Luther, I binge-watched Parks and Recreation. Ah that show makes me happy. The little foxes on the print reminded me so much of Tom Haverford, he had to get a shout-out in the name.

There's one fox wearing an argyle sweater:

There's one fox wearing a bow-tie:

There's one fox wearing a hat:

And there's one little fox wearing a fedora and a waistcoat...

So, on the advice of Tommy Timberlake and the Regal Meagle, I'm away here to drink champagne and eat cake.