Now's not the time to discuss this, but I will need to eat your umbilical cord.

Hello strangers! What's happening?! I've had a few weeks' break from both sewing and blogging, but I thought it was time to break that streak. I'm still figuring out what I want to do with the blog but it was good to get back to my sewing machine. The break from sewing wasn't intentional. The weather has turned cold and the sewing/dining table is next to the window; work has been busy; we've had a friend to stay; the weekends have been busy and, to be totally honest, I was in a bit of a rut. That's kind of what contributed to the blog break - although I love wearing the dresses I sew, I was getting a bit bored of sewing them.

A couple of weekends ago I went to London to meet up with Lauren on her last day in the UK, at a sewing day at Tilly's studio in West Dulwich. I had brought a project with me - I wanted to make a toile of McCalls 6696 (which I did) - but mainly I was interested in drinking prosecco and gossiping. It was such a blast to finally meet Lauren and to spend the afternoon with lovely sewing friends. And, you know, prosecco. Always good. While I was there, Tilly very kindly gave me a copy of her new pattern, the Francoise dress. Now, I would not have bought this pattern myself - not because I don't like it, but because it is very different to what I usually like to sew or wear, and I guess I'm not very adventurous. Indeed, even after I had been given the pattern I wasn't sure if I would sew it. I had a little think, and as I had some suitable fabric lurking in my stash, I thought I'd push myself out of my stylistic comfort zone and go for it.

Miss Piggy dress - Tilly and the Buttons Francoise dress, worn with Irregular Choice Dippy Daisy shoes

So... a bit different to my usual attire, right? I'm not totally sure what I think about this dress on me. I don't know how much of that is down to it being different and being short - I don't really do short skirts! Nic likes it though, so there's that. It's pretty cute, but there are a few issues with this dress that are also making me unsure about it. I For one thing - I cut the wrong size. I measured myself carefully and looked at the finished garment measurements, but chickened out of cutting the size that most closely matched my measurements - 2 - and cut the next size up - 3. I ended up taking it in substantially at the side seams and at the raglan seam on the back yoke and I increased the waist darts substantially. It left me with a wearable dress that has some minor fit issues I'd be happy to live with in a shop-bought dress.

As you can see, it's a little big across the upper chest. The bodice is also a little bit long in the back. I did take some photos of it but they're horrible, so you'll just have to take my word for it! If I make this dress again I'll start with the correct size and take a wedge out of the lower back.

Still, sewing Francoise did get me out of my sewing rut. I might not wear this dress a lot - it's not going to be very practical over the next few months - but I like it and I'm glad I made it. I enjoyed sewing it, too.

The fabric is cotton sateen with a slight stretch to it that I bought in A1 Fabrics on Goldhawk Road a number of years ago. It's been sitting in my stash ever since and I had forgotten how bright pink it is. It is totally and utterly Miss Piggy but, as she is totally awesome, that's no bad thing.

So anyway, that's my Francoise dress. It's not really my style, but is good to branch out occasionally. I mean, check it out. I have knees!

That's the craic with me. I'm away for work this week and next week, but then I'm finished work for the year. Nic and I are spending Christmas in Leamington for the first time ever this year and I'm very excited about it. It will be a bit weird not to be at my parents' house, but I am really looking forward to creating our own Christmas traditions. I'm hoping that many of these new traditions will involve champagne.

Anyway, that's me for this evening. Catch you all on the flippedy flip!