Carrying on......

Hello Lovely Readers, do come in and have a coffee.  I hope you are all well and happy, I am so glad to see you again.  Friday was an awful day and it is surprising how sad news always makes everything around me seem so much more alive and colourful.  Little things that I take for granted become much more important and I pay attention to things which I might normally pass by.  I am sure that everyone feels that same when faced with sad news about someone they really care about.  When I arrived home on Friday I made my lovely husband a little tea, a ceremony which he really loves and I don't make the effort enough to please him.  I am not a baker although I would love to be the next Mary Berry (if only!) but I did buy him some delicious cake which he really enjoys.  My new resolution is to stop worrying about the silly things which go around my head and really concentrate on what is important in life - people I love and care about.

On Saturday I was booked in for a introductory sewing weekend in the lovely little Cheshire village of Plumley.  It is not far from Knutsford and is such a pretty little backwater tucked away in the rolling countryside.  The course is run by the lovely Sue who, with her friend Tracy, offer a whole range of fabulous classes from the village hall.  They are called the creative-stitchers and although I was excited about going I must admit that on Saturday morning I didn't feel much like taking part. 

However, I did think that moping around the house wouldn't be of any use to anyone so off I set on what was going to be a very warm weekend!  I had packed my fabric which I had purchased from Guthrie and Ghani when I had been on the pinny workshop.  The lovely Lauren from the Sewing Bee had helped me choose it on the understanding that I send some photos of the finished dress.  A dress, yes everyone, I was hoping to start a complete dress.

I must admit that when I arrived at Sue's I was very apprehensive about it all, there was no way that I could make a dress in a month, never mind a weekend.  I found the pattern on Tilly's website and it is one of the early dresses she made for herself.  The pattern is called New Look 6000 and I ordered it on Amazon.  Now Tilly is a lot younger, much prettier and slimmer than I am but I fell in love with the style and the elegance of it.  Have a look at her website under 'things I have made myself' and see what you think.  Tilly made her dress in a rather sweet navy polka dot which is really fabulous and would suit either summer or winter.  There is a great link on her blog to Scruffy Badger's Blog.  Have a look at the button on the right hand side of the blog and click on the post New Look 6000 Frock Fest which shows some fantastic photographs of the same dress made by a wide range of very talented ladies.  One of them is very 'Mad Men' style!  I chose style E which is at the top left of the five pictures.

Sue went through some important details about dressmaking and choosing fabrics and quantities needed.  Then, horror of horrors, I had to be measured.  Now the one thing I have learned is that the dress size I buy is no reflection on the actual size that I am!  I was very uncomfortable realising that I needed to lose weight here, there........everywhere!  Sue was absolutely delightful and really encouraged me every step of the way without allowing me to miss out any steps.  I had thought that  I wouldn't line the dress but Sue insisted that it would hang much better if I did line it.  Now this dress is quite famous on some of the blogs I have read, although they are a few years old now, but then, what the heck, at my age I don't fuss about things like this now. 

Sue told me that the perceived size of women's clothes has now changed drastically.  The sizes we are now girls would not be the size our Mums or Grandmas would be in. The lovely Jo on her blog has tried this out for herself.  Have a look at her post on the 8th June 2013 when she made a dress from a vintage pattern of 1967.  She made it in the size she is now but it is very tight fitting.  As Sue said, the manufacturers wants us all to believe that we are actually a lot thinner than we are. Obviously, this helps them sell more garments.  When I go to vintage shows I am always drawn to the vintage patterns as they are so kitch and nice to look at.  What is always surprising to me is how fresh and new some of the patterns look so if you keep something long enough in fashion then it will return at a later date.  I wish I had kept some of the mini dresses I had (not that I would wear them now) but it would be so nice just to try them on again.........that is if I could get into them!

Sue and I went through the pattern together working out the size and what needed to be cut out.  She taught me how to do tailor's tacks on the front and backs before sewing them up.  As you have probably guessed, I am not that confident on the machine and tend to do a lot of hand sewing but, lovely Readers, Sue wasn't letting me off on that one.  So away I went on my machine, at a snail's pace, getting there slowly and surely.

Now the one thing which I was dreading was inserting the zip so Sue made up a sample for me and demonstrated the technique and set me off on the task.  I was terrified at wrecking this gorgeous fabric so tried to be as accurate as I could.  Sue gave me 9 of out 10, although I am not sure that I could do that trick again without her help. 

By this time I had come to the end of the day and boy was I exhausted.  I very very rarely fall asleep on the settee in the evening but I must admit I did on Saturday night.  I also dreamt about the dress as well so it must have been playing on my mind.  When I set off on Sunday morning I was thinking about how much more I had to do and realised that I probably wouldn't finish it that day. I didn't want it to be an unfinished project so set myself the task of doing as much as I could before the end of the day.

Sue was all ready for me and set me off sewing up the shoulders and side seams - wow!  I had the makings of a dress, couldn't quite believe it.  I must apologise to you all as I had intended to take a multitude of photographs but just didn't dare stop as I wanted to get as much done as possible.  I had a fitting then lovely readers but it was a little tight around the tum (note: lose some weight!) so Sue showed me how to adapt the dress to my size and frame so that it fitted more perfectly.  Those little adjustments made all the difference and I really began to realise how much fun you could have making your own clothes.

I then had to set about doing the lining which was exactly the same process as the dress and then it was on to the sleeves.  Now these were really tricky to me lovely readers and I must admit that I had so much help from Sue here.  But, I was starting to get tired.  I hadn't stopped for any lunch, quite a quick cup of tea as I was so keen to keep going - I was on a mission.

Sue was so kind and helped me put the sleeves in as she did say that it was a fair tricky thing to do for a new sewer but advised me to practise, practise, practise all the time until it got easier.

She put the second sleeve in for me and I was nearly there.............I put the cuffs on (they are so gorgeous) and Sue showed me how to hand finish the dress by sewing in the rest of the lining and turning the hems up. 

It was now 4.14pm and I had been at it from 9.45 without a break - my goodness I was so tired but so excited.  Like a young schoolgirl, I wanted to wear my new frock the next day!  Sue gently suggested that I was quite tired and to leave it for a day or so before finishing otherwise I could end up making mistakes.  I drove home on a cloud, I had made a dress........in a weekend with lots and lots of help from a fabulous talented designer and sewer. 

Sue and I did talk about the Sewing Bee and I was trying to encourage her to apply as she is eligible, she is thinking about it as all of her friends and pupils in the sewing groups want her to have a go.  I do hope she does as she is so so talented.

Well lovely readers, I haven't quite finished it just yet, but, would you like to see it????  Here is it....

Well folks what do you think?  I am so chuffed with it and can't wait to step out in style once it is finished.  I will post a photograph of me wearing in due in time.  Would love to have some feedback from you all - am now thinking of trying another one and rather like the navy, thinking about the autumn already!

I have really loved being with you all today and hope that the sun is shining and everything is well in your world.  Thank you for stopping by, it has been so nice to spend time with you once again.  Do leave a comment if you have time and I shall see you very soon.  I have signed up for a sewing group for six weeks after work so tonight is the first one.  I have a few projects collected over the years so want to make sure that I really take full advantage of the class each week.  Will keep you all posted, bye for now.  Lots of love Dorothy :-)xxxxxxxxxxx