I have always said I work best with a set deadline – just look what I can achieve when I really have to! I have finished Evelina’s dress ready for Sunday and I am really pleased with it.
You can read more about it over at sew make believe or see more pictures at our Flickr.
I have taken on the rather ambitious project of making Evelina’s Baptism dress. I have chosen a relatively simple shape although the pattern is still an intermediate level which is a bit scary. I will be making an amalgamation of styles A and B – I will be making a lace overskirt but the overskirt won’t be longer than the dress but the same length or a bit shorter.
The main dress will be made using pale cream satin and the lace is a slightly darker cream.
So far, I have managed to cut out all the satin pattern pieces which was totally nerve-wracking.
I still have to cut out the lace and sew the whole lot together!
Tomorrow, I will be going to my mum’s house so that she can help me and I can use her large kitchen table. She can also look after Evelina while I get on with the sewing. I have until 11.30 am on Sunday 2nd October to get it finished!
We are having our first family holiday in Liguria. So far we have walked from Arma di Taggia to San Remo and spent the day at the beach. Evelina didn’t seem to mind the sea! Today we are having a picnic in the mountains, going to a party in the village tonight (it’s the festival of the trout). Tomorrow we are having a restful day at the house and then on Monday, we are going up to a vineyard in Piedmonte. Evelina is going down a storm with the locals. She certainly stands out with her milky skin and her big smile!
I am not really sure what happened to this week. I had every intention of writing all sorts of fascinating blog posts but then I didn’t. My last post featured a picture of the Leamington railway station waiting room as I waited for the London train to take me to see Jules and Erin. This was a mini Tumblr meetup – these are girls I have never met but knew from Tumblr (although Erin is a relatively new acquaintance). For those who think this is really weird, then lets just say that I was meeting up with pen pals from America – for some reason, pen pal sounds so much less threatening / weird than ‘internet buddy’ – I don’t really have the energy to go into how annoying that is right now but let’s just say if it weren’t for meeting strangers on the internet, then sew make believe wouldn’t exist and I wouldn’t have a ton of super-cool local girl friends who like the same things that I like.
I met Jules and Erin in Covent Garden as they had already had a good look around, we just nipped into David and Goliath where I bought this onsie and some badges for each of us. This was mine:
After a quick gander at the Gumball 3000 cars which were waiting to leave for their souped up / really silly / super rich race around Europe, we headed over to Harrods.
It has been an age since I have been here – it is not really somewhere you go when you aren’t a tourist and yet it was so much fun. For starters, I bought two new lovely Chanel nail varnishes (look out for a Chanel polish post coming soon!) from an impeccable French lady.
Jules and Erin - a bit blurry... iPhone pap.
Then we had a roam around the superb toy department – I can’t wait to go back there with Evelina for a special treat one day. Next up was the food hall – so many nice things to eat and drink there. We stopped for a small but perfectly formed coffee and rested our feet.
With only a short amount of time left before I needed to get back to Marylebone to catch my train, we ambitiously tried to get to Kings Cross and find Platform 9 3/4. We managed to get to Kings Cross but I had to dash before we found the platform that they have made for Harry Potter fans. I still haven’t remembered to ask Jules if they found it – Kings Cross is having work done so I do hope that they haven’t done away with the sign!
Today, Mum and I did some much-needed shopping for both of us. My wardrobe is a bit of a shambles after my pre-pregnancy weight loss, the pregnancy itself and the aftermath (including breastfeeding which continues to affect my shape and what clothes make the food easy to access!). Long story short, I was miserable with what I was left with and still grappling with my lack of personal style. I had a long conversation with ricardo last night which helped me rule out what I shouldn’t be wearing but other than some key phrases like ‘geek chic’ (not sure what this is), I didn’t get very far. I had intended today to just buy a couple of things to tide me over until I could have some kind of consultation with someone who knows better. However, I ended up trying on some clothes in Pepperberry (Bravissimo) and I fell in love with this skirt:
It’s shorter than I usually buy, just above the knee, but it’s so cute and fun and the fabric is gorgeous – sheeny cotton, light and soft. This skirt informed my new look which happens to take advantage of the apparent current nautical / French trend (at least there seems to be a lot of it about – I could be well behind the times with this). I was very brave and also bought some cropped red trousers in Next:
This is quite a departure for me from my usual safe ‘jeans and black t-shirt’ but I love them. They are surprisingly flattering and look great with the blue and white striped top from Next which I bought to go with the skirt above and the shorts I also got from Pepperberry. I did also buy a new pair of flared jeans which are much more flattering that the (many) pairs I currently own.
In Marks and Spencer, I found some more stripey tops – what can I say, once I find something I like, I tend to run with it. I also got a plain white tee which I plan on embellishing with some buttons. I saw this tee in John Lewis and thought “I can make one of those” – perhaps at next week’s <a href=”sew make believe sit ‘n’ sew.
Finally, I needed some shoes to wear with all this lot, and my mum spotted these cut-away Converse – perfect! I love them so much!!
I realise that this does not really fit ‘geek chic’ (again, not really sure what this means) but I can see myself making these clothes more edgey and less mainstream by accessorising with tattoo jewellery, rocking make-up and some red, white or blue nail polish. I love these cherry and anchor necklaces from Quirky Boutique:
I love that I have managed to buy that elusive capsule wardrobe – all these pieces work together and so I have so many different outfits ready for summer and for our holiday to Italy. All I need now is a new swimming costume and some new underwear and I am set but those will have to wait until I have weaned Evelina – I am bound to change again in bra size although this won’t affect the tops I bought today.
