May...ing

What happens when you realise that for most of May, my favourite month of the year, you have simply been inside sewing! This month my May...ing post is a totally selfish round up of what I have been sewing. The Sewing Bee has started on the BBC so I thought it was rather apt. 

This is the Megan Neilsen Sudley Dress and Top. A simple pattern that can grow with you as you progress in sewing skill. You can make it with a collar or without. You can have the tie at the front or the back. It is very easy to fit because it is roomy. I added some ricrac detail to the collar for a tutorial but I have fallen in love with this easy to sew, versatile blouse and dress. The blue one is made with viscose challis and the dress is a bargain linen mix.

On a more complicated level, I made a box pleat blouse from a pattern company called DP Studio. They are French and all of the styles are indeed very French. I like to sew more complicated things but I don't want to spend ages making something challenging which I can only wear to a special occasion so this blouse was a win win for me because it was engaging but I can wear it all the time with my jeans.

Talking of jeans, I have made another pair of Dawn Jeans again by Megan Nielsen. I like the full pattern range and sizing generally. This pair has green topstitching. Why do we always have mustard top stitching? 

This is another complex top with a gorgeous honeycomb pin tuck detail. I made a tutorial for this which I think would really help someone to get on board with McCalls8325.

My last make to show you is the Ogden cami. I have done a full bust adjustment on this pattern for a much better fit. 

Now that the weather has eventually warmed up I can take my foot off the sewing gas, get some of those summer garments on and enjoy the outdoors.

Thanks for dropping by. Jo xxxxx

Sunshine Would Make it Rosier!

I missed April...ing. Whoops! I have enjoyed reading other blogs this week but didn't quite seem to get round to putting my own words together.

Anyway, just to let you know we are eating well....

Loving work. A rare glimpse of my chaotic sewing space which is normally so tidy...

Finding the moments to walk the dog and fill my table vase. This is the last of my daffs, my blossoming orange broom which is the first time it has flowered in three years. I gathered some orange geums and then bluebells from my field. My flower grower friend Beth stepped in the following week with these incredible ranunculus and anenomes from her polytunnel. The colours were too strong for the brief of her wedding bouquet order so they ended up on my table. Lucky eh?

Loving the front bed of hot/warm colours and how this has come together from my original thought process.

The one thing the whole family has in common at the moment is watching our massive crab apple tree slowly unfurl. It changes day by day.

Finding joy in dancing with my Tribal dance friends even though it was pretty chilly at Upton Folk Festival.

Solving the little problems in life. Jeans I made which were too short once I stopped wearing my boots have had a little embroidaise anglais extension.

These are of course the good bits. Things are a bit here and there at the moment. Nothing too miserable just a teen doing GCSE's, another daughter having so many interrupted school weeks which really impacts on my work (snow days, teacher strikes, boiler breakdowns at school, an endless stream of bank holidays) and we currently have in-laws who need more help with day to day life. But hey, you're not here to listen to that, these are just life's ups and downs. If only the sun would bloody shine it would give everything a rosier glow.

Off to read some blogs my friends. Toodle hoo! Jo xxxx