A top in blue voile

As well as the children's exams, I am also starting a new placement and embarking on the nerve wracking process of job hunting at the moment.  

On a day off on Monday I decided the best thing I could do to create some calm and light relief in my week was to embark on some sewing.  Inspired by all the beautiful clothes appearing in my Instagram feed for Me Made May (and especially those put up by Liesl and Suse), I cut into my precious piece of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks voile and made myself another Lisette market dress tunic.  I wear both the ones I made earlier in the year constantly; they look so good with trousers and a cardi or a scarf.

The voile is sumptuous - soft, drapey, feminine and luxurious.  It is also surprisingly non-sweary to sew with.  It feels as though it should slither all over my table, but it doesn't.  Pleasingly I also found a length of narrow velvet ribbon which my grandmother had given me, in exactly the right shade of yellow to match the centre of the flowers on the fabric, so I hemmed the top with that.

A happy few hours sewing, and a luxurious-feeling new blue top.  I just wish it was easier to find a place in my house to take full length photos of myself (and a clean mirror!).

Focusing in on the detail

I decided it would be nice to do some French-inspired cross stitch.  But on calico, because I don't like aida.  The stitches are tiny.  I have to concentrate very hard indeed.  I would only attempt this sort of foolishness in the University holidays when I have hour after hour free, to sit squinting at calico and deciding where EXACTLY to put my needle in next.

I do love holidays.  Full of pointless, small satisfactions like this.

Three blue tops - one of which is red

I'm making new tops for the summer - because I fancied doing some sewing over the weekend and also because I yearned to see something different in my wardrobe.

Pattern adapted from Trapeze sundress in Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross

This red spotty top should have been navy blue and floral.  The fabric which I used as the trim, should have been the main fabric and the red spots should have been the trim.  But as I pinned and cut the beautiful blue fabric so enthusiastically, I failed to notice that I had pinned the front piece with the wrong edge against the fold.  When I unfolded it I realised what I'd done and that I had wrecked the whole metre of fabric.

I stared at what I'd done, willing the fabric to knit itself back together as if by magic and present me with a whole, uncut piece again.  But I don't have those sort of powers, and the blue fabric remained ruined.

Fortunately I had plenty of the red spotty fabric, so I switched things around and it became red with blue trim rather than blue with red.  I like it, and I've cheered up now.  I will wear this all summer - it looks great with jeans and I have cardigans and long sleeved tops which match it.

But...it still should have been blue.

I'm taking MUCH more care over the cutting out of my other blue tops-in-progress.

The pastel, scalloped fabric in the picture above is going to become a summery sundress with nice big pockets.

This very precious, and strokably lovely, Anna Maria Horner voile is going to become a floaty, raglan-sleeved top.  I will check about ninety-five times before I cut it out that the pieces are on the right way round. 

I will also remember to add seam allowances before I start cutting, because I will be using an Ottobre pattern where the seam allowances are not included.

I WILL remember.  I will.  Definitely.

Japanese school dress

Yesterday I made a dress version of the pretty Japanese top I wrote about here, in school uniform colours.  O's school allow either light blue or navy blue gingham for the summer dresses, so when I saw this two-tone gingham cotton at Shaukat for only £3.50 a metre I did actually shriek with excitement.  I think it's meant for men's shirts, but it is perfect for school uniform as well.

The dress version of this pattern is so simple in its design - I really love that.  Very un-fussy.  I used narrower bias tape for the neck this time, which I think works a little better.  It makes for a narrower bow.

Another change I made was to cut the front in one piece rather than two.  I then made a placket for the neck, which saved having to match up all the gingham squares down the front seam (which to be honest I probably wouldn't have had the patience to do anyway).

I hemmed the dress with ribbon, to give it a little more interest, and because I know O loves anything to be trimmed with ribbon.  In a very small way I also get a kick out of the little element of rebellious satisfation there is in making an item of uniform with a little touch of individuality to it.

She loves it, and pranced off down the road to school swishing her new dress and looking very pleased with herself.

Spring colour in the garden

For probably the first time in the eleven years we have lived in this house, the garden is a riot of spring colour.  Turns out all I needed was a wet winter, a sunny spring, and to spend a few quid on geraniums and wallflowers.  Super easy.  I rather like gardening now.

A blue mood

My friend Gill has made me this sweet little blue and green chick. I was so pleased with it; not just because it is a lovely thing and Gill made it for me, but also because of its blue and green colours. Gill makes lots of things, but doesn't really 'do' the colour blue. I love blue though - it is my favourite colour in every shade - so I feel as though I need to persuade Gill into making more things in blue.

After far too many dreary, cold and wet days, the weather here has suddenly turned bright and autumnal again. I hung the children's school shirts on the line this morning and was dazzled by the matching crisp blues of the shirts and the sky.

Here are some other blues that I love:

• C's bright blue eyes
• bluebells on the forest floor in the spring
• my pretty blue shoes with bows on the toes (only to be worn on hot, dry days - I once called G to pick me up from the tube - about a five minute walk from home - because it had started to rain and I didn't want to spoil my blue shoes)
• the blue cloth wall hanging (now extremely faded) that G has had for nearly twenty years and which I am too sentimental about to get rid of
• a bright, sparkling, blue sea

Who says 'blue and green should never be seen'? I have just noticed that all of these pictures contain greens as vivid as the blues!

I am making something of my own from blue fabric at the moment - a little quilt for O's dolls' bed. I went to the local quilt shop a few weeks ago and was beguiled into buying some pretty fabric scraps to 'make something with'. I eventually settled on the idea of a little quilt, but I will be pairing the pale blue with more traditional (and more acceptable to O's taste) pinks.