A Winter Love Affair

I had a bit of a love affair with the Emery dress pattern at the end of the year. I’d worked hard to perfect the fit of the bodice and can now say that it’s perfect, next step would be to draft a few different necklines for a bit of variety. After my first Emery I’ve since made another four (all in quick succession). The first two were Christmas dresses. I made a Christmas dress last year (Simplicity 1873) but that was early on in my dressmaking and the bodice fit isn’t quite right. In fact when I tried it on this year it’s way too big - maybe I’d left space for extra mince pies?

My first dress was made with Alexander Henry ‘Christmas Eve’ fabric. I’d bought a fat quarter when I was in New York in Sept 2013 and love it so much I decided to search for some for a dress. It turned out to be quite the search and I ended up having to order it from the US as it’s last season range.

The second dress was completely copied inspired by Sarah - A Million Dresses with this amazing bauble fabric. I cut a shorter sleeve on this dress as I knew I’d wear it to my Christmas Party and didn’t want to feel too hot. I really love this dress and ended up wearing it on Boxing Day and on New Year’s Eve. Such a shame it’s back in the wardrobe until next year!

I received some lovely sewing related gifts for Christmas: a tailors ham, 3 lots of fabric, a voucher for Eternal Maker, a 50’s blouse pattern and a fab tape measure which has illustrations of fashions through the decades. I also bought ‘Gertie Sews Vintage Casual’ in a bid to sew more separates this year - more on that later.  

At the beginning of the year I’d deliberately kept a couple of days free to get some sewing done and managed to get two new dresses made. The last of 2014 was made with the purple floral fabric ‘Secret Garden’ by Nel Whatmore which I bought at the Stitching Show in November. The first of 2015 was some Robert Kaufmann ‘Lantern’ fabric purchased from Modes4U as part of their Black Friday deal (my only Black Friday purchase, no racing to the shops at 6am for me!). These dresses were both made with the intention of taking them on my honeymoon in February, we’re off to Thailand so it will be hot and sunny and the perfect weather for summer dresses! I’m looking forward to sorting through my dresses to work out which ones to take away.

So now my thoughts turn to 2015… First up is my wedding, we get married in just over 6 weeks which is hugely exciting but also means no more sewing until all wedding related tasks have been completed. I had intended to make a new dress for my hen day/night but I think the time may get taken with more important tasks! The ‘To-Do’ list isn’t too daunting but we’d rather get everything done this month and have February to chill out than be sticking and gluing every night in the lead up to the big day!

In terms of sewing I’ve got two objectives for 2015. Firstly to learn some new skills to push myself. I feel confident sewing now, in the last year my dressmaking skills have advanced along with my ability to redraft patterns but I feel like I’m playing safe at the moment so I’m going to try to attempt some of the most ambitious patterns in my stash. Secondly I’d like to make some more separates, skirts and cute blouses spring to mind and I’m going to start searching for some nice patterns to use. I bought ‘Gertie Sews Vintage Casual’ which has lots of lovely patterns and I think this, combined with ‘Love at First Stitch’, will be a good starting point. I’m also going to seriously attack my fabric stash - I’ve got such a lot of fabric which is sitting waiting patiently to be worn that I can’t really justify buying any new fabric this year!

Do let me know if you recommend any cute blouse patterns and Happy New Year!