Oh look I’m back on the blog!
I may not have been blogging, but I have been sewing, and I want
to try and start sharing again. Properly.
Not only sewing though. I’m feeling a little spark of
creativity and I’d like to start writing again. Properly.
So, As it Seams is risen! It might take a slightly different form. There
will be sewing, of course. But there could be some more thoughtful writing.
Expect a few more tales from the frontline of my slightly
insane life, lived in the eye of the storm of being 40-something, working in
the insanity of British politics, living in a too-small-house with a teenager
who won’t get off the sofa, a ‘characterful’ nine-year-old girl and Mr Midlife
Crisis.
But I’ll put that whole shebang to the side for just now.
And write about something which makes me happy in a pure simple way.
Like this dress, this fabric, and wearing it on a beach in
Sri Lanka.
There’s a whole back-story to Sri Lanka. It’s on my writing ‘to
do’ list. (If you really, really want to know, The Sri Lankan government has
kindly published
my account of what happened to us 14 years ago following the tsunami. Or this, filmed by Mr
Midlife Crisis).
Suffice to say, that we took our children on a three week holiday to Sri Lanka in April.
Holidays, for me, mean sewing. Frantically sewing beautiful
dresses when I should be packing.
It’s an excuse to get sewing the patterns I’ve hankered
after. Like the Arianadress by Stylearc. It’s a classic sundress. Sheared back! Patch pockets! Breezy
skirt…perfect.
And fabric. Like this block printed cotton from Merchant and
Mills. Sadly no longer available. But this is
similar.
I was sew grateful to Mie from Sewing Like Mad and her thorough
post
full of tips on sewing this dress.
I paid heed to her tips! I added an inch and a half in
length to the bodice (I’m also long waisted), interfaced all the bodice lining
pieces and made the straps half an inch wider.
I made sure my waist seam allowance was pressed upwards, and
I followed every tip to keep all those seams stitched inside the lining out of
sight! Thank you Mie!
Mie, please note my pattern matching across that bodice!
Mie, please note my pattern matching across that bodice!
The result is my near-perfect holiday dress. (If I made it
again, I’d make the straps another half inch wider still – in the blazing heat
of Sri Lanka, with sweat and salt and sand I found they rubbed a little).
This Merchant and Mills cotton is the perfect weight for a
sundress, and made for a tropical climate. It was only *just* sturdy enough for
the full-length button placket though, and I did tear one button hole.
But this dress did also have to withstand some gruelling
conditions. (Think six hour bus journeys squeezed on a sweaty plastic seat next
to a pile of crates and with a sleeping child on my lap, or cycling through ruined
Buddhist temples in the jungle, dusty jeep looking at elephants, that kind of thing).
It also enjoyed a trip to heaven… this beach on the south
coast of Sri Lanka, where the sea was azure, the sand pink and gold, the
hammock was always free in the tiny beach bar, and it only cost £20 a night in
our guesthouse. Ask me nicely and I may tell you where it was….
Oh it's good to be back! On the blog I mean. I can hardly remember how to do this, so do please bear with me as I try to figure out my new-look blog. But I will be doing more of this. I have a lot to say (and sew)!
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