Well ahoy there me hearties!
Well firstly, I started this blog last week but then my laptop went haywire – everything stopped working and went soooo slow- it was a nightmare but I had to back up everything , delete and reinstall and that took a whole week!! I just have it back working now so lucky wordpress saved this blog!! So everything below is from a week ago… confused? Yup me too! 😉
I have been so busy this week, too busy and I am turning into even more of an early granny as I want to go to bed at 9pm these days (oh and I spend every free moment knitting!) I have been trying to sort out my summerhouse so it can be sewing room again as I’ve been doing all my sewing in the bedroom over the cold winter as I want to get on with some darn sewing and get ready for Me-Made-May ’15 as my pledge is:
I, Gabby Young of www.livingonashoestring.net, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavour to wear a me-made garment at least five times a week for the duration of May 2015
(I would make it every day but I don’t have enough handmade items yet!)
But I did squeeze in this 30min super floral maxi dress. I really needed a super quick project to get back into my sewing wonderland so I whipped this up before wearing it to work last week on the hottest day of the year, so far. I basically watched this youtube video and then cut around my favourite tank top/vest and eyeballed the length so it would be a maxi dress- right down to the floor. I think this fabric does all the work here though- isn’t it amazing?! I picked it out of the remnants bin at Rolls & Rems in Finsbury Park for £8 and there is easily 3m there. I’m totally in love with it and have enough left over for a maxi skirt too!
I haven’t really got much to say about this dress – it was so quick and easy. I used the overlocker for the seams and topstitched the hems around the neck, armholes and skirt with my trusty Janome sewing machine. In fact there is one problem here- I can’t actually walk in this dress – unless walking like a penguin is counted… but I’m happy hitching up my skirt to get from A to B… next time I will make the bottom wider and stretch out the hem whilst I’m sewing it… oops!
FABRIC : Floral Ponte Roma (I think) from Rolls & Rems, Finsbury Park – about 3m for £8
PATTERN : Self drafted with the help of this youtube tutorial (got to love the bible excerpts at the beginning of each one… 😉 She’s so adorable! )
TIME TAKEN : Half a blinking hour!!
COMMENTS/ IDEAS FOR NEXT TIME : Make one that I can walk in without looking like a penguin! I do think I will make many of these and live in them all summer!
In other news…
If you have been following this blog for a while you’ll know all about the summerhouse that me and my man built and that has now fully evolved into my sewing room and every spring it gets a complete makeover… so I started in earnest last week (coming to a blog near you soon!). I have spent the winter sewing under our loft bed and I can’t wait to get the space back now the summerhouse is warm enough to work in again (the heating costs alone made it tricky to go out there). As I was lucky enough to inherit a whole sewing studio of a fashion designer last year I have a LOT of fabric to go through and that’s not to mention my new buying of fabric habit too so I am about to do a FABRIC STASH SALE… I am halfway through photographing and documenting these babies and will keep you posted when the sale starts!
So that’s all for today. I am in the middle of making the 50s ‘Walkaway Dress’ right now for my first Minerva Crafts blog post and am so pleased I have a bias binding foot for all that binding!!
Hihohiho it’s off to work I go!!!
Byeeeeee Xoxo
