Beautiful day

The weather is gorgeous here today – lots of sun. I’ve pulled up some potatoes from 2 of the 3 tubs, but the 3rd I’m going to leave a little longer as it hasn’t flowered yet. I have lots of strawberries growing, and some peas are sprouting and so all is well with the world. It sounds silly but I get a real buzz from looking out at my food growing efforts 🙂
Oh, and I’ve been sewing…



[Let’s play a game. The first picture I have GIANT hands, and TINY feet, so guess what angle super tall DB took the pic from… The other two pics show a certain lazy sun-loving cat in the background. Can you spot him?]
For my birthday work bought me (amongst other things) a fabby fabby book called Sew What! Skirts, which I’d already seen Ruth review, and lusted after 🙂 It helps you plot out your own skirts without a pattern (you can make your own pattern too, but so far I’ve been happy to work straight onto the fabric), and it is so easy I could barely believe it. I’ve struggled with finding the right fit, or even just making something, from a shop bought pattern in the past, and finally I feel like I can sew, fix mistakes and alter what I’ve made. The book is never patronising, just very straightforward, and perfect for anyone who is scared of sewing garments. I’m in love with it.
First up I made the a-line drawstring with some cheap fabric from the market (this is NOT the skirt in the photo I should point out). Unsurprisingly drawstrings and my body don’t go together, but I wanted to try the easiest quickest one just to get started and build my confidence up. It worked 😀 Yeah it doesn’t do much for me, but it fits, and it worked, and I won’t be ashamed to wear it in the garden on a sunny day like today. And because I went straight to marking the shape to cut on the fabric, it made my sewing confidence go sky high. I might still take a bit off the length to shorten it so I can wear it lower with less ruching. I also messed up in some spots – misplacing the buttonhole for the drawstring, and next time I’ll finish the fabric edges first instead of after the side seams like the book suggested, but in spite of those it is still a wearable skirt 😀
The pics are of the a-line fitted skirt in Amy Butler’s Wall Flower fabric, which I have fallen in love with completely. I didn’t do an amazing job with this skirt I’m afraid – the waist had too much ease, so I first tried taking in the side seam, and then realised AFTER fitting the facing that it was still too big so I added some last minute darts to the front. That’s the lumpy bit you can see in the front of the skirt 🙁 I didn’t do a great job of those darts I confess, so I’m debating whether to unpick them or not. BUT I could use opinions of other people – DB is being all manly and tells me I can wear the skirt wherever I want if I feel comfortable in it, and refused to tell me if I looked stupid in it. Is this something I can wear in public e.g. to work, people? Honest answers please (and especially opinions from sewers please!). I still intend to go and buy more of this print and try and do a better job though 😀 I loooooove this print… I’ve also got a Free Spirit fabric (the green and brown mod dandilion type one from the Sole range) sitting on the radiator waiting for me to pick a pattern. I’ve got enough for a pleated skirt but I might just have another go at the fitted a-line with it till I nail that style properly. At least I can fit a zip reasonably well though now 😀