Some thankyous and a dress

First off a big thanks to Jay from Finki who chose me to win this fabulous tee.

I couldn't believe it. 

A black tee with my very own little birdie on it. 

Of course, it doesn't look this good on me which is why I stole her picture.

And then not long after that I get an email to say that I have won this fabulous lot of fabrics.

Karen from And so, I sew was doing a bit of a clean out at her place and had three different colour lots up for grabs in a giveaway.

My eyes almost popped when I saw these reds. I just love batik and so I chose them.

Of course, I forgot to read the fine print and thought they were probably just fat quarters and how good would that be. 

But you know what?

They aren't fat quarters. They came in two metre lengths. 

A huge heavy parcel.

What a fabulously generous lady. Thankyou so much Karen.

Well I can tell you I was inspired. 

With a little push from DD!, who incidentally has put dibs on the linen look fabric for a tiered skirt, I decided to actually do something.

Not just dream about it but really do something.

I looked around and thought what a nuisance it was going to be to get my meagre supply of patterns out but then I spied this lovely sitting in a corner on my sewing table.

I can't actually remember buying it but of course I must have. I would say it was a recent acquisition from an op shop because all my old patterns are also way too small for me.

Anyway the floor was clean enough for me to spread the material on it and cut out this super simple dress. I did fiddle a bit and fortunately measured my hips before cutting so that I could add the extra for my curvaceous figure. I added a little extra in the back seam and also a lovely curve from the waist out on the side seams.

A few darts later and two goes at fitting the zip and here we have a dress.

I've discovered that I don't actually need the zip if the neckline is cut lower as I did it and I also needed an extra dart coming in from the sleeve hole to near the nipple line to take up the slack in the armhole.

All in all a very happy few hours of sewing. 

Thankyou so much Karen for sending me this fabric which has inspired me to use a pattern for the first time in years.

PS. I just checked my emails and found out I've won another giveaway!

A copy of the handmade living book from The Craft Revival.

Incredible.

Hope my postie doesn't mind!

Cheerio!