Dressmaking Part Two.

A lovely weekend despite the overcast weather clothing Cornwall of late. We still had fun with trips to the cinema, fruit picking and watching Dave belting out songs with his school staff band at a 'gig' (I use the term loosely as it was a Fun Day, but they really are a very good band and Dave really is a very good if very growly singer much suited to the likes of Nickleback & Reef type songs!). Anyhow, first up comes the fruit.



Isabella was supposed to be holding the bowl for me to gently drop the berries into, but from my precarious position I could see they were fast disappearing into her mouth. Fortunately, the thought of playing horses on the prop that supports our very old and wonky pear tree was more appealing than being moaned at by me.



A daydreamy moment while riding the plains.



We (I) picked so many that a batch of tayberry jam seemed a good idea. Just look at the richness of this bowlful.



And so on to the dressmaking stint of the previous weekend, the one where I sewed three articles in one day with no pattern and a lot of luck. This is item number two - a skirt for Lucy made from a hacked about skirt of her older sister, Lauren. It went from this...



to this: A flicky skirt with two ruched sections in the front decorated with black ribbon to keep a slightly more grown up feel (well, she is twelve now you know).



I actually found it quite hard to photograph the ruched bits to show how they lift to form a sort of gathered section which adds a little interest to an otherwise fairly simple skirt.



It was very easy to do and could be achieved either by shirring a small section vertically or, as I did on this skirt, merely using a gathering thread to pull up the amount you want before securing with a few stitches on the machine.



We liked the effect so much that I feel many of our clothes could be receiving this treatment. It is also very forgiving as it can be used to hide an uneven hemline - obviously I am not suggesting for one moment that any of you would be so shoddy as to do such a thing, but frankly my three items were patternless and hurried, hence a little manipulation was required and this was the result!



One happy lady more than happy to pose.



My little Sweetie x

What did your weekend hold? x