Where's my pattern?

Dagnabit, I had all hopes of at least starting my ginger skirt this weekend, but the pattern hasn't arrived :( No fair!  Ahh well I did spend some quality time with my mum and my sister doing some Wedding dress shopping and I finally have some ideas about the dress that I want. Progress at last! Best get a wriggle on though September's getting a bit close...

Is joining a Sew-Along!

The Ginger Sew-Along to be exact, since I've never made a skirt and I don't know where to even begin with adjustments, and a muslin? What is that?!? Eeekk! My pattern is on order and since its at the picking fabric stage I'm not behind just yet.  It's going to be nice to see what I learn along the way, so far I've learnt that a darker zip/thread is better - I'll take that with me thank you very much :)

In other news:
I've also ordered the Colette Macaron.
I've named my Dress From - She's called Maybell
I've had some me time with Maybell and she's now adjusted to be more like me (including the addition of a bra, Maybell's boobies just aint what they should be)
I've decided on my next project and it includes some Goldenhawk Road fabric!  The pattern is traced, next step fabric cutting!

Now I should really introduce you properly to my Meet Dress:

Sorry for the bathroom pic, its the only place with good light and a big mirror :(

The Facts:
Fabric: 2m Cotton Print £6.60 p/m (ordered 3.5...(Stupid Pattern)) 1m Blue Habutai (Colour Code #35) £2.50p/m both from Quick Fabrics (fab site and free samples, bonus!) Lining - Stash
Pattern: New Look 6699 View E+K+M
Notions: White invisible zip £1.59
First Worn: 14th May 2011!
Wear again?: Yes, most likely at my soon to be sister-in-laws wedding.
Total Cost: £17.29

Close-up shots:

I've made the pattern before so I knew what alterations I needed to make with the dress.  The first being those dang straps!  The first one I made were too big so they fell down at every opportunity, and every non opportunity I swear the last time I wore the first dress I folded them under my bra straps to keep them in place!  The second one was I had issues matching things up in the back so I added an extra bit to the back pattern pieces just incase.  Aside from that it all went together pretty well, the instructions are ok with a few "You want me to do what?" moments but for the most of it I just went with what I felt was right.  I also added extra lining to the dress as it doesn't call for lining in the skirt but as this is a mostly white dress I felt it best to add some (at least enough for butt coverage!)

I'm so happy with the way it turned out and making it the second time around definately helps, hmmm maybe thats what a muslin is all about.... but I'm not sure I want to buy fabric just for that purpose!

What a day!

Wow!  Yesterday was just amazing!  Not only was it my birthday but I got to meet some really amazing people too.  It all started with the bestest presents from B

I've been jabbering about getting one for ages so he got me one, and its the one I wanted too.  The one with the legs for when I get brave enough for trousers!  He also got me a few books I've been eyeing up Creepy Cute and World of Geekcraft, also the new album by one of my favourite bands Foo Fighters. He's been a good boy and paid attention to my mindless muttering about randomness :)

All that before 7.30 am on a Saturday too! Wow, but it was by no means the end of the fun for the day. I was up, out of the house and en route to London baby! I just had to tackle what felt like a million football fans first, damn Cup Final on the same day!

Anyway I made it to London without much trouble and met up with the fabulous ladies of the UK part of The Sew Weekly and we had an amazing time.  We had our pictures taken, and not just by us too, lots of random people decided that they should take pictures of us too... (I only took one picture on the day so the credit for any of these is not mine)

Picture credit to Sofia

All of us had made out outfits especially for the meeting, and they were all fabulous (just like all of the ladies who made them).  This is my outfit (Pattern is New Look 6699)

Picture Credit to Debi

So after picture taking we went off to view an exhibit by Yohji Yamamoto - such fabulous clothes but we couldn't take photo's so I've got to try and remember what I saw.. eek! There was a gorgeous green jacket with purple detailing, some amazing pleats (which Debi and I were in awe off and though they had been done by hand until I remembered there was such a thing as a pleating machine, still awed by it but not as much), the crazy sculpted dress that looked like she should have been riding a horse, the "Narnia" dress and sooo many others.  Now you can't go to a museum without visiting the gift shop and the gift shop at the V&A is such a mind bender, the price of some things! Now as sewers we know the amount of effort that goes into the making of things so we know when something is well made and we know when something is a good price, but the prices were something else here! (I think a list is needed now)

• The Horrockes Dress - £95! (Charlotte made her own from the free pattern, which is sooooo much better)
• A Bag - £85 (its got 4 seams and its not even lined!)
• Kilt Pin - £15 (for a kilt pin!!)

Anyway enough of that and back to the fun :) yay! After the shock we ventured to Goldenhawk road. It's like the mecca of fabric streets for some shopping and pattern swapping! You walk 5 steps and your in another fabric shop (heaven).
The pattern swap was mental soo many patterns we were like kids in a sweet shop (this one I got a picture of!)

I had to leave the girls a little early to ensure I snagged a little bit of fabric as my train home was earlier than everybody else.  Luckily Mimi and Marie also had to go a bit earlier so I didn't feel quite as bad, but you can't go to fabric street mecca and not go fabric shopping can you!

Here are the fabrics and the patterns I got (along with a fabulous crochet flower Charlotte made!)

So after a dash around some of the shops I went to get my train, thank god I did because the lady who sat opposite me should have got on a train that was 20 mins earlier and as her ticket was only for that train she had to pay for one for the one she was on at the price of £69!  I nearly fainted!

But the day didn't end there, when I got home I had a few friends round to for birthday drinkies! The perfect end to a perfect day

More is better

I've finished my dress for the meet up on Saturday, yay! (well it would have been yay if I hadn't just realised I wanted to put pockets in it and didn't actually do it, back to the sewing machine...)  Here is a sneaky snippet of the dress and the bit I am most proud of, the invisible zip!

I've wondered why I bothered with the back of the pattern envelope for the amount of material I needed to make this.  For some reason it counts each part of the dress as a separate thing - bust, midriff and skirt - so it applies the amount of fabric needed for each bit when you can easily fit the bust pieces around the skirt pieces... So I've ended up with twice as much fabric as I needed, thing is though I have made this before and done the exact same thing... Ah well too much is better than not enough because this would be a whole different post if I hadn't got enough!

Ugly List

I was rather pleased to receive an e-mail from my favourite online sewing shop Jaycotts earlier as they announced a 50% off sale on vogue patterns.  So I think "Oooh this might be a good chance to get some vogue patterns in my stash" (full well knowing I don't actually have the cash for it since I'll spend too much at the Sew Weekly meeting next Saturday (EXCITED!!))

So I go and have a browse, and I am totally distracted by an ugly pattern that I can't pick anything to buy (probably for the best anyway)

So the one that made the ugly list is V1181, and not just the ugly pattern cover list I have no idea how anybody can make this look cute!

For anybody who actually falls in love with this, please send me a pic of it made up and prove me wrong, but I just can't see its appeal...