I made a dress, finally!

Yes, it’s been a long time since I first shared my patterns and unexpected plans, a little over two years in fact - doesn’t time fly, when you’re enjoying yourself - we even moved house!

But in that time things were whirring slowly, especially since we moved house and got settled, but I got the fear. I had that gorgeous material, remember the embroidered chambray, and what if I messed it all up?

WHAT IF I MESSED THIS BEAUTIFUL MATERIAL UP?

Striking a chord

But then again I didn’t buy it to sit in a cupboard did I?

And something that Tracey Symonds, a semi-finalist in series 4 of the Great British Sewing Bee who led the Learning to Love your Overlocker workshop I went on in January last year, said struck a chord. At the end of the workshop we were all talking about projects we’d yet to start, and Tracey insisted that before starting anything, and cutting into expensive material, we should make a toile. And if that toile became wearable then that’s a double win.

A double win because you’ve practiced and learnt how to sew the pattern on material that’s most likely a lot cheaper than the material you’ve fallen in love with, and if it’s wearable you’ll have two outfits now that you’re confident enough to cut into the other piece that had been giving you the fear.

It’s not something I’d ever considered before, but I could see it had legs. And so I thought I’d go one better than that, as I was sure that I’d have fabric to make a version of the ‘Essential Denim Dress’ even if it wasn’t denim.

And I did.

Cue two old shirts of MOH’s (chambray and blue/white checked), and old sun dress of mine (green/white floral) and a larger piece of checked and floral Laura Ashley material, which I’d used to cover a headboard in my Croydon house - yes, of course I still had it!

Sew, sew, stop

Fired up I took the pattern and material along to my March 2024 sewing group and cut out the pattern and most of the fabric - I was surprised at how much time this took - I wish I’d had enough time to cut out all of the fabric pieces there, as that didn’t happen for another month or so.

But eventually I started sewing. And the pattern was as easy to use as I’d been promised - phew. Over the next few weeks I followed that and had the bones of the dress together. All that was left to do was finish the neck, sew the sides together and the bottom hem. I tried it on and wasn’t sure, so it hung in my craft room cupboard for longer than I care to remember.

Alterations for the win

At the end of April I saw the George Broderie Anglaise dress modelled by Jasmin Le Bon in a magazine (I forget which) and fell in love with it. It was the ‘hot’ dress of the season according to the article and so I ordered it almost on the spot - at £18 I thought I probably couldn’t go wrong.

It came, I collected it and tried it on and it swamped me - but I still loved it and realised with a few tweaks (shortening the sleeves, lowering the neck and possibly some darts) it would be fantastic. Which made me realise what I didn’t like about my half finished dress - the neck was too high.

And doh! Wasn’t that in my gift as I was making the dress? Of course it was, so I made a template from a dress that I’m more than happy with the neckline of and cut into my toile. Happy with the neckline, finishing it off was a breeze.

BTW I’ve yet to start the alterations on the Broderie Anglaise dress!

MY SEW DIFFERENT ‘ESSENTIAL DENIM DRESS’ - CLEARLY NOT DENIM

A CLOSE UP OF THE TOP HALF, AND THE PINK BIAS BINDING ON THE INSIDE OF THE NECK

A CLOSE UP OF THE POCKET - WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE IS THAT THE INSIDE IS THE PLAIN BLUE MATERIAL, BECAUSE THERE WASN’T ENOUGH WHITE/BLUE CHECK MATERIAL!

AND INSIDE OUT

My learnings

The biggest one was clearly that I could amend the pattern as I wanted to, there is no pattern police so it’s ok to go off piste if it means i) you’ll finish the item and ii) you’ll actually wear it!

More specifically for this pattern next time I’ll:

• use my overlocker instead of zigzaging the seams,

• cut the neck much lower - I have a template now,

• potentially adjust the shoulder seams so the neck doesn’t sag too much,

• take care with the pocket so it’s not too baggy - if this one is baggy when I’m wearing it I’ll add a popper, and

• leave larger gaps for the arms for a looser and more comfortable fit.

I’ve even worn my dress out, in public - and it didn’t fall to bits!

It seemed only right that its first outing was to a sewing group meeting, but I think there’ll be more - both outings and dresses! Which is just as well as I’ve a few more in mind for this style, including that embroidered chambray above.

My garden in June

Well it seems the good weather did continue didn’t it - right the way through June! Though thankfully, even though I was away, no more of my plants have crisped up. The roses though have had a tough time, and after recovering from the crispiness last month came the white fly, and then the black fly - but they’re still going, so it’s no wonder that roses are quickly becoming known as one of the most tolerant and hardy plants.

When we came home it was clear they’d flowered, and I was sorry to have missed those flowers - along with the iris and the yucca in the front border, sigh! Note to self: go on holiday at a different time of year!

I’d also missed my peonies flowering, but at least I still saw some of the petals which had fallen. There’s one bud remaining, but that is steadfastly refusing to flower, no doubt sulking!

Our lavender bushes were clearly not sulking though, they were full of flower and scent, and they gave a hint of what else the garden had to offer. We knew it had been warm while we were away and so I was keen to see how my pots had fared.

But first, the borders seemed to have fared ok, even thrived. I missed seeing the yucca flowers in all its glory, this was all that remained of the fading flowers, so that will have to wait for another year, probably a few in reality.

The crab apples were plentiful and still crab apple-ing, as they do.

And the tomatoes were doing well, there was the hint of a teeny tiny fruit when we got home and over the next few days and weeks with more regular watering, and feeding both plants have produced many trusses of tomatoes. I’m particularly obsessed with the black variety, and the largest of those is currently just a bit larger than a good sized cherry tomato.

The roses were still throwing up buds, and the promise of more flowers - which have been well and truly delivered since we’ve been home. More deadheading is required right now, but I’m hopeful that these will give us enough flowers to be able to enjoy.

My quest to find the perfectly sized standard olive tree started. And in fact it concluded pretty quickly, on only the second garden centre we visited. Up to this point, I never realised how many different sized and shaped olive trees were in garden centres, but I found the size and height that I was after, and after a bit of active demonstrating with various pots and a strong dose of imagination I persuaded MOH it was the perfect one.

He didn’t seem that convinced, but we bought it anyway. Now I realised my issue is having enough soil - and not just bagged compost - for the very large pot it’s destined for. I’ve also been trying to source some of that large, chunky polystyrene to use as drainage, but I haven’t had much joy with that either… yet!

I’ve a trugful of other plants to plant up too - these are mostly herbs and succulents from our short garden centre Olive hunt and some spoils from our day at Gardeners’ World Live, I need to do these really. I even have a pot plan for which goes where, such is the short supply of proper pots right now, and I’m in that place of not knowing where to start. Of course I know the answer, which of course is just to start as that’s the best thing to do.

This is the current status of my sickest bay tree, and it too has made quite a recovery. There’s still some yellow leaves but the diluted tomato feed and some general care and attention, and probably also some sun has done wonders.

Elsewhere the Southern Globe Thistles bought at the Newark Garden Show are starting to form their globes, which I hope will turn blue during the next month or two. And in the last few days I’ve noticed that one of my succulents (bought at last year’s Gardeners’ World Show) is also starting to flower - I’m excited to see what that brings.

The berries on the Rowan tree are starting to turn towards orange from green, and there’s plenty of them too. I’m looking forward to seeing their pops of bright orange again, though I don’t want to wish the summer away.

And yes, the peony bud still hasn’t flowered - and in all honesty, it’s probably not going to now. But what’s almost as fascinating is the pattern and structure of the basal plate where the fallen bloom once was. It’s quite a piece of art, isn’t it?

This June...

At the end May we were away flying to Chicago from Heathrow just after the Bank holiday, and my plan was to stay off socials pretty much, which with the time difference was a good call. It meant that in the run up to our break I was busy getting ahead of myself and scheduling blog posts for the duration of our trip. Staying off socials meant that I didn’t want to include details of the trip in my May update, but I’m happy to do that now.

USA baby

We flew to Chicago spending four nights there exploring both the city and the nature it offered. My highlights here were the boardwalks by the Lincoln Park Zoo, trying (and being beaten) by a Chicago Deep Dish pizza in the city of its name, and a fabulous birthday meal at Gibson’s Chicago Steakhouse. Next we took an Amtrak train across to Seattle, this epic adventure took 2 days and 2 nights, and while it wasn’t exactly luxury it was a great experience.

We spent four nights in Seattle - my best moment was our visit to the Dale Chihuly exhibition and gardens in the grounds of the Space Needle, truly, truly amazing. I’ve so many more pictures to share from this, and the whole trip, but here’s a teaser:

And Canada too

Then we were back on the Amtrak, this time taking a much shorter journey across the border to Vancouver for another four nights. Here we met up with MOH’s cousin and her family; we haven’t seen them for far too many years and it was great to spend time with them. There was lunch, brunch and another lunch out and a seaplane trip for some, and a good old natter and catch up for others.

We stayed in English Bay, a very chill part of Vancouver which was even busier than usual as a lot of Canadians seemed to be staying home rather than heading over the border this year, and the high unexpected temperatures. Luckily we’d packed for all eventualities, but we were close to running out of our more summery clothes - which is far better than not having the opportunity to wear them at all.

We celebrated our eighteenth wedding anniversary while in Vancouver, and to mark the occasion we hired bikes and did a couple of laps around Stanley Park. A couple of laps was unintentional, but we hadn’t realised that the path was one way, so once we’d found the Totem Poles we decided to just go around again. That worked out well as we realised when we stopped just how warm it was - and don’t worry, I’d hired an e-bike so it really was fine by me.

Actually the e-bike worked out well - picture the Canadian equivalent of a Boris bike and you’re close to the model I had, and even that meant I enjoyed the ride much more than on a manual bike, so it’s something I’m seriously considering now we’re home.

Hot, hot, hot

It seems the unexpected heat came home with us as we walked back into a heatwave when we got off the plane at Heathrow, and there’s been another one this past weekend. It has been very warm, and uncomfortable - but strangely very windy too.

That first weekend we were back we headed off to Gardeners’ World Live in Birmingham (#Ad - I was invited to and provided with a pair of tickets for the show) visiting on the last day of the show for the first time. Given the scarcity of public transport options here on a Sunday morning I drove there in my new car - my first long drive, and that was great as it really gave me the opportunity to get used to it. Which seems a strange thing to say as although it’s the same make and model as my previous car, this one’s a hybrid - and I must say, I’m loving the petrol consumption and efficiency.

Wildly blissful

I’ve also spent the last week on the month at home alone, and it’s been bliss. I’ve had things planned in most days and I’ve kept myself busy, even starting my Essex Linen kisses quilt - more on that tomorrow. MOH has spent the week in Ireland cycling parts of the Wild Atlantic Way with some of his cycling buddies, and while the timing has been a bit of ‘everything all at once’, to be honest I’m surprised they managed to make it happen at all.

The weather there was more in keeping with what you’d imagine from a route with wild in its name, with temperatures a good ten degrees below those here. He told me that everything he took was damp, and needs drying out, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to that when he got home!

In more mundane news, I’ve got the right sized olive tree for my large pot - but I don’t think I have enough soil to fill the pot, and so far nothing has come of my post in the local Facebook groups, so it’s likely that we’ll be off to the garden centre again soon.

Post-holiday food shopping really is dull, though the offer on a favourite Rose wine sweetened the trip a little. The heat pump was serviced, and a small leak was eliminated. MOH’s been to see a chiropractor, which seems to be doing the trick, I’ve had my annual health check - and passed (I think!), and treated myself to a luxurious 90 minute massage, and I’ve been along to a new-to-me DanceFit class, as sadly while I was away my regular Zumba class ended. I’m very sad about that.

But the best thing about being back?

Finally, a decent cup of tea, how I missed a cuppa while I was away!

If you want to read my previous monthly updates in my ‘This is’ series you’re very welcome.