caitlin dress

Thanks so much for your lovely comments on my wintery purse making. However, despite feeling decidedly chilly and having a need for all things cosy, I'm still dressmaking with Summer in mind.

I've already made similar versions of this dress for the Model, here, here and here and all the while secretly longing for one for myself. It's never a good idea to want to wear your daughter's clothing but it was only a matter of time before I made one up in a 'big girl' size. It's a simple sleeveless shift dress in beautiful, drapey, Irish linen. That explains yet another Irish name, just like the others in my shop. And with its subtle pastel blue background and darker blue and beige stripes running down the length, I'm loving it.

I nearly called this the Napoli dress because I shall be holidaying not so far from Naples this Summer and you can betcha I'll be taking this dress along with me. But 'Caitlin' it is and so it remains true to its provenance. And on the subject of holidays, have you made any plans yet or do you tend to leave it till the last minute .. like we usually do?

Well folks, that's me done for this week, I'm off to get myself ready to meet up with a few bloggy gals. One I already know but the others I've not met before, so I shall let you have all the gossip next week. If you don't hear from me by Tuesday, please send a search party!

Happy weekend, everyone.

Don't forget, you can still enter the Urbanara giveaway, it's right here!

reverting to winter

Oh, well this is just ridiculous. My heating has been back on, clothes are being retrieved from the winter wardrobe and we've brought out blankets to cosy up the bed that was stripped of its high tog duvet only weeks ago.

And as an act of defiance, yesterday I said ya boo to this weather and sewed wool again.

I had put away my vintage wools in favour of lighter, more summery fabrics but what the heck. A touch of vintage lace, a soupçon of Liberty, an offering of natural dye left from my recent Tank et voila, a couple more purses. These are intended to go to the fair I mentioned a while ago, unless they get snapped up from here first.

Having said all that, as I look out of my window I can see bright, beautiful sunshine .. only my radio presenter tells me it'll be raining by mid afternoon, so talk about different seasons in a day. One good thing though. The hose pipe ban is being lifted tomorrow .. hmm, can't think why that would be now.

Enjoy your day, rain or shine.

Oh, and don't forget to enter my giveaway. See the previous post for that!

urbanara giveaway - NOW CLOSED

Have you had a good week? I do hope so. We Half Term-ed down in Dorset, which was wonderfully relaxing, as ever. My only gripe is we spent too long watching the rain pouring down the window frame (thankfully the right side of it) and wondering whether the Great British Summer has been and gone already. Even now that we're back, I must confess that the heating has come back on again. As per usual, not too many photos were taken but I may sift a couple out and post them later in the week.

I realise it's not so very long since I last had a giveaway but I recently received an email from a lovely lady at Urbanara asking me if I would care to check out their site. I think this is a fantastic shop and I thought perhaps you may think so too. If you've not heard of them before, prepare to be impressed as Urbanara offers high quality homewares at affordable prices. Their products are seriously lovely and most definitely worth a look. Linens and accessories for every room in the house, as well as the garden and the beach and you can read all about them here.

One of my favourite things is their Hammam towel. But to call it a towel is a bit of an understatement. Made of Turkish cotton and looking like something fresh from an upmarket bazaar in Istanbul, you could use this in a multitude of ways - wrap it round as a scarf or across your shoulders as a shawl, lay it along the foot of your bed, throw it over a comfy chair, fashion it as a sarong or cover the sand at the beach. And yes, ok, you could use it as a towel.

Urbanara have very kindly offered a giveaway prize of not one, but two fabulous Alanya Hammam towels and they are currently waiting, all ready to be sent to anywhere in the world that they may be needed. And for those of you who don't win one of these beauties, fear not because if you spend £50 or more, as a reader of this blog you qualify for a £15 discount. Just quote QWERT135 at their checkout.

There is no catch, everyone is welcome and all you need do is leave a comment on this post. Perhaps you could let me know what you think of the Urbanara site for example, or how you would use the Hammam towel. If you put the button (here, or on my side bar) onto your blog, or mention it on facebook/twitter etc, I will enter you as many times as you promote this giveaway. Don't forget to comment for each of these things you do, in case I do the random generator thingy.

Giveaway remains open until midnight GMT on Saturday 23rd June and two winners will be announced on the Monday. What a gift to receive just in time for the holidays.

Good luck everyone.

Jubilee

It's all about the Jubilee in London right now.

It's so uplifting to see the Union Jack bunting festooned in shop windows and outside in the street. Large UJ flags hanging from windows. UJ packaging in the shops. Even the schools are getting in on the act. Both the children are involved in street parties today, oh to be a fly on the wall, and it is 'home clothes' day. For the Model it is all about the red, white and the blue, so I made a quick dress for her to wear. It was very simple, just a front and two halves at the back. No additional sleeves but a little trim at the neckline and a button loop at the back. I didn't want to make too much effort as I don't see her wearing this much but all the same, I'm hoping she'll wear it when we go to the Olympic Games this summer; waving her flag as she cheers on .... oh wouldn't it good if it were team GB?

And that lovely boyo of mine? British fiction it is for him and his mates. Britain's finest ..

Expelliarmus!

Happy Jubilee weekend x

wild roses

The tropical weather we've been having lately has meant I'm pretty much up straight with the mountains of washing accumulated during the 'rainy season'. I know it's doubtless a sign of getting older but it feels so good, do you know where I'm coming from?

Another thing about this summer temperature is the longing to be by the sea, to feel its cooling breeze and to get some ozone. Here in London there isn't a whole heap of that to take in so I've changed my banner as a reminder every time I tune in to this little space of mine. On the flip side, however, the heat has kept me inside much of the time which can only mean one thing ..

I haven't made a single purse in oh such a long time, tut tut, but I've been asked to take a stall at a street market next month and thought I'd give it a whirl. I've not done one before. I've thought about it though, been invited to do it .. but somehow never jumped in. I blame the Husband's travels, then there are child care issues or going away for the holidays but really and truly, I think it's a lack of self confidence that's kept me away. Any advice on holding craft stalls would be so much appreciated by the way, the more guidance the merrier please?

Nevertheless, purses need making and I have the fabrics and zips. My mum gave me some of her Liberty lawn a while back, she'd been holding onto it for years and then, it goes without saying, so did I and now it's vintage! I finally decided to cut into it once I'd realised there wasn't quite enough to make the top I had in mind. For the purses I chose a couple of gloriously old French cottons, one a barkcloth and both featuring wild roses. They are both so lovely in their own right but barkcloth will always hold a special place in my heart, I just love that texture.

Needless to say they have gone into the shop, which I have neglected for far too long now .. too much dressmaking I imagine. And now I must get back to my endeavours, the garage have just warned us of a hefty repair bill for the engine light that keeps coming on and I'm already thinking it's going to take more than a few purses to sort that one out!

 See you all soon.

tatum

I've worked out the reason for the sudden heatwave here in the UK and I'm telling you it's me you have to thank for it. Has it been worn? Nope and right now I'm thanking my lucky stars the thing turned out too big!

Of course the onset of Summer is as good a reason as any to make some new clothes and this week I set to work on a shift dress for my growing girl. She chose Liberty's Tatum from the cupboard, bought from the wonderful Fabrics Galore, and then she decided on a little adornment in the form of a black lace collar. The dress, which is as straightforward as they come, is from Girls' Everyday Dress and there are some very sweet ones in this book. I lined it with cotton voile because I thought the collar might weigh the fine tana lawn down otherwise.

We have a lot of fun together, eyeing up my fabric selection and I've got to hand it to her, she's far more decisive than I'll ever be. She manages to chose a pattern, the fabric, any embellishment, etc in the blink of an eye and what's more remains consistent. Letting her loose on the button tin is always a bit high risk though, like mother like daughter I suppose, but this time she settled on a plain 'mop' purple one.

Do you like my new chair? It's not really new, just new to me and in fact it's very old. It belonged to the Husband's paternal grandmother, who did all the tapestry herself and then had it upholstered. I have to confess I've had my beady eyes on this beauty for many years and then just the other day the Husband brought it back in the boot of the car after visiting his mother. A wonderful surprise as you can imagine and I love the idea that this heirloom chair will be passed down to one of our two in years to come .. hopefully the Model's feet will touch the floor by then!

Happy weekend, bloggy buddies. I'm off to buy coconuts for my boy's scout fete this weekend. We're in charge of the shy! What are you up to?

wiksten tank

Have you looked out of the window yet? I suddenly spied the sunshine we've been promised today and got the self timer going on my latest quick fix. Loving these quick sewing projects!

After the success of the Tova (which I have worn a lot), I bought the other Wiksten pattern available, the Tank. To be honest, I nearly didn't buy this one because it's such a simple piece. However, there are so many rave reviews out there, and I'm never one to miss out ...

It was a really lovely project to do. Truly simple, indeed, so I took time to get it perfectly perfect, even matching up the pocket to the rest of the fabric front. Can you see it? This top has French seams, which I'd never done before. They are wonderful to do and look so neat too, not to mention a brilliant solution if you don't own an overlocker/serger.

The fabric was one of two lots brought back from Maiwa in Vancouver last month. It has been naturally dyed and hand printed in India on organic cotton and I absolutely loved sewing with it. It's lovely and soft but because of the lack of chemicals in the dyeing process, apparently the colours won't be as durable as other 'normal' fabrics. We shall see.

It's all set to be 25 degrees in London this afternoon. Could it be Summer, perhaps? Fingers crossed it is!

Hoping you have a sunny view today too.