Simplicity 8296 again in a dress

So I've made another Simplicity 8296 but in a dress. I made view E sleeves with length of B probably but I just used the length of 2 remnants from Spotlight. I think this is the first time in simply eons that I have made something in the current fashion, in current fashion fabric!

Here's the back... bad iPhone photo. I made a size 10 at the shoulders and armholes and then graded it out to the 18 at the hips. I could probably go to the 12 or 14 really... it's a bit swishy. I could also use a sway back adjustment too.

Bit of a daggy length though. I may take it up a smidge. I also like that this pattern has a bust dart but I make it a little shorter. I have the McCall's that's pretty much the same but no bust dart and no flat panel on the front. Plus it's a much narrower fit so this one is better for my shape. I probably wouldn't have bought this fabric if I'd seen it on a roll for $16 per metre, but as a cheap remnant I'm happier to test patterns. I don't mind this at all now it's made up. I was going to make this in a cut of rayon I did buy at Spotlight with a voucher my son gave me for Christmas last year, but then I loved it so much I wanted to test this dress first. I may make it up for Christmas day.

I wore this to our work Christmas celebration last night. My colleague neighbour kept stopping people telling them I made my dress! How embarrassment! Start to finish is probably 3 hours. Pretty quick dress. I also made the straps and instead of sewing them on, I'm going to make button holes on each end and then put buttons on the dress and voila, straps when I want them. The beauty with this dress also is I just wear my ordinary bra and pull the straps down. It was quite comfortable which surprised me but when you have larger breasts it's quite heavy on the shoulders so that is probably why. Also near impossible to get a strapless bra that gives you some support and comfort so I don't mind this.

I noticed this morning that the fabric is the same as the one on the back cover of the family Ottobre design magazine just out. Theirs is much more saturated colours and much more colourful (more colours) but it's the same print and their fabric is listed as viscose satin. That sounds nice.
If I can bear to part with some fabric, I'm going to make my sister one for Christmas and I just remembered I bought her some fabric years ago for a dress. (I have 4 sisters but I can't make tham all a dress... or maybe I can?)

Not sure what's next. Thanks for all the great comments too.

Paris, river cruise 2022 - photo bomb!

(this post has been in my drafts since July 2022 due to life circumstances. I'm just going to write just a little and then just show some photos) My friend worked on a Superyacht for many years and through this connection was offered a friends and family deal on a river cruise in Europe. It was a deal too good to miss even though it wouldn't have been a first choice for me for a holiday. She had done this trip before but during the winter taking in the Christmas markets. We were going in June 2022. We decided to have 5 nights in Paris (where I'd been 5 times before) and 2 nights in Amsterdam where my friend lived for 2 years in her youth. We flew into Frankfurt... not because we wanted to but because these were the only flights we could get but we worked with it. Remember great deal! So ok, a short (5hr), fast ride on the ICE/TGV trains got us to Paris eventually (one was late which missed the connection to the earlier TGV but there was one a bit after). We knew that w

YFASMA - Fabric shopping in Athens

I promised this post in March! Fabrics from Euro1 per metre! I didn't buy anything in this shop but there was some lovely fabrics. I did buy the green and pink one above on the right. A satin finish rayon. It is lovely. There was a lot of lovely fabrics in this shop. It wasn't cheap Euro 8 p.m. but I didn't have a lot of room in my bag and I wanted something I would really love. I also didn't buy anything in Paris this time. I did buy the fabric for a table cloth just across the way from this shop. I also bought some orange/white weave linen fabric for Euro 4 p.m. at another shop, which I think I'll make some summer trousers with. As I was going to the airport, I saw this dress on the platform and I really liked it. Very easy to do too, I went to the Benaki Museum while in Athens. There is actually 2 locations. In this one I saw lots of Greek and Cypriot cultural crafts. This was a bridal bed in Crete. There was lots of clothing, embroidery and gold jewellery.

The saddest dress, then a few more.

Well hello. It's been a while. It was 8 months from the last post to the previous one to that and it's a bit longer this time. The last day I wrote was 10 Jul 2021. On 12 July my son and I were finally seeing Tim Minchin after booking it before we went to Europe at the end of 2019. It was going to be April 2020, but changed a few times and although it was a school night (year 12 for Alex) we went for dinner and sat in the show. My Mum had gone to hospital that morning and my sister was still at the hospital with her. Just after interval I got a message on my phone, "get to the hospital now". So we raced out and to the hospital where. although it was a lockdown and no visitors allowed, all 10 of us were allowed to see Mum as she was end of life. I won't go into the whole thing but Mum didn't die that night, but because of lockdown, we were not allowed to go and see her until a week and a half later when we were allowed just to discuss palliative care. By the n

Sew Darn Tired

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