It has been a while

It has been quite some time since I last blogged.  So much has happened.  The company I work part-time for merged to form a new organisation called Community Action Suffolk and we have been undergoing a re-structure. The management team has been in place for a couple of months now and as of this week staff are all in place so we now start the exciting phase of stepping forward and making this seed of an organisation grow.
All this excitement in my work life has meant that I have not had much time for sewing, so this has been put on hold a bit.
One high light back in the spring was being commissioned to make an Edwardian skirt for a lady who was going to the Beamish Museum with her vintage bicycle group and needed an an Edwardian skirt she could cycle around the museum all day in.  My skirt made the front cover of their cycle club magazine - The Veteran Cycle Club

And last week I filled an order for custom made petticoat for a lady who is having a Gold and Navy themed wedding.

I am hoping to get some more sewing done and create some new stock for my Etsy shop in the next few weeks - watch this space...

The Prom Dress Fiasco

Wow! After a very stressful day my daughter looks stunning. Today is prom day and the dress she designed and wanted to make was not finished; it needed flowers to be sewn to the train and the lace skirt trimmed to the correct length at the front. I had to work in the morning and half way through I got a panicky phone call - It had all gone wrong. The front of the dress was ruined and the lace was all cut wrong. I suggested added in the scalloped edged of the lace to hem at the front of the dress then no-one would know that anything had gone wrong. She was distraught, so I said that she was to leave it until I got home and I would fix it - no problem. I left work and arrived home at 1.30pm. There were three and a half hours to go before she had to go for prom photos. I carried out my suggestion and the remaining flowers were sewn to the front and all was finished with half an hour to spare to do her nails. Here is the dress.... In the morning she was talking of not going because everything went wrong, but thanks to mum's rescue plan, it all came out right and she had a great time.

Snow Time

The snow is here and my home made designer winter coat is falling to pieces. This is not good timing. It will take a while to take it to pieces to repair the detail and put in a new lining, which is what it needs. The actual fabric of the the coat is fine. My solution is to create a new coat. I am using a 1940’s pattern and some home spun Scottish fabric in green and grey checks. It will look great. I only hope it is going to be big enough for me as although I have made it bigger than the original, it still looks like it may be a tad tight. I will use the new coat once it is finished whilst I will take my old coat to pieces and rebuild it. Once my old coat is finished; new ribbons are sewn up the seams and the new lining is put in, then the 1940’s repro coat can be sold on Etsy in my shop Pettycoatjane.