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No sewing here this week due to an uncooperative work schedule. I have however  managed to find enough time to stuff some crocheted budgies! They're completely mad, I do hope they make you smile!

Sneaky Peek

I just got my sneaky peek at the new Colette pattern, however, I promised not to let the cat out of the bag so I won't!
I'm excited to see it made by real girls with curves though, I'm sure it won't be long....

No One Laughed - Result!

Not without it's problems but today I wore it in public and no one laughed!

As far as I can tell it's just all round too big and the bodice is slightly too long but you know what? - I'm super pleased that it's wearable and well constructed and given that its my first ever 'marker pen' pattern I even feel a teensy bit proud of it.

OK, I didn't design it from scratch or anything but I wasn't too disheartened when my pattern for the wrapalong arrived and it was too small. My Ramona met my Moneta and my hybrid was born.

Question - Do I persevere and get this pattern spot on or buy a proper one for my next wrap dress, what would you do?

I need a sewing buddy!

Well I finished the wrap dress! It's truly 'not bad'. I took my time finishing, adding binding around the whole edge of the dress. There are a few reasons for this:-

1: It helps lift the dark charcoal grey from funereal to fun.
2: I'm not yet ready to go with a solid colour, I love my prints.
3: I do like the shape of the wrap and the binding shows it off better.

While it turned out better than I ever imagined it's going to need tweaking somewhat to get it right, this is the bit where I need a buddy! Someone who could tug and pull and pin until it looks better. As it is it's wearable.....

I will try to get a picture of me wearing it tomorrow, I actually think it looks better on me than on my body double, I can only assume that's because I'm sort of squishy and she's just hard.

A work in progress I think. I will tweak my tablecloth pattern and attempt an improved version, I have this amazing camo fabric..............

The Sewcial Club HQ

The Sewcial club HQ
Aka The spare room

Sew far so good

The anti wrapalong dress is coming along slowly but steadily. An ouchy pin laden try on suggests that boobage will be contained in the appropriate place!
A rare extra day off tomorrow may see near completion.
Fingers crossed xx

Welcome to the Sewcial Club

And sew.......here's my anti wrapalong! 

This first post may well make those lovely ladies at the curvy sewing collective weep. 

I'm not much of a joiner inner - but then i'm really not much of a dressmaker either, however, i was drawn by the prospect of making a wrap dress, doing it while there was good advice going free seemed like a no brainer. 

So, i pondered patterns, then picked one no-one else had chosen (note to self: this should have been a clue!), I already have fabric, a nice charcoal jersey measuring 3.5 on my stretchability scale, out of 5 just in case you're wondering. I was in business....... .......until the pattern arrived! it's lovely. 

There are beautifully photographed examples of the designer wearing several dresses to illustrate the various options, from ethereal beauty to modern funky. Sadly, she isn't as 'ample' as i am so it's not really surprising that it was never going to fit me, even the biggest size fell multiple inches short! 

Now, if reading all those fabulous blogs has taught me anything it's that patterns can be graded up and down, so all is not lost! However, I completely ignored all the tutorials - I used my trusty Moneta pattern, some paper table cloths (cheap, big and quite strong) and a marker pen! The result is what you see here.....

......if it comes anything close to being wearable I'll be astonished, it may just be the new wrapover dressing gown that I always wanted, it may of course go to live in the bin. Undeterred, for now anyway, the next step will be cutting the fabric.

Please come back for part 2 of my anti-wrapalong. In the meantime i shall leave you with another photograph that you can laugh at! Don't be shy.....you know you want to!

BTW, I don't know how to fix the neckline on the unfinished dress on my body double either!

More soon xx