Prima ballerina

Pattern: Dixie DIY ballet dress
Size: M
Fabric: Purple viscose jersey and stone stretch lace

I admit that I ignored this pattern at first, believing it to be boring and something one could easily buy in the shops. In another part of my brain, I've been wanting to sew something with lace for a long time but had been putting it off as I'd not found quite the right thing to make. And then it dawned on me that a really simple pattern and shape could be just the thing! And so, the ballet dress was born.

Flasher alert!

Pattern: McCall's 5525
Size: 14
Fabric: Stripe poly suiting from Birmingham meat market (no joke) 

Oh my. I hardly know where to begin! I feel like I've been working on this trench coat for years. However, as I only bought the fabric on our trip to Birmingham at the end of May, sense dictates it can only have been with me for two months. Still, that's a long time for a girl who usually likes to whip up a dress in not much more than a weekend. I confess I haven't been working on it constantly - there was a big gap in the middle where I realised it's a super-warm garment and therefore some summer dresses would be more useful in the recent heatwave.

In the land of yoghurt and honey

Pattern: Miz Mozelle by Jamie Christina
Size: 12
Fabric: Cotton jersey from Birmingham rag market

Prize for the prettiest pattern booklet ever goes to...Jamie Christina for Miz Mozelle! What a treat to have a beautiful, shiny, full-colour booklet for instructions! It's fun seeing how the different designers choose their design and packaging. This one can't have been cheap, but did make me extremely happy the whole time I was using it.

It's a hell of a day at sea, Sir!

Pattern: Gathered Sundress from Pattern Runway
Size: 12
Fabric: Polycotton from Minerva Crafts and Mason's

This is actually the second pattern I've made from Pattern Runway, but the first one won't be making an appearance quite yet. Pattern Runway have quickly become my favourite indie pattern producer for the simple reasons that the patterns are gorgeous and unusual, they fit really well, the instructions are fantastically clear and usable, and they come as PDFs. Yay!! The whole process was easy and enjoyable except for I seem to have lost the ability to insert a zip - this one went in and came out about 5 times for assorted stupid reasons (one time because I'd put it in back to front - idiot!) and it's still not very neat.

A brace of beautiful blouses

Pattern: New Look 6808

Size: 12

Fabric: Version 1 - Fruit print from Minerva Crafts

Another pattern that has been hanging around for ages and I'm so glad I finally made one! I don't have a lot of luck with tops. You may not realise this, as I'm sneaky and don't blog my failures! I've tried a Banksia, a Mathilde, a Lydia and none of them have worked. The Banksia was sickeningly twee, Mathilde didn't suit my body shape, Lydia was just god awful (see below!). Whilst a good stack of jersey tees is always good, it's nice to have some more special tops too.