Note from the Mrs

And another few months have gone without posting. It's not even as if my husband (still getting used to that) and I went away on a honeymoon! My Wonderful Man and I had a truly fabulous wedding, and of course it is time to show you the pictures of my dress making.

This is a picture of me with my dad on the steps of Marylebone Town Hall before the ceremony: look at the train on that dress! The pattern I used is Vogue 2883, with minor alterations: I inserted a zip in the left side seam instead of buttons down the back (strangely enough I couldn't find buttons in the right colour...), and I closed the center back neck instead of using a button there: I just didn't think that made any sense. The fabric I used was a beautiful silk dupioni, and it was great to work with: easy to cut and sew, an supereasy to iron once I figured out the correct setting! Even though the dress consists of an enormous amount of fabric (I used about 18 meters), the fact that the silk was lightweight made it feel like I was wearing a little summer dress. Although never before did I wear a summer dress with a petticoat underneath. In this picture you can see my friend Esther helping me into my dress. She is wearing a stunning backless dress we made from KnipMode November 2007 (nr. 14). My family all came over from Holland and the US and our friends from near and far were there to celebrate with us. My husband (see, getting easier already) had arranged for all of the men to wear morning suits with different coloured ties, and when we left Town Hall the men all put on sunglasses and acted like Men in Black for the picture...

Added: In the evening we danced our behinds off, and in order for people not to trip over my train, I had sewn a little piece of ribbon on the inside of the center back seam that I tied to a piece of ribbon slightly higher up. I'll have to take a picture of that to show you.

Tried and True it is!

My WM and I are off to Holland for a very short weekend break tonight, so I will not have time to sew this weekend. I was at McCulloch & Wallis for about 20 minutes this week, and managed to pick up a shedload of thread, shoulder pads, invisible zippers, buttons, fusable interfacing and even a few patterns, so I'm ready to sew next week! Now that I have the thread I can finally make the button holes in my linen jacket, even though I'm not going to wear it anytime soon...

My pin stripe project will start off on Monday, and I will be making the trousers from the Tried and True Burda pattern, because I didn't win the Jalie pattern. I'm sure I'll try that one sometime soon though, as it seems like a great pattern for both leisure and "business" wear.

I've also had my eye on the Vogue 8543 for a while now and was very happy to find it at McC&W. I've never used an "envelope pattern" before so I have to remember that the seam allowance is already added, but if I manage to that: I think it will look great in the cashmere wool I bought a few months ago.

I'll be bringing back my dress form from Holland (I'm hoping it will fit in the bag that we bought for the drum we brought back from the Gambia) and hopefully some more pattern paper as well, and maybe even a Burda or two, if I can find time to shop (it's my parents' 40th wedding anniversary, so there will be a big party). More news next week!

Sew, where to start?

I first started making dolls, their clothes, and all sorts of bags, when I was about 10 years old. My mum used to make clothes for my 2 sisters and myself, and I just loved to see her at work in her sewing nook in our living room, busy cutting and sewing (usually with a few pins sticking out of her mouth): I wanted to do that too! She taught me how to use her machine (what a brave woman!), and from then on there were times she actually had to ask me in a stern voice to "step away from the machine" to let her do some sewing herself.

Although I was usually consulted on both choice of fabric and style before my mum started sewing, I found that sometimes I just wanted to wear something else than what she had in mind for me. When I got a bit older, with her help I started making my own clothes from patterns in KNIPmode. Never mind my first attempts (thank goodness there are no pictures), but since then I've made many, many garments, usually using KNIPmode, Burda or, occasionally, Vogue. Some of them I wore for years, and some of them were only for one night (prom dress) and many of them I gave away without ever wearing them. What a waste!

In addition to that, I suffered from the well-know disease of buying loads of fabrics without actually EVER using them (and sometimes even stealing from my mum's stash with the same poor result), or even knowing what I wanted to do with the stuff when I bought it. Before I get into that routine again: I will from now on...(drum roll)...Sew With A Plan! And even though I know that following the exact rules of the SWAP may be a bit too much for me to start with, at least I have to promise myself not to buy any fabric without knowing I'm going to make with it. Wish me luck!