Marathon Skater Skirt

The final piece of Easter Egg has been eaten and I've been SOOOOOOOOO good at work with NO SNACKING that I thought I'd have managed to lose at least 1lb since last weeks bitter disappointment at not quite fitting into my Easter Sunday dress...but no!!!!! and extra 1lb has appeared!!! NOT FAIR .... 

Obviously I've consoled myself by joining my Great Nephew - who was on a sleepover at mine this weekend - with Pain au Chocolat x 2 and glasses of ice cold whole milk - and a whole giant bag of Doritos AND a pot of dip once he'd gone off to his swimming lesson!!! 

His departure coincided with the start of this years London marathon, and as I'm still incapable of running myself, I thought I'd see if I could run up a quick n simple elasticated skirt before the 'elites' finished...2 hours... should be enough :-D 

Now, as I've already created a pattern as per the instructions for the 'Sassy Skater Skirt' from the November 2016 issue of SEW magazine, I was already up on some time...good.

I knew I had some suitable fabric in my stash - 2 mtrs of Circles Print Poly Sateen Dress Fabric Brown, Aqua and Cream @ £1.99 !!!!!- which I'd ordered back in December from Minerva Crafts (but it doesn't seem to be available any more) and been wondering what I'd use it for!!!  A rogue reel of thread was found buried deep in the sewing box and was a perfect match - result !!!!

So while the 'elites' bimbled round London, I got pinning.

I couldn't be bothered with 'pockets' for this one - this also saved some time - and feeling confident I'd have plenty of time, I stopped to make a coffee and finish off some short bread biscuits my nephew had failed to deal with earlier! ... think the dieting starts again on Monday!!! 

One waistband sewn and elastic threaded through and secured, hem blitzed....and Hey Presto....one Marathon Skater Skirt completed ... dash to the tv to see the runners.....and oooops they'd beaten me...not by much ...I blame the coffee n biscuit break!!! 

 
its nothing flash...but hey!!! it fits and it'll do for work one day next week...when the weather is supposed to be all cold again - it'll look fine with my boots and a nice warm coat.  A nice HEAVY coat as boy oh boy, does this little number fly up when the slightest breeze catches it!!!...and Marilyn Monroe I am not !!!! .... if I was, I'd fit into my Easter Sunday dress!!!!



 

Easter Day Dress....just not this Easter!!

I've enjoyed the most relaxed and lazy Easter Weekend I can remember this year...and I'm not all together sure I've liked it!!!! 

Why is it that when we get what we've yearned for, we realise its never quite how imagined??

We've be sooooo quite at work for the last few weeks that I was desperate to get to the long Easter Weekend to have a break from having nothing to do at work and getting all the housewifey chores done that were stacking up.

I now find that mid Bank Holiday Monday afternoon I've not really achieved too much in the house other than having managed to watch virtually every episode of 'Call the Midwife' which are being re-run on the tv - never watched them before, but I LOVE how 'nicely' the midwives speak...and I now wish I were Trixie!!!! 

The only thing I've done which I'd hoped would have been semi-useful, was to make a dress to wear for Easter Sunday lunch at my sisters with all the family.

I had 2 meters of beautiful 100% cotton I'd bought a couple of years ago from C&H fabrics in Canterbury - I've totally forgotten how much it was, but I do remember loving it the moment I saw it on the roll.  I've just been waiting for the right garment to turn it into and, after a few episodes of Call the Midwife, I gorgeous 50's style 'wiggle dress' seemed to fit the bill perfectly (although possibly not the occasion!!..Easter n all that!!) 

I've already got the bodice and waist pattern pieces of New Look K6447 cut out, but due to the pattern on the fabric, I'd need to use View B (rather than C of my last few projects) ... besides...view B has far more 'wiggle' about it!!! 

I lined up the pattern pieces to ensure I had the blossom sprigs running straight up the centre...and it did mean sacrificing some of the fabric, but I still had enough to make the dress...just.

I worked on it diligently all Saturday afternoon and evening, confident that all would be well (I've got the bodice fitted to a t afterall), and quite possibly, performed the best zip insertion I've yet managed.

Being so chuffed with myself in the early evening when it occurred to me that it was going to get finished just in time for Easter Sunday that I paused for a well earned cuppa and handful of choccy biccies to admire my handy work.

So, imagine my disappointment when 30 minutes later I gave it a little 'try on' to double check the hem length.... its about 1/2 stone too tight !!!! Arrrrgggghhhhhhh I can get it on and do it up (just about, but there is no 'control underwear' on this good earth that it going to make it look wearable and for me to actually move in it !!! 

This gorgeous 'wiggle' dress, with its 100% cotton - with zero stretch in it, has absolutely NO wiggle room!!!  I'm devastated and rather than leaping in, should have given more thought to the type of material I was using!!!!  it would have made the perfect dress for Easter Sunday lunch....  I've consoled myself since with 2 whole Easter Eggs and spent all of today planning the diet/healthy eating plan until it fits .....hopefully for the summer!!! 

 
 

introducing my 'Hyperlink' dress

It's currently the time of year for us to be experiencing something of a 'lull' at work, the calm before the storm that is 'enrolment'.  But this year, this 'lull' has turned into something of an abyss of nothing to do!

We were treated (I think that's the term!) to an 'Improvement Day' on Tuesday.  We were to discuss proposed changes to our working procedures, without actually being told what the changes would be - needless to say it was something of a short meeting!!  The afternoon was to have a more 'personal wellbeing' slant to it, and we had be told to select a two of a number of 'activies' being held:

Zumbathon
Table Tennis
Pilates
Gym/Circuit training
Badminton
Long ball
Basketball
etc etc
....
and a 3 mile walk.

Now, taking into consideration my current 'back' problem I pointed out that I was not currently capable of joining in the vast majority of these 'activities' and could they put on more of a physiotherapy/massage type selection.

I was informed 'no' and told that my making a choice may prove to be pointless anyway, as they may need me to sit on our Reception/information desk for the afternoon!!   

To cut a long story short...I ended up gatecrashing an ECDL lesson that two of my colleagues were attending.  Now, I passed my Level 2 ECDL course a few years ago, but this lesson on Tuesday was revelation!!!

I learnt all about hyperlinks! 

What an awesome little function that is!!

After a couple of hours playing around with it, we were sent home an hour early - result!!! This meant that, what with the clocks going back an hour last weekend, it was still gloriously light in my dark and dingy house.

So, cuppa in hand I set about cutting out my new work dress, using the New Look K6447 pattern again (see my last post) and 2 meters of Monochrome Floral Print Polyester Crepe I purchased the other week/month from the ever lovely and easy to use Minerva Crafts online page.

I'd finally figured out how to make the 'narrow back adjustment' on the previous dress - omg, that's a whole nother story!!! it took me longer the unpick, re-draft, re-cut and re-sew that damn bodice than it did to make up the whole dress in the first place!!!

The narrow back adjustment on left - original on right...doesn't look all that different but by golly, what a difference it makes!!! it's now a near perfect fit! 

I do quite like the whole pinning and cutting out process, but, I have to confess, I didn't stop and consider anything close to 'pattern matching'!!! oops, obviously to eager to get started! and get a load of the light coming into my gloomy sewing area (dining room!!!)

I finally finished it this morning (Saturday) and I can't tell you how comfortable I find this dress...and flattering!! 

 

and I'm SOOOOOOOOO pleased I worked out how to deal with my Narrow Back ... who knew that that measurement was SOOOO important ?! I shall be double checking this on all my 'top' garment makes in the future.  But you can clearly see where I should have paid more attention to pattern matching along that back seam!! 

Very much looking forward to wearing this to work next week...I 'might' even wear it on Friday...When we're going out for a bit of a Family Birthday Treat ... but Shhhhhhhh, its a secret - my Mum doesn't have her birthday til Tuesday so hasn't had her 'ticket' yet :-) 

Oh, and as well as giving a few photos of my new Hyperlink dress, I might have just popped 'hyperlinks' in this blog....now that I know how to, and know what it does!!...I think!!!!