The Manchester Set

So for the past week I’ve been working on projects from my lovely new book, “Sew La Tea Do”, by Pip Lincolne (of Meet Me At Mikes fame). I love this book as much as the first Meet Me At Mikes book. Everything from the projects to the layout of the book itself, to the wording and imagery is just dandy. It’s all very yum. I only have one small grievance with this new book – small being the key word. I was all excited about the fact that it had a few clothes patterns, and set about making a dress from it. The excitement ended around the point that I realised unless I shrunk about 6 inches, and took in a few inches from my sides, this whole thing wasn’t quite going to work. The patterns have small-medium, or medium-large sizing on it, but the medium to large is not happening for anybody over a size 10. Or 5 feet. It’s ESPECIALLY not happening for “girls who like dessert” (quote taken from the eloquent Michelle Walker). Anyway, slightly downhearted I finished what I like to think of as the manchester dress. It’s fashioned from a bed sheet and a pillow case, and cost me a princely sum of approximately 80 cents.

My second project is a super easy cushion cover made from a bed sheet (ahhh, do you see a theme emerging?), and a men’s pyjama top. I feel ridiculously proud of this little piece. As I mentioned, it is stupidly easy, and takes about 20 minutes to do. However, lately I’ve been questioning my sewing ability and pattern-matching skills. I was worried that something that seemed so easy, that I’d picked fabulous fabrics for, was going to end up like something I’d vomited during some sort of creative frenzy trip. But it didn’t *insert celebratory message here*. It’s ever so cute, and did I mention – it’s easy as pie.

And the piece de resistance… my manchester muu-muu. Yes, that’s right – I made a Homer Simpson dress. When I started making what was initially a tunic dress, I thought ah-ha. Pip Lincolne, I’m onto you and your sizing. So I measured the pattern, measured myself, added a little bit extra for comfort, and felt quite smug with myself the whole time. I think you can guess what happened. Basically, it looks like I’ve just draped a sheet over myself and called it a dress. Luckily I took my muu-muu into Stitch ‘N’ Bitch the other night, and some of the dress-making prodigies in there helped me figure out how to make it into something a bit more presentable. So, one day, I’ll get around to making those adjustments.

I’m also working on some goodies to be sold (hopefully) at a craft market that some of the Stitch ‘N’ Bitch girls are organising. It’s going to be starting at the end of November, and promises to be a bit of fun. Organised little gal that I am, I’ve written all sorts of list and plans for it. Now I just have to make the stuff. Hurrah!