End of Me Made May, The Queen and a Wedding Dress

Hello dears,

Hope we're all well and haven't been washed away in the torrents.  As a write this it's a windy, rainy and sunny evening in Brighty so a mixed bag a bit like May this year.

Well unfortunately my blinking camera has gone up the wall and will not turn on so I've only got one picture from the last week of Me Made May'12 boo :s  It's bad camera luck all round at the mo when I caught up with the lovely Kathryn of Yes I Like That at the inaugural and ace Brighton Bloggers' Bash she told me the sad tale of leaving her camera at Farnborough station double boo :(

So here's the one pic I have.

Day 23 - A lovely afternoon by the sea catching up with my gorge friend Shirley and wearing the Burda Neon Twister dress rouched up as a top.

Part of my pledge this May was to get all my mending done.  Sadly life took over and that didn't happen but I did manage to finally tackle the sewing corner yay!

Look at the state of it - shameful!

A few hours later there was room for a sit down and a few verses of Suspicious Minds.  Before the year is out I'm gonna nail that sucker on the uke

Well what have I learned from MMM12?  That I truly am a frosting and not so much a cake kind of gal when it comes to sewing. The frosting versus cake phenomenon has been discussed heavily round the blogosphere with a very thoughtful post by Tasia.  I think the joy in being able to make loads of lovely frocks that in my previously RTW life would have been denied to me because of my odd bod make up led me to make plenty of show stoppers and not so many the show must go on items.  So I've realised I now need to get a few basics rocking.  That's cool though because I've finally got to grips with the overlocker and I've bought Sew U Home Stretch so let the back to basics training begin.  

Fear not though faithful readers as the showstoppers show no sign of stopping as the other thing I realised about my wearing habits is that I walk a different line in regards to appropriate attire.  By that I mean I'm as happy to rock to the shops in a flouncy frock as I am in leggings and a t-shirt.  That's the great thing I guess about sewing for yourself you define it.  So yay for Me Made May'12 and to it's faithful curator the lovely Zoe.

I took a rare afternoon off to indulge in the Jubilee revelry and knocked up Mary Berry's Union Jack tray bake for my sister's street party.  The cake was a hit but the weather sadly not.  Gale force winds and rain but being British we didn't let it stop us.  The kids ran round in the mud and rain and the adults kept toasty under the tarpaulin with mulled wine a plenty :)

Note I'm rocking a red, white and blue best to make the cake, which was delicious even if I do say so myself :) Happy Diamond M'am

Jubilee granny square for our crochet workshop

Thanks to Zoe mending and reassessing of wardrobe requirements weren't the only thing I got up to craft wise in May.  As some of you may know Zoe in another of her guises runs an amazing crafty affair in Brighton called Craftaganza.  Over the Jubilee weekend there was a two day craft love in, which I was very happy to be apart of.  My role included running a crochet workshop with Zoe's beloved, Mr P who himself is a very accomplished hooker (pardon me on the crochet related jokes I just can't help myself).  We had a lovely turn out and everyone went away with their very own hand crafted granny square.  Being a bit of Queenie fanatic I took the opportunity to dress as a royal highness.

I crocheted my tiara and my ruff and managed to get a second use out of the Royal Wedding macaron

Over the Jubilee I can report I was busy as the Queen because as soon as I finished Craftaganza I was off like a shot to Devon on a sewing mercy mission for my cousin Rowena.  Her eldest daughter had chose to make a wedding dress as her handwork project at school and with just a few weeks to go and Rowena 7 months pregnant with baby number 5 they needed help.  Never one to turn down a few days at their beautiful cottage in the rolling Devon countryside I was on the train with Brenda and my first knitting project quicker than you can say I do.

Keziah had chosen Vogue V2902 as the starting point but with the desire to make it floor length

On arrival I saw the patterns had been sufficiently altered and we got cutting.  I will now always have measure twice cut once ringing in my ears.  As bless her at 14 in the 8 weeks since the pattern had been altered she had grown taller and nothing fitted properly so we had to start all over again from scratch.  Needless to say the dress wasn't done by the Friday afternoon that I was leaving so I took it with me and my already ample luggage back home.

Always happy to create a bit more adventure I was going home via London.  I'd bought myself an early birthday present to see the ever amazing Richard Hawley at the Forum in Kentish Town.  The look on the cloakroom attendant's face on checking in a sewing machine and a wedding dress was priceless.  The effort was well worth it though because Mr Hawley was his usual epic self despite having broken his leg a few days earlier.  What a Northern trooper I say and a foxy one at that ;-)

The smoking hot Mr Hawley - I really hope they didn't break the mould after this one

After I came down from the ceiling after 90 minutes in his presence I got to work on the rest of the wedding dress and here she is.

She's actually made of material that is used to make duvets but it gave the dress a beautiful drape

I've since spoken to Keziah and she said it fits like a glove and she's over the moon so I'm very happy indeed :)  She's planning to take photos of her in it down by the sea so I'll post the dress in action when I have one.

So there you go my darlings from May to June I dressed in me made, I dressed a Queen (pearly), I dressed as a Queen and then I dressed a bride well technically at 14 she's a tad too young but you never know I may make her wedding dress one day.

Phew are you tired because I know I am so I will bid you adieu until next time.

I leave you with Richard Hawley's take on music and why I love him:

"All great songs should make you want to fight, cry, drink, dance or make love.  The dream would be to write one that made you want to do all those things at once.  Now that really would be something."

Miss D 

xxx