sewing again

It's funny to think now that this blog used to be just about sewing and craft. These days, not a lot of sewing gets done around these parts, on account of all the life-craft going on. Gone are the days of staying up all night with a bottle of red and some audio books, churning out skirts (sometimes 10 in one evening!) for Georgie Love or my market stall.

Not to say the life-craft isn't the most immensely rewarding thing we've ever done in our whole entire lives - it is. But it's also the most exhausting and the most time-consuming.

So I feel kind of out of practice writing a sewing blog. Sure, there have been the odd skirt, dress and bolero orders, but there's just so much else going on around here (this blog has more tags for strawbale-buiding-related posts than it does for skirt-related ones!) my beloved sewing machine has been a little neglected.

Testament to how neglected my sewing machine is (and how sewing-time-deprived I am) is the fact that my turnaround times for sewing jobs has crept up from 2 weeks (usually less) to more like 2 months! 

Take these dresses: Beloved and very dedicated P&E customer, Yolanda, requested these little babies back when I made this dress for Olive. Yikes! I'm a little horrified and ashamed of how long it's taken me to get them in the post. My only consolation prize is the fact that it's probably been to cold in Switzerland (where Yolanda lives) to wear them anyway.

It was, as always, fun sewing for Yolanda. It was especially fun sewing a grown-up sized version of the 'Olive', which turned out pretty sweet! One of the major perks of being a VIP&E like Yolanda is that I'm not at all hesitant to use my very most favourite fabrics for orders from these folks. In this instance, the crazy-good, immaculate flowers-and-fruits still life came out to bat for Yolanda. Pearl was a little bit miffed I wasn't using it for her (we've both had our eyes on it for years), but she recovered when she saw how cute the dress turned out.

The other dress was born of Yolanda's request for a sleeveless dress. The pattern is an oldie but a goodie, which hasn't been made since back in the days of P&E's regular stall at the Addison Rd markets in Marrickville, when it was a hot favourite of the ladies during summer.

Alas, it doesn't photograph well, especially when Florence is missing in action and I have to lay the dresses down flat on the grass. Hopefully you can use your imagination. - it's a wrap, with a tie-up kind of halter neck, and is made from a bloody beautiful West Australia Wildflowers tablecloth.

Yolanda, I hope you like your dresses. I hope they're worth the wait. I hope your Swiss summer is balmy enough to wear them as often as you feel inclined.