Hello internet sewing world!
It’s been a while since I posted anything here, but today I’m clearing the dust off my post editor and reacquainting myself with the art of being a ruthless sub-editor to myself.
The usual life reasons have got in the way of blogging (and sewing) over the last few months and when I did sew I didn’t feel motivated to take pictures let alone write about it. Hopefully I’ll be a more prolific sewer and blogger in 2018! Quality not quantity though, right? I might yet post about some of the things I made, or I’ll just turn the page, but for now I want to share my most recent make which I can’t wait to wear when the weather gets a bit warmer.
This is the Papercut Patterns Clover dress which I first made in 2014 (!) and then a second time in 2016 when I made some fit adaptions. So making this for the third time was relatively relaxing as I knew it would (in theory) fit. That said, the fabric for this dress was quite hard to work with and I really had to take my time to make sure the neckline, hem, and sleeve hems were finished as neatly as possible. It’s a woven rayon-type fabric with a bit of stretch in it. And I think I may have bought it at the Fabric Sales a few years ago but I’m not 100% sure.
My idea for this dress was to make a really comfy but smart dress with nice topstitching. Something I might categorise as a ‘basic’. But then I remembered I’m not so into basics and sewed on these peacock feather embroidered patches around the neckline because they make me really happy every time I look at them.
I definitely recommend this pattern; there is so much scope for making a great feature out of the ‘V’ bodice piece. I wanted to put the peacock feathers in the V but they actually looked better round the neckline.
See below for some (slightly awkward) self timer shots of me in the dress. You can tell it’s been a while since I blogged as I don’t remember how to take pictures of myself without feeling like a plonker.
So hopefully I’ll be back soon and I won’t let Belgian Seams get so dusty again! This year I’d like to write more on here about slow fashion and the environmental and social impact of the clothing and fabric supply chain. I love to write and by day I work in an environmental NGO so it seems like a nice idea to try and bring my interests together more on the blog.
I also realised this year that I really value blogs and the long(ish)-form. I’ve tried to dip my toes in the Instagram pool but so far I’ve not really taken to it. That might change but when I’ve gone on it so far although I’ve seen some lovely things and it’s great to get peeks into others’ sewing, the sheer amount of content on the platform is quite overwhelming to me.
That’s all for now, I’m off to eat yummy vegan pancakes – I used this recipe but I changed the soy milk for oat milk as I hate soy milk. And instead of vegetable oil I used olive oil as I didn’t have any vegetable oil.
