I heart the Emery dress

While variety may be the spice of life, sometimes it's nice to stick to something tried and tested that you know is going to work out perfectly. With that in mind, here's another Christine Haynes Emery dress...

I figure it's OK to keep making different versions of the same dress (my other Emery dresses are here, here and here) as long as each version is a bit different - which I think mine definitely are, so it's all good. Plus, I know it's going to fit me without having to make a muslin (I know to add an inch to the bodice but other than that a size 12 fits me perfectly), I know it's a shape that suits me and I know that it's a dress that's nice and comfy to wear. What's not to love?!

This is the short sleeves from view A but with the collar from view B. I still need to make myself a version with the bow from view A, so there will be at least one more Emery in my sewing future (who am I kidding, there'll be many more!), but I might give it a rest for a couple of months now so that I can try out a couple more of the patterns on my ever-growing "to sew" list. At the moment it seems like almost every time I catch up on blog reading there's a new pattern or pretty material that gets added to my inspiration list, I can hardly keep track of them all - does anyone else have that problem or is it just me?!

The fabric for this one is a lovely cotton from Croft Mill, although it seems to be sold out now, which is a shame because it was great to work with and it's really nice to wear. I wouldn't usually go for a heart print because I think that they can be a bit overly cutesy, but this one has enough randomness and quirkiness to make it pretty rather than excessively twee. From a distance, I don't think you even necessarily notice that it's hearts. 

The white for the collar is some cotton of unknown origin from my stash. I'm really happy with how the collar turned out and the way it makes the white of the main fabric stand out a bit more.

Like my last two Emery dresses, this one has a normal zip instead of an invisible one. It started out life with an invisible zip, and not any old invisible zip but the best invisible zip that I have sewn to date. The seams matched up perfectly first time and the zip was actually invisible, I was a happy bunny! Once I'd finished the rest of the dress and excitedly went to try it on, disaster struck - the zip broke, argh! Definitely not a happy bunny any more! The dress was then left to one side until I could bring myself to unpick the once-perfect-now-broken zip, at which point I wasn't trusting invisible zips so I went with a normal one. I'm over the trauma now though, and my invisible zip in my Clémence skirt seems to be doing fine, so I'll stop being irrational and give invisible zips another chance. They do give dresses a nice finish after all.

As this is my fourth Emery, there's not much else to say about it. I'm really happy with how it turned out (as I was fairly sure I would be), and it's already been worn a couple of times, hopefully with many more outings to come this summer.

On a different note, excuse the slightly odd blurring round the edges of these photos - I didn't realise when we were taking them that my camera was accidentally set to one of its "art" modes, and by the time I did realise I no longer had a field of daisies to pose in front of, and I think you really should make the most of a field of daisies when you find one so I decided just to go with it!

I'm now looking forward to the start of the weekend - I'm hoping to combine celebrating my Mum's birthday and enjoying the sun with a bit of knitting here and there in my quest to join in the Outfit Along. What's everyone else up to?

Sewaholic Belcarra Blouse: Take 2

I mentioned in my post about my first Sewaholic Belcarra blouse that my second blouse was already cut out, and as it's a nice, easy pattern to sew up, it didn't take long for it to get from being cut out to a finished blouse and slotting perfectly into my summer wardrobe. Here it is...

This time I didn't have to worry about reusing oddly shaped bits of material, so I stuck to the pattern straight out of the envelope. Like last time, I cut a straight size 12, and I'm happy with the fit. The neckline seems to have turned out a little wider than in my first version (maybe I was a bit too enthusiastic in my cutting or something!), and I do sometimes end up with a bra strap peeping out at the shoulder when I'm wearing it, which I don't with my first version, but it's not much of a problem.

I chose to sew view B as I thought that being as I was using a plain fabric the cute tucks along the shoulders would stand out well and add a bit of interest, and avoid the risk of a plain top being a boring. 

The tucks were the only bit of the construction that I hadn't already tested out on my first version but, like the rest of the blouse, they're simple to sew - you just need to take a bit of time and care to make sure that they're all nice and even. 

The fabric that I used this time is a pretty pink cotton lawn from Croft Mill. I was a little bit worried when it arrived that it would be too sheer and that it would need underlining, or that I'd need to wear an extra layer under it, but it's actually turned out just fine for this top. I think you'd need a lining of some kind for a more fitted top or a skirt though.

There are a whole load of different materials that I've got my eye on to buy at the moment, but I was good with this one and stuck to a plain material for a change instead of being seduced by all the fun prints that I usually go for. Like a lot of the online sewing community, I've realised that while all the pretty patterned materials are great (and don't worry, I'll definitely still be using them), I do also need some plain separates here and there to make sure that I'm not wearing a complete mess of different prints. This fits that bill well, as it goes nicely with a couple of my skirts - and as an added bonus is a perfect match for the flowers on the necklace I'm wearing here which I treated myself to recently!

I'm keeping my eye out for a nice fabric to make a slightly smarter Belcarra with as I think it's the kind of style that could easily be dressed up with nice accessories if you made it in the right fabric, but having been sensible with this project, I might allow myself to make another pretty patterned dress or two now! What's everyone else working on this week?