New Beginnings

Hello!  Thank you so much for visiting my blog and reading my First Ever Post!

I've been encouraged to write a blog by my lovely friends at Cooper's Cafe Creative Group, in Skipton, and have dithered and swithered around with a template for a couple of weeks.  I've such a lot to learn, but suddenly decided this morning to just go for it, so I hope you will bear with me and stick with it whilst I learn all about blog land.  (So many gadgets!!)

One of the articles I read last week was about how to write your first blog post.  It said to say what the point of your blog was.  Well, in answer to that I would say this blog will be the story of my creative life.  A life, I think, well lived.  I love so many different creative hobbies I hope to inspire others to 'have a go'.  I hope to be inspired and to learn from my readers, as I already do from my creative friends, and the other blogs and Instagrammers  I follow.

Today has been about dressmaking.  I've been prewashing/shrinking some beautiful Liberty Lawn I bought at the wonderful Standfast and Barracks Factory Shop in Lancaster on Saturday.  I bought four different fabrics, but the one in the photo above is a favourite.  It looked lovely wafting on the washing line this morning, but the colour doesn't show up properly, so here it is indoors, waiting to be pressed:

The colour is still much better in real life than the photo - a really deep, velvety red with fine black patterning.  I made my grown up daughter a long evening gown in it a year ago, and she looks stunning in it.  Mind you, she could wear a bin bag and look beautiful!  I haven't decided what I will use this length for, but it'll certainly be a dress for me.  I bought 3 metres, so will have plenty.

If you've never heard of Standfast and Barracks I will quickly tell you it is the most amazing place! They are the fabric printers for Liberty, John Lewis, Sanderson etc. and have a proper factory shop where they sell fabrics at hugely reduced prices.  Many are seconds but I can rarely see where the flaw is. I expect they just have exacting standards! If you don't live anywhere near Lancaster they do telesales throughout the mornings.  They have a good Facebook presence, (Standfast and Barracks Factory Shop), and regularly post updates and special promotions.

Anyway, that fabric is for another day but today I'm making another dress from the fantastic New Look pattern 6020 - sleeveless cotton dresses.  I've lost count of the number of dresses I've made from this pattern, but I hope by varying the 'view' I make, as well as using wildly different fabrics, they do look like different dresses!  The fabric I am using today is a bit different for me, as, being fair, I tend to use bolder colours.  However, I recently saw a fair haired lady in a dress this colour and it looked very summery, so here goes!  It's like a super milky cappuccino!

This is a lovely pattern, princess seaming (very flattering and very easy to make bodice adjustments with) along with a fairly full skirt.  I like sleeveless dresses in the summer, in cotton fabrics, as I don't take the heat well, even in the North of England, and seem to be forever saying "is it me, or is it hot in here??!"

I'll continue working on it this afternoon, and will do the Big Reveal once it's finished.

How long should a first blog post be?? I don't know, but perhaps I'll stop here for now.  There's so much I|wanted  to talk about - crochet, gardening, baking, Freddie the Fox (the little chap on the right, under my profile), the great outdoors, Daisy Dog...  If you look back at the top photo you may spot, to the right of the fabric, an archway over some gravel.  Well, that leads to the vegetable garden, one of the joys of my life, but I'll save that for another time.

Whatever you are doing today I hope you are enjoying it.  Please do come back and visit again!