Just a little update

My Violet blouse is almost finished! It has taken me a long time as sewing progress has been slow due to work, but I'm so excited to finish it. I've only got the buttons and buttonholes left to do. I will post a photo on here when it is done.
At my sewing class I've made a good start on my Macaron dress and I'm going to work on this at home too this week and hopefully get most of the top part done by next Tuesday, well, that's the plan.
Things have been really strange and unsettling here lately. With redundancy comes pain, sadness, frustration, lack of confidence and an unknown future. At this time, this song lifts me, makes me smile, and allows me to dream about where life might take us next. Plus I love Kate Bush so much. Makes me want to wear a red dress and dance in the woods. Maybe dancing in the woods is the answer to life's troubles?!

Keep Calm and Carry On

Just as things begin to get better, something else happens to throw you off course, to unsettle you and rock the boat, that's life I guess. I've just finished a very difficult year of teacher training and am about to start a part time teaching job in September, 2hrs a day. I was very happy about this as it will leave plenty of time for sewing. But disaster has struck and Andy has been made redundant meaning our world is falling apart. As the main earner this presents us with a whole host of problems, can we keep our house? Can he find work in this area? Will we have to move? Life is so uncertain now. However, I keep telling myself I must 'Keep Calm and Carry On'! So I am determined to continue with my passion/obsession with sewing and our financial situation will force me to be more thrifty about my purchases and also more determined to try to sell my work, something I have been very uncomfortable with in the past. Very soon I will open up my little online shop which will sell some vintage sewing notions and also some vintage inspired bags, purses and jewellery made by me. I have been sewing and creating things for as long as I can remember and began to sell them a few years ago. But I am setting myself another challenge which will be documented on this blog; to make my own clothes. This is something I have been thinking about for some time. Last year Andy bought me a dress form

and I have not had much opportunity to use it yet. What better time to begin than now! Making my own clothes will almost be a necessity now due to the change in my situation. I will need to learn a whole host of new techniques and I was planning on taking a course. Whether I still do remains to be seen but what I do know is that I am completely self taught up to this point and I believe that with the fantastic books out there and the online advice and guidance, I can do this! Some positive can come from a negative situation. I am lucky to have lots of fabric, a sewing machine and a beautiful sewing room already and so long as things don't get too difficult, this will be an exciting journey which will hopefully help me to find ways to save money in other areas of my life. Please stay tuned to hear all about my adventures and to pop along to my little shop when it is open. Thanks for reading x