Spring Is In The Air!

I mentioned on twitter this morning that due to the fact it looks like my bedroom has been binge drinking and then vomited my clothes all over the floor I've had to be very brave in my choice of clothing today as I didn't have time to iron/ determine what was actually clean. By brave I mean, not overly for the normal person. By normal person I mean not me.

I've not had a chance to play with my new camera (thank you Dad!) because of the terrible weather we've had recently but I rushed home today in the hopes of catching the light and giving it another shot. Two minutes after getting back in the house I decided it might be prudent to take a shot with my phone. Y'know, just in case.

Good thing I did, the above picture was the phone version. Despite figuring out how to activate the self-timer I've neglected to figure out how to focus and zoom (out) on shots I'm not currently in when there's just a wall in picture. Ah well, something to work on!

You're probably thinking 'what's so brave about that?'. The shorts, dears, the shorts. I've had these for about a year and never had the courage to wear them. I was surprised by how comfortable I felt in them once everyone in the office had noticed them and absolutely no one asked what the hell I was wearing. I may have to wear them again.

In other (sad) news, Nelson the Red Admiral butterfly I mentioned from an earlier post has passed away last week, just days before the first day of Spring. I've no idea how he survived through the winter months, particularly as he was living in my bathroom.

I also wanted to thank everyone who left comments on my muslin post, I shall be reviewing those when I get a second. That second doesn't appear to be any time soon unfortunately as I have a rather action packed month ahead with an imminent visit to Saundersfoot on Saturday for the St David's Festival and a fortnight long visit from my sister and nephew starting the following week.

My first blogiversary passed me by last month with nary a twinge, mostly because I've been a bit rundown with a cold that had no other symptoms than enormous lethargy and inability to focus. Should I be doing something to celebrate?

I also wanted to ask if people would like recipes for homemade beauty products? I make my own lip balm and have been planning on branching out but have been dithering over the question of how much DIY is too much? What do people think? Yay or nay?

I'll leave you with a couple of the less crazy photos from my new camera that I accidentally ended up taking.

Cardigan, undershirt and shorts: La Redoute
Shirt: H&M
Tights: New Look
Shoes: Hush Puppy

Edited to include: Oh my goodness, I completely forgot to thank Suzy for my new award! Thank you! I shall do a proper post for it later this week.

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Project: Style 3894 { Muslin }

My muslin for Style 3894 has come along. Not, I fear, in a good way. Whilst it appears to fit Miriam perfectly, when I try it on myself I feel the fit leaves much to be desired.

Miriam

Gosh, excuse the falling-to-pieces bathroom!

I'm not sure if it's just the fabric I've chosen for the muslin which is heavier and of a thicker weave than the chiffon I've picked to make the final shirt, or if it's me but it looks blockier on me than on Miriam and I'm just not happy with it.

The princess seams on the back are too big and blouse outwards over the base of my shoulder blades. Is this even fixable? Am I asking to get myself into a lot of trouble trying to fix that? I tried to take a picture but between trying to keep Puck and Bear away from Nelson* and a new camera I don't really know how to use they didn't come out. Or actually work, because apparently I don't know how to use the self-timer on this thing.

I'm half pleased with the redrafted collar. The original pattern envelope looks like this:

It wasn't too hard to change the curve of view 2 into something a little more to my taste. I'm not sure it's right though, is it too big to be a peter pan collar?

I'll leave you with some closer shots of the muslin, because I was feeling artsy and - let's face it - I need all the practice I can get with my camera!

* Nelson, in case you don't follow me on twitter, is a Red Admiral butterfly that's living in my bathroom. Yes, living. I know! I'm shocked too. I named him Nelson after the only Admiral I could think of who, in my head, wore a red coat (despite the fact I doubt he actually did).

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Giveaway Winner!

Wow, I forgot I said Friday and not Sunday as the deadline for my little giveaway (I blame my horrendous cold). So, the competition is now closed! Thanks to those of you who entered, it was a lot of fun to read your guesses. The winner, bang on the money, is KC of The Sewcratic Method who guessed £2.50 for the lace which is exactly what I paid for it! Well done KC!

Curious to see how much I paid for everything and how close you all got? Check out the below.

#1 1x5m Cotton Crochet Lace in Ecru
£2.50 for the 5m

#2 Faith shoes in fabulous yellow
£5 plus £4 P&P

#3 Cream & Brown Striped Cardigan
99p plus £2.72 P&P

#4 Vintage Vogue 2669
£8 plus £2.50

#5 3m Blue Twill Fabric
£8.97 plus £5.95 P&P

#6 Vintage 1970's Pinstripe Shorts
99p & £3.50 P&P

#7 Vintage 1960's Dress (I wore this today, it was fab)
£7.50 plus £2.90 P&P

#8 George Ditsy Print Shirt
99p plus £1.80

#9 Multi-way bra in nude
£6.99

#10 Blackberry 8700G (soooo shiny!)
£39.99 plus £5.85 P&P

#11 Blue Toolbox (with tray)
£4 plus £4.41 P&P

Suzy, photos of me in my dress will be appearing once I'm over the cold, taken with my brand new (to me) camera (courtesy of my Dad and Uncle - oh so excited!)

Ali, get thee to eBay! Sorry for killing you with shoes, but - hey - what a way to go ;) I think that if something is listed as used and the person's not actually used it ... well, you can't be held responsible for that. eBay is too great a source of second hand goods to ignore simply because people may be listing incorrectly.

Molly, you're too good for this world!

Thanks again to everyone who entered, I wish I could send you all something!

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What To Wear To ... A Sci-Fi Convention

This weekend gone I drove 5 hours to Pontins in Camber Sands, East Sussex for the SFX Weekender. Actually I drove 5 hours to Camber Sands to hang out with two old friends, one of whom I've not seen in a decade, the sci-fi bit was just an added bonus.

I tried, I really did, but gale force winds and no proper heating in the chalets or the main building meant that my jeans and my huge woolly cardigan was just not going to be removed for the three days I spent freezing my butt off down there. Photos of the weekend are limited and I'm going to share with you just two.



If you follow me on twitter (shameless plug: @torsgrantham) you'll know the guy in the middle, holding on to me rather tightly, freaked me out one evening when I was alone in my chalet by breathing outside the door. In his defence, he was just walking past.

I'm wearing my red checked shirt as support for the Welsh rugby team who unfortunately didn't manage to win their match against England on Friday, my Mum's flared jeans that I've stolen because I love them and a scarf and cardi I refused to remove the entire weekend. The guys are wearing their standard work clothes.

What I should have done is something a little more along the lines of this:

As soon as I saw her I was in envy. I didn't catch her name but she had great style and really stood out from the crowd (which, given the crowd was made up of stormtroopers, people on stilts, superheroes and general sci-fi fans, was quite an achievement). She was a little shocked at being asked to be photographed for my blog but happily gave her permission. Lovely lady, should you, by some miracle, be reading this, thank you!

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Guest Post at Colette Patterns

Sarai of Colette Patterns has very kindly allowed me to write a guest post for her blog on my inspiration for a Spring wardrobe which can be found here should you be interested. It features the yellow shoes of fabulousness (pictured) and my plans for an outfit fit for Spring in Wales. I expect you all to hold me to this please, I need all the arse kicking I can get. The shirt is already a to-be-completed-muslin and the trousers I will sew as a belated effort at Sunni's trouser sew-along. Hopefully all done by Spring. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and a reminder that there are just 5 more days to enter my give-away for an undisclosed (and presently undetermined) prize that I'll ship to anywhere in the world. You don't even have to be a follower, you could just be a random passer-by, I won't hold it against you. I can't guarantee that it's going to be fabulous but it should, at the very least, be interesting!

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