May Madness

I’ve been a little quiet on the blogging front lately. It has been a crazy month. My Great Grandmother passed away at the age of 93 and I decided to take Leila away to Florida for a last minute getaway before she starts school in September. The weather has been great and I’ve had the children spending all day outside, I’m hoping that they burn off all their energy before bed. I think Luke’s batteries may be solar powered as now he doesn’t want to sleep day or night!

During May, I set myself a little challenge of making myself an evening dress for the Miss Northern Ireland 2016 final. After hours of googling, how to sew in an invisible zip, how to hem a dress and how to actually make an evening dress. I FINALLY made a dress, 16 hours of sewing later. I must admit, I ripped it apart twice, sewed in the zip 3 times and I wanted to give up so many times.

I wanted my first handmade dress to be plain and simple so I could learn the basic sewing techniques before I try to attempt to make anything else. What i’ve learnt along the way, is too buy a pattern and stick to it exactly. I have also learnt not to leave everything to the last minute. I finished the dress two nights before the final.

I bought 5 meters of fabric from Craftswoman Fabrics (1 meter left over ), costing £12.99 per meter and spent £23 on the embellishment for the belt and £2.20 for an invisible zip

Total cost of my dress: £90.15

Through my frustration, I really did enjoy the challenge but I will stick to sewing Irish Linen baby clothes because I love sewing them, they are so cute when and they don’t require the patience of a saint.

A friend asked me to make a Quiet Book for her little birthday girl and I was pleased with the results. I’m currently bracing myself to sew what can only be described as an avalanche of premium wool felt. The waiting list for a Quiet book is around 4-6 week.

If anyone who like a Quiet book for Christmas, I’m currently taking orders as my bespoke order book will be closed from the first week of September. After this I will be making pre made blankets, bibs and ready to wear baby outfits in the run up to Christmas.

All Quiet books are £65 for 6 pages

Below are a few images of pre made blankets and bibs ready to buy.

Lightly quilted comfort blankets are £32 plus £2.90 standard postage. All blankets can be personalised with a hand stitched name or initials.

Bibs are £7.50 each or £5.50 for 2+ bibs. They are reversible, organic cotton dribble bibs.

Reversible dressy bibs are £16.00

Reversible vintage Liberty print and Irish linen Peter pan collar £16

My order book is open for personalised cushions and Irish linen baby outfits.

Pre made items for boys coming soon.

Lucy xx