Big changes to come

I have made some big progress this month (as it has been almost a month since I last posted again) – some sewing and some just life.

The Management and I went on a weeks holiday to Cornwall only a week after I spent the  mid-week in London so constructively. I don’t feel bad about being away so much of June as I have worked pretty hard between trips to ensure I wasn’t going to fall behind schedule. The Management certainly needed a break – and this was a great opportunity to chill out, enjoy the wonderful sea air on walks, and chew out some big life decisions.

Enjoying a cliff walk on our 38th Wedding Anniversary

The biggest outcome from the week is that he has brought forward his retirement date to March 2017. Now, there is no point in him being retired and us not being able to do what we want at the drop of a hat because I am stuck on an order so….. I have decided that I will be stopping taking client work in December. My normal December/Christmas rules will apply so that effectively means that I will be finished all client work by Christmas this year! I was a bit uncertain about this decision at first but I am now seeing lots of benefits – the major one of which will be more time to do the things I want to sew. Hurrah! I have started telling clients and the response is OK so far, with the exception of the first I told who cried!

Anyway, what have I been doing? Well, washing all the fabric that I bought on the trip to Birmingham with the Demented Fairy ( and re-washing the piece that got coloured when it was sitting with another damp piece. Thankfully the transfer dye came out. Phew), cutting out the first pair of PJ’s (the bird box cotton since you ask) and a shirt in the red/black and white stripe for The Management ,  and planning a few things for myself that are still waiting in a heap. I have been blog stalking and coming away with loads more to add to my wish list (great, but not really helpful). The client work is up to date and the garden looks loads better so I can only hope that my own ‘wishes’ come true pretty soon.

One of the things that many dressmakers who are willing to do alterations are asked to do is alter clothing that has been ordered online – often allegedly ‘made to measure’. I confess I have probably made a fair amount of money over the years putting these right for people (and disappointed a few whom I had to tell there was no possibility of making their garment work). This isn’t another of those. This time I have an alteration to style on a garment that a client ordered – but I’m getting ahead of myself and she has given me permission to show photographs, so here we go.

A lovely client of some years standing has a wedding later this year, she will be the mother of the groom. After some searching online for what she might like to wear she came up with several options from the same source – V Bridal. Anne is very tiny so she knew there would be no huge hat (like the picture), and she thought the jacket sleeves weren’t right for her. The idea was to make a similar dress in silk rather than the synthetic offered by the company but the cost of the fabric and my estimated bill made this significantly more expensive than the offered dress/jacket. And no beading.The decision was taken to order the outfit and see how she felt about it when it arrived. I took the required measurements and they were duly sent off. I initially tried modelling the skirt to see if I could work out how this was done and was happy to see that I was almost exactly like the dress when it arrived.

I had Anne put the dress on so I could see – it was a pretty darn fine fit. The website says the dresses are made to exactly the measurements given – no wearing ease allowed there! She had just been on holiday and claimed to be at her heaviest, but we both know from past experience that she will lose weight in the run up to the wedding as she loses appetite under stress.

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As you can see she looks great in the outfit, and once the sleeves were altered to be the simple straight sleeve she wanted she looks much more in proportion (You can’t really get the impression of just how weeny she really is from the pictures – and I can see she has already lost a bit of weight). The quality of the fabric was pretty good, and the construction was great (the sleeves had a base fabric for support and tulle to hold up the ‘puffs’in addition to the main fabric and lining). Bearing in mind the cost of the dresses on the website I can see the appeal of ordering to fit – and on this occasion it did fit well. With this in mind I would hesitatingly recommend the company – just take accurate measurements and make sure that you bear in mind there is no ease built into the measures you give. They were apparently very helpful by e-mail, and delivered the dress/jacket exactly when they said they would. For that alone they deserve a Hurrah!

I intend to get stuck in on the PJ’s and shirt for The Management next, but have every intention of being next in line after that!

 

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