Catching Up

There was a little lull in life back in September where there were finally no more lockdowns and I had some breathing space to sew. So sew I did. 

Firstly, all the things that Sophie had brought home from school for me to fix. Insert eye roll here. I mean, I'm a little chuffed that Sophie things that I can fix anything, but I also don't love to just be fixing things. The girls' school has heaps of stuffed things that the kids use in class - sometimes they are weighted to help the kids with sensory needs to sit and focus, other times they are just soft toys for squishing, or pillows for reading on. The Japanese teacher also has a giant Pikachu that she uses as a class reward. 

Whenever Sophie notices that one of these has a hole, her hand is up and she's offering to take it home for me to fix it. 

This Happy Cat is glad I have fixed him. 

When I wasn't fixing these school-related stuffed items, I was digging through my sewing stash looking for fabric to use. I found a bunch of free patterns online from Mood Fabrics, and thought I could give sewing up the Cypress Dress a go. Mum had given me some green Japanese looking fabric which I didn't see myself using for anything else, so I figured why not. 

I had actually already used a section of this fabric to try to make a retro style blouse, which turned out to be a failure for me. I guess I don't often share my sewing mistakes, but this was one. Not that the sewing was bad. 

Actually the sewing was some of the most professional sewing I had done, but it just didn't look good at all when I put it on. I ended up giving it away to a girlfriend who might get some more wear out of it. 

And I went on to use the rest of the fabric in the Cypress Dress. 

Which I was much happier with than the retro top. There are some things that I would adjust next time, but otherwise, it's a workable dress. I actually had three perfect buttons in the stash, so I just sewed up the bottom part of the dress, rather than going out to buy more buttons, and just have buttons on the top part. 

Because I used some of the fabric to make the failed retro top, I didn't have enough left for both pockets and sleeves. Pockets obviously won. Maybe the next Cypress Dress I make will have sleeves, but given that we live in Australia, this dress being sleeveless is not really a problem at all. 

I had just enough scrap fabric to make a matching mask, so when I wore it to a wedding in August, I was super fashionable in all the COVID ways.