Happy New Year Holly!!

And here, my friends, is my TRUE holiday outfit – the By Hand London Holly jumpsuit. Continuing the tradition from last year with my Anna dress, the moment I laid eyes on this pattern, I was in LOOOOOVE!! I immediately purchased a good length of sumptuous navy blue silk duchesse which for once went right into use rather than lingering in my stash LOL. Holly did not let me down – like my beloved Anna, she was a joy to sew as well as to wear. I was suspicious of her wily ways at first, knowing full well I would have to make alterations to the pants bit, but she surprised me by fitting perfectly with just the slightest waist adjustment – beauty!!

I also did an FBA as per usual, and because I have to do a fairly big one, instead of rotating the extra bits into the cowl, as suggested, I chose to keep the bust dart. Super glad I did this, as it works well for me, and I would prefer not too much extra fabric draping around the girls.

The only little thing I would do differently next time is to finish the whole bodice top the same as the front cowl – with a turn, press, turn and catch stitch. The pattern calls for a bias finish where the bias turns into the straps but a) I found this far too fiddly for my taste, and b) sorry, but a bias strip isn’t nearly wide enough a strap for my chest LOL. I would prefer it to be just a little wider, so I would draft and sew separate, slightly wider straps next time I make this.

Which there WILL be another time, in fact, I love the fit of the pants so much that I am going to be making a pair out of a lovely lightweight grey wool suiting. I am going to try and drop the waist and draft a new waistband though, as I prefer my trousers to sit below the waist. Will let you know how it goes.

Speaking of trousers, I finished up my first real pair of wool trousers today and I absolutely LOOOOVE them – will get to posting those in the new year – in the mean time, Happy New Year’s everyone, and hope you all have a wonderful, safe evening!! (and pancakes for breakfast tomorrow of course! ^__^)

My first LBD!! (what the??? right?)

While working on my planned holiday outfit this year, I came to the realization that a) I might not get completed in time, and b) I wanted something more modest for my staff party than I had originally planned.

With just over a week to go, I knew I needed an easy TNT pattern & fabric from my stash to make this work. Inspired by Winnie’s lovely recent LBD, and realizing I was devoid of an LBD of my own (the horror!!) I decided to shamelessly copy her with my own (already altered) Laurel pattern & some embroidered border print silk-cotton I had been hoarding 🙂

closeup of border hem – lovely embroidered silk cotton! 🙂

I just love this pattern – not much new to say on it as I’ve already done the fit adjustments before – all I did differently here was to shorten the sleeves.

I’m still working on the original outfit I’d planned (in a sumptuous silk duchesse!!), but it’ll be for New Year’s; much more party and much less work appropriate! ^_^