The Anonymous Blueberry Muffin Thief Sews...

I'm doing that thing where I'm ending up with a massive bloody backlog of things which need to be blogged, because I have zero energy to actually write anything bloggable! Anyway, this is an old make, and it's not actually any part of my Finish Along nonsense, but it's the first bit of clothing I've made in about two years! I love the whole pinafore dress thing that's been going on for a while. I have a proper corduroy pinafore dress that I bought a year or so ago that I wear to death at work, and have been looking for a pattern that would work for me that I could make for a while. I'm still thinking about picking up the Cleo from Tilly and the Buttons, but her sizing doesn't always work for me (I'm just outside her sizes on hips and boobs) and most of the other patterns don't have the solid back style that I like. But while I was umming and ahhing, I came across the York Pinafore from Helen's Closet, and fell in love with the pockets ...

I've got a bunch of stuff that I keep meaning to post, but work is manic and when I'm at home I'm trying to get all of my Christmas making done (lots of making, the obviously I can't blog about yet) A few weeks ago I finally bit the bullet, cleared off the living room floor and cut out the Sewaholic Hollyburn that has been sat, pattern cut, on my living room table for months. There was an issue with the fabric I was originally going to use, which turned out to have a directional print, which would have been fine but I didn't quite have enough of it, so the pattern languished, as did the fabric I'd bought as a replacement. The photos are pretty awful, because err, there's me, and I need some kind of tripod like thing for my phone so I can take decent photos (asking my dad to take pictures never ends well; he sulks and they end up with oil tanks or lorries in the background thanks to the work yard)

*the Purple Marauder does no such thing, nyarrr This is mostly a very boring post about a skirt I have made WAY too many times now. This is my 3rd Imagine Gnats Alder skirt (previous ones here and here ). It's a quick easy make that doesn't use up masses of fabric, and most importantly for me, has excellent pockets that can hold tissues, both my phones (work handset and mobile), random bits of stuff I have to lug around the workshop and my kindle *not all at the same time, but that's a test I haven't quite put any of these through. This was part of my MadeUp pledge (the other half being the banner that I plan to spend the evening embroidering), which was to make a skirt that was actually suitable and sensible for work. I wear my other two Alders fairly regularly, but they're both quilting cotton and so quite stiff. They're also garish as fuck, and while my workplace is pretty lax, I sometimes feel like they're humouring me (to say nothing of the...

Just ignore me for the most part, I'm tired, irritated with work and trying to sort stuff out for another long weekend in a field. I'm also broke and payday isn't for another week :( Anyway, I made another skirt! Did I mention I love this pattern? I do. It's awesome, has pockets and hits my knee just where it should. One day I might even make a version that isn't made in a novelty quilting cotton. On the other hand, who doesn't want a skirt covered in tasty tasty fungi?

  My second #crazydogladysewing item, is this awesome Alder skirt (it's awesome because it's basically my ideal skirt pattern; elasticated waist, pockets, and hits just above the knee) I want to blather about how amazing this is, but I have a steaming headache after spending several miserable hours tromping around town, so you'll be spared a good chunk of the blather.

    There's a certain amount of irony in the title, as Polly was the name of my gran's dog hating cat. But only a small amount. I am a crazy dog lady, or I would be if I had the time to have a dog. I grew up with dogs, my birth was announced in the local paper as "a chum for Holly", and Holly licked chocolate pudding off my face and tolerated me trying to ride her round the house when I was very small. Then came Roxy, who wasn't my dad's dog (despite my dad being his favourite) who we weren't supposed to get, who peed in everyone's shoes and who had us (me) chasing over walls at 2am because he'd spotted a cat. Roxy who when my dad got re-married and moved out, went with him (I got the house). Sadly both are now long dead, and while I miss them massively, I know I'm out of the house far too much to responsibly have a dog. That doesn't stop me fussing every dog I meet up the woods (that lets me) and doesn't stop me searching out n...

This is a top I've made to actually wear somewhere other than LARP events. At work even. This is a Polly top from By Hand London . I'm fairly sure I'm the last person in the blog world to make this, but hey. We all have to start somewhere right?