As part of my mini capsule wardrobe I purchased a pair of pale cream/beige trousers linen which look good with the brown jacket. I couldn't resist the pink linen blouse.

By popular request here are the photos of the cats taken last week. The one above shows an affectionate (?) tussle!

Fudge

Treacle

At long last here are some photos of the dress made from Vogue 8021. I have adapted the pattern quite a lot, removing the pleats from the front and back as I didn't like the way they made the skirt hang. I've also added a contrast collar and cuffs to the sleeves which can be worn down as show in the photo or turned back to make the sleeve the original length of the pattern. I prefer them slightly longer and wear them down as shown. The fabric was purchased from John Lewis in Milton Keynes and is a lovely weight cotton which hangs beautifully when worn. I have lined the skirt of the dress so that I don't have to wear an underslip with it. The belt is purchased and this dress works equally well with a black belt.

I prefer the way the back hangs now that the pleats have been removed and intend to use the pattern of the skirt to make a stand alone skirt with some fabric I bought in New York a couple of years ago and which has a similar brown in the pattern as this fabric.



Here the dress is shown with a purchased jacket I bought last year. The photo perhaps doesn't do the colour match justice but the two pieces work well together. My plan is to make the skirt mentioned above to expand this capsule wardrobe.

Just wanted to explain, you will see my posts all have the same date which could mean I have been very busy sewing but in fact it's just that I have been slow blogging! All the projects have been completed in 2009 though.

For those of you interested here's the latest photos of Treacle (top) and Fudge taken last week. As you can see they are growing and growing and growing!

The needlecase was made for the May challenge on Tricia's Textile Group and this month's theme was 'pattern'. The pattern I came up with is taken from a photo of a vaulted ceiling in a Norman church in Crondall in Hampshire which just so happens to be where my ancestors originate from. I've 'reflected' the design 4 ways (you can just see the cross hair pencil line going through the centre).

I then free machine stitched the design in Madeira FS thread and burned away areas with a soldiering iron. It was then backed with some shiny gold fabric to show through the open sections. It was difficult to see the original stitching so I had to stitch over again this time with gold metallic.

The needlecase is lined with some dark red poly/cotton and the closure is a machine made cord stitched again with gold metallic thread and wrapped round a gold button from my stash. I'm pleased with the result but have made note to use a lighter colour thread when stitching on black!

These are some ready to wear T shirts and trousers purchased from Mothercare, that I have embroidered. I decided to make the embroidery into appliques and then sew them onto the garments because the T shirts were too small to fit into even the smallest hoop without unpicking the whole side seam. I didn't want to remove the pockets on the trousers as it would have been difficult to match the stitching and thread.

I tried something 'new to me' for the appliques by embroidering onto two layers of crystal organza which worked out really well and is something I'll do again.