Ta Dah! My finished Hazel … and ok, another Sorbetto!

Phew! It is finished and not without a little bit of blood and sweat I might add. After a whole day of unpicking and re-sewing various parts of my Hazel, a mini tantrum and  some pathetic tears, I have completed The Dress. It’s not really my colour (I’m so silly to think green and white stripes would flatter my wintery complexion) but I’m hoping a little black cardi will transform it into a summer favourite.

In the end I took in the bodice by at least an inch and adjusted the position of the straps a tiny bit too. This wasn’t actually too difficult but I found it tricky to finish off the invisible zip and ended up unpicking it and re stitching it quite a few (grrrrrr!) times! I think if I were to make it again in a striped fabric, I’d make the stripes vertical on the straps as it was quite fiddly lining them up so they looked symmetrical. In fact I found the stripes a bit difficult to work with but that’s probably down to my lack of know how! I also added quite a bit to the length so that it sits just above my knobbly knees. Overall, I love this Colette pattern, the challenge really got my brain working and the satisfaction in working through the hiccups and making something fit me properly is brilliant.

Thank you to Sew Busy Lizzy for your wise words of encouragement, it’s lovely to have such comments! I’ve always been a bit of a recluse in the blog world and kept myself to myself using this as a sort of personal diary for the creative bit of me. I will try and make more of an effort to comment on other sewers blogs now I realise what a boost it can be to be the recipient!

But that’s not all … Whilst in the flow, I binned the floppy, worn out looking Sorbetto that I made as a gift for my friend Linda (it’s actually gone in the duster basket) and went crazy with the Hazel fabric by making a new improved version for her.

I think the fact that I would like to keep it for myself is a good sign. I even made some rather successful bias binding with my new Clover gadget! The sleeves and a couple of vintage buttons from my button tin finish it off a treat, she’s going to look lovely in this and being far more photogenic than myself, I will attempt to get a picture of her in it when I see her next week and post it (please let it fit)!