Squirrel Print Dress

Excuse the blurry photo please! This is the dress I was originally making for the Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network meet up at the zoo. However, my Mum and brother paid us a surprise visit and I never made it to to the zoo and I kind of lost my motivation to finish up the dress.

Which is a shame, because now I have actually finished it I love it so much and I am planning a second one with some of the Arthur Toye sale fabric I bought. The pattern is the Derby Dress by Christine Haynes, I have had this pattern sitting in my pile for some time but I have only just now gotten around to making a version of the dress.

So this photo is a little clearer! You can actually see me and the dress! I really do love this pattern, the design is cute and the directions are super simple to follow. I think I have mentioned on here before that I basically feel like Christine Haynes was one of the people that taught me how to sew - when I was starting out her book Chic and Simple Sewing was so useful. I have made so many projects from that book over and over again, if you're just learning to sew, I highly recommend it!

As for the fabric, its from the Arthur Toye sale too - but I got it at the start of the sale in January. The pattern is tiny squirrels and frogs. I was a little worried this dress might look like a nightie - but thankfully that's not the case at all.

Also this pattern sneakily taught me how to make my own bias binding - something I have been scared of doing for the longest time. Christine tricked my by treating the bias binding like any other pattern piece! Sneaky sneaky!

Close up of the frill, squirrel fabric (there are frogs too) and THAT bias bindings - guys I can TOTALLY make bias binding now. 

Notice anything different about my hair? I got extensions again! It's been a long time since I have had them and I'm really happy with them. This time I have actual "real" hair extensions - which is a little creepy, but I try not to think about it too much. In the past I have always had synthetic hair extensions, which really never blended with my hair, they were obviously not "my" hair. These "real" extensions look like I could have dyed part of my hair fire truck red.

Tomorrow is Waitangi Day, which is pretty much New Zealand's birthday so we get a day off work. Rich and I are heading off hiking which I'm really looking forward to (I'm crossing my fingers it won't rain). Hope you're enjoying your week - whatever you are getting up to!