Sewing blogger come fashion model

Hello and happy 2018 to you all. Looking back on my 2017 blog posts, I am surprised to see how little I feature. That wasn’t the plan at all, my intention was to sew one item a month for myself, but I didn’t quite reach that target. I did however sew eight items for myself and I’m pretty pleased with all of them. I’ll get my act together in the coming months, take some pictures and show you some of what I made to partially achieve of my 2017 Fashion Resolution.

So for 2018, my goal is to feature more on my blog than my girls do. It’s not going to be easy because:

1. My clothes take a lot longer make (I still haven’t finished a dress I started in 2016 and all I have to do is hem the sleeves).
2. Taking pictures of myself is surprisingly even more difficult than taking pictures of two girls who still think it’s fun to jump up and down on the bed and do handstands when I’m trying to photograph them.
3. Bananas and fish are slightly more fun than anything I would dare to wear and it’s very easy to be distracted by quirky fabric and twirly dresses for my girls rather than sensible(ish) clothes for myself.

But I am going to try.

For now though, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the Groove Dress that I made back in September, the night before I needed to wear it to the Great British Sewing Bee Live. I shared pictures on Instagram but they didn’t quite make it here on my blog.

And I hope you’ll agree my modelling skills have improved somewhat. Which is all because I looked up on Google what skills I need to be a model and I think I have what it takes…

• Good grooming and the ability to take care of your appearance. Well, at least once a week, if I’m leaving the house.
• Confidence, self-reliance and discipline. Yep, it’s all in the bag. Glad it doesn’t say punctual, decisive and organised.
• A pleasant, professional attitude with good people skills. Most of the time, unless I’m hungry.
• Patience, stamina and fitness to cope with long, tiring days and travelling. I went to the gym today (first time this year), does that count?
• The ability to cope with criticism and rejection. Oh yeah, you can tell me if I look ridiculous, I can handle it or I can delete the comment 😉

I’m embarrassed to say that this is the first Groove Dress I’ve made for myself. I’ve made countless for my girls and other people, I made a test version and a hacked version but this is the first ‘pure’ version for me. And like most people say, it definitely will not be my last.

The fabric is a bold black and white stripe Ponte di Roma from Walthamstow Market. The best thing about Ponte is that it doesn’t need ironing and it doesn’t need hemming. Well, that’s what I told myself when I made this one anyway.

I wear my Groove Dress A LOT and feel comfortable and confident wearing it, which is what I aspire to achieve for all the clothes I make. Is it the same for you?

Pop back tomorrow and I’ll be showing you my first make of 2018. But it’s not for me, it’s not even for my girls, it’s a surprise actually. Come back tomorrow and all will be revealed.