Moving Week!

Argh!  It's moving week!  How did that happen??  Considering we found the place back in January, we've been waiting for ages to actually move in and now it's suddenly here - it really snuck up on us!  So I've spent the past few days getting my work things in order and ensuring I've got all my lessons sorted for the next couple of weeks, as I'm pretty sure I'm not going to know where anything is until mid-March.

'Home Sweet Home'

There was a minor panic on Saturday night when I realised we had a week to go and I'd packed a grand total of five boxes.  And we only had five more boxes.  Thankfully, some wonderful friends have come up trumps with loads more boxes for us - phew!  Really, did you know that supermarkets over here don't keep boxes for customers anymore?  Unless you happen to catch a shop on a delivery day before they mash them up, they probably don't have any boxes, so these days you end up having to buy them.  Buying boxes when free boxes are getting pulped?  Bonkers.  Sorry, rant over!

We get the keys on Thursday and move all the stuff over early Saturday morning - the new place is literally over the road from our current apartment, but we have to cross a busy road and tram tracks, so we're going for a 7am run across!  So, this week, and probably next will, will likely be quite quiet here - take care, all, and see you soon!

Wewt! 50% off Vogue Patterns!

Warning, do not read this post if you do not want to spend money!

You have been warned!

There are some awesome Vogue patterns out there, but sometimes they're just too expensive ... except when they're half price!

For all you UK stitchers - Sew Direct is currently offering 50% off Vogue patterns for all customers (even non-members) until 10th March.  I've bought patterns and a cheap french curve with grading rule (towards the bottom of the page) from Sew Direct before and they're brilliant - great offers and always really quick delivery - so I'd definitely recommend them!  (And no, I'm not affiliated with them in any way!)

Anyway, of course, I couldn't resist...

Vogue 8280 - insert Roland-Mouret-Galaxy-dress-rip-off-squees here!  I'm pretty late to the Vogue 8280 party, but it is a pretty fab dress.

And bear with me on the next one ...

Yes, it looks like a box of confetti vomited on her, but check out the line art:

Oh yeah, there are details there!  Like pockets!  Why on Earth they chose to use a crazy print to 'show off' this dress, I really don't know, but let it be another lesson in looking at the line art before judging a pattern.  It's got a fab tulip-type skirt, a non-frumpy elastic-y waistband and a nice bit of hip-balancing cap sleeve action.

It's very much like a Whistles dress I tried on a while back, but which didn't even come close to covering my boobs, which made me sad, so hopefully the addition of a slip (which I wanted a pattern for anyway) and the fact I'm making it myself should mean that it'll fit!  HA!  Take that, Whistles and your not making dresses for women with big boobs!  And the Whistles version didn't even have pockets!

And, dammit, did I mention that it has pockets?  What's not to love?

Finally, I also went for a non-Vogue pattern (which I still got 10% off - they've got an offer for 10% off all patterns at the moment, too, it would seem!), which I'd been eyeing up for a while:

I'm not even going to post the front cover of the pattern 'cause it's pretty painful, but this is Butterick 5466.  A nice, simple pencil skirt pattern.  It's very much like a vintage one I have, but with one major difference - it's actually in my (current) size.  So rather than scaling up the vintage pattern, I'm just going to go with this one.  Sorted!  Plus it's got great reviews.

The only down side of Sew Direct is that they only do Vogue, Butterick and McCall's and I was thinking of getting Simplicity 2451:

Suggested by Gwenan on my post about skirt shapes - thanks Gwenan!  (Let me know if you have a blog and I'll link to you!)  Now, I'm not a fan of flarey bits on skirts, as seen on view A, but, views C and D are nicely tulip-y - huzzah!  And, again, it's got great reviews... AND POCKETS!!!

Sorry, I'll calm down now about pockets on skirts and dresses ... but I just bloody love them too much.

So, I hope the Sew Direct Vogue offer is helpful to some of you (though maybe not helpful to your bank balances!) - let me know if you go for anything through it!

The Shock of the Old

Just a quick post to share an interesting little article the BBC is running in response to London Fashion Week and the controversy we tend to get with these events.  The shock of fashion isn't a new thing by any means, and this article looks at some of my favourite fashion controversies, such as The Macaroni, the Queen's underwear (Marie Antoinette's chemise a la reine) and Dior's New Look and its fabric-guzzling skirts.

Many Thanks - The Liebster Blog Award

Wow, first off, I need to say a massive thank you to Suzie for passing me (and four other bloggers) the Liebster Blog Award!  (Check out her other nominees!)

To re-use her description of the award:

"the origins of the Liebster Blog Award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it means favourite or dearest to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers."

I really don't feel worthy as I've been a very poor blogger of late, but I am so grateful to Suzie and to all my readers for sticking with me and offering such supportive words.  Thank you all - despite my writing degrees, I cannot express what it means to me when I get your kind comments, but know that they are truly appreciated.

... So, mushiness aside!  The rules for this award are:

1 - thank your liebster blog award presenter on your blog.

2 - link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.

3 - copy/paste the blog award on your blog. 

4 - present the liebster blog award to 5 blogs with 200 followers or less. 

5 - let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment.

Well, I've covered the first three, so now it's time for the difficult part.  I read a lot of blogs, so narrowing it down to three ... and checking that they've got fewer than 200 followers?  That's a tall order ...

• A fabulous writer, embroiderer and all-out lovely lady, Prue Batten of Mesmered's Blog.
• A lady after my own heart - Rowenna writes, loves sewing and digs the 18th century over at Hyaline Prosaic.  She discusses stitching, writing and her re-enacting with a wonderfully friendly voice.
• What's the time?  Why, it's Scruffy Badger Time!  Check out her stitcherous creations.
• A very stylish stitcher is our Catherine Daze.
• House of Nines Design: The most drool-worthy hats designed and displayed for your pleasure ... or your purchase if you're lucky enough to be able to afford one.  One day!

(Not all of these bloggers have a 'follower' list or total on their page, so I'm going by the figures on Google Reader - apologies if they're not 100% accurate!)