Summer Ball - a pretty dress and a night to remember........

Just about a week and a half after moving house my husband and I went to our first event, the summer ball, here. Although the theme was some US-Midwest/Kentucky Derby/Cowboy type theme, the dress code was formal-below the knee for spouses/mess dress for the soldiers. 

I didn't have much notice and time to come up with an outfit so I made a dress similar to this one for the event and paired it with a knitted/crochet (??) bolero, me-made hairflowers and some pretty heels. It felt formal enough, was very much me and somewhat even suited the theme, I guess.

the official photo

There was a shooting booth, a bucking bronco and a Kentucky Derby booth as entertainment as well as a live country band and DJ plus some gorgeous food. 

I didn't even do too bad

Hubby riding the bull

And after the bull ride the night took a rather unfortunate turn. My husband hurt his arm so bad we ended it up in A&E to get it checked out. 

Luckily nothing was broken and he had only pulled a muscle. 

Life lately....

I have been swamped with work last week (read: sewing for other people last week- no complaints!!!) and with my husband off work, moving house in about 2 weeks from now and the most glorious weather sewing for myself was abandoned for the last week or so. I have a few projects line up though. 

The free time I had was mainly spend outside topping of those Vitamin B deposits.

Last weekend:

wearing this dress

this weekend

Yes I wear hiking shoes with my dresses when walking. Not fancy but my feet are grateful for it at the end of the day, we usually cover quite some distances...

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine!

Gerties blouse and capris aka Butterick 5895

butterick 5895

After seeing Rochelle's version of this pattern I knew I had to get it and have a go myself. I was in need of some capris for the summer as I only own a pair of boring black ones. I found a dusky pink stretch denim at my local fabric shop and decided to make up my first pair of capris in that fabric and the blouse in a red gingham. 

There isn't too much to say about the pattern. The capris are super easy and quick to whip up. If you are scared of making trousers/pants, try these first. They are only front and back piece plus waistband, so even if you have fitting issues for some reason there are only very few pieces to wrestle with. As Rochelle mentioned in her blog post about this pattern, sizing comes up huge due to too much ease so be aware of that. I cut a smaller size against the sizing chart and went with the finished measurements on the pattern pieces instead to avoid having to fit MC Hammer pants to capri size. Worked a treat, no adjustments were necessary. 

The top is relatively straight forward, too. Some might find the collar a little fiddly but once you have figured that out you'll be knocking load of them up as it's such a nice little cropped top. I don't usually go for cropped anything but with high waisted trousers, skirts or of course on the beach this isn't too belly bearing. 

matchy matchy details

silly pose, had to be done....

I will be making more tops from this pattern, probably in more gingham. I need more gingham in my life. I think it will be super cute with shorts to make a little playsuit, don't you think?

another good hair day, adorned with handmade hair flowers and handmade headband

Saturday fun

Lately I have been looking forward to the weekends even more than usual, mainly because it means outdoor fun with the husband preferably on a bicycle. We decided to cycle to Fleet today and go on a charity shop tour. There are loads of charity shops in Fleet and it's a somewhat decent cycling distance away. I took the Schwinn cruiser which meant I got to dress nicely.

dress is my garden party dress in sky blue, cardi is from New Look a few years back, ballerina pumps from Primark and the hair flowers are made by me

I came home with relatively few items. Only found a bag and two necklaces :-( but better than nothing. Plus we had a little Marks and Spencer's picnic and some amazing cake!!!

Bestestest pecan pie!! That's the kind of treat I pedal for. 

Happy weekend everyone!!!

Sailor style jeans

I made a pair of Burda 8488 in denim the other day. I have a pair in light denim already (never photographed and blogged)  which I have worn a lot. It's my lazy-can't-be-bothered-to-make-an-effort pair of jeans. When I saw this dark lightweight denim at my local fabric shop and I thought I should make another pair that is a little dressier. So here they are. 

 

little nautical detail

and stripey wedges of course

As if I sensed the news to come when I made them last week....I'm in need of more nautical fashions. I am moving to the UK's south-west coast soon. My husband just found out on Monday where we will be posted to next. We were hoping to move back to Germany for a few years but instead we are being transferred to Devon. I was a bit disappointed for a second as I would have loved living closer to my family and friends again, at least for a while. But on second thought, living close to the seaside in one of the most beautiful areas in the UK really isn't too bad. In fact I am now very much looking forward to the move. Please message me if you are living anywhere in the the area. I'd like to meet some local sewing buddies, vintage enthusiast or sport fanatics.

Weekend cycling: lady cyclist vs road racer or two bikes, two outfits, two missions

My husband and I spend this weekend indulging in one of our favourite activities, cycling. We went on a 60 mile bike ride on Saturday and a lazy afternoon ice cream run and stroll through Wokingham on Sunday. I have always enjoyed cycling on my Schwinn beach cruiser, wearing cute outfits and getting from A to B but whenever I saw road cyclists out on their bikes I never understood what they like about road cycling. It always seemed boring to me. Obviously road cycling is a hug part of triathlon, so it was inevitable for me to start cycling on a performance bike. It took me a few rides to kind of get into it as it's not the most comfortable experience at first and you really need to "break in" your rear end. It also doesn't allow for cute outfits, it's padded tights or shorts and tech shirts plus helmet....not so pretty. But let me tell you, going down a hill at 32 miles/hour is an awesome experience and the ground you can cover on a bike like that is amazing. I admit I'm very torn between pretty cycling and badass cycling now. So this weekend we decided to dedicate a day to each kind. 

Thames in Windsor

Eton

the not-so-lady-cyclist-look aka day glow goodness - better safe than road jam right?

Eton, we did go past the college but didn't stop for pictures...

Our Saturday ride took us from Wokingham to Reading, Maidenhead,Windsor, Eton, Windsor Park Ascot, Bracknell and back home. 60 miles total, that's a lot of cake and cider for me. You've got to reward yourself for all that work, right?

I slept very well that night, I guess passed out until late morning is the correct term. After lunch we decided to cycle into Wokingham again for some ice cream. This time I took Betty Schwinn and got to dress a little nicer. The shorts are my own creation from 2 years ago, still going strong. 

I feel a little Jackyl and Hyde sometimes when my love for sports and outdoorsy stuff collides with my love and passion for wearing pretty frocks.........oh well first world problem ey? 

Do you have any clashing hobbies and interests?

The cherry print wiggle dress

I have been making a lot of dresses featuring full gathered skirts or circle skirts lately and thought it was time for a different design. In one of my latest dress posts I was toying with the idea of using my sweet heart bodice in combination with a pencil skirt and so I did. I used a black cherry print cotton and the result is a cute little wiggle dress. 

had a good hair day, too

I think if I use this design again, I will make the skirt slightly longer. It's not too short but shorter than I usually wear. I also have this fabric in white waiting to be made up into something. Not sure what it's going to be yet. Any ideas?