The first of many..?

Hello peeps (a ridiculous word I know, but I find myself drawn to it of late!) Well, you'll recall that a few posts ago, I showed you the Vogue dress I made, which I think I can say was a success, though one friend who I know will read this - you know who you are! - cannot get over the hilarity of me posing in my back garden wearing my creation. And I must admit, one can feel slightly ridiculous. Should I smile into the camera? Gaze wistfully into the distance? Feign the utmost interest in an imaginary object to my left? Well, I would love to say that I'll have to get used to it, as I hope to be doing a lot more posing in the future, but I'm keeping my plans to myself for the time being, as they won't come to fruition for a few years at least.

However, you'll have to bear with some more posing right here, because, since making Vogue V8469, I have been literally obsessed with sewing. I've been designing clothes patterns in my head left, right and centre and sketching them out, and, after having spotted some gorgeous striped jersey fabric in good old JL, I couldn't rest until I'd designed a pattern (something I've never done before, and I don't know why I thought I could, but went for it anyway, with a bit of help from youtube), cut it out - I fully recommend those rolls of paper you get in Ikea which are meant to go on those wooden paper roll holders, for children to tear off and paint on, if anyone's interested - and actually sew it together. And the end result astonished me! I have a lovely jersey dress which fits my figure perfectly, has pockets (yes, that most essential ingredient of a wearable day dress), and which, to be honest, I can't quite get over. My only qualm is that the pockets are not quite large enough to fully extend one's arm into, but I can remedy that when I make the next one - yes, there will definitely be more!

So, without further ado, I present the grand unveiling of my first, me-designed, dress. And as all patterns should have a name, I have decided to call it  the St Mawes dress. I'll elaborate on that later...

The St Mawes dress

I used a contrast deep pink thread for the topstitching on the neckline and armholes, but it's very subtle

I'm not a fan of headless photos, but I thought this one showed the whole dress really clearly so I decided to include it

...the pockets could probably do with a bit of a press...

So there you have it. The name, St Mawes, came from my ideas behind the dress; where would it be worn, what kind of occasions etcetera. I wanted it to be smart enough to wear, say, to a summer lunch, or wandering around a seaside town, but casual enough to wear with flip flops on the beach, or relaxing in the garden. I was thinking of all the beaches in Cornwall that I love, but decided I didn't want to name it after a beach because that would only encapsulate one side of the idea. I then recalled a visit to St Mawes, also in Cornwall, a couple of years ago, and thought it would be perfect as a name for the dress. St Mawes is a harbour town over the river from Falmouth, and is rather affluent. It has a harbour and various galleries, but also possesses a relaxed feeling of subdued sophistication. This was exactly the feeling I wanted to encapsulate, therefore St Mawes sounded perfect!

So, as you've probably inferred from the post title and my rattling on about my new obsession, I'm really hoping there's more where that came from. But be patient with me, as time is not on my side, as I all too often reiterate.

What do you think of my dress? Where would you wear it, or wouldn't you? And what about the name - does it work? Tell me your thoughts.

xxx Sam