Another time I went to a really boring movie with a guy and while I was asleep he tried to pull out one of my teeth. I literally woke up with his hand in my mouth. We went out a couple times after that but then he got weird.

I love sunflowers.  They're one of my favourite flowers, after those big blowsy roses that look like drunk peonies; I had them in my bouquet when we got married.  They undercut the formality of our wedding with their scruffy sexiness.  As did the bride, but that's another story.

Anyway, so it was only a matter of time before I bought some sunflower fabric to make a dress.  Inspired, as ALWAYS, by this dress made by the indomitable Roisin, I got some fabric from ebay some time last year.  Seriously, stalk her handmade wardrobe, it is one of the greatest things ever.  The woman is a machine.

It sat in the stash for a while, intending to become an Anna dress.  

However, I decided to be a bit of a glutton for punishment, and had yet another go at the the sodding Cambie dress, which was the second dress pattern I made, and a massive, massive pain in the bum.  I'm the wrong shape for it.  My boobs are too big, my waist isn't narrow enough and neither are my hips.  I don't have saddlebags, so the damn thing sticks out in the wrong place and I never wear the two dresses I made from that pattern.  The zip being broken on one doesn't help, and the other is just NOT GOOD.

But, this is dressmaking not astrophysics, and I won't let a bit of cloth and some paper beat me.  I made a toile with my cotton lining fabric, made a couple of bodice changes, mostly taking it in here and there so I didn't have to do a full bust adjustment, and went for it.  Well, it was an effing disaster again, so after some mild (bad) swearing and stamping and throwing the dress on the ground and stamping on it, I ripped out the sodding lining and tried again.  This time, it worked.  

I don't like pockets, so I made the skirt out of the lining pattern, and it sort of bulges out halfway down my thighs.  But that's just visible to me, not to anyone else.

A close up of the bodice.  I put a couple of darts in by the zip, and spent a while sorting out the shoulder strap things.  I really like it now, and I might just have another go at the Cambie another time.  Maybe.  It's a lot better without the lining; when we get back from holiday, I'll rip the lining out of the Dolly dress and replace the zip.  I should wear it, I did love it in the beginning.

It also has a bang on trend high/low hem, which was INTENDED ACTUALLY. 

My clothes photos are getting a bit better too.