You know that book I'm reading about getting along with your co-workers? It says that sarcasm is never helpful. I can lend it to you if you want.

I'm full of righteous, rational, if disproportionate, rage, and because, for the sake of my blood pressure, I am only speaking to people I agree with, so is everyone else I talk to.  I don't particularly want to talk about the reasons behind the rage that has led me to pour myself a soft drink, and fill it with gin, that are preventing me from ringing my father and yelling abuse at him down the phone, that has led to me temporarily abandoning the diet (I've lost a STONE people, a whole bloody STONE) and eating all the things in the house.  I'm on the verge of screaming "I BET YOU VOTED LEAVE YOU BASTARD" at anyone who gets in my way, or who looks at me, or who is anywhere within a mile of me.  The only tiny crumb of comfort I can find is that there will be a total destruction of our political system and we'll end up with different political parties and proportional representation, and then we'll have proper, actual democracy; and even though there'll probably be a complete break up of a union that has lasted for centuries and another civil war in Northern Ireland, it's all worth it because we are FREE and IN CONTROL again.  Hurrah.

Anyway, enough of that.  

Things that keeping me sane:

The Sewing Bee

Murder She Wrote

Sewing

Knitting

I've made a Tilly and the Buttons Bettine dress in the same striped fabric I used to make our #teamcarter supporters tops.  It is delightful, even if I messed up the skirt a bit, and had to piece it together.  But it fits well, and is flattering and I love it, very much.

I've also made a Dolores Batwing t-shirt out of a not actually very stretchy jersey from Spoonflower.  It is much, much too small in places and is a pain to put on but it looks fine, so I'm wearing it on Friday for a do. I might have to remake the top for Lucy in the end, as I'm really not sure about it.

The third thing I've finished recently is the yellow Petrie top in Rowan Wool Cotton, and it is lovely, but much too cold here in Poundland to wear.  THIS BLOODY COUNTRY AND ITS STUPID STUPID WEATHER.

I'm in the middle of making a bright red Myrna cardigan as well, as part of the Outfit Along for this year.  So far, it is lovely; I accept it doesn't look like much here, but it is really gorgeous.  I've not made the keyhole this time, which has made no difference to it at all, I just didn't fancy it.  I'm just about on to the sleeves, and I'll make them tighter this time, the yellow one is too loose around the wrists, which is irritating.  The other parts of the Outfit Along will be a cherry print big puffy skirt - so a waistband and a Cambie dress view B skirt, and a Lark tee shirt in white jersey.  I've made one, but I should have cut a smaller size.  WIN.  Even Nigella is bigger than me now.  DOUBLE WIN.  There's still a long way to go, but I'm definitely shrinking.

Hey ho, I'm on strike next week; I can't go on the march but I will DO SOMETHING in order to relieve my dreadful rage.  I think I might join the Labour Party.  We will see.

One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.

It's still half term.  It's still freezing.  People in the North are laughing at us in London, as June comes in with hideous weather.

We went to Northampton today, which was lovely until the last minute, when it took 3 HOURS to get home.  The M1 didn't work, the North Circular was fucked, and it seemed like a good idea to go through Harlesden.  Note to self: don't do that again, but then, at least we kept on moving and we listened to many, many hours of Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Hurrah.

Anyway, I've spent this evening sewing and listening to knitting podcasts, and I've made two things.

First up, a Delphine skirt, by Tilly and the Buttons.  I really like this A-Line skirt and made a tartan one last year, which I slimmed strenuously to get into, and is now too big on the waist and fits well on the hips, so let's call that a win.

I bought some stretchy sparkly demin from Ealing Fabrics in Hanwell for not very much money, and I cut out the same size as before, which is a triumph of hope over experience, and lets hope it fits properly.

The photo doesn't do the gold sparklyness justice; it is really lovely and shiny and would be loved by the girls, but bad luck, it's mine.  The waist band has a polka dot lining, and I'm really pleased with it.  I've made the waist smaller by an inch by doing a lapped zip, and it seems to look OK, so yay?  I'll wear it tomorrow and see how it fits.

The second thing I made tonight was a Dolores Batwing Tee-Shirt, in a purple strawberry jersey that I bought for a dress for Hattie, and after I'd cut something out, there was tonnes left, so I made something for me and something for Lucy, which brings the cost of the fabric down from a bit more than I should have spent, to the actually quite reasonable, as I've got three garments out of 2 metres.

I think I need to wear them together and get some modelled shots. Or maybe pop them on Nigella and see how they look.  I'm pleased with them both.  Yay for sewing.

Yeah, it's these grown men running around in their long underwear flapping their arms, which they do a lot of in ballet.

Evening.  In the language of my people, howzit?  

The builders are still with us, the house is still freezing, the crazy thick jumpers are still very necessary but the world is still turning and it is all nearly over.  I've nearly worked my way through the cut out pile, I've just got two dresses for the girls to make, and I need to take in the grey and blue Coco - it is far, far too big.  Hurrah.  I'm going to remeasure myself and draw all over my pattern, so I can make clothes that fit the new shape.

I made a Francoise dress, which is in the wash, and because I cut it out based on my old measurements, it is the right size on my hips and across my stomach, maybe a bit big, but much, much too big around my upper bust.  I am actually swimming in it.  This is frustrating in some ways, but massively pleasing in others, so let's not complain.  I will take some crappy iPhone photos of it next time I wear it, which will probably be before I adjust it, as that will take time and I don't have much of that.

In other UFO talk, I made a Delphine skirt.  This skirt has been a bit of a pain really.  I cut it out around my birthday, sewed it up, put in a beautiful invisible zip and then found that it was cut wrong, and just didn't fit.  Into the bin with it while I sulked.  I removed the zip and unpicked the back seam, and got ready to fit it to my friend Karen, but then we were too hungover and then I forgot and then it was now and the weight loss has happened, so I wrapped it round myself and found I could probably wear it after all.  So I finished it, and I've been wearing it obsessively ever since.  It stands away from my waist in a strange way, but is the right size everywhere else, so overall, it's a win.

How do you like the badger jumper?  It's fabulous and a size 12.

So that's that for this evening.  All the weight loss, all the sewing, all the fun.  Time for a single cashew nut and a magazine that tells me that tells me how old and fat I am.  Night all.

Now I'm heading home for a nooner, which is what I call having pancakes for lunch.

Well, now this is happening.  I'm doing another sewing/knitting challenge thing, Will I be able to see it through, or will I forget all about it, like I do most things?  WE SHALL SEE.

These are the categories:

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather

Chic Chemises for Cool Climates

Fabulous Frocks

Underneath It All

Tender Tootsies

Those Cozy Nights 

Baby It's Cold Outside

and you can find out more about them here.

But what Julia, I hear you cry, are you going to actually make?  Readers who pay attention might have seen my post about the Yarn in the City Pop Up Market Place that I went to the other day.  I bought enough yarn to make some really lovely things, and these are on the new list.  Where possible, the new list will coincide with the old list, to ease things.

Fashionable Foundations for Frosty Weather
I have some very lovely red tartan fabric I want to turn into a Clemence skirt.  So that's the first thing I'll be doing.

Chic Chemises for Cool Climates
I've made a grey and brown (nicer than it sounds actually) Coco (blog post to follow) for this.  I'm also going to finally finish my Wisteria jumper, and at least start the "This One's for Parties!" jumper too.  I might try to start the Tambourine cardigan in the Kettle Yarns grey wool.  A bit more on the Rainbow Raglan too.

Fabulous Frocks
I'm thinking about making an Emery dress in black watch tartan; I've had both the pattern and the fabric in my stash for TIME, and they need to be used.  I'm also going to make a black and white polka dot Bettine dress to wear under my Tamborine cardigan.  Three guesses which one will be finished first.  Oh yes, and a grey and white striped Coco dress with a contrasting pink yoke.  Go me!

Underneath It All
Might make some more pants.  Probably will.

Tender Tootsies
Might start some socks for me.  Might.  Will probably finish at least one sock for himself.  Probably.

Those Cozy Nights
I'm not sure if I want to go down the loungewear route, but I might make some Margot pyjamas if I'm feeling particularly lazy.  Maybe.  Don't know.

Baby It's Cold Outside
These mittens, in sophisticated orange and grey yarn from TravelKnitter.  A gorgeous deep blue green Ishbel in Triskelion Yarn and Fibre.  Find and then finish the Peacock Mittens.  Maybe a hat.  Maybe.

That'll probably do.  The sewing seems likely, the knitting less so, but we've got a lot of long car journeys coming up, and I do love to knit in the car.

What if he shows up with another woman? What if one of my sleeves catches on fire and it spreads rapidly? What if instead of Tic-Tacs I accidentally pop a couple of Ambien and I have to keep punching my leg to stay awake?

A while ago, my mum gave me a bunch of skirts to cut up for the fabric.  They are all from Liberty; back in the olden days (1980s), Liberty had a shop in Cambridge which sold skirts that had pre-elasticated waistbands, and were sewn up one side, so all you had to do was measure yourself and sew a seam.  We didn't have a sewing machine then as Mum didn't really care to sew, so she sewed and hemmed all these skirts by hand.  They are about as unflattering as any skirt can possibly be; loose elasticated waist, mid calf length, masses of fabric around the hips and bum, and generally pretty horrible.  The fabric though is just beautiful, so they are worth salvaging just for that.

This is the first one I rescued:

It's a lovely print, and I don't think you can buy it anymore; I can't even find it on the internet, although I'm not sure I am searching for the right thing.  If you can find it, please let me know.

All I really did was cut the waistband off, opened the side seams with my seam ripper and undid the hem.  I felt terrible doing that; my mum's hand sewing was absolutely beautiful, and must have taken ages.  I cut it in a sort of A-line shape, and made a beautiful interfaced waistband, that ended up being far too small, probably because I can't measure and left far too much seam allowance, resulting in me losing about 3 inches off the whole thing.  Depressing.  Obviously, then I didn't have enough fabric for a proper waistband, so I found some corduroy and measured it around my waist, then added a bit and shoved it on.  It's not technically perfect, but you know.  It's going to be around my waist, and you can't really tell it's not been lined, and if anyone wants to have a look at the waistband, they are clearly a weirdo and will be told to bugger off. 

It looks alright, doesn't it?  I sewed the buttons on today, so much fun.  They are from my purple Garter Yoke cardigan, which lost two buttons and a third chipped, so I've bought new ones which I have to sew on.  All eleven of them.  

I might even finish the cardigan I'm knitting to go with this skirt before the end of the week.  The way the weather is at the moment means I really need it.  It's freezing in London.  Does this count towards the whole vintage pledge thing?  It's certainly vintage fabric.