Hemming a Bridesmaid Dress

This week I have been asked to take up two dresses for a lady used to work with, they are a very pretty chiffon on top,  so two layers to deal with.  When I have something like this I like to take my time, items for myself are usually rattled off in a hurry but not things I do for other people.

A few people have mentioned to me that they are over cautious about taking up skirts and dresses, any skirts at all that is.  If you measure accurately where you want the skirt to finish and put a line of pins there this will keep you on track, don't rush! I take longer with this part if it is something is special than the actual sewing because once you have this bit right that is most of the work done.

It is a bit crumpled I know, not my doing they are both folded into small bags I think they have been ordered from somewhere.  That faint line of pins you can see is the finished length so I will leave an inch below that and cut there, it is double thickness here so both pieces will be folded towards each other so no raw edges are visible.  To get my finish length I measured 5 inch up all the way along the bottom as that was how much I was told.

I had  a little dip there so I sorted that, now the pins in this picture have been moved as I carefully folded the layers up in line with the original pins then replaced them to keep both layers in place. It was then stitched close to the edge.   I then repeated the process with the chiffon layer but this time I only took off 4 inch  so it would hang below.  One  dress down and then I was very hot, so I will finish dress two tomorrow and share a few more pictures.  The cool shower  I had when I came home from work has worn off so no more sewing this evening.

Food this evening consisted of chickpeas, onions , tomatoes, garlic and all manner of other things cooked in a pan with spices, no recipe to follow just throwing in whatever I fancied and it was delicious.  It makes me wonder why I bother with the formal recipes at times, more success seems to be  had with the throw it all in pan method.

Just Gardening

Today has been mainly a case of getting on with the garden, we go through phases I think where we believe we are on top of it and then we leave it for a while and there is nothing in the pots and the weeds creep in.  So while we have it fairly low maintenance anyway it was time to put a bit of colour in, and pull a few more of those weeds.  Hottest day I think so not the easiest task but there will always be an excuse so we got on and did a bit, there is still a lot of topsoil needed for a bed down the side but that was not something to be bought at the local garden centre.  It can be bought cheaper and delivered in a larger quantity I think.

We didn't go too mad, we bought a couple of dahlias yesterday and another today and a few packs of bedding plants at 3 for £6.  It has made the front of the house look a bit brighter and filled a couple of pots on the back, I still need to do the hanging basket, there are plants left for this but we decided the actual basket had seen better days so we need o source another in the next couple of days.

A few on the front

A dahlia for each side of the door, I already had all the pots.

There is actually a grape vine in this pot that never has any grapes.

Amazing what a difference a few flowers can make but of course the sun is also shining and that always puts a better light on everything too.

I have started to re-read The Miracle Morning which I originally read and said it wasn't very good but now it feels altogether different, funny how that happens sometimes and the saying goes you are not who you were a year ago so this time around I am getting something from it. It does make me wonder about all those books that have gone to the charity shop though because I thought they were rubbish, maybe if I had held on to them  I would have enjoyed them at a later date.

That last thought however brings me on to something I was thinking about earlier in relation to clutter. The bottom of my wardrobe seems to have got out of control and I was tidying it and adding the shoe racks when I thought 'what happened to getting rid of an item a day?'  Now that was something I started a while ago as a war on stuff but it has somehow been neglected, so I am beginning again to remove one item a day (it doesn't matter how small) of useless stuff from my life.

Charity Shop Finds

What a scorcher it has been today! We have only just walked the dogs as it has been too hot all day but really it is still baking out there now, I am not complaining it has felt like being on holiday today. I was outside drinking tea and reading at six this morning, washing out, exercise done and house all vacuumed before nine.  It makes me wonder why I can't be more productive every morning, I will try and keep it up.

We didn't go that far today but had a lovely time, we called in the charity shop to drop some items off and I saw this lovely dress, it's a size twelve so will need taking in a bit and also maxi length so I will cut a lot off the bottom but the fabric is gorgeous.

Just a quick photo on the chair before it went in the machine, but you get the idea.

I  also spotted a shoe rack for a couple of pounds which is amazing because I was just staring at the jumble of shoes in my wardrobe yesterday and thinking I need a shoe rack, and I came across one just like that.  Now to organise them, some are boots and trainers but it will be easier to keep tidy with them stacked.

We popped in the library to return a book and got these two from the new books shelf...

Hot Milk has been started already as I sat outside in the sun grabbing a bit of vitamin D, it is off to a good start.  Lunch was also outside but in the shade, you have to make the most of these sunny days. There was also quite a bit of weeding and a couple of plants bought for the pots which have been empty for ages, we need to get a couple more cheap and cheerful ones tomorrow. It is one of those things, I like to see the garden looking nice but when you buy the plants and they seem to have a short life it makes me grumpy.  Hopefully the few we buy will give a bit of colour for a good while.