Coming soon

I have several things to share with you in the next few days, but it will have to wait until I get my main computer back and have the chance! I have a very busy week at work, with parents evenings and ofsted! so will post later when I recover from it all!

Corsetry - Ralph Pink

I would love to do a corsetry course. the trouble is they are all miles away or really expensive!
however I found a set of very in depth you tube clips by Ralph Pink.

He has a website of his work and free patterns and tutorials. it was easy to follow and I picked up a couple of tips I could use, and until I get to go on a course, maybe later this year, it gives me a starting point.

Go have a look!

Today I have been mostly...

Finishing Elaine's wedding dress. Whoo hoo. You might wonder what these little sticky out bits are. These will slot down the back of the bra to stop it showing and help the dress stay up. They are rigilene covered with the lining fabric.

Wedding Dress Progress

It seems like ages since I posted about the Wedding Dress. I've been spending all my spare time on it and it's coming on nicely. Most of the major construction is done. I did a final fitting yesterday to check it fitted Elaine correctly.

Buttons

Loops in place

This weekend I've been sewing on buttons, button loops and doing the hem. The under layer was machined but I needed to hand fell stitch the top layer -All 3 metres of it!

Hand stitched hem - wrong side

Hand stitched hem - right side

It's taken me longer than I thought as there has been a lot of hand stitching. I still need to hem the neck edge. Yep by hand. Three weeks to go until the wedding and this dress will be finished this week.

to do list.

1. Felt the wool sweaters given to me by my mum
2. Add buttons and buttons loops to the wedding dress
3. Find something to wear for Elaine's hen do tomorrow
4. Make toile of the other wedding dress I'm making

Happy Birthday to Me

Well it's my Blogging Birthday. I've been on blogger for a whole year and a lot has happened in that time.
I started blogging as a way to document my creative endeavours while I was ill last year. It has been a year of ups and downs, uncertainty and hope, redundancy and new jobs.
I will begin a new full time job in September and I have no Idea how I will keep this thing going while working full time (suggestions please). One thing I'm certain of - i have to keep creating, although I think you might see more of my art work in the latter part of this year.
I may not post quite as regularly as I do now, but as they say - you can't do everything!

Encouraging Christian Growth

Last weekend I attended a local Christian Conference all Encouraging Christian Growth. It's a great weekend where Christians from lots of local Churches get together to worship, chat, catch up and share what God is doing in their lives.

Worship was led by Adam Carmichael (from Christian band THE STEELS) and musicians form the area. The speaker was Jeff Lucas, who is well known in the UK although he is a pastor in a church in Colorado these days. He's a gifted and humorous speaker, who has the ability to make you laugh and get across the point with clarity. He was speaking on Running the Race. Get hold of some of his books, they are easy to read with a clear message.

In addition to the worship and speaker, there are a selection of seminars. This year I was asked to provide an alternative seminar (read workshop) and delivered an introduction to printmaking. It was short and sweet and we had loads of fun!

I also attended a Pilates session on the Sunday. It was great and I'll be looking out for a local class to try. Have any of you tried Pilates - what do you think of it?

`interview

Hi All,
I've had a very busy weekend, which I'll try to tell you about later. For now pop over to Handmade Harbour and find out a bit more about me in the interview I did for Wendy.

Wednesday Wisdom

Sometimes it's too easy to lose focus on what is really important in life.