Salvage Sunday

Well in an attempt to redeem myself from last years catalogue of disasters, as partly outlined in my previous post, I thought I should make an effort with a couple of the said disasters and have an afternoon of unpicking, unraveling and generally making good....a sort of salvage and sew Sunday.

First off was the dreaded Cynthia Rowley dress the Summer Sew  Along non-runner which I always seem to moan about....but no more dear reader. This,as it turned out did not take too long to sort out in the end after all.The actual making of the dress,although a bit tricky in places admittedly,worked out alright really and all my seams were beautifully neat and the zip went in perfectly so I was loathe to have to fiddle with it even though it meant it was unwearable as a dress as it was far too roomy around the bust and underarm.Consequently it languished on my Pile of Shame.

I took in an inch at each side seam and tapered it down to the top of the midriff waist section.The right hand seam I unpicked the bodice lining and did it all properly so that it was concealed whereas the left hand side wasn't so simple as the zip was lurking.I decided I was going to make a bigger disaster potentially if I unpicked all the zip and the bodice so I just took it in so that the seam shows on the inside.Not so neat but the zip still looks fairly neat on the outside which is more important really and it is now wearable after all.

Da-daahhh!

 I think the midriff section has the effect of making my ever increasing middle aged paunch stick out even  more...although I had got thick winter woolly tights on underneath in the photo, so I think some sturdy elasticated Bridget Jones style big knickers are called for to rein all that flab in.I believe the remit for the Summer sew along that this dress was supposed to be part of was to make and wear something that you could "strutt your stuff" in.Well this dress must be the last thing to be finished for that particular group activity but I shall enjoy strutting my stuff about in it now this coming summer.

When writing my previous post I must admit I had totally forgotten about my most laughable disaster to date...my knitted underwear.Much as a victim of crime can blot out unsavoury memories so I too managed to blot out my woolly teddy.

Feast your eyes for alas tis no more

 The original concept was a good one...some nice snuggly winters drawers.... but it just didn't work out. Despite using the correct yarn this horror when completed looked more like something an over sized baby of the 1950's might wear  so it was also a full time resident of the Pile of Shame just sitting there as moth fodder.As the yarn was a highly expensive one I couldn't really leave it there for much longer and so I pulled it out,grabbed my seam ripper,found a Joan Fontaine film on YouTube to ease the tedium,made a pot of Earl Grey and ...Voila.....it now looks like this....

Just got to find a nice pattern now that is a dead certainty to be a sure fire success... and NOT in anyway underwear related.
On the whole a satisfying afternoons work.