Having met Roisin in person (yep, I know!) at the Birmingham rag market meet-up, I had to take part. As you know I have recently moved house, so my life is currently filled with wonderful (cough) DIY tasks as soon as I get a spare minute, and fitting this project in under timing constraint has been a real challenge. That said, I am so pleased to have managed it before the deadline tomorrow, and being able to contribute to this wedding pressie.
Without further ado, here is it!
Why is it Sew Dolly Clackett, I hear you ask? Isn't it obvious? But let me list it out for you anyway:
- I made it in a novelty print fabric (need I say more?), called O La La Paris (more on that shortly). I picked this as Roisin and Nic's honeymoon is in Paris, not to mention her obsession with Eiffel Tower prints!
- For the bodice, I used the Elisalex Pattern from By Hand London, which is again one of Roisin's favourite. I must admit that I'm in love with the elegant back, and can completely see why Roisin loves the pattern so much;
- For the skirt, I made a very full gathered skirt (I used 2 full widths of the fabric), in the true Roisin style ;)
- I made the skirt finish just beneath my knees -- although I understand Roisin has recently started to experiment with shorter lengths, I believe this will still be her choice of skirt length;
- I teamed it with dusty pink fabulous high heels (from Kurt Geiger) -- by this point (fabric, skirt length and high heels...) I don't think I need to tell you how far I am out of my comfort zone!
- Finally, I couldn't resist but posed in front of a door. Okay, I live on a busy road now and the newly planted hedges are growing really slowly, so I had to resort to the back patio doors. I managed to drag myself out of bed this morning and the weather was miserable, and naturally light was barely there! So sadly I only managed one reasonable overall photo, and had to take the back views this evening with artificial lighting.
Now a bit more on the fabric. I can just imagine this question being asked - what are the first things that come into your head when I say Paris? Eiffel Tower, croissant, baguette, wine, tennis... then we are onto random French words.... and then non-French randomness... I think! If you know what "di si no di qui/oui" means, in any language, please get in touch!
Finally, an inside out shot of the neckline binding facing, my favourite facing method:
So that's it, my very own Dolly Clackett inspired garment! Now I'm going to spare some time checking out the other entries - it's going to be a blast!