I have fully embraced this country bumpkin lifestyle and shortly after moving in bought a pair of Hunter wellies. Partly out of vanity, partly necessity. The necessity is that it is muddy here when it rains, so wellies are the most sensible footwear. The vanity is that it could have been any wellies, but for me they have to look good enough to wear in public (the public clearly being the flock of sheep and my one neighbour).
Next up I wanted a girly dress. You see, ever since seeing the film The Edge of Love in which Kiera Knightley and Sienna Miller walk on a Welsh beach in dresses and wellies, I've had been obsessed with that type of outfit. Now that I had the boots, making the dress was easy.
Especially as I had the fabric! A friend gifted me some fabric about two years ago and I haven't quite known what to make with it. I asked the sewing goddesses of Instagram, and got some good suggestions. But something told me to save the fabric. And a few weeks later I realised - the fabric would look perfect as a Darling Ranges dress!
I had made one ages ago which I loved. But I remember having issues with the darts. As luck would have it, I was looking at the pattern online and noticed that it now had waist darts instead. I emailed Megan about the new pattern, and with my response I got a copy of the new pattern. And guess what? No issues with the darts this time! Thanks Megan!
(Btw, that wasn't the reason the pattern changed, my issues with the chest darts were because my body type is simply different from that for which the pattern was designed.)
The dress sewed up fairly easily and quickly. The pattern is a delight and very easy to follow. I made no changes with this version.
The fabric presented some issues when it decided to slide all over the sewing table, or not press, but we got there in the end.
The shawl was a long time in the making. I had made one before, for my mom, but liked it so much I wanted one. So when I went to Australia earlier this year I decided that this pattern would be a good form of entertainment for the 22 hours of flight time each way.
I made a lot of mistakes in the first few rows due to...you know, sleep deprivation and jet lag and all that. But you won't see them if you don't know they are there.
I made one big and impactful thing differently with this shawl compared to the previous. I wet blocked it. And while it was a huge pain in the backside the result is fantastic. I am a complete convert.
Now I just gotta work on that Range Rover to go with my country lifestyle....
