I’m working ahead on my ‘By The Sea’ Historical Sew Fortnightly items.  I’d love to make a fantastic Victorian or Edwardian wool bathing suit, but alas, am making myself be a teeny bit practical and sensible and I’m making two items which both come from stash, and have been on my to-do list for ages and ages. The first is more sea inspired than strictly by-the-sea.  I’ve got a wedding to go to this autumn, and haven’t got a suitable dress (really, they are all too formal, or not formal enough, or black or white or scarlet, none of which will do). One evening, out for my walk, thinking of inspiration dresses and trying to decide what to make, I stopped at my favourite outlook for the view.  I love the last hour of light in New Zealand in the autumn: it’s one of things that reconciles me to the oncoming winter.  The sea calms and goes the most delicious grey-blue, and the hills glow gold with the reflected light. The combination is so distinct, …

Last week’s challenge on the Sew Weekly was music.  I had dreams of something elaborate involving metres & metres of  blue crepe, but the plans went awry (not sewing mistakes) and made me very blue indeed.  So I needed something to chase those blues away, and what better than one of my favourite songs, a fix up of my  Little Bit of Red  dress (remember how I was never thrilled with it?), and some Besame Red lipstick? The song is    Red Lips Kiss My Blues Away, and the cover artwork is adorable: My Little Bit of Red dress is not a perfect match to the Red Lips Kiss My Blues Away cover art, but I thought with a bit of tweaking the Little Bit of Red dress could effectively capture the mood of the poster, and rescue my sewing week (plus get something off my UFO pile). So I completely pulled apart my Little Bit of Red Dress, re-shaped the bodice, re-set the bodice ruffles, took in the skirt, cut hip ruffles, hemmed said …