I have a small mountain of finished projects to photograph and blog about, which is a good thing, of course, but still slightly daunting!  Still, every mountain starts with foothills, so, one photoshoot and blog post at a time, I will make it to the top. Today I’m aiming for Mt Olympus with a chiton-y, goddess-y frock. I made this simple frock all the way back in November.  I  keep coming back to  the 1920 Vionnet Chiton dress  in my sewing, and finding more ways to play with the basic  concept.  It’s such a clever dress idea, and it really works. This dress is a great example of how incredibly, and unexpectedly, flattering a dress made from a simple rectangle of fabric can be, especially with some helpful pattern placement. It’s doing all the right things for me: emphasising the curves of bust and hip, creating the illusion of a really small waist, lengthening, and hiding a bit of tummy squidge.  I’m currently battling the squidge, which has slowly been creeping in for the last …

As we do most years, Mr Dreamy & I are spending Christmas in sunny Nelson with his parents.  Nelson is famous for its good weather (though, ironically, every time  we spend Christmas in Nelson  it is  even hotter and nicer in Wellington than in Nelson), so that means I need lots of shorts and light tops and little summer frocks.  With a little free time before the holidays, I’ve been giving my summer wardrobe a refresh. Mostly I’ve been making not-very-exciting T-shirts and other basics, but high on the to-sew list was a dress made from a meter of  amazing parakeet* patterned silk-cotton I found at the most recent Fabric-a-Brac fair in Wellington. My father used to breed parakeets, and, while I’ve never owned one, I’ve definitely inherited an affinity for them.  The sound of a chatter of parakeets is one of the happiest, most restful sounds I know.  It’s just impossible to be stressed listening to them! Sadly, I’m unlikely to every have parakeets of my own.  Mr D dislikes birds and there is …