In Glorious Technicolour: The Liesl + Co Cinema Dress

The hills are alive with the sound of my Cinema Dress! Notice of this eagerly awaited new design from Liesl + Co popped into my inbox with perfect timing. I'd just returned from a holiday in Germany with a bundle of precious folk print floral cottons and was wondering what to make with them... 

The Cinema Dress is the adult version of the Hide and Seek Dress for girls by Liesl's parent brand Oliver + S. The women's design is faithful to the Hide and Seek original but has narrower 3/4 length sleeves, shaping through the bust and is a much longer length. I'm pleased it has the same back button closure and pocket welts – lovely details.

I followed the sewing pattern instructions exactly but closed the V-notch neckline to make a plain curved shape as I thought it would better suit this gloriously busy fabric – there's enough going on here already. I also shortened the hem by a few inches as it's quite a long style of dress. I prefer skirts to land on or just below the knee, anything longer swamps me and hinders bicycling.

I love these three materials together. They're all soft organic cottons made by Soft Cactus and purchased from Handarbeitsstube in Traben-Trarbach, Germany. The buttons on the back of the dress get a special mention too. They're from Etsy super store Berry Nice Crafts, who have a fantastic range of colourful patterned wooden buttons at peppercorn prices. These arrived the very next day! 

Dresses with yokes present so many fabric choice possibilities. I can imagine this frock in many different fabric combinations and don't doubt there'll be more Cinema dresses appearing in my wardrobe this season.

Miyake Style: Burda 7220 - Version B

Following the success of Version A of Burda 7220 I was keen to have a go at making a Version B from this sewing pattern. B is a loose fit blouse with a cowl neck and asymmetrical pleat in the back. There are some beautiful blogged renditions of B, my favourites are at Valerie's Own Sewing Blog and Runamuck Weaving. Then I came across a 1990s Vogue sewing pattern for an Issey Miyake blouse with an almost identical neckline! With vintage Miyake sewing patterns costing a pretty penny, the Burda 7220 suddenly seemed like an absolute steal.

At the top of my stash was a piece of Hemingway Design tulip fabric in yellow – just enough to make this blouse. I've used Hemingway's tulip material before and can confirm that the wash and wear of this Makower fabric is as good as the excellent print design, it's quality stuff. I added a front patch pocket with a decorative wasp tag to the blouse and made the sleeves a few centimetres shorter, to finish just above the wrist.

The finished garment is part futuristic dentist's scrub and part intergalactic Lieutenant Commander's tunic. I love it.

I'm wearing it with a new pair of homemade baggy trousers, a second pair using McCall's M6514. I had a bit of a frenzy of trouser production this summer, clocking up more pairs than I had time to photograph and blog so they may appear here occasionally with future makes... These are in African wax print cotton with a design that looks like it has dozens of giant eels swimming in a river.

Yellow is flavour of the month as summer fades into autumn.

Sheep Thrills at Findon Sheep Fair

On Saturday we caught the bus from Worthing town centre taking a 20 minute ride out to Findon Village for its annual sheep fair. Findon Sheep Fair is famous in these parts but this is the first year I've visited. A fair has been held on Nepcote Green every year since 1261 and the Sheep Fair is said to have started on this site sometime before 1785. The traditional sheep auction no longer takes place but the event continues to have a Sheep Judging competition which includes a category for Young Handlers as well as a falconry display (which was excellent), heavy horses with rides in a trap, and a sheep parade. Sadly we missed the sheepdog demonstration but I'd love to return to see it next year.

The Harris family have had an association with Findon Sheep Fair since the 1940s and it was wonderful to see Harris's Old Tyme Amusements with their colourful, old-fashioned rides. All the patterns and lettering have been painted by the current fifth generation John Harris.

Hundreds of people turned out for the occasion but it seemed as though everyone except my small party had traveled there by car, with vehicles parked bumper to bumper on all the country roads surrounding Nepcote Green, a full car park and bleating rumours of gridlocked traffic preventing folk from getting to the fair. Car dependent herd mentality. The bus ride back to Worthing was hassle-free, just a 5 minute walk to the bus stop from the Green and we were home in time for tea.

High Low Blouse: Burda 7220 - Version A

This is the first garment I've made in recent months that when worn has elicited the response "Where did you buy it?" instead of asking if I've made it myself.  I don't mind at all if people can tell my clothes are homemade, on the contrary I'm a happy ambassador for home-grown fashion but must admit this blouse is a tad more sophisticated and muted than my usual handmade creations and I am rather tickled that it passes as 'shop bought'!

The sewing pattern Burda Style 7220 contains two different blouses (A and B), both reminiscent of Issey Miyake's futuristic chic office wear of the late 1980s. The fabric is Sea Island Cotton by Peter Horton Textiles. It has a lovely dense weave and is smooth to the touch, crisp to cut, and wears and washes well too.

I decided to make version A first, a collarless short sleeve blouse with high-low hem and centre front gathers.  I drafted a longer sleeve to finish just above my wrist as I thought the above-elbow sleeve would be unflattering. Burda's sewing pattern instructions were quite baffling to follow but as soon as I discarded them and just followed the diagrams instead it was an easy shirt to make.

The back of the shirt is dramatically long and will probably peep out from below most of my coats, but at this time of year when it's still warm enough not to wear a coat or jacket, I'm really enjoying wearing this style. In fact it's one of my current favourite things to wear and I'll definitely make another of version of A, just as soon as I've finished and blogged version B...

Colour, texture and taste in Cologne

Two days in Cologne was not enough. Excited to be back in a city, the bustling buzz of the place hits you as soon as you step out of the station, as does the magnificence of Kölner Dom.

My heart quickened at the sight of a Gudrun Sjödén rickshaw just opposite the cathedral! We set off to explore cobbled streets taking in the sights and sounds, first stop the Gudrun Sjödén shop. 
 

We stayed in Friesenplatz, a twenty minute walk from the city centre past dozens of art galleries, cafés and beautiful buildings both ancient and modern.

On Sunday we spent hours in the Schokoladen Museum where there is much to see and read, even if it presents a rather sanitised history of the production of chocolate. Worth a visit for the super collection of packaging and paraphernalia, you can also taste chocolate from the fountain on the factory floor. An intoxicating experience, we eventually stumbled out and made rash purchases in the Lindt gift shop.

Special mention for the best meal of our holiday goes to La Tagliatella, an Italian restaurant nestled in between the vast tourist eateries on Heumarkt. Here I ate the most delicious homemade pasta triangles stuffed with pear and gorgonzola. Also recommend ordering the enormous garlic bread - you will not be disappointed!

Postcard from the Moselle Valley

The rolling hillside banks along Germany's Moselle are covered in vineyards – hundreds and thousands of terraced rows of neatly planted vines rising up to the sky all the way along the sides of the river. It's an industrial landscape, a lush green factory floor for one of Europe's smallest wine regions. 

Traveling by boat was best way to explore the quaint towns stretched out along the river. We visited Bernkastel with its cobbled streets, pretty colourful timber beamed buildings and tasted excellent kaffee und kuchen in Cafe Hansen; saw impressive Roman remains, enormous ecclesiastical architecture and stained glass windows in Trier; and while perusing Jungenstil villas in Traben-Trarbach chanced upon Handarbeitsstube, a fabric shop and needlework emporium with an impressive selection of bright organic printed cottons. I did not leave the shop empty handed!

We stayed in Ürziger Würzgarten where my friends are campaigning to halt construction of the B50 High Moselle Bridge. The proposed gigantic concrete structure is the largest bridge being built in Europe and is planned to span a four-lane motorway across the middle section of the Moselle Valley. The project would severely damage the ancient Moselle landscape and have catastrophic consequences for the vineyards and villages in this region. 

For now the valley remains as pretty and productive as my pictures show, but in ten years time, who knows?