Tinsel Town

So, the Christmas parties are done and dusted, the tree's come down and the diet's started. I for one an glad we're back to normality, though I am going to miss the lights!

I attended a couple of soirees, which I enjoyed immensely, though I had a bit of a damp Christmas, being really ill for most of it and thus spent New Years watching Buffy at home.

Fortunately, I did have fun in the pre-Christmas week. I went to a works do, where we had a lovely meal and more than one drink. I wore a lace blouse from Zara, an old charity shop find which only really comes out at Christmas, paired with my Nan's black velvet skirt - perfect for the cold, blustery evening. It felt odd wearing black stockings -  I've only worn tan ones for so long, but they're What Katie Did retro stockings, so I got to keep my seams at least.

Later the same week I went with friends to Blitzmas, a 40s themed dance in town. For this, I pulled out the Butterick dress I made back in 2010, but have only worn once! It didn't fit me that well back then, and I've lost weight since, but it's festive and just about the only Christmassy dress in my wardrobe, so out it came!

I accessorised with a handy bit of tinsel, and my trusty Clarks shoes (note to self, buy more evening footwear) I also wore my new MAC lippie, in Chilli, which is far darker and more orangy than my normal Russian Red, but actually a lot easier to wear. The colour still looks good and red as well as matte, but it's far less drying and not so flashy. It's my new firm favourite!

Blitzmas was a big success and I had a fantastic time with our friends, who not only looked great but showed off their mad swing dancing skills as well.

I have sworn that I'm going to try to get out more often in 2012!

What about you, any good parties over the festive season?

Christmas circle skirt

Now that the gift exchanging is over and done with, I can talk about a skirt I made as a present.

I wasn't sure what to buy, so, knowing that the lady in question likes a 50s dress, thought I'd make her a circle skirt. I used the directions Casey posted in her sewalong to craft the size - using a 40" circle to give a likely hip (since I don't know the right dress size!) measurement, and sewed it onto a 28" band of elastic. This way the skirt can be pulled on and suits a good range of waist sizes!

It's a full circle and so it's massive. I think it'll look really good with a petticoat underneath. I couldn't resist the fabric, so very gothabilly!

To attach it to the waistband, I first overlocked the waist seam, and then pinned it to the inside of the elastic at regular intervals. Then I simply stretched the elastic till the fabric fell flat and zigzagged it on.

Simples! And it gives a nice even gather too!

While the maths was something of a challenge (working in a combination of inches and cms didn't help that), this was a breeze to make. I got to use my rolled hem foot and was pleased at how evenly the hem turned out. All in all, a great little project, and I'd strongly recomment Casey's sew along instructions to beginners.



Christmas crazies!

How did Christmas get to be only a week away? We still don't have our tree or any decorations up! I would have been blogging about everything I've been doing for the last couple of weeks (mainly crafting of presents and eating of christmas dinners) but I've been too busy doing it all! I've started to feel rather stressed.

I can share 2 gifts I made last week, both were pretty quick and easy so you might still have a chance to copy the ideas if you're so inclined!

Gift 1 is a set of herb jars, inspired by an article on xoJane. They're normal jars (purchased from Amazon) but I painted the lids with blackboard paint. That way they can be custom labeled, and seen from the top in a draw.

 

I bought fancier jars than the ones in the article a. as a nice gift but also b. so that the jars can be stacked side on with the lids showing on a shelf. The blackboard paint in a tin was about a quarter of the price of the spray, but it has left some slight streaking, so spray might be a better bet! I've bought a chalk pen to write on them so that it's nice and neat and I'll give it with the jars.

Gift number 2 was a fairly simple bag for my Mum to carry her knitting in.I took a square of the cord and rounded the bottom edges, then sewed the 2 sides up and sewed a long rectangle with the corners cut off into the base. I then lined it with this cotton wadding, and a cotton lining over that.
The top was just a wide rectangle sewn over the raw edge, though I added some piping to give it a more professional look. If I made this again I'd make the tuck a box pleat, but it looks ok as it is (pain to sew though - had to turn the tension WAY down because it was so thick!).

The handles are cotton tubes with cotton wadding in too and were top-stitched in flace with purple thread (but light green inside).
The catch is another tube but with the ends pointed, and I added a magnetic clasp to the catch and the bag, then sewed a large button over the top for decoration.
Very easy and, if I do say so myself, very effective!

I just hope my Mum likes it (and that she hasn't found my blog yet!).

Stand by for some rushed shots of me going out for various shindigs (including a 1940s party on Saturday), recent sewing projects (tap pants, trousers and a golden corset!) and me cooking Christmas dinner for 7 on Saturday...Roll on 2012!

A Christmas Party

I didn't have time to write about this last week, but I went out for my work Christmas meal on Friday.
We went to Bordeaux Quay, on the waterfront in Bristol city centre and had really nice time.

Bordeaux Quay has a restaurant upstairs and a deli, bar and brasserie downstairs. The whole place has an organic and local theme, with most of their regular dishes provided by local organic farms and other ingredients sourced locally and as fresh each day as possible. Water is filtered and bottled (and some carbonated) on site each day in reusable glass bottles and they have an excellent selection of organic wines, beers and ciders.
It's this sort of thing that pushes the price up, but although it is expensive, for the quality of food and service you get, it's certainly not over priced.
Surprisingly, then, their Christmas menu was slightly less than several other restaurants in Bristol's centre this year and we happily decided to give it a go this year.
For starter I had a Bruschetta of Gorgonzola, sage and walnuts, which was fabulous. I followed it up with an equally good Rainbow chard, ricotta and rosemary tart and finished with a Pear, cranberry and almond tart. Their house red was really very nice and I wish I'd paid more attention to what it was!

We swapped our Secret Santas over the starters and everyone got something very apt. We're a pretty close nit group so there are rarely bottles of wine or chocolate exchanged, people usually get something funny or nice and specific to them. I was given an adorable vintage cherry print scarf and an amazing little hat by my good friend Jamie (I know, Secret Santa was a secret for about 3 minutes). My cross stitched gift was very well received as well.

Smashing hat

The lovely Jamie

At the end of the night we were offered the day's left over loaves for free and I took home a massive sourdough loaf which was delicious, doubly so for being free!
We ended at a very responsible 11pm and went home without anyone having done anything embarrassing. All in all it was a very civilised affair and a good time was had by all!
I'd thoroughly recommend Bordeaux Quay to anyone looking for a smart place to eat good food in Bristol.