The Wedding Season

I love weddings - the vows, the clothes, the celebration, the atmosphere - all of it: especially the anticipation of the brides dress. Nowadays, finding something to wear as a guest is almost as stressful as finding your own wedding dress. There are so many etiquette rules and so many vague dress codes that sometimes it seems as a guest you can never figure out what to wear.

We are off to our first wedding of the season in three weeks. A local church followed by the reception in a field in a collection of tipi's. The invitation appears very traditional although blue writing replaces the traditional black, maybe giving us a sneak preview to the colour theme. The church ceremony starts at 3pm, leading on to an evening party which finishes at 2am.

With that in mind I have dusted off my favourite dress, a dusty pink halter neck by Alice Temperley. Due to the nature of the wedding and potentially sinking in the field I have opted for my nude patent shoes with a low heal.

Finding a bag to complete my outfit has proved fruitless .... unless my husband would agree to the £475 Mulberry clutch I have my eye on. So instead for a grand total of £0 I have made my own.

This really was a very simple bag to make and due to the cardboard I added it is extremely sturdy. I simply cut 2 pieces of fabric in a rectangle shape. One floral and one plain white for the inside of the clutch. I then pinned the 2 good sides together and sewed around leaving a short side open.

After cutting a piece of cardboard I inserted it into my fabric (once I had turned it onto the right side and ironed it) and then sewed the ends by first tucking them in.

I then folded it into 3 to form my shape and sewed up both sides to form the main body of the bag and added a button (a plain one I covered in the same fabric).

I added some ribbons and a broach

The bottom line when it comes to your wedding guest outfit is, if you find an outfit that is both stylish, comfortable and appropriate you'll look and feel fantastic.

Good luck to James and Jody - can't wait to see the dress!

The Urge To Be Creative

Being a busy mum of two gorgeous girls I find it hard to get time to myself. For me getting creative is my escapism.

I am well known for spotting lovely things and suggesting that I think I could make it myself - either better or cheaper. I love nothing more than making homemade jams from fruit I have picked from the garden, as well as using scrap fabrics sourced from car boot sales and flea markets and turning them into something inspirational. So I have decided to actually do it, for me this blog is a way of recording all my ideas and sharing them with you.

With summer fast approaching we have recently bought a brand new 5 metre bell tent.

I have great expectations of lazy summer evenings spent with family and friends chilling in deck chairs, drinking Pimms in front of an open fire whilst cooking up a feast in some remote spot.

Since purchasing our tent I have been scouring antique markets and boot fares hunting down retro cooking equipment, floral bunting and unique ideas.

I then came across an idea on Great Little Trading Company - such an easy concept.

We often have friends children to stay, and having to store spare mattresses or camp beds can take up valuable space. This concept does away with that, only needing to store a piece of fabric small enough to fit in a shoe box. 

So with ideas buzzing around my head I started looking for fabric I could individually sew into pillow cases - I then turned to a well known website and looked at duvet covers, as I figured half of the work was done for me... the length was perfect for a child or in fact adult and the width was perfect being over 2 pillows wide, therefore with plenty of material to finish off the edges.

In-keeping with my bell tent I placed a bid on a vintage floral double duvet cover with matching pillowcases and after a nervous wait and a few more bids I managed to pick it up for £7 including postage.

I started by chopping the duvet in half longways. The two halves were then slightly different as one half already had poppers down one side which made my job even easier. I literally ran the sewing machine down the parallel long side whilst the fabric was inside out, popped a pillow in and marked where I needed to sew. I was able to fit 4 pillows in the duvet cover; I also decided to sew on the pillow case to the bottom this would then allow the person using it to flip it over so it would then become a pillow.

There was a little spare fabric so I made a matching bag 

The other half of the duvet cover took a little longer. I took inspiration from the pillowcases which had an internal flap to hold the pillow in place - so I did exactly the same. First I ran the sewing machine down one long side whilst the fabric was inside out. Then with the fabric the right way round I turned in the flap using a pillow as a guide and an iron. I then did the same as I had previously - using a pillow as my guide, I sewed across the fabric allowing room for 4 pillows.

From start to finish I was done in around an hour and I'm sure as a second attempt I could cut the time down to 45 minutes or so. I can't wait to take them camping.

Overall a bargain at a grand cost of £3.50 each!

If who think this is too difficult or are unable to use a sewing machine, a really simple alternative would be to grab a selection of existing pillowcases and either hand stitch them or pin them and ask a friend for help.