Bagmaking: Swoon Harriet for the lady who sews

So here we are. Harriet. A pretty quick sew, but not an easy one as my machine did NOT like working with the faux leather. Its not been too bad in the past, but I think its had enough now and is refusing to play ball. I spent HOURS trying to get it to work, fiddling with the tension and the threads and the needles etc etc and it still isn't perfect.
As a result, I'm not happy with the top stitching on the handles, or the attachment of the base which looks messy as I had to restitch a few times which is a no-no for leatherette. Overall though I'm happy, but I actually wish I'd used foam not fleece to stabilise as its a bit floppy for my liking. Honestly I should know this by now but I wanted to follow the instructions as far as possible.

This is what it looks like with the zips open. You can see the contrast fabric at the sides.

This is with the zips closed

This is inside. There's a zipped pocket and a couple of slip pockets.

And slightly closer up showing the flip lock that I'm rather proud of (it took me ages to install this as I was trying to be ever so precise)

Fabrics used as below: 

Vintage Couturier in Cream by Robert Kaufman

Accents and zipped pocket in Fancy and Fabulous by Riley Blake

Lining in I'm a Maker by Art Gallery

Faux Leather came from Doughtys Online

Plus Sized Fashion: Scarlett and Jo at Evans and a bit of Hell Bunny. Jeans that don't fit from collectif.

Yeah. I've been buying again. first up is this Blue floral button front dress from S&J. I like a bit of S&J. Their clothes are always comfortable and well cut. I really liked the shape of this dress on the Evans website, and it was in the sale for £20. 

I didn't love it so much when I tried it on though sadly. There wasn't enough fullness in the skirt for me (actually thats fair enough, its quite a 40s style and the skirts weren't full) but I prefer more, well, swoosh. I love the yolk detail, but I just felt frumpy. So I returned it. I'm at the point where if something doesn't make me feel grand, I won't keep it.

Then there was this. The printed mesh front dress. I think that I would actually love this in another colourway. I adore fluted sleeves and I like the sweetheart detailing, but I feel this does nothing for me, and in all honestly I don't need more work wear (I wear jeans most days anyway) so I returned this to. Check me out being all strict with myself!

Don't laugh. This is what it looks like when things spectacularly don't fit. I bought these collectif Rebel Kate jeans in my normal collectif size (18) for half price. I think I probably need more like a 24. I am keeping them as a measuring gauge (because I started a Body Transformation course nearly 3 weeks ago - I won't go into that here as its not very exciting and involves the gym and an eating plan) I shall see if the gap has shortened in a few weeks time <snort>

What I did keep. I saw this Hell Bunny harriet dress being worn by someone on facebook a couple of weeks ago and she/it looked lovely. I've seen it advertised a million times and never given it a second glance as it looked pretty ordinary, but all of a sudden... I WANTED IT!

I think its the colour and the bodice fit and the swishy skirt that made it a must have for me. Only found one in the UK on the Rockamilly site, and as fate would have it, whilst I was umming and ahhing about spending the full price on a frock (I normally won't) she posted a 20% discount code. Well, okay then. It came. I loved it immediately.

Its our 11th wedding anniversay today, so I wore it for a meal out with JP on Saturday. It was a fairly bad hair day so I stuck a flower in it and off we went :)

He looks thrilled doesn't he. He hates having his photo taken!