Sewing: A Purple Dress Made With Vintage Laura Ashley Fabric and Birthday Spoils

Time to unveil another of my sewing project creations, this time it was a purple dress made from vintage Laura Ashley fabric. I used a Butterick pattern that was fairly simple despite having pockets, binding and a full skirt, I picked the variation with sleeves but I like the style so much I am probably going to make another without sleeves too in a different fabric.

I made this one in an evening and day, which I though was pretty good going! There are a few niggles with my sewing technique but in general I found it much more comfortable than the first one I made so maybe I am getting better! I wore it with a navy cardigan for a trip out although it is still freezing so I needed to wear chunky boots which somehow means that the whole thing looks a little bit 1990s:

I really really like the fit and style of this dress so I will definitely be making it in another fabric. I also think that with the addition of a simple waistband this would make a really ice full skirt - with pockets - I love pockets!

It was also my birthday this week and with my hair growing steadily more and more dishevelled I felt the need to experiment with proper hair styling. So after a little bit of research I decided to use my birthday money to buy a pair of these gorgeous GHDs in a mint green colour from the candy collection...

Of course I decided to experiment. Now I didn't take a before shot (thank goodness) but here is the after styling shot. I went for the sleek on top, curly at the bottom look. What do you think? 

Do you have any top tips for using straighteners?