The Paris Cambie

For New Year’s Eve, my husband and I were invited to our friends’ house for a four-course French-themed evening meal.  They did the cooking, and it was amazing: blue cheese soufflés, beef in red wine, profiteroles and a cheeseboard.  SO. GOOD.  We provided white wine, red wine and Champagne, but I wanted to contribute further to the theme, so I bought some Paris-themed fabric from Leon’s in Manchester, and made myself a dress (any excuse!) and 2 metres of bunting for the party.  We also took along an Eiffel Tower as a table decoration, and a selection of French cds!

Paris bunting!

It wasn’t until after this idea was borne that I did the Myers-Briggs personality test, and the results were SO ACCURATE it was like I was reading an exact description of myself.  I am EFSJ – Extraverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging – and whilst I won’t go into the full description here, let me just provide an excerpt which is pertinent to the subject of this blog post:

Guardians of birthdays, holidays and celebrations, ESFJs are generous entertainers. They enjoy and joyfully observe traditions and are liberal in giving, especially where custom prescribes.

Haha, yep.

BUNTING!

Anyway, back to sewing.  The Sewaholic Cambie.  WILL I EVER GET THIS DRESS RIGHT?  I made a Pirate Cambie in 2013 not long after having Baba Tweedie, and it very quickly became too big to wear, but I loved it so much that I unpicked the whole thing (with some help from Aileen!), and sewed it up in a smaller size.  I hate alterations with a passion, so this was a real labour of love.  And then I lost weight and now it’s too big.  Damn.

So when I decided to use this pattern, I opted for the next size down.  But then Christmas Day happened.  I didn’t even really eat that much, but I felt so bloated and horrible and my stomach seemed to have expanded several inches.  I started panicking.  I knew I was going to wear this dress to sit down to a four course meal, and I didn’t want to chance it being too uncomfortable.  I had no time for toiles, I just traced the bigger size and sewed it up.

Sewaholic Cambie Dress

In hindsight I should have realised that eating a few big meals doesn’t mean I have gone up an entire dress size!  The dress, although wearable, was a little on the large size.  I sewed it up without fitting because I was in a rush and then I had to unpick the side seams of the skirt and take them in a further inch each side: a quick fix which hasn’t led to the best fitting dress I’ve ever made!

You can see it’s a bit big in this photo. This is my husband. He had just shaved off his beard! He’s growing it back again now though.

Anyway, it looked fine for the evening, I got to wear it with my favourite shoes and we all had a wonderful evening, so, not exactly a failure.

Paris Cambie

I’m already making my next version.  I will conquer this dress.

Happy New Year!