The Dressmakers Ball

I had an absolutely amazing time at The Dressmakers Ball. For those of you who don’t know, The Dressmakers Ball is a fantastic event in which we can don our finery and dance the night away with fellow sewists.

This year, having a lot more experience with dressmaking I decided to go all out on my outfit. There were times when I regretted this. Particularly when I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out what strange maths I’d done in order to fit the waistband. However the final result was well worth it. I could not have been happier with my outfit. I was a little nervous because the plunging neckline was more than a little revealing but with the help of some body tape and many friends keeping an eye out there were no embarrassing moments.

My outfit consisted of 3 patterns the Magnolia from Deer & Doe, the Posy Pants from Rebecca Page and I added splits to the trousers from named’s Breaking the Pattern.

The night was such an ego-boost I got so many compliments, my Instagram and Facebook account were blowing up with likes and comments. It was truly affirming getting such positive feedback from something I worked so hard on. In fact it’s part of the reason I’ve come back to this blog.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts you’ll know I struggle with mental health issues. The original motivation of this blog was to help me recognise those positive things in my life and celebrate my achievements. I have recently gone back into therapy for my eating disorder and things have been very very difficult, changing behaviours is exceptionally hard and brings back all sorts of negative feelings and low self-esteem. There are times when I feel utterly useless and find it impossible to change my behaviours. The sewing community is such a positive welcoming and friendly environment that only good can come from sharing my makes alonside my doubts and fears.

Thanks for reading, I hope you’ll be writing again soon watch this space….

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year?

I am trying not to apologise for not posting in some time. I can only post when I feel mentally well enough to do so, recently I have not.

 The madness of Christmas has passed, after four days of intense socialising and festive fun I collapsed under the weight of a migraine. It passed after a couple of days but I can still feel the heaviness lingering at the edge of my temples, ready to strike at the slightest provocation.

As anyone with mental health issues knows, the Christmas season is an intensely difficult time of year. The pressure builds steadily through late November and December culminating in one day in which it is of the highest imperative to be merry. Heaven forfend if you don’t see every family member on this holiest of sacred days.

There is an extra pressure when issues around food arise. Anyone who has been reading this blog for any amount of time knows I suffer from an eating disorder. in the past few years, I have gained two stone and am now at a healthy weight. Although I am physically well the psychological issues around eating have not vanished. I have a sneaking suspicion they never will.    There is a strange association with emotions and eating around Christmas. I find people using languages which I associate with having an ED. They ‘allow’ themselves to eat certain foods. An indulgence often followed by a promise to diet, even from people of a healthy weight. This isn’t helped by societal and commercial norms. Christmas is for bingeing. The new year is for restricting. When I worked at Waterstones the new year was the most loathsome time of year. Books insisting fasting is a healthy lifestyle choice littered a table with the heading ‘New Year New You.’

There is nothing wrong with the old you!

 I did not intend this post to be a rant,  In truth, I wasn’t going to write much at all. All my frustrations came all too easily.

On to happier things. This Morning my eagerly awaited delivery from Fatface arrived. On boxing day I took full advantage of the sale and spent the majority of my Christmas money on a fine array of clothes. I’m wearing as many as I physically can in one go right now.

There’s only a skirt and coat which is set to one side…for now.

Sewing my own clothes has made a huge difference to my shopping habits. I’m finding myself looking at the composition of fabrics and avoiding certain shops, knowing I could do a better job of making the clothes. However, Fatface clothes are impeccably made with good fabrics and sturdy finishes. I’ve found this to also be the case with Cath Kidston, Joules, Seasalt and others with a high price tag to match. Thank goodness for sales.

I hope everyone survived Christmas, it’s over now. There’s a whole year to go before the next one.

Thanks for reading

x

Rekindling My Relation With Food

 Having suffered from an eating disorder, food preparation has been a fine balancing act. When I was in early recovery I had the same meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day.  This took away any choice and stress around meal time. I knew exactly what I was eating every day. It was also useful to keep weight gain consistent. It’s only recently I’ve begun to grow bored of the same foods. I’m taking back control of the kitchen and making my own food! I used to love cooking and it’s great to get back to it. I’ve found a couple of great meals so far. I thought I’d share them with you.

Yesterday’s dish was a Red onion and cheese Omelette from Sophie Dahls Cookbook   Voluptuous Delights. I managed to get mine for free from old library stock!

I’m a fan of light meals and I always have been. I also love a meal which you can whip up in quickly and doesn’t involve much preparation. This beauty takes ten minutes at the most.

Ingredients

• ½ a small red onion
• About 2tbsp olive oil
• 2 eggs
• Salt and pepper
• 50g/2oz of Red Leicester cheese (any good sharp, hard cheddar like Monterey Jack will do as an alternative)

Method

1. Roughly chop the onion. On a low flame, heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. I use a small fat pan as I like my omelettes tidy and plump. Gently fry the onion, letting the edges brown but making sure the middle stays softly purple. This should take about 5 mins. When it looks to your liking, take it out and reserve on the side. Remove any crispy bits from the pan.
2. Beat the eggs and season.
3. On a low heat again, heat a bit of olive oil in your frying pan and add the eggs. Let them settle for 30 seconds.
   Either grate or break the cheese up into rough chunks and put it in the setting omelette. As it melts, pour in your onions and gently fold the omelette in half with a spatula. Depending on how done you like your omelette to be, you can then fry the other side. I like mine very slightly oozing.

This recipe is taken from Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights, published by Harper Collins

Today’s lunch, of Tomato Bruschetta, was from a far less glamorous  cookbook, though it is a solid favourite of mine, The Hungry Students Vegetarian Cookbook. Here’s my version of the recipe

Ingredients

• 6 baby plum tomatoes (the original recipe uses cherry)
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 slices of tiger bread (any nice will do)
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled
• Dried basil (Fresh basil would probably be better but I  didn’t have any)
• Salt and pepper

Method

1.  Chop the tomatoes  into small pieces. Place in a small bowl and add the olive oil, salt, pepper and dried basil (if you’re using fresh, add this at the end). Mix it all together.
2. Toast the bread, I used my griddle, as it leaves the centre nice and soft. Now use the garlic clove  to essentially butter one side of the toast. Don’t put too much on, I learned it’s spreading even if you can’t see it.
3. Tip the tomato mixture onto the toast. Now dig in!

I’m looking forward to cooking more meals over the week!

Wish me Luck  x