Sometimes, I get an idea in my head and all other projects get dropped because I simply have to see the new idea through.
This time, it's an idea I've had before, but was convinced was unworkable until a dear friend suggested I give it a try. Somehow her suggestion seemed to give me that final push, and my new sewing shed is taking shape! (Some people might call it a grown up wendy house...they wouldn't be wrong!)

This was how our regular garden shed looked on Thursday.



On Saturday I started work on transforming the outside.



I also began work on clearing the inside...how many spiders???
I also found this abandoned wasp nest attached to the ceiling. It really is the most beautiful thing, it now lives on my mantel shelf in the lounge.
(I think it's a solitary/paper wasp nest)



The outside of the shed is complete with a few little decorative touches.

I'm now working on the inside. I've painted most of the inside, just the ceiling and the floor to go.
I'm thinking about how I'm going to insulate in time for the winter, and also heating, and lighting...actually I'm mostly leaving those boring bits for Woody to think about and concentrating on rugs,cushions and decor...grown up wendy house! I will be having a kettle, and biscuits, all future visitors will be expected to play tea parties in my new shed...local friends, you have been warned! and Rachel, you get best mug and most chocolatey biccy for giving me that push to get this sorted!

Last month when India and I visited Nottingham, I picked up a cotton overall in Oxfam in Hockley for a few £'s. Can't remember exactly how many £'s, maybe £5 or £6, thereabouts anyway.



I spotted the fabric first of all, and hoped it would be a Horrocks style day dress (I'm optimistic!), or a dress like my lovely pink vintage M&S dress.
I was quite dissapointed when I pulled it out and it was an overall, at least it wasn't nylon, but an overall nonetheless.
I bought it because I loved the fabric and I thought maybe I could wear an overall around the house, or use the fabric at least.
I've had it hung up next to my sewing machine since then, so I could ponder on it. I tried it on, but it really wasn't me, and I didn't want to get it covered in paint and play doh anyway.
I thought maybe I could pop in a few darts, a belt, shorter sleeves and make it into a cute dress/tunic, but nah that wasn't going to work with the yoke placement on my figure.
Yesterday I decided to make it into a skirt.
I chopped it off below the armhole. This gave me a fat tube with button fastening down the front.



I played about with darts at the front and back, but the back darts just wouldn't sit right. Truth be told, I've gained weight, more than I want to admit on my blog, but the past couple of months I've been comfort eating again, and as usual almost all the weight has gone on my tummy. I get really fed up trying to fit skirts on myself when I'm this size, and am really concious with a front button fastening that if I fit too closely, any daily bloating will start to pull the fastenings pretty quickly.
After lots of unpicking I decided to stick with the front darts, but simply have a single box pleat in the back to pull in the extra fabric.
I'm not sure this really works, but it's good to play and see by trying.
Yesterday I needed to sew, and I needed to finish something wearable, even if eventually I don't love it.



I used fabric from the sleeves to make a waistband, and the buttons from the cuffs and yoke to close the large gaps between the original buttons and one on the waistband.



I think, if I'm being kind, I'd call this skirt "quirky". The pocket placement has ended up very low because of where it was on the overall to begin with.



Today I wore my quirky skirt with a hastily bought lace blouse which I'm not convinced suits me and my more ample than usual because I've gained weight bossom, my lovely blue clogs and a cropped cardy.
Woody, four of the children and me went off to explore a local chapel, not realising today was the Well Dressing Festival.
(There were fields and rain so I had to change into my wellies, which Eden decided was perfect for a festival anyway.)

You can see on this photo, the skirt is riding up because it doesn't fit my waist (slightly too big) and that is making the buttons gape.





I'm hoping this skirt might sit in my wardrobe for a little while, and I'll pull it out again in a few weeks and love it, sometimes that happens.
I still love the fabric, and I think I did an ok upcycle, just not a great one.

* Oh and re the title, I just couldn't stop thinking about Mrs Overall when making this skirt.

Each year I wonder how this came to be, each year I wish I was buying toys instead of flowers and candles.
Our darling Florence would have been four yesterday had she survived.
I've tried and failed to put into words exactly the impact of her missing from our lives has had. Mere words can never do justice to the agony.
Still, we wrap our pain carefully deep in our chest's and we carry on. We even smile and laugh and we know joy. We feel everything now, every little thing .
Nothing though will ever stop me wishing I could hold my sweet beautiful girl in my arms, take her to a toy shop and buy her a gift.
Instead I will share here a few photos from her day yesterday. Lady Mabel Wood (Florence's wood) is so beautiful at this time of year, brimming with wild flowers, butterflies and dragonflies and grasshoppers. Woody took the photo above of a moment of peace.

India asked me to get some photos of her in her new dungaree dress, I obliged. She's put some up on her blog.
I'm so glad she likes her dress.

Is it still a sew a-long if I've finished already?
I love my new dress. The Full bust Adjustment was a pain, but I'm so glad I did it. I had to make a couple of extra bodices up eventually, first in fabribaste, which is great for working things out on, and then in some pillow cotton I had in my stash, making my final new front bodice pattern piece in fabribaste traced off the pillow cotton bodice piece..it was a lot of cutting and sewing and India even said she thought I deserved a maths gcse for all the geometry I appeared to be doing!



I added in 3 inches to the bust , (1 1/2" each piece) ,I also moved the waist line up a little, and took more in on the back darts to account for my small back.



I still have a largish waist on the dress, but that's ok, I may be a 29" waist in the morning, but 6 children have done things to my stomach muscles which means my waist does tend to expand throughout the day by up to 1", so having a little extra there means, when it does the buttons wont start to gape.



It's a lovely dress, a fab pattern, and I can't wait to get started on making the blouse version.