On-call week blues.

Eurgh. Yup, it's my week on call. This means I'll be working for 84 hours in the next 7 days, the rest of the time being spent driving, eating or asleep.

Happily, I'm not leaving you in the lurch. There'll be content on the blog (hoorah!) which is, as we speak, uploading and upsetting the boyfriend who is attempting to play Guild Wars 2.

Here's a bit of a clue as to what we'll be up to over the next week...

Hope your week is better than mine!

Sneaky Peek

Here's a little look at the outfit that's going to be unveiled tomorrow.

Hope you have a nice evening, see you then! 

Glamping; behind the scenes...

Because not everything is as it seems, and I wanted to show you how I made the tent in case your Makies fancy a break...

Suspense!

It's basically a triangle of fabric I used to test overlocker tension on a blouse I was making with a wire hoop and a skirt stitched on. I put a length of black thread through the top and hung it off of my desk lamp, then draped some fancy fabric to disguise the desk detritus.

Still, it works :)

Effortless Elegance

You don't need a whole host of draping, cutting and sewing skills to produce an elegant Makie Couture look; this design took all of five minutes to put together (and three of those were spent digging out the fabric).

Yes, we probably could have found a more classy posing location.

This slightly bustled  strapless evening gown features achingly trendy unfinished edges, classic lines and is quite literally a rectangle of jersey fabric, twisted at the back and held in place by two dressmaking pins. Not a single stitch was sewn.

Black and White makes everything look like a Vogue shoot.

This photo shoot definitely illustrates that I've been around too many weddings this weekend.

Oh, what? At least I'm not asking you to do all the cheesy poses.

Although it did mean I got to snaffle the plastic diamond-topped pins from the corsages, which are perfect for Makie up-dos. Similar to constructing the dress, I've found I get a really good hold on the wig just by twizzling the hair and pinning in place. If only mine were so well-behaved.

And twist and pin and done. 

So there you have it. Classyness and poise, all with a bit of fabric the size of a hanky and a couple of pins. Worth a go, yes?

Trade secret

OK, FINE. I use it! But did you have to show everybody?

Since jamming the machine, I've become a lot more wary about hemming on such small allowances, especially as having the needle gobble up a nearly finished item is such a heart sink moment. This stuff is near-magical in its sticking abilities. The fabric doesn't end up stiff at all, it dries entirely invisible and the finish is really neat. I use an old paintbrush to apply it and I think the bottle (which cost £2.50 at Hobbycraft) will last for ages. Huzzah!