Thank you Mom!

Tonight, I wanted to share a photograph with you of a blouse my mom and I made together when I was home in April. It is my absolute favourite blouse now. I feel like Carmen Miranda and want to cha cha in it all night long.

I found the fuchsia silk in John Lewis and made it into a lingerie set. I loved it so much I bought enough to make this blouse (Vogue pattern to come. Have to ask Mummy). I figured my mother and I would sew it together and I would better learn from her how to sew. Yes, trust me to pick the hardest thing to try to do. The satin slipped everywhere, so much so, my mother, a professional tailor, even got frustrated.

While she sewed, I did all of the cutting, ironing, tea making and hand stitching. The neckline which you can't see in the photo is all my handiwork. I had to keep rolling and folding as neatly as I possibly could before hand stitching and pressing in place.

We had a few mishaps with the sleeves - like sewing the ruffles on upside down, but the most difficult part was sewing the ruffles which when flat are actually circles cut in half with a hole in the middle because they didn't fit perfectly on the sleeve. A lot of fiddling was done and perfectly turning under the edges before sewing into place.

It took all day bonding with my mother and endless cups of tea for that blouse to be finished, but every time when I wear the blouse I think of all the fun we had down in the basement on the vintage Singer.

What craft projects did you or do you make with your mother?