Sewing double for The Monthly Stitch

This is my first challenge for The Monthly Stitch and it was "Sewing Double", to revisit a favourite pattern and make a second one.  I love my Papercut patterns La Sylphide dress that I made in October last year, blogged about here.  It is my go-to dress when I don't have a lot of time to get ready, I always feel happy in it and love the floaty feminine skirt.  I had wanted to try the blouse version so the April challenge was a good opportunity.  The fabric is a soft drapey cotton gifted to me recently by an aunt.  

The main alteration I made was to adjust the back neckline and tie to fit my narrow shoulders.  I also cut the tie on the bias and used pearl snaps instead of buttons.  I did my best to match up the plaids and I am pretty happy with it turned out.  This was a very cheap make, only $4.50 for the snaps as the fabric was gifted.  Wendy xx

Easter weekend and knitting

We had a fab Easter weekend, time spent catching up with family,  a yummy shared lunch after church on Sunday, and sewing and knitting time for me.  Monday was fine so we tripped up to Auckland to visit the War Memorial Museum.  It is one of those places you could spend days looking through, we spent about five hours exploring it.  I loved the Easter egg display, the stained glass ceiling, the human history including clothing and gorgeous china and furniture, and the natural history.
I have been finding time to get some finishes over the last weeks: I have made my first PIF gift and have started the second, and have sewn a few items of clothing.  The tricky bit is getting photos of me in the clothes!  The sun was shining this morning so Charlie got some photos of my recently finished cardy, started back in February.  It is the Miette cardy by Andi Sutterland, a free pattern found here.  The only changes I made was to add a little extra to the length of the body and sleeves.
I had two skeins of yarn left so I knitted myself a cowl, also a free pattern found here.  I knitted with two strands of yarn to get the right weight.  You can see I wore it to the museum on Monday, even though I haven't blocked it yet!  I must say a big thank you to all those talented designers who give us free patterns so generously!  Wendy xx