Hot, hot, hot!

Wow, what gorgeous weather we've been having this week! Sun, sun and… oh, OK then, just a little more sun, please! I am not good in excessive heat, but I am keen to avoid complaining about it because it’ll be over before I know it. It’s so rare to have several consecutive days of such lovely weather, that I will find a way to cope. Thankfully the evenings are cool and our house generally doesn't get much direct sun during the day, so we've had no problems sleeping.

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And what a difference it makes to our lives. I feel like I'm on holiday. Meals are eaten outside. I take a lunch-break at work. My mood is just generally better. When it’s warm, my favourite part of the day is first thing in the morning. If it’s warm then, and I'm wearing something summery, it takes me straight back to our family holidays as a child. Pretty much every second year we’d go camping in France (the alternate years, we’d go camping in England). 

Butter wouldn't melt - my sister and I in our tent

Camping obviously meant being out and about in the fresh air first thing in the morning: sauntering to the showers, strolling over to the campsite shop to buy baguettes and croissants, eating said baguettes and croissants (followed by reluctant ambling to the central dishwashing area to help Dad clear up), getting organised for the days’ activities. There is something about the smell and feel and the stillness of the air, early in the morning that is completely different to the rest of the day. Add in some warmth, and I’m straight back in a campsite in the Dordogne eating raspberry jam on baguette, smelling my parent’s coffee, listening to the sounds of the other campers and caravaners starting their day, and very probably fighting with my brother and sister.

Clearly not breakfast, from the bottles of beer on the table

Unfortunately the lovely weather has highlighted some serious gaps in my wardrobe. I have no summer clothes! I have my bird dress, my recent refashioned Venice skirt, one RTW dress* and um… that’s it. Evidenced by the fact that today I am wearing the RTW dress, and it’s the third time I’ve worn it since Saturday!

 *I have just realised that this RTW dress is technically a refashion, so I will blog that some time.

I’m not sure what happened. I used to have a summer wardrobe. But then, I used to go abroad on holiday. I haven’t been abroad for 4 years now. A pregnancy, maternity leave and subsequent limited funds have ensured that. And since then, I’ve changed shape, gained and lost weight, changed my style and my preferences and had some clear outs. As such, I have a few “holiday” skirts that no longer fit me properly and very little else. I do have shorts, which are fine for kicking about the garden, but are far from work appropriate. I do have plenty of summer blouses – my Violet, my Sorbetto, my kimono sleeve linen tee and my pink sleeveless blouse, not to mention other RTW blouses and tops, but I don’t have anything really summery to pair with them! And while we’ve had some lovely “staycation” holidays over the past 4 years, the UK has just not had enough consistent good weather to justify either buying or making summer dresses, skirts or trousers!

There is no shortage of lovely summer appropriate skirt and dress patterns out there to tempt me, but I am conscious I don’t want to spend limited time and money making items that I won’t really wear. My answer? I don’t really have one. I guess it might be sensible to make more dresses and skirts that can cross seasons. My bird dress, which I really must write a post about, is a good example. It’s a light cotton and a bright colour, so definitely works as a summer dress, but it has sleeves and is a colour that doesn’t look daft with tights (with a slip underneath) and a cardigan, and can therefore equally work for a spring/autumn transitional look.  Of course, if I’d stuck to my summer sewing plan, I’d probably have a much larger selection of summer and work appropriate items to wear, but I haven’t. Too many distractions!

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Another problem I’ve encountered is with my underwear, specifically bras. I chucked out all my old bras and went shopping for more back in May. I am ashamed to admit that the bras I was wearing up until then were ones I’d bought before I was pregnant (Small Boy is now 3, remember?!). Due to limited funds, and the fact that underwear is so blooming expensive, I bought 3 new bras: one white, one black and one nude. I’ve not really owned nude bras before, mostly because the nude colours on offer were horrible. This one is a nice almost peachy shade and, oh my goodness, it is useful! I rarely wear the white one because it’s just a colour (technically not a colour!) that I wear. The black will get loads of wear once the weather cools down, but the nude just goes with everything summery (all 3 things! :))! Previously I had specific bras bought to wear with specific sheer blouses, or I chose colours that worked well within my wardrobe, or occasionally it just worked by happy co-incidence – a burgundy one went really well with my lace collar pink blouse, for example. But it seems that nude goes with everything vaguely summery, and, as a result I need more!!!

So there you go. My summer wardrobe, or lack thereof, in a nutshell. I’m currently just finishing off a skirt, which I hope to show you soon, which will work for summer. The next project I am planning is a Peony in some fabric that I bought back in February at the quilt show (below), which should make a nice summery dress (although almost definitely won’t work with tights). And I am loving By Hand London’s new dress pattern. I also have a “do” at the end of this month, that I am considering making an outfit for, but that’s a whole other post. Busy, busy, busy!

Fabric to make my Peony