Bunting

Bunting

I have actually been meaning to write this post for at least a year about the metres and metres of bunting that I made for Amy & Marty's wedding, partly because the pictures are just so beautiful! After making Tess, my brother Rob's girlfriend, a little purse for Christmas over two years ago, I was commissioned by her mum, Simmone, to make the bunting for Tess' sister, Amy, for her wedding to Marty in October 2013. Phew, lots of names.

Bunting & flowers

Bunting & flowers

Amy & Marty were getting married at the surf club in Lyall Bay, which is a suburb of Wellington in New Zealand, where Tess' family are all from. The venue was a big room, with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the beautiful ocean, but Amy and Sim were after something to decorate the room and make it look more weddingy. And how beautiful does it look in all of these photos taken by their friend, Fran Gleisner? I love the wild flower arrangements and simple long tables and settings. 

Nearly 200 flags

Sim brought the fabric up to Leeds one afternoon, and with measurements of the venue at the ready, I set about using all of the fabric to make around 50m of bunting in four pieces.  We used two lovely Cath Kidston prints, and then two coordinating prints that went with the spotty fabric. We used a blue gingham for the back, so from one side the bunting is all the same, and then the patterns are alternated along each piece on the front side. Although we talked about this bunting for months, in the end I had to get a bit of a factory line going to get it all done in time for Rob & Tess' flights over to the wedding. I cut all of the fabric in one go, which took nearly a day in itself. Sewing the flags together was the easy part, and Andy became an excellent flag turner, as he turned every one, pushed out the point and then we ironed them all before sewing. I can't even remember how many flags there were in total, but it was somewhere in the region of 200! 

The beautiful couple, Amy & Marty

Bunting and fairy lights

I am so pleased with how the bunting turned out, and the pictures are brilliant. I especially like the one above with the fairy lights. It was so lovely to be a part of the wedding, even though I had never met Amy before. We were lucky to meet Amy & Marty, as well as some of Tess' other family when we stayed in NZ on our travels last year. It was such a cool little city and I'd love to go back one day.

Wellington Harbour at sunset

A new year, a trip and the prospect of a new wardrobe!

Wow, where has January nearly gone? I can't believe it has been nearly four weeks since my last post! I've been planning to write this quick post about my goals ever since my last one but just haven't got round to it. I had a very hectic couple of weeks at work as all of our new students arrived, we moved apartments in the middle of it and our friend Chris arrived from the UK for a little visit. It's been great as we've taken him to lots of our favourite places and it's always nice to see Vancouver as a tourist. 

Last weekend, we went on a little trip to Seattle which was fun. We had some lovely food, coffee and lots of beers and enjoyed being tourists for the day. We did the Underground Tour which was fascinating and we were there for the NFL Conference Final between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers. The atmosphere was amazing, even though I know nothing about American football. 

Pike Place Market

Tasty and aesthetically pleasing coffee from Storyville

Washington State Ferries - I love this sign!

I've barely had time to reflect on my resolutions and plans for 2015 but I have been dreaming about all of the things that I'm going to make! I'm taking part in the Colette Patterns Wardrobe Architect series, which I'm really excited about. I even have a new notebook; it's like going back to school. I just need to actually start it!

Other than the Wardrobe Architect, my two sewing-related goals for this year are to get to grips with knits and to take part in Me Made May. There's already not long to go until May, so I'm going to spend a bit of time and use the guidance from the Wardrobe Architect to really try and focus on things that I really want to wear and that suit my shape at the same time.

I'm half way through making the Grainline Studio Alder, but I've had to put it on the back burner while Chris has been here. In our new apartment I have a teeny sewing room which is lovely and has a big skylight so that is exciting. Hopefully I will get it finished in the next week or so...