My Hen Party dress in Liberty fabric from Abakhan…

Well hello there!

It’s been awhile… but then I did warn you I was going to be quiet up until the wedding so I’m going to try not to let the usual guilt set in this time! Oh who am I kidding?! I feel guilt for not blogging more most minutes of most days- I’m just that kind of a person!!

Man I’ve been busy and I also feel like I haven’t even started to crack the making to do list- the bridesmaids dresses aren’t even half done and I haven’t even got the fabric yet for the napkins I’m stencilling… So typical of me to leave it all till the last minute but this is it- the next few weeks are going to be rightfully mental and hopefully next time I blog I’ll be gloating about how everything is all done with weeks to spare… Yeah right!!

I did also get some awful health news a few weeks ago which I don’t really want to go into but it did put me in a bit of a spin so sewing and blogging (for the first time in over a year) have not been at the fore front of mind. Now I’m itching to get back to it and I’m getting distracted by sewing blogs and Pinterest boards etc again! Yay!

Anyway the reason I’m here today is to show you my Hen party dress! I had the best day and was so happy to be wearing my first Liberty fabric garment for it. I have Abakhan to thank for the opportunity to use this amazing Jersey fabric and it has become very special to me!

This fabric is so totally amazing I don’t have the words to do it justice. The moment I put this picture up on Instagram I knew it wasn’t just me who fell head over heels for it either…

Will from Abakhan is the kind gent who helped find more of the wool I used to make my coat when a friend spilt red wine on it and left me heart broken. My fiancé contacted the shop and they were amazing at tracking it down then they wrote me an email asking if I wanted to try some of their new Liberty fabric range, which to a sewer, is like asking a dog if they would like to try some delicious steak – I jumped (firstly off my chair then) at the chance and chose this stunning Blue Liberty Ganton Meandering Chrysanthemums Jersey and some cotton lawn that is going to become something blogabble soon too.

I’ve wanted to try the dress version of Tilly & The Buttons Agnes pattern for ages and this just seemed like a match made in bright floral heaven. At first I tried the version with the ruched neckline as well as sleeves but it just didn’t look right- maybe it was too busy, so my fiancé suggested taking out the elastic ruching on the neckline and hey presto it looked a million times better. I really love it now!

The hen itself was absolutely amazing- I was spoilt rotten and everything was a huge surprise which was so lovely. We started with tea and cake in East London where I had an amazing video full of heartwarming messages played to me, which got me crying and played ‘guess the gift’ (I didn’t even know hens get presents so getting a whole table full was a wonderful shock) then we had an awesome millinery workshop with the brilliant Glamhatters which was so much fun. I couldn’t have picked anything better myself, my friend and sister excelled themselves arranging the whole thing. Everyone was brilliant and we all loved our finished fascinators!

We ended the day joining the stag party for a big ole raucous supper in a private room of our favourite pub and I can honestly say it was one of the best days of my life.

I’m a very lucky girl. When I found out my bad news I was devastated but 2 days later I was surrounded by so much love at my hen/stag  it was overwhelmingly marvellous. I just felt pure joy and my sides hurt for days from laughing and that is pretty special just like my lovely Liberty dress!

I’m off to post the last few remaining invites that we’ve been making all week so I better go as they are already a bit late! Oopsadaisy.

Lots of lots of love to you all and if you need help, love and support just ask for it because it really is all around you.

XoxoxoX