I've been wanting to move my blog away from Blogspot for a while but could never be bothered to actually do it. This week was the tipping point though, and I've now fully migrated over to https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . The blogspot address will remain here but all new posts will only appear at https://patsypoomakes.wordpress.com/ . There are lots of reasons for the move but my biggest one is how hard Blogger has made it for people to subscribe to receive new posts via email. It's such a basic requirement but apparently, they think it's too much to offer. I'm basing this purely on how I myself prefer to consume this stuff. I can't be arsed with feed readers anymore and emails are easy and convenient. When I receive one, if I fancy reading it, I will click through to it and, if not, I'll just delete it. Another reason is the spat between Google (owners of Blogger) and Instagram/Facebook/Meta. I don't even know if this is still the case anymore
I fell in love with and bought this fabric about a year ago. I couldn't figure out what to make with it for ages. The scale of the print is fairly large and I didn't want to break it up too much. I thought about a lot of patterns but none of them seemed right. Then, I stumbled on the Southport by True Bias.
Perfectly summery, maxi length option but way more fabric needed than what I actually had: 2m and a directional print! I know, I know. One day I will learn to just buy more but I love a good game of fabric Tetris. I couldn't make it fit as it was. But, by losing 1 inch off the skirt, I managed to get it all cut out.
It's a cotton lawn from Lady McElroy that I bought from Sew Me Sunshine ages ago. She no longer has it in stock unfortunately, but I'm sure it's still around.
This is my second Southport. I made a straight size 4 and there are no alterations other than the shorter length of the skirt. The drawstring waist makes it easy to fit and stupidly comfortable. Win win! It's also a beginner-friendly pattern. All of the bodice edges are finished with bias binding and that's the trickiest bit. I know there are 4 buttons but the neckline is wide enough for the dress to be pulled on and off without having to unbutton the front, so you could sew the buttons on without bothering with the buttonholes.
Full disclosure: mine are in fact functional buttons - not on my first version though. Mainly because I thought the maxi length might be too much fabric to wrestle on and off without unbuttoning it. It isn't, but you live and learn.
The drawstring casing is my favourite feature. It's attached in such a way that it encloses the waist seam as well so you get a very clean finish on the inside. Plus, I frenched all my seams, which I love to do whenever I can.
I am incredibly pleased with both of my Southports. They have been summer essentials for me so far this year on those hot and sticky days. These photos were taken in St Ives, during our yearly camping trip to Cornwall. We couldn't go last year as we went to New England and I really missed it. We had our best weather this year and not a drop of rain. We even managed to escape the awful heatwave the rest of the country suffered. We had very pleasant low to mid 20s temperatures all the way through.
St Ives isn't where we stay though. Gwithian is our Cornish home and if you squint really hard you can see a lighthouse in some of these pictures. That's our beach: Godrevy. And it's a bloody marvellous one.