Ok folks, here’s my first selfie, in a me-made garment.

This finished dress is a version of my raglan shirt hack into an A-line dress.

This fabric is a polyester crepe with Lycra. It had about 20% stretch so I used it even though it was a woven, not a knit. I loved the print. It’s like a Victorian lithograph of birds and flowers. The fabric was a bargain at £5 a metre. I bought 2m, knowing that the pattern centring would eat up more than my plain version at 1.2m. I didn’t try to match any patterns as the angle of the seams made that unnecessary, but I wanted the birds to fall upright at my centre front and back. This did mean more fabric and I had to shorten the sleeves slightly to this bracelet length. I had intended them to be full length. Another 10cm and I could have done it.

I can’t figure out if the background is black or very dark blue. When seen next to black, it looks slightly blue.

It’s a very flattering fabric; it just skims over bumps and lumps and stretches without going baggy. It’s not super warm and It might not be nice for very hot weather but I feel pretty good in it. I think it will probably look even better with bare legs and red sandals; bring on Spring. For now, I’ve been pairing it with a bright yellow cardi.

The Selfie Struggle is Real

I’ve got a long way to go before I’m comfortable modelling my clothes and taking selfies. I need to train my husband how-to frame a picture and press the button. I don’t want to be lugging a tripod all over my neighbourhood.

But the bigger problem is feeling confident in front of the camera. I know I’m not alone here. I like the way I look in front of a mirror fine but I’ve never liked photographs of myself. I don’t have that many. I’m a very confident person but that crumples in front of a camera. I know I’ve got to get over that if I’m going to blog my clothes. I’ll do my best but there may be some janky pics to start.