I’ve had this pattern hanging around for a while now, so when I wandered down Walthamstow market, I thought I’d keep an eye out for a suitable fabric to make the Cynthia Rowley 2472.

It took me a long time to decide if I was going to buy this silk. I walked away from the stall twice, but kept finding myself drawn back. Slowly, slowly, catchey monkey, the stallholder must have been thinking, watching my machinations.

Why was I hesitating? Well, I’m all for strong prints and bold colours (love ’em!) but this was a way strong print and an uber bold colour. Too much? In the end, I buckled and bought two and a half metres for £12. It should have been £12.50, but I haggled. Stop that laughing at the back! That 50p I saved could buy me a metre of knicker elastic! How very dare you suggest my haggling is dire. He threw in an extra quarter metre of the silk that had a chunk cut out of it. Great, I thought. What am I meant to do with that? Then I came across Colette Patterns’ very latest scarf post. Maybe…

The dress looks as simple to make as a sack, but reading reviews makes me think the fitting could be more of a challenge to my thunder thighs than a loose tunic at first suggests. I’m going to make a muslin toile. Yeah, get me and my careful makes!

As the blog title suggests, I also need to do some mending. I recently wore my Simplicity 2512 skirt to a meeting in Oxford. City of dreaming spires – and broken skirts, as it turns out. Right at the end of the day, as I was getting ready for bed, I climbed out of my clothes and let out a wail of despair:

Skirt, you let me down.

I truly love this skirt. What a shame the hem on the back panel had come loose, what with all that sitting down and standing up I do. It’s an easy enough repair job, but be warned out there! Make sure your skirt hems are indestructible, if following this pattern.

Finally, all Sewists need sustenance. Which meant I could barely contain myself when I spotted a new nan bakery had opened up on the market. Imagine the sights and smells of fresh nan bread on an extremely cold day:

They even let me duck under the counter and photograph the clay oven:

Yum!

Then they threw me out for getting in their way.