We were staying at the house of friends - a beautifully appointed home on a lovely hillside farm property.
The neighbours' cows and a small pony roamed their field... I think that's called agistment?
The kids played together nicely - there was tag, soccer, swimming and some gentle piano playing, and they made biscuits:
as well as a huge variety of paper & texta-based toys - everything they needed for a pirate adventure, and a large number of colourful credit cards (!!) because they hadn't brought their piggy banks with them.
We made a trip to Byron to show the kids the lighthouse:
We visited a koala hospital, and saw mum & baby koalas in the trees outside the hospital:
And we went to the circus:
It was a pretty relaxing holiday, and the hand sewing to finish a few hems was all I did in the way of sewing for a whole week!
Back to the sewing.
Although I know my fabric was too lightweight, I can't help thinking that this pattern is problematic too. I raised the neckline a few centimetres (which I probably shouldn't have, but I wasn't sure what else to try - and this was supposed to be a test dress), but my bra still shows in the corners of the neckline. I couldn't have raised it more because raising the neckline shifts the bodice pleats upwards and puts them in a place that just looks wrong with respect to bust and underarms. Even though I'm relatively tall, I'm short waisted - so I'm sure this fit issue would be pretty common. The neckline might not be too low on someone busty but then I think the bodice pleats wouldn't be full enough.
I really think the designer didn't work this idea through properly... maybe a separate band of fabric needs to be attached above the pleat to raise the neckline by the width of the band? I have read other reviews that say this dress doesn't work if you are too hippy, or too busty... and I'm wondering who it would suit.
I love the idea of this dress - I am a pretty big fan of interesting pleats and kimono sleeves - but I'm not sure it'd be worth my while to make this dress in a more expensive fabric.
