I've been gone for a month but now I'm back! I had important exams in June, finished school forever and tomorrow, I go on holiday for 2 weeks. Hopefully, I'll have some scheduled posts ready by the time I leave to get me back in to the habit of blogging more frequently.

So to begin with, here's my Handmade Bucket List No. 5: a white shirt.

These shirts definitely aren't the normal white shirt. I seem to be more attracted to loose fitting shirts with unusual collars. At least I can buy the pattern for the last shirt!

Images from 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Here is my finished prom dress:

The dress was completed a good 24 hours before rather than last minute like the last prom I went to and throughout the night there were no issues with it falling down. I wore the dress with black heels (which I managed to wear all night), vintage black stud earrings and a black clutch bag.

I really enjoyed the whole thing and normally I only like the getting ready part. The marquee was beautifully decorated with tea lights in jam jars and cream balloons. Nice and simple. Music was generally good apart from the awful DJ playing the macarena but by that point, everyone had drunk a little too much to care. Including the teachers.

I feel a little sad looking back on the photographs because there won't be another event where all my friends will be together before everyone goes their separate ways in September.

So the fabric I ordered for my Leaver's Ball dress has arrived! I decided to go with a navy blue colour since I'm more into subtle colours and I have shoes and other accessories that would work nicely with this colour. It will probably end up looking a bit like my Pre-Raphaelite dress except this time, I will use a long enough zip.

I ordered two fabrics: georgette and satin-backed-crepe. The satin-backed-crepe is actually in two pieces because the website I ordered them from didn't have one piece of fabric that I was the size I wanted. So now I have about half a metre more than I originally ordered but I'll probably end up needing it. 

I was worried about the satin-backed-crepe being a little too heavy and I really couldn't tell from the fabric samples. I want this fabric to make up the actual structure of the dress, so I can drape the georgette over the top of it, so it needs to be fairly heavyweight, but I want it to drape nicely and kind of flow when I walk. I think the fabric will do what I want. I just need to start making it asap so I don't run out of time.

Handmade Bucket List No. 4: Prom Dress

Next month, my school is having a Leaver's Ball for all the people who will be finishing school this academic year. It's kinda not really a prom. We had a "prom" almost 2 years ago after finishing GCSEs and I think I prefer the word "Ball" better. It sounds more grownup I guess.

Anyway. I seriously think that getting ready is the best part. I love trying to decide what I'm going to wear and there was no doubt about it. I am going to make my dress. I've been compiling a folder of inspiration on my computer for months now and I think I've made a final decision but what's in my head may look different to what I will actually be able to make, so I'll just post pictures for now.

I'm so excited to actually start making it! As you can see from the photographs, there are a few themes going on that I'm intended to incorporate into my dress. Strapless, floorlength, drapery, sweetheart neckline. And that's all I'll leave you with for now.

Images from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Handmade Bucket List No. 3: socks

Like No. 2 on my list, I wouldn't pick a very complex pattern in fear that I wouldn't wear them very much. I tend to gravity to knitting patterns that are photographed nicely and are made up in a colour that I would wear like cream or grey. I'm not too adventurous with colour but that's my style. I'm a big fan of neutral subtle colours.

All these images are from Ravelry so in theory I could make any of these socks. Excluding the last pair. Aren't the childrens pair just the cutest? If there was an adult sized pattern I would be knitting those socks up asap.

Images from 1, 2, 3, 4

So after digging around in the loft for a while, I came across the quilted cushion that my Mum made, which I mentioned in a previous post. I took photographs to share it with you. I think it matches my duvet cover quite well.

I've also started making my own quilted cushion cover in the same style as my Mum's. I've been following an old Threadbanger video and using up scraps of fabric. Here's just a little sneak peak at what it looks like so far. It's quite time-consuming and is making my fingers raw with all this handsewing.

Hopefully, if all goes well with this project, I'll take on a full sized quilt, except I'd use a half square triangle technique. Yep. I've done a little research into quilting. However, I don't think I'll be doing any handsewing only projects for a while after this cushion cover is finished.

Handmade Bucket List No. 2: a jumper

I really want to knit a jumper at some point in my life. I have no idea what I want it to look like. I think simple would be best since I'd probably get more wear out of it. I'd hate to go too all the trouble of knitting a jumper and then not wear it because I no longer thought it was "in".

Images from 1, 2, 3

I originally intended to focus this blog just on my little handmade projects. However, I kind of want to start a little blog series. Just so I can make a record of my thoughts in one neat little place. So without further ado, I give you my handmade bucket list blog series: a series of posts about big projects I want to take on at some point in my life.

1. a quilt

I really really want to make a quilt someday. I think it would be the perfect way to use up scraps of fabrics and it really doesn't look too complicated to make. Just a lot of sewing in a straight line. Except I'm not too good at cutting precisely which is a big issue for quilting. Now matter what, I will get around to making one someday. 

The images above make me want a quilt so badly. And I love the idea of taking on board a huge project and the sense of accomplishment after finishing it. The quilts in the images look simple enough to recreate but look so good because the combination of all the different fabrics works so well together.

Maybe a pillow would be a good starting project? Small enough to get to grips with it as well as taking less time. I'm sure my mother has a quilted pillow that she made. I'd love to find it. I remember admiring her hand stitches since they were so tiny and neat...

Images came from Dores Handmade, Design Sponge and I have no record of where the quilted pillow came from so if anyone does recognise it, please let me know.