Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Pretty in Pink at My High Tea

With the dress finished I came up with the crazy idea to have my own high tea!  Just because I couldn't be at the Jane McGrath High Tea doesn't mean I couldn't get dressed up and eat cake!

But first of all I had to bake the cakes, which is a lot more complex since they've started to work out why I've been sick.  I had to bake cakes that were gluten free, dairy free, egg free, and easy to make.  I didn't want to spend all morning in the kitchen for something that might taste.... yucky.  Thankfully there are a few gluten free cake mixes available, and with the help of vegan butter and egg replacer, I was able to make something I could eat.

It has a cherry on top!

I also purchased some flowers, though I couldn't get roses...but at least they were pink!


And I sat down with my Mum and Dad (my girlfriends live too far away for this kind of impromptu gathering) and had High Tea!


Pink cupcakes!!!!

But I suppose what you really want to see is what the dress I made looks like on.





Oh damn it!  I just realised I forgot to have the bag with me!  The bag that encouraged me to sew this dress in the first place... sigh!

But anyway....

This dress is wonderfully comfortable!  I think its to do with the loose fit of the bodice.  And I really love the piping detail on the bodice and the pocket flaps.  I can see me 'stash busting' and making a couple more from fabric I impulse purchased and have done nothing with.  I can't be the only person who does that....

Beccie
xxx

28 comments:

  1. your dress turned out beautiful. love the pockets. the bias and piping give the dress such a nice finished look.
    and your cupcakes look quite scrumptious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! And I must say that yes, the cupcakes were very scrumptious regardless of the complete lack of butter and milk and eggs :)

      Delete
  2. Love the dress,hair flowers,shoes. Just yummy gorgeous :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Amber :) I'm always excited when I already have the perfect accessories to go with a new outfit :)

      Delete
  3. Such a happy looking dress -- beautifully done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Peter! I am trying very hard not to have a major-fan moment meltdown that you commented on my blog.... :D

      It is a very happy dress and it makes me happy when I wear it. Says a lot about the existence of colour therapy I think :)

      Delete
  4. So gorgeous! And that first photo is divine! On the upside, a dairy/gluten free diet can only make you lose weight....right??!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'd think so! But I've been doing this for 3 months now and I'm pretty much the same size... Good thing I like the way I look huh! :)

      Delete
  5. Your afternoon tea looked fabulous! So glad you did that for yourself! Those cuppy cakes looked so yummy! Everything pink was beautiful and you look gorgeous in your new dress!!! xox

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bunny - I really did enjoy eating a couple of those cupcakes. And they tasted pretty nice all things considered :) And I felt very pretty surrounded by all that pink :)

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. Thanks Anthea - the hair flowers are by Miz Smitten Kitten. You can find her on Facebook :)

      Delete
  7. Absolutely blummin beautiful ( you and the dress!). Love the piping detail :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the dress!! And what's your haircolor called?? I am 'muppet-purple' at the moment, but love your color...:-)
    Grtz irene

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Irene! My hair colour is a salon colour by DeLorenzo called Ruby Red. We've been dying the full length the same colour for 12 months now so the black (I used to have black hair with red chunks) is now a deep red :)

      Delete
  9. beautiful! and your cupcake free cupcakes look delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Cupcake free cupcakes - BRILLIANT!!!!!

      And yes, they were rather delicious!

      Delete
  10. Oh Beccie ! I read all your posts (religiously !) but don't comment on all of them, I could be all day at it ! but this one.... I mean as it is I find you extraordinary in your talent and drive along with holding a "day job" and running home and family, beating deadlines for such and such upcoming event or sewing contest...but this lovely simple little pink number, with that cascading glory of hair in all it's different pink shades, and above all, that : "I will have high tea come rain come shine" in the face of this illness you are having to learn with (with the most fantabulously appetizing pictures of these gorgeous glittery cupcakes that don't hold the most basic of ingredients...poor Florian Bellenger would have fits hon hon hon ! hahaha ! well done you) I don't even know where to start, because in the face of what you have to now live with, you are absolutely glowing ! In fact (and I hope I'm not touching any sensitive spots here and deep apologies if I am) you look as glowing as a happily pregnant woman...you positively radiate in these photos. And positive being the word. Thank you Beccie for bringing day in day out to us, your tips, your anecdotes, and most of all your positivity with that million dollar sunshine smile of yours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Johanna

      I hope you don't mind, but I copied your comment onto my facebook page to share with everyone. You made me smile, laugh and get a bit teary with all that you said. Its amazing at how touching the words from someone you have never met can be.

      It doesn't touch any sensitive spots to point out that I'm glowing in the photos. I personally think its just the lighting :) but it did raise the 'are you pregnant' question on my facebook page and I finally decided to be 100% honest. I figured I may as well do the same thing here.

      In October 2012 I accidentally got pregnant. Sadly it wasn't actually a pregnancy, but a blighted ovuum. But my body had already fundamentally changed, and I have now been diagnosed with coeliacs disease, an allergy to all dairy, and what feels a lot of the time to be chronic fatigue syndrome. It hasn't been easy, but after getting sicker (and fatter) for 12 months, I finally have a way forward and am feeling healthier.

      So thank you for saying all that you said, you gave me the motivation to get out of bed and get on with my day when I really was struggling to feel like me.

      Beccie
      xxx

      PS. I really hope you check back and get to read this :)

      Delete
  11. This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen :) THIS is what I have in my mind when I started sewing garments. Technically I have made half a dress that looks terrible on me and haven't finished yet. But this is what I dream that I will be able to do one day :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Karrie! Don't give up!!! If I can do it I'm sure you can too :)

      Delete
  12. So pretty! I love the whole outfit too. I wish I lived close enough to you so we COULD have impromptu high tea parties. How grand would that be!

    I'm sure you've prob discovered them right now, but the Coles gluten free range is actually quite good for most things. My job allowed me to sample quite a bit of their products (even though I'm not gluten free), the cake mixes were fab! As well as the cookies :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Esz it would be SOOO grand!!! My nearest girlfriend is 2 hours away, so I really have no-one (but my mum and step-daughter when she's around) to have impromptu parties with.... sigh!

      And yes, everything I used to make my cupcake free cupcakes (thanks to Rebecca for the description) was from Coles. Their range really is brilliant, even though some of it contains dairy, there is PLENTY that doesn't. I would have been lost without Coles :)

      Delete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You are such a talented person, and beautiful, inside and outside. You have so many wonderful ideas, such an incredible taste for - almost everything. Such a brilliant idea to add flowers and pink cupcakes to complete your pink outfit - I really think we don't expect anything less, but still you always manage to surprise me positively. In one word: you're inspiring.

    You may take some comfort in the fact that so many people have to live on a certain diet due to allergies or sickness. But there are so many products to substitute the ones you are not allowed to eat, that you still can enjoy live (and food). Get well soon!

    And YES, I'm a fabric-aholic, I have TONS of fabrics, mostly for the children (so boys and girls, woven and knit), not to mention the vintage fabrics I bought. But the latter is entirely YOUR fault, I would never have thought about and dared to buy vintage fabric for my projects. So thank you for spoiling me. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love everything about this post. Great job on the dress.

    ReplyDelete