Given how many patterns I already own, honestly .. I’m not sure if this is a blog post or a confession, but .. yeah. I have purchased some patterns. I mean: I have purchased yet more patterns…

[Stares at shoes]

Now, look; they’re VOGUE patterns. For reasons which are utterly preposterous (like their designer pattern collaborations, amongst which I’ve spotted catwalk items), I hold them in higher regard than those at, say, Butterick. Not that there’s anything wrong with Butterick, obviously. But. You know. Right?

Secondly; they were half-price on the Sew Direct website (still are, I just checked. DANGEROUS…), possibly as a tie-in with the return of The Great British Sewing Bee [stifles slight swoon at Patrick Grant].

And, AND .. because I bought them ‘direct’ (as it were), included in each envelope is a woven label to attach to the finished garment. Squeeeee.

Normally I buy complicated patterns. Designer ones. Ones with so many individual pieces that it’s worth running a book on how many I’ll lose once I’ve cut the damn thing out. This time, however, I was actually buying with a project and person in mind; my mum.

My mum’s March birthday is a land-mark one; her 80th. So what does every girl need for her birthday? A special birthday dress, of course. The natty little number in the middle, V8629 as it happens – with a couple of little design additions, just because I’m awesome like that.

The dress on the far right – V8968 – is earmarked for a summer dress for her – extended so it’s past her knees, of course. Although a short version might just find its way into my wardrobe. Wink. As for the dress on the left, V8898; I know right now that that little beauty’s mine, all mine.

But how did my plans pan out? Was it a superb success or a sartorial ship-wreck? Stay tuned…