First sewing project of 2014

I've just come back from a walk with Charlie Dog - it's lovely and cool after a hot and sticky summer day.  So I sat down and decided to make the effort to blog even though it's late and I'm tired, because I can't keep using that as an excuse not to blog - look what happened last year!

Lining side ...

Here are a couple of teasers about my first project of 2014.  I'm working on the Chantilly dress by Colette patterns.  In fact I've been working at it on and off since March 2013!!!  I fitted myself with a muslin version, then promptly stopped and made other things.  Must get out of that habit too - one project at a time! 

Then came the pleasant shock of finding that the dress doesn't quite fit as well as the muslin did - in fact the dress is now slightly too large around the waist!  Yay - all that running must be doing me good.  I'm going to fashion a tie belt to help pull the dress in.

It's nearly finished - as you can see from this pic, I've started to unpick the top-stitching and am finishing off by hand because in my opinion it looks a lot better.  I wouldn't be happy knowing that the lining was a mess; sometimes it's a pain being a perfectionist, but at least it will be a project I'll be proud of, and after 10 months of waiting, what's another week or two of hand sewing?