New Years eve! Double sequins in the teeny bathroom in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean!

I had this chance to wear fancy clothes and big jewellery night after night, a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I embraced it.

I wore a SEQUIN TWO-SET. I felt like a million dollars that night, I tell no lie

The top is a Cora Top and skirt of course a Whitlam. Both made from Carla Zampatti remnants from The Makers Society, gorgeous quality and I used just about all of it given the pattern shapes are pretty blocky

I made four Cora tops in my 2024 Cruise Collection, in brocade, satin, sequin and cotton lawn. Its simple and hangs nicely and moreover, its super quick to make. Given most were very decorative fabrics, I didnt need complicated patterns.

Sewing this didnt have to be much, there is no way the stitching will show! I tacked it together then cut off sequins here & there if they got in the way, then hand sewed it sandwiched between some satin bias strips, tehn turned the seam to the back and hand sewed that down

It took some time but easy. For the neckline I just rolled the raw edge to the inside & hand stitched

Earrings! I took a LOT of jewellery and wore all of it. I was beaming

Any excuse! Bought them in 1997 so they’re vintage now? Investment shopping now/lots of money then.

After dinner Big Band.

I took my sequins to the damn dancefloor baby

Tbh it looked like a lot of arm waving instead of dancing to me but what do I know.

This dancefloor. This is the “Queens Room” (ship was the Queen Elizabeth) and it was a beautiful room.

Afternoon tea! Every day at 3pm, if you want. Sometimes champagne afternoon tea? At 3pm, all the waiters paraded out in two long lines either side of the floor, with all the scones on their trays! Epic!

Then it was 2025! And I was with people I love, it was a cruise ship and an incredible night. Like, I’m an artist and we dont do cruises. cruises are so lame. Then we did! I loved it! And more importantly, we enabled my mum and Ross to go, and they love them, but its tricky these days with a wheelchair. The days we had together were…I cant describe how…valuable? they were. Just time spent sitting side by side. Losing Scrabble games. There is no internet out there, so phones are left in the cabin and you sit, and look at the people you are with, and the surroundings, and you engage. Just being there. In the boundless ocean, where nothing matters. Lord it was wonderful. If these are the last days with my mum, who lives in a different city, we did it right.

Additionally, I had a spreadsheet of all the clothes I had made and every afternoon I would consult it, and the outfits I had created from them, and chose the one I felt was ‘me’ that night, IT WAS SO FUN!

At this point it was four days left on the boat and one more Gala Evening to go! That was to be on the night before the last day at sea and spoiler, I was wearing flats the night after that.

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