Me-Made-June: Days Two, Three and Four

Good evening! Well we're now into day four of Me-Made-June and the excitement of finally taking part definitely hasn't worn off yet.  In fact I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying it: both wearing Me-Made clothes every day and seeing what everybody else in the Me-Made community is wearing - I love it! Here's what's been happening for the past three days....

Day Two

MMJ: Day Two

Top: Monsoon

Skirt: Me-made Beignet

Shoes: Clarks 

(blatantly copied from Tilly after seeing hers at the Goldhawk Road meet-up!)

Me-Made Category: A

I wore this skirt all the time through the winter months as its perfect with tights.  I've never worn it bare legged before as I always felt the length was a bit knee revealing. But I suppose one of the aims of MMJ is to map uncharted territory so bare knees it was. And guess what?  Strangers didn't stop in the street and point at me, not even once...

Day Three

MMJ: Day Three

Dress: Me-Made Crepe dress

Me-Made Category: B

I've worn this dress twice.  Despite spending what seemed like weeks on end working on the fit of the bodice, it still doesn't feel like it fits properly on the shoulders. Once it's on though, it's wonderfully cool and swishy and was perfect for yesterday's sunny weather in London.  The MMJ Flickr Group mini-challenge for that day was to photograph ourselves spinning. Well, that should be easy in this dress, I thought.  Not quite.  My two 'helpers' thought it was absolutely hilarious seeing me spinning around like a lunatic in front of the camera and insisted on jumping into every shot!

Mum's finally lost it...

 Day Four

MMJ: Day Four

Blouse:  Me-Made from a 1950's pattern

Skirt: Me-Made Beignet

Shoes: Clarks

Me-Made Category: both A

Even though the blouse is a relative newcomer to my wardrobe, I've worn it quite a few times, which is a great result for something that started life as a muslin.  I loved wearing my Beignet so much on day two, I gave it another spin today. x

MMJ: Day One

Hoorah! Today is the first day of Me-Made-June - a whole month of wearing handmade clothes.  It will be really interesting to see what gets rotated the most, and I'm determined to give everything I've made a spin out of the wardrobe.  In the past few weeks I've been going through all my me-mades, trying to see which pieces work together - I noticed that they fall into three distinct categories:

Category A

Me-made clothes I wear all the time and that I feel are indistinguishable from store-bought clothes.  Happily, about two thirds of my handmade clothes fall into this category.

Category B

Me-made clothes that have been worn once or twice but for some reason haven't really made the grade.

Category C

Me-made clothes that have never been worn.  Ever. 

These are the clothes equivalents of those poor kids that used to always get chosen last for the rounders team.  I feel more than a little sorry for them and a bit guilty too, so one of my objectives is to give the clothes in this category a turn and actually wear them.  There are only three pieces in this category and they're all lovely.  "So why don't you wear them?"  I hear you all cry.  I will. I will. I promise.   

And what did I wear today?  Well, it's half term here in the UK (again) so no dressing up for me today as I have to entertain my sons.  In my experience, small boys are like dogs and need to be regular exercised or they go a bit nuts.  So for the next three days I have to be suitably attired for running around the park and playing football.  On Saturday, when my husband's around and can take over football-playing duties, I'll dress up a bit.  For now...

MMJ: Day One

Top: My second Pendrell blouse, blogged here
Trousers:  Next
Me-Made Category: A


So far, so good.  See you all tomorrow... x

Another skirt from leftovers

Good morning.  This week I used up some more leftover fabric that’s been hanging around for a while.  It's lucky that I love A-line skirts, as most of my leftover pieces only seem to be A-line skirt-sized. 

I used the same vintage pattern as my last A-line made from leftovers (McCall’s 7978) and it was just as foolproof to make second time around.  The fabric was leftover from my Crepe dress which is SSOOO pretty, and I underlined it with plain white muslin.  This time I had enough to give the skirt its very own waistband - a luxury the last one sadly missed out on.  

I wanted to fiddle around with a fancy trim on the hem again, but the only trim I had in my stash that was the right colour was crossgrain ribbon. Karen from Did you Make That? first got me interested in ribbon as a skirt trimming when she added one as a facing on this skirt. Gorgeous isn’t it?   I’m definitely going to add one to the waistband of my next A-line.  For now, I just added it to the bottom hem as a contrasting touch.

Yet another one for my Me-Made-June wardrobe – hoorah.  It also feels nice and virtuous using leftover fabric and relieves me slightly (only slightly, mind you) of the guilt/horror of wasting £18 on the lining that shall remain nameless. Grrr.

I’ve got a craft show right after half term, which I’ve been working hard at getting things ready for.  Once that’s finished I’ll take another look at my Oolong….. 

Have a lovely weekend. x

A little sewing diversion

Louise from Sew Scrumptious is currently running a sewing appeal to send handmade dresses to little girls living in poverty around the world.  A week or two ago, she asked me to get involved and make a dress.  Her request came just when I was ready to do some damage to somebody after my Oolong/silk lining mega frustration. So the thought of making  a little girl’s dress was a welcome diversion.  Here’s the result...

It was such a delight to make, I made another one straight away!

The dresses are called pillowcase dresses and are really quick and easy to make.  Once I’d cut out the fabric, they took about an hour each.  It’s a great way of using up fabric from your stash that might otherwise never see the light of day. Naturally I chose the most uber-girly fabrics I could find (as a mother of boys it's an automatic response!) 

If you'd like to get involved, details of the appeal are on the Sew Scrumptious website, and include a link to a tutorial with a downloadable pattern. All you need is an hour to spare and half a metre of fabric (plus a few inches of elastic and bias tape).  I loved sewing these little dresses and really hope the new owners get some pleasure from wearing them. x

Oolong Part One – the first of many posts I fear…

I’ve just started work on the Colette Pattern Oolong dress as a back up dress for my brother’s wedding (in case it’s too hot for my wool crepe swing dress). 

There are hardly any versions of this pattern out there  - I wonder why this is?  It’s such a flattering looking dress AND has no buttons or zips (always a big plus in my book), but still it’s thin on the ground.   The two nicest versions I’ve seen have been this gorgeous red number by Isaspacey and Amanda’s pretty flowery version.  In fact it was Amanda’s version which inspired me to try out the pattern.

The pattern arrived and I cast my eye over the cutting layout….  

... no words needed, just a deep breath.  The entire dress and the entire separate lining is cut on the bias from a single layer of fabric, no folding. I almost backed out there and then, but something about the dress was calling me. The Oolong has a 1940’s look about it with the gathered sleeves and the cut under the bust - so a vintage-y looking fabric was called for. 

I settled on this cotton lawn, if the weather does turn out sunny then it should be lovely and cool.  As it’s a wedding, I wanted a bit of luxury so I decided on a silk lining which I picked up at last week’s Goldhawk Road Fabric Fandango.  And that, my friends, was my fatal error.

Without doubt, this fabric has been the absolute worst I’ve ever sewn with.  Bar none.  I took Isaspacey’s advice and decided to use the lining as a muslin to check any fitting issues.  It took ages to cut out and just wouldn’t behave itself.  However much I weighed it down and held it still, as soon as I’d cut each piece out it immediately changed shape.  

It all looks a bit sinister but it's just the lining fabric stretching

I then had to let the pieces hang for 24 hours, then press and stretch each one before the sewing machine even saw the light of day.  Tedious and tiresome.  And the icing on the cake?  I cut a size too small.  Grrr.  I had enough fabric left to cut out another bodice in the next size up and thankfully, this was a good fit.  So, I sewed the skirt section up and tried it on.  Disaster.  Yes, it also could have done with being the next size up but that wasn’t the problem, it was the feel of the lining fabric that was just dreadful.  It was so static and absolutely clung to me, I felt like I’d been wrapped in cling film. 

You can see how much better the fit is on the top half compared to the bottom

The skirt has to be sewn with a zigzig stitch which puckered like mad on the silk lining

The pictures on the dummy are pretty accurate of how the dress looked on me size-wise but NOT a true representation of what it looked like on me cling-wise!  BUT, through the darkness I can still see that the dress is perfect for the curvy figure - even resembling sausage meat forced into a skin it was extremely flattering. I’m going to continue making the dress, but I’ve obviously made an error with my choice of lining (a BIG error, I'm definitely out of pocket). After a lot of pondering and dreams about it, I’ve decided that the best lining for a bias cut dress made from cotton lawn is more cotton lawn. I like the idea of a traditional lining fabric, but can’t bear the thought of it clinging to me like a limpet.  I'm hoping that cotton on cotton won’t have any clinging issues and will give a nice, smooth finish. 

I’ve 95% made up my mind on this but any advice on what lining has worked for you, and what to avoid (well, I can answer that one already) would be very welcome. I think I need to step away from it for a few days though. The saga continues…

Patterns and prints

Wow, what a fantastic time we had on Saturday at the Goldhawk Road Fabric Fandango (read Karen’s and Tilly’s posts for much better descriptions/pictures than I could ever do). As I live quite locally I restrained myself on the fabric buying front and just bought some silk lining for my forthcoming Oolong dress plus a funny little strawberry print which I’ll probably make into a bag.  But fabric buying wasn't the reason I went along, I went for the once in a blue moon opportunity of meeting all my favourite bloggers in one place.  And boy did they not disappoint!  I got to meet some of the nicest and most talented people ever - it really was an absolute pleasure.  And we talked about fabric non-stop all afternoon. What more could you ask for really? It was a great day which I’ll remember fondly for quite some time to come.  Thank you so much Karen for making it happen. 

In other news, I recently had a re-order from the lady mentioned here for more of the zipped purses I made for her, yippee.  Along with fabric combinations I know sell well at craft fairs, I added in a few new ones from recent fabric splurges.  I’ve used this combination before in a bag so thought I’d give it a go as a make-up bag.

These are a few fat quarters I picked up in M is For Make’s recent sale..

A gold star for anybody who can tell me why the lining of this make-up bag looks familiar

I’ve used this combination before too but not at a craft fair.  I sent a similar one to Karen from Did you Make That? as a thank you for a very kind favour she did for my son. It went down very well, so I’ve added it to my list!

and more polka dots…

And finally, some of my very kind friends clubbed together and bought me Liberty vouchers for my birthday.  The vouchers were burning a huge hole in my pocket, so as soon as I had a free day I hot-footed it into town to spend them.  Choosing a favourite Liberty print is a bit like asking you to choose your favourite child (well, not quite but it’s pretty difficult!) But when I saw this particular print I immediately fell for it.  

The fabric is designed by illustrator Lauren Child (of Charlie and Lola fame), and I love the way she’s managed to combine an old school Liberty style print with her own quirky style. But really, navy with red accents just isn’t my thing…. JOKE!  It’s COMPLETELY my thing and I absolutely adore it.  I’m planning to make a Colette pattern Violet blouse with it, but I think I’ll give the pattern a test run first with a lesser fabric. Happy Monday. x

1950's Hillbilly Blouse

With the unseasonably good weather we’ve been enjoying recently, I thought I’d better get cracking on a few more summer tops for Me-Made-June. 

I hadn’t got round to sewing this 1950’s Simplicity pattern before as it’s for a 34 inch bust and I thought it would be too small. I've been trying to work up the energy to try a full bust adjustment. Then I read this post by Gina on her blog Vintage Girl, in which she recommends choosing a pattern based on your high bust measurement rather than your full bust measurement for a more accurate fit.  Apparently, this is a good way to buy a pattern if you’re a C cup or above, which I am.  I usually cut a size 36 bust, as that’s what my bust measures, but I do have problems with back width and general bagginess.  My high bust is 34, so as an experiment, I thought I’d sew up the 34 inch pattern and see how I fared. 

As my test fabric I used some £2 a metre navy gingham from Shepherd’s Bush market. I LOVE gingham and always have.  Here I am on holiday in Italy aged five, rocking the gingham look!

And here’s one of my mum and her friends from the same holiday looking ridiculously 1970’s!  It’s nothing whatsoever to do with sewing, but I couldn’t resist, look at her outfit!

So, back to the blouse… I secretly hoped the test blouse would fit so I could prance around in something gingham.

And guess what?  It does!  It’s a really good fit across the bust ….

....and across the back.  

No back narrowing adjustment needed. Thank you Gina for a really useful post.

The pattern has some lovely details, dart tucks at the front and back plus neck darts. It’s also naturally longer than a lot of 1950’s patterns, which often tend to be on the short side. I’ll admit that attaching the collar and facing was an absolute bugger for me to get my head round.  I finally figured it out, but there was a fair bit of unpicking to do before it all made sense. Apart from that, it was a nice, easy pattern. I’ll almost certainly use it again to make a second version.

Looks nice with red too. 

I do feel a bit like Ellie May Clampett from the Beverley Hillbillies in it but that’s no bad thing.  Being navy based, it will match lots of my wardrobe, so I’m sure it will get lots of wear. Next up, something in polka dots I think….