The End of Me Made May

It’s the end of May already! That means it’s time for a round up of how my Me Made May challenge has gone.

At the beginning of the month I remember thinking ‘OK, well I’ll give it a go but won’t worry too much if I miss a day or two, because I probably haven’t got enough things to wear anyway’. Now, looking back at all the photos I’ve posted on Instagram, I really only missed a couple of days not actually wearing something me-made, but I was working on making something new on those days, and as making more was part of my pledge I’m happy to include these.

Here’s a few thoughts about my month:

• I’ve got more me-made garments than I realised, especially knitted jumpers and cardis.

• The sewn me-mades are things that I really like wearing so it’s OK that I’ve repeated them a couple of times each – my Portia trousers, Mimi blouse and Delphine skirt.

• The only major thing I haven’t worn this month is my first floral Delphine skirt – firstly because the weather has only intermittently been nice enough for summery clothes, and secondly because I need to alter the waist again so it’s not 100% comfortable to wear at the moment. Once this is fixed it’ll definitely be back in regular rotation as I have a good selection of colourful tops and shoes to wear with it.

• I’m getting quicker at making new things. I sewed two new garments this month – my Silk Cami and Walkaway Dress, and have made a start on another cotton shell top. I’ve also made good progress knitting another jumper which should be done in the next week or so.

•  I love my Walkaway dress and am looking forward to wearing it lots this summer. I’m so pleased with the fit and love the fabric, and I’m really chuffed with how good the lace ribbon binding worked out.

• I need to make some more basic tops to wear with plain trousers for work – I’ve got plenty of fabric lined up ready to go and a couple of patterns in mind.

•  I need some more co-ordinating tops to wear with my Portia trousers. These are a slightly awkward colour – the fabric was an impulse buy from the remnants table at my local haberdashery – and I’ve had to repeat outfits.

•  I’d like to make some more Portia trousers in plain colours. Now that I’ve got the fit right, they’re really comfy and I like the style so another couple of pairs in everyday basic colours and fabrics would be a useful wardrobe addition.

•  I have way more clothes than I realised, and tend to repeat my favourite things leaving others sitting there unworn for months at a time. I think it’s time for another clear out in my wardrobe being really ruthless about what I keep. I’m more comfortable with my personal style now and what I’m comfortable in, especially at work, so if I’m not going to wear things they’d be better off out of the way.

• I’ve loved seeing everyone else’s outfits on Instagram, Twitter and blogs. There are some amazing sewers out there, some gorgeous fabrics, and beautiful patterns. One that I’m keen to get hold of and try is the Colette Hawthorn Dress. I love the shape and the little collar, and having seen lots of different versions in different fabrics, with sleeves and without, I think it’s one that would suit me and I’d be comfortable wearing.

•  I’ve had some lovely compliments about my outfits and the things I’ve made; I suppose it shows that a bit of individuality is eye-catching.

I’ve put a few photos of the outfits I’ve worn this month at the bottom of the post but you can see my whole month on my Instagram feed. Me Made May is definitely something I’ll join in with again in future – hopefully with a more expanded me-made wardrobe to avoid so many repeats! But actually, I know that I already wear most of the things I make quite frequently anyway, so I’m sure this will carry on as a normal part of my wardrobe, especially once I crack on with making some more things to wear!

The Walkaway Dress

Make number two for Me Made May is one I’m really really pleased with and proud of. Ladies and gents, may I present my Walkaway Dress.

I loved the idea of this dress when they made it on this year’s Great British Sewing Bee, and was delighted that the pattern was included in the new book this year (Fashion with Fabric). I got the book when it first came out, read through from cover to cover and picked out a few things I’d like to make, but then got distracted with other projects.

Anyway, we’ve been having a clear out at my Nan’s house and I came across these beautiful curtains. Mum said she can’t remember where in the house they used to hang, but they’d obviously been altered at some point because there were two main curtain panels and then four extra pieces sitting spare in a bag. They even had a label in them from St Michael! Vintage M&S, how lovely! Anyway, I gave them a wash and cut the curtain tapes off before I could figure out if I’d actually got enough for the pattern.

Fashion with Fabric comes with all the patterns printed on big sheets in the back of the book for you to trace off, but you can also download them from Quadrille Craft’s (the book publisher) website which is what I did this time. The download for the Walkaway dress is 50 pages so I spent a great couple of hours crawling around on the living room floor sticking all the bits together.

Going by the finished measurements given in the book, I chose the size 12 and cut the pattern pieces straight out from the printout. Personally I like having the pattern on sturdier paper that I’ll be able to use more than once. Laying the fabric and the pattern out was a bit of a nerve-wracking moment – would the curtain panels be big enough to fit the circle skirt pieces?!

Yes, of course, with plenty to spare. The dress front and back bodice pieces came out of one of the extra pieces of material. The skirt pattern piece has two length lines marked on it, the longer one being recommended for a different dress in the book that uses the same skirt. However, with the photos in the book as a guide and knowing my own preference for below the knee skirts, I cut out to this longer length. In the end it turned out to be far too long for the style of dress and the weight of the material so I had to cut some off again, but I’d rather that than have had it too short in the first place and not be able to do anything about it.

I had to make a trip to my local Hobbycraft to get some bias binding to do all the edging, but sadly they were quite lacking in the selection of colours and widths. I had to think a bit outside the box, but was inspired by the gorgeous selection of ribbons, and found this beautiful crochet lace style ribbon which was wide enough to be folded in half and cover the edges of the fabric. I’m really pleased with how it looks against the floral fabric, much better than any of the bias bindings would have been!

Actually constructing the dress was nice and straightforward. I pinned all the darts to check the fit and had to let a little bit out through the waist. The pattern is based on a 1950s dress, and although it has been updated for a more contemporary figure, it’s still a little slim on the waist, and I’m not quite there yet! Darts sewn in, the two skirt pieces attached at the centre back seam, the next stage was to attach the skirt to the back bodice. This needed a lot of pins to make sure the seams were eased in and matched up, and then manoeuvring it through the sewing machine was a bit interesting, I’m sure I ended up wrapped completely in fabric at one point!

Then it was joining one shoulder, binding the neckline and then the second shoulder seam. I’m really pleased with how the lace edging looks – I attached it with two lines of stitching for extra security and to hopefully avoid any fraying from the raw fabric edges, but the thread just vanished into the crochet lace so it doesn’t notice at all.

At this point I was able to try the dress on for fit and shortened the front and back skirts to just below my knees. Then it was on with a ribbon binding marathon. The hems are the only edges not bound with bias/ribbon, so the pattern recommends you start with the straight edges down the sides of the front and back skirts, and then the curved sides and armholes. I decided to do a rolled hem in the end, to try out the new foot with my sewing machine, and I'm pleased I did, it was so much easier to do all in one go than it would have been trying to do a double folded hem!

A rummage through the button box at home yielded a single plain button for the back, and these three for the front. A quick hand stitch and all done!

I’m so so happy with this dress, the shaping of the darts suits my body well, and the fabric is really pretty and summery. I know it’s a complete cliché but I did have a bit of a Sound of Music moment in my big swishy skirt made out of curtain fabric! Just need to remember to wear a slip underneath in case of any gusts of wind catching the skirt when I wear it, although the skirt has quite a lot of weight to it so fingers crossed I should be OK.

Has anyone else made the Walkaway dress yet? I’d love to see; I’ve read a few other blogs and seen pictures of people making it in a huge variety of fabrics which give it a completely different look. It’s definitely one I’d like to make again, but I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for bargain fabrics bearing in mind how much you need.

Me Made May in general is still going well, three weeks in and I’ve only missed a couple of days wearing something me-made, but I’ve probably been working on a knitting or sewing project those days so I think that counts towards my pledge. Now I just need some good weather and a suitable occasion to wear my new dress – but I might just wear it on a normal work day anyway to show it off!

Sew Over It Cami

This is the first of my new makes for Me Made May and it was a nice quick and fairly simple one. The pattern is the Silk Cami from Sew Over It, though the fabric I’ve used is a viscose – I guess the effect is more or less the same, it’s light and floaty and perfect for a cool summer top. Sadly since I made it the weather has gone back to being cold, wet and windy so I haven’t had a chance to wear it yet!

I got the pattern as a download, so the first task was sticking all the printed pages together, which didn’t take too long, and then I actually just cut out the size I wanted directly from the pattern. I went by finished measurements given and cut the size 16 going by the bust size. I figured the printer paper would be more sturdy to re-use when I want to make another one, and I’ve always got the download saved and can print another one if I need to.

Cutting the pieces out was all pretty straightforward, though I had to be a bit careful about the fabric moving around – it was quite slippery! I even impressed myself by managing to centre the tile print in the middle of the front and back pieces. This fabric was one I got from Simply Fabrics at the Knitting & Stitching Show and I love how fresh the blue and white looks.

Construction was all fairly simple – French seams for the sides, attach the facings to front and back around the armholes and neckline. Then I made sure to try it on before I sewed the shoulders which was a good job because I ended up having to shorten the straps by about 4 inches to avoid some serious indecent exposure!

I think unfortunately this made the neck and armholes sit a little strangely and I had to do some judicious steam pressing to get it all to sit better – when I make another one I’ll remember to shorten the pattern through the body/armhole section beforehand which will hopefully help. I should have remembered that I’m quite short in my upper torso (shoulder to bust length) and often have fitting issues with ready-to-wear clothes in this area.

For the hem I wanted to try out the rolled hem foot on my sewing machine which has actually given a pretty neat finish. The hem is quite a curved shape through the front and back so trying to turn up a normal double hem would have probably been a nightmare with this fabric. As it is there are a couple of places that went a little wobbly where I obviously stretched the material out of shape a bit, but another go with the iron soon flattened that out!

I made this over a weekend so it wasn’t a great deal of time in total, and if I can get the pattern adjusted right any future ones should go a bit quicker now that I know what I’m doing. I’m pleased with it overall, it’ll be lovely to wear when the weather’s warmer and it’ll definitely be part of my holiday wardrobe later in the summer.

I’ll do a round-up of all my Me Made May outfits later in the month (although I’m posting photos on Instagram) but I’m quite pleased with myself that I’ve managed to wear something me-made every day so far. The next couple of weeks might be a bit more of a challenge though as I’m starting to run out of options, and if the weather warms up I won’t want to wear my heavier knitted jumpers, but we’ll see how I get on.

Are you taking part in Me Made May? How are you getting on? I’m really enjoying see everyone’s outfits on Twitter, Instagram and blogs and I’m really pleased I’m taking part this year. If nothing else it’s making me realise how many clothes I have in my wardrobe that I never wear – might be time for another clear out!

#AprilLove2015

Today's post definitely falls into the self-improvement definition of 'Grow' and is a round-up of the photo challenge I took part in during April. Susannah Conway administered this under the tag of #aprillove2015. She set the challenge with this message: 

The theme of the challenge, as you’ve probably guessed, is LOVE — love for ourselves, our lives, the world around us. LOVE expressed in gratitude and kindness. February might have Valentine but we’ve got April LOVE :)

There was a list of photo prompts for each day and an invitation to share them with others taking part via Instagram. I've read some of Susannah's previous work and felt really inspired to commit fully to this challenge, so I posted a photo every day. You can see all my photos on my Instagram account here.

I really enjoyed the month, it definitely made me more aware of the world around me and helped me think more clearly about myself and how I can try to take care of myself better in an emotional sense. My phone is now full of pictures of all the things I noticed, often things that I would have just walked past or missed entirely, and is something I want to continue to do - I even chose my new phone based mainly on the quality of the camera!

I have a very busy job at the moment, and lots going on at home and often feel exhausted and demotivated, but by taking a little bit of time, especially on my morning and evening walks to and from the station, and time spent on trains, to take notice of the world around me I've found a simple way of literally and metaphorically taking a pause, a deep breath, and reconnecting with myself. There's so much beauty around, especially at the moment with nature bursting back into full life during the spring that I feel like I don't want to take it for granted, but want to acknowledge that beauty as it really does make me feel happier and more at peace.

Pearly Queen Shawl

Hi everyone! How are you? Are you enjoying the long Bank Holiday weekend? I know I am even though I've been really busy, but it's been a fun busy with a shopping day at Bluewater, a wonderful lunch in London, and a trip to Penshurst Craft Fair so far.

I'm still working my way through all the fabric and yarn I bought at the Knitting & Stitching Show in March and today I've got a knitted project to show you.

This is the Pearly Queen Shawl from UK Alpaca - I bought the pattern and yarn as a set. It's the first shawl I've knitted and the construction is different from most other shawls which I think made it a bit easier.

It's knitted from side to side, so you start with just a few stitches and then work stepped increases up to the middle before decreasing down the other side. The open mesh-like pattern is created with a 'yo p2tog' repeated the whole way through - no knit stitches here!

It actually came together quite quickly once I got into the rhythm of the pattern, and I used some bamboo needles as the yarn was quite slippery and I didn't want it all to drop off if I wasn't concentrating!

The yarn is a 4ply baby alpaca and merino blend and is so soft and light, but really lovely and warm to wear. It's been pretty chilly here this week so I've been glad to wrap this round my neck to walk to work in the mornings!

I wasn't going to tell you, but the shawl isn't completely finished - I ran out of yarn about 35 rows from the end to the second side doesn't have the last 'step' which is really annoying! I guess that's the risk you take buying a pre-packed kit, the yardage obviously wasn't quite as much in the second skein because I'd got to exactly the middle with the first.

Never mind, I'll just wrap that side underneath and nobody will ever know!

It's definitely a pattern I'll make again, I think it would look really pretty in a variegated yarn. I'll have to keep an eye out for suitable things on my next shopping trips!