Saturday, 4 June 2011

Me Made June, Days 1 -3


So first three days of Me Made June have passed already. It's half term here and it has been hard to find time for blogging. I hope to catch up next week. In doing the Me Made June challenge I want to try and test out my me made clothes this month and look critically at what does and doesn't work.




An over exposed pic but the only one that shows the length of this dress - see Day 2 for details.
Day One:
Simplicity 2599 top and Tate skirt, sewn from Sew Hip Magazine.

Look - an Action Shot

I made this top at the beginning of May from a brown floral print cotton that came out of my Devon binbags. I have not blogged about it yet, I will try and do that once half term is over. (I do like spending time with my kids honest) The skirt is one I wear a lot. It has big pockets which I love but when I look at it in photos it seems a bit too wide. Especially with this top. But, this was a great outfit for the purpose of a day mucking about with mud, walking the woods. The big pockets are great for car keys and holding the stone collection we always gather in the woods.

Verdict: Yay..goodie goodstein outfit.

Day Two



Hmmm..... where to begin? This dress was refashioned from two t shirts. I based it on the Home Stretch Sew U pattern. It was easy to make but after wearing it I have realised it needs a few tweaks:



  • It is too long. That should be straightforward to fix.

  • When I made it, I took the bodice sides in, copying the bodice shape from Sew U but it still kind of bags out around the bust making me look bigger-chested and much saggier than I really am. This is not a look I am keen on!


  • The dress is very dark navy, I think it could be good for winter or season changes.

    My main problem with this dress was the fact that I was really aware of my rounded tummy while wearing it! Especially when out in a museum and I took my daughter to a special child and parent toilet with a child height mirror. A child height mirror which started at an adult's waist and went to about mid calf. Ugh, what a perspective. I am considering the possibility of magic knickers now. (And exercise, less cake, etc, etc) If you were to look back at my me made clothes in this blog you may notice that I tend to always sew and wear things that cover my stomach area. Wearing this dress really did challenge my own neuroses. No one else noticed or cared. (Or if they did they are English and therefore probably wouldn't say anything anyway).

    So Day Two was definitely a learning experience. On a positive note the dress was really comfortable to wear and felt lovely.


Verdict: Just don't know...seemed good in my head and on the hanger, not so sure in real life.


Day 3:

Refashioned skirt.

I am glad that Claudine in the flickr discussions suggested a spinning pose for today as it meant I wore this skirt solely for its spin potential. I remade it about 6 weeks ago and hadn't worn it. It is fuller than I usually wear a skirt but I really liked it. The photo below shows what it was like originally. It was too long and too narrow for me. (It also came out of my binbags of fabric) It is a beautiful cotton fabric which I loved. It reminds me of lying down and looking up through a tree on a sunny day.

I cut it where it got wider and made a new waistband and side fastening. I was able to keep the hem and side seams.

Verdict? I like it. I just need to find suitable tops for it. I think it could look sweet with a retro style cardigan and blouse...
Off to do some sit ups now...just joking..off to bed really.

5 comments:

  1. I'm slacking off on me made this month, so I'm impressed with everything

    .Oh the joys of the mama tummy. My waist reappeared after about 4 years, but I think my hip enlargement was structural. Well you shouldn't come out of battle without a few scars, should you? I think once you start sleeping soundly again there is some weight equilibirium.

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  2. Nice outfits! The belly and hip changes after four little people growing then passing through was one of my motivations for sewing undies that *fit*. A belly is one thing but a belly bi-sected by small-ish undies is worse!!!!!

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  3. I do really like your Tate skirt & of course Simplicity 2599! It's really useful. There's something about the dress that I like too. I don't see tummy - but maybe if you brought the waist up to more of an empire line so that the horizontal stripes were not drawing your (not mine) eye to your tummy you'd then feel more comfy?

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  4. Sigrid, yes if I had enough sleep maybe I would be morecapable of doing exercise! In fact my sleep situationhas improved.
    Parasombra - ouch ! That sounded uncomfortable. :)
    Scruffybadger- the original Sew U pattern has a more empire line to it so maybe I should try it.

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  5. Great outfits! I love your skirt re-make...Hope you have a great week xx

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