5th and 6th June - Simplicity 2245

Day 5 - ugh - I felt so ill all day. I fell asleep in the middle of the afternoon on the carpet outside the bathroom. Not good. I had a carpet pattern on my cheek when I got up. I wore Lisette for Simplicity 2245 top made from stash.

Verdict: Lovely top, very wearable. A straightforward pattern to make.

Moving swiftly on, Day 6 Feeling much better.

Lisette for Simplicity 2245 dress made in denim. I made this while I was offline in May. I was given some money for my birthday so like any self respecting sewer I spent some of it on fabric. The pockets of this dress are lined in a scrap fabric from my stash. You can see in the photo that this denim does wrinkle a bit as I go through the day but nevertheless I love wearing this dress. It is so comfy to wear and was simple and straightforward to make.

I went down a size when making it as my last one was a bit too roomy. I also gave it short sleeves as the three quarter length ones on the pcket photo just look wrong on me. I don't know what it is but they do.

Verdict:
A great dress, useful pockets.

I bought the denim from doughtysonline - and would like to say what fab service they offer. Half an hour after placing my order I had a phone call to say the denim I had ordered was out of stock but would I like another in a slightly darker shade! I said yes and it arrived the next day.

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.

Easy Summer Skirt aka pillowcase

I had my birthday in May and recieved this book from my friend Lovely Sarah. I thought I would try the "Easy breezy skirt" which is a skirt made from a pillow case.

It is really simple, you just cut open the shorter seam on the pillow case, try it on to check the length, and make a casing, insert elastic. Bingo...one skirt.

I was inspired by Alessa's links to scalloped hem tutorials to try and add a scalloped hem too. I read both the tutorials and then just traced my scallops onto the reverse side of the fabric using a tumbler. Here are tutorial links here and here

I used an Ikea pillow case that I bought a while ago together with matching duvet cover from the charity shop. Now I just need it to get warmer as it is too damn cold to go out in my new skirt!

Anna sundress

During my offline hiatus I made this orange summer dress. It is made from a piece of quilting fabric I found in my Devon bin bag stash. Is this stash endless I hear you ask? Well, it does go on and on but there were not many pieces of fabric this big.

Using a familiar pattern is great as it is a no-brainer and I made the dress in two days in between school run and the usual daily nonsense, sorry I mean, stimulating and fascinating activities.

I used the Amy Butler Anna tunic pattern which I have used twice before, but I made it longer this time so it is more of a dress than a tunic. Previous versions are posted Here and here. I like the way that each version of this pattern that I make is so different and so wearable. I think this dress has a sixties flavour to it. I am saving the photo opp of this dress being worn for Me Made June.

I am scratching my head about how to photo myself for June - can you really bear another month of photos with such messy backgrounds?

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I am back

This is a view I have been looking at A LOT for the past few weeks. Little I had a (second hand, of course) bike for her birthday and she rides it to preschool everyday. I am glad to report we have now got a basket strapped to the back so her doll no longer has to be tied on with a bit of string but can ride in more style.

I have been busy sewing while offline - pictured is a Simplicity 2599 top I made from a piece of fabric that I found in my Devon binbags. I only had a small piece and was just able to cut the top out.I ditched the facings for both neck and armholes and instead did a tiny hand rolled hem on each. This has become one of my go-to tops now and I wear it several times a week.

Other misadventures include a morning in A &E last week when Little I swallowed a 1p coin. Ah, the joy of parenting. She had an x-ray to check where it was, then we were left to let nature take its course. (Which it did, I will spare you the details)

I have more sewing to show you soon, and a giveaway to celebrate being back online again.

thrifty 365 update

Still no PC in our house, but here is a post I scheduled a while ago. I hope normal service will be reumed in time for me-made June.

In relation to thrifty 365, I have quite a lot of related stuff to post so this is just Part 1.

I have been trying to spend mindfully and, only buying what we need or what is really lovely. Several times I have deliberately stayed away from shops, cafes etc and concentrated on doing something else else. There are some mornings when I definitely feel like going shopping, having a coffee but I am moving away from this. I have been to a local charity shop a couple of times, though I usually go just before I have to collect T from school, that way I get a walk, and can go without Little I who always wants to buy lots of toys. I always try and stick to the rule that something has to go into the charity shop before something else can be bought!

I am really glad I went in recently (two carrier bags of kid's clothes and a few of my old clothes went in) as look what I found, the Boden jumper above. I do love stripes. I wore this in Devon at easter a lot.

I also bought a set of 1970s glasses. At the moment we only have plastic drinking cups in our house. We may have only half a roof and no floor in our new house, but at least we now have a set of glasses.

On a recent trip to my local library I went to look at their second hand book sale and found a bag ful of books for £1. Yes, that is one pound for the whole bag not per book. There were lots of cross stitch books there which I left behind and a couple of sewing guides. I couldn' t justify bringing them home despite the price. However, I did get this "Secrets of the Couturiers" it is a very eighties book in the illustration style. It looks at a different designer in each chapter and analyses their work, then presents some idea for the home sewer to integrate into their sewing to use the ideas of the designers. It includes Poiret, Vionnet, Chanel, Schiaperelli, and Dior.

Lots of inspiration inthere. I also got the book below, "Fairy tale Quilts and Embroidery" which has lots of embroidery ideaas and examples, and shows start to finsih on projects in photos.

I also bought a book on storage solutions which includes instructions on how to build pigeonhole style shelving., a book for Little I and a healthy living type book for women.

I have also been having a big clear out, sorting the childrens' clothes and mine. I have started putting some clothing bundles on ebay to raise a bit of money. I usually leave my paypal money in paypal and use it to buy craft supplies. But I have to confess I have been browsing clogs on ebay and summer shoes and was thinking of saving my ebay money for those. Never mind those children and their crafts...buy shoes!

not too far away

I am sorry for the lack of posting recently. This is because our computer broke two weeks ago and we cannot get it to work. On the same day some one drove into the back of my car at a roundabout and it is a write off! (That was not a good day). The good news is none of us were seriously hurt, just shaken up.
So I have been occupied over the last two weeks with phone calls and insurance paperwork. I have also been busy with little I's fourth birthday last week. Sadly as I have no PC I cannot show you any photos. I am just writing this on a public access computer in my local library, I am not keen to load my photos onto a public access PC.
I am really missing my blog friends and all your lovely comments and reading blogs. I feel so left out!!

BUT with the extra time I now have in the day I made quite a lot of things...of course I can't show you photos today but trust me I am telling you the truth...I have made two Simplicity 2599 tops, missing out the ruffles and facings. I made Little I a Kiki doll from Clothkits for her birthday, and I just have the hem left to do on an Amy Butler Anna mini dress. I've also started making a dress for Little I. All these clothes are made with fabric from my bin bags hauled back from Devon in February. Hurray for free fabric!

I hope to have things up and running and back to normal blogging service soon - I hope you can bear with me. I just have to find a replacement car superfast...this is not the kind of shopping I enjoy! Once that is all sorted I will be able to relax and sort out my computer situation.
I have an old drafted post that I forgot to publish last month to share with you soon.