Me Made May days 18 - 22 - lessons learnt

A catch up, and some lessons learnt.  Photographing outfits is like a long critical look in the mirror, I can see faults and mistakes.  So I am going to take action this month and get rid of the unflattering.
On friday I wore my tartan Simplicity 2259 top but took no photo.  Saturday was a bit of a wash out I wore my stripey tee shirt and tried a purple cardigan given to me by a friend who no longer wanted it.  I think dark purple doesn't suit me, it seems to drain my colour. In analysing her own me mades, the lovely Donna recently commented that navy seems to drain her face, well, I think for me it is navy AND dark purple! I think I am going to pass this cardigan on again to someone else.  The thrifted jeans are labelled size 10 but they are huge, as we all know sizes vary but they are  ridiculously big round the middle.  I am not saying I am a small size ten either, some brands size ten are too small for me.  Though it just occurred to me that they are DKNY jeans and maybe they are a US size ten?  Ah, the penny drops...it makes sense now.
Action? Take the cardigan to the charity shop! Unless anyone reading this wants a purple Next wrap cardigan size UK 10?  


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Oh dear,day 19 ..saturday unbrushed hairday.... me made stripey tee shirt, thrifted scarf and jeans, cardigan passed onto me by a friend





Sunday day 20  - me made Portfolio dress, thrifted cardigan, ancient converses

 Sunday - I wore my Portfolio Simplicity 2245 dress made in red fabric.  While I love this pattern and my denim version, I have some issues with this dress: I made it too big, so big I wore it at 8 months pregnant (nb : it has no stretchiness), now it looks very tentlike on me. I also realise the fabric choice was a big mistake.  The fabric came from a bin bag I was given from someone else's collection.  It has no drapey quality at all - it just sticks out really. I have been thinking (yeah, thinking, I do that sometimes) maybe this fabric is upholstery fabric, hence the heavy quality, lack of drape. I was so carried away at the time by the fact it was free, labelled Liberty and a pretty faded red shade, that I ignored the weight of the fabric.  Action?  Hmmm, the dress fits and hangs so badly I am considering cutting it up for bag making.  Ali posted in April about discarding and giving away me mades and touched upon what to do with them.  I have an emotional reluctance to get rid of this dress because when I sewed it I was so convinced it would be great.  But it is much worse looking than in the photo, so I think it has got to go.

Day 21 - me made skirt from vintage barkcloth, thrifted tee and cardigan



Monday, Day 21: skirt made from barkcloth found in the same bin bag as the dress fabric above.  I made this skirt when I was a little bit pregnant so I just added an elastic waistband - it is now in need of tightening up as the skirt slid downward during the day! I am thinking in a few months I will take it apart and add darts, zip and waistband.  This is such great fabric.  The thrifted cardigan is too big, but I love the colour.  Action? I could take it in and resize it. 

 And onto today, tuesday, day 22 - tah-dah, an FO.  Amy Butler Anna tunic in polka dot red. The fourth time I have used this pattern. I made it here and here and here.   It is quick and easy to make up, especially as I cheated on making the button loops and used ribbon instead.  I used some cheap polycotton from ebay. Not the nicest fabric but ok.  I mean it's red polka dots - how can you not be happy with red polka dots on?

Day 22 - NEW F.O red polka dot Amy Butler Anna tunic, old thrifted jeans, me made nappy bag  

Me Made May '12 - Day 1

Hello on a wet and soggy May Day.  Thank you for the comments on my thrifting.I did manage to build the doll's house, photos tp follow soon.  But for now, ta-daaa, it's day 1 of me made May:
Me made Mariposa franken dress originally blogged here.  Huge pink scarf from charity shop.  The Mariposa dress pattern  is from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings.  I made a few changes when making it:

• I used a jersey knit instead of woven fabric
• I missed out the modesty panel and wear it over a cami instead
• I missed out the back facing and instead did a back bodice lining

Good things about this dress:

• So comfortable, easy to wear and layer, it can be adapted to different weather and seasons
• The jersey knit is easy to wash, and it needs no ironing (yay)
• Love the colours
• The knit means I was able to wear this dress till 9 months pregnant
• I can now wear it and just tie it tighter - I don't think this would have worked so well in a woven fabric
• The tie wrap top is designed for nursing your baby, I have found it very easy and discreet to feed in this dress

Not so good:

• I wore this so much when pregnant that by January, I was sick of it and only just started to wear it again!
• The knit has pilled (but was cheap in the first place, so should I be surprised?)
• Horizontal stripes are not the most figure flattering and kind of contour lumps and bumps!
• No pockets

But I like this pattern and am currently finishing another dress from it, it's quite different though.  I hope to finish it very soon, before May is finished, just got armholes, hem and pockets left to complete.

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday - yippee!

After being woken up by Little I at 5am - (birthday lie-in what's that??) my kids opened my presents for me and look at the fab necklace my friend Lovely Sarah sent me. Can you tell it is a seagull holding an anchor? I loves it. I was also sent the green cardy you can just see here by my sister. I like birthdays!

I went with my daughter Little I who is three and a friend to wander round Shrewsbury. We drank coffee and ate pain au chocolat, looked in lots of shops. The first thing I did there was to take my poor old sewing machine in for a service. It is a 1970s Elna that my mum gave me and it has recently been feeling the strain a bit and a few things have fallen off it. The sewing machine shop there is fab- it is really small, old fashioned and unassuming from the outside but the staff know their stuff. I had a quick glance at some shiny new machines as I may save up one day for a new one. They look very impressive but seem to lack the character of my reliable Elna (I am not usually attached to inanimate objects but I am in this case).

I then confirmed my status as middle aged by spending part of my birthday money on kitchenware but ooh look it combines several obsessions in one set of items -

firstly they are storage bowls (made of tin!) with lids (slightly seethrough!). They are lovely bright colours (I am a big lover of bright colours)and they also can stack inside each other like Russian nesting dolls. The other great thing was they were cheap as chips (I loves a bargain). See how fab they are....I have been working hard trying to get our house more organised and am as a result ever so slightly obsessed with storage. I am also on a mission to stop using

clingfilm and plastic food bags in an attempt to reduce our waste output and to be healthier. These storage tins are great for storing left overs or for picnics. Left overs and picnics both feature very largely in our house. OK, I promise no more kitchen pics. Instead I give you ...ta-dahhh, my nautical skirt finished. I made it with a ribbon insert . I used the skirt pattern from the Built By Wendy Sew U book. I am just waiting for it to warm up so I can wear this as part of Me-Made-May The fabric is from my mum's uber-stash.
Finally, I have just taken out my dyed nursey-nursey tunic out of the machine. It looks so good - Iam inordinately excited and will photo it when it's dried and post more. I dyed it "Antique grey" by Dylon. It was a very dark grey on the pack but as it is a cotton poly mix it came out a shade lighter.