End of Me-Made-May 13

I have absolutely loved Me-Made-May-13 and I am so grateful to Zoe for organising this initiative.  I have found it encouraging and inspiring to see so many others make their own clothes- a huge range of locations too!  It gave me a sense of direction making my own clothes and althought the UK weather was rather chilly for much of May, I wore things that have been hiding neglected in my wardrobe and discovered again once more.  The self photography is challenging and everyone's least favourite aspect but I did give my daughter a chance to sharpen her photography skills whether she liked it or not.  

This outfit is a couple of favourites, old and new.

The skirt is Simplicity 2215, one of my favourite patterns ever, read more about it here.  The top is from Meg McElwee's Craftsy Sewing with Knits class and although a recent make, I wear this a lot.  

It was colder mid week so I wore a warmer corduroy skirt, Simplicity Amazing Fit 1717 with last years voile Tova- rather depressingly boots and socks had to come out for this day.  You might notice that Lottie doesn't like to miss a photo op.

On Thursday, sun shone so a return wear for vintage Simplicity 6789 wrap skirt.  This is skirt has had lots of wear already and it is only a few weeks old.  Although it is a vintage pattern, this one comes up a lot on Etsy and ebay.  The blouse is last years' 'Library' blouse (Christine Haynes pattern class on Craftsy).  I like the detail on this but it has always been big in the bust so I refitted the dart and made it a lot longer and also removed the bow.  The neck line is a 60s shape and is cute but not the most flattering cut for me.  The tucks are my favourite part of this top.  The bag is Me-Made too.

I finished Me-Made-May-13 with a new dress. 

This dress came about with a little detective work.   I found a homemade dress at a car boot sale last summer that was the perfect fit.  After hours, days, weeks  a little browse on Etsy, I found the pattern, Simplicity 6329 that matched the dress and in my size.  View1.  It is an economical pattern, omitting the ties meant I could fit it into 2 metres of fabric with a little to spare.  I knew a black floral worked so I chose a Shelburne Falls floral print bought from here.  I had some thrifted vintage cotton bias binding.  I find early 70s styles work well for me- fitted at the bust and flowing over the hips works well on my body shape.  I cut an inch longer than the original.

So far so good.  Fitted around the bust well, only a little extra fullness which is acceptable for me- if I fit too closely it can look a bit skinny.  I added a little button detail to highlight the bodice detail which is harder to see in darker fabric.  I took the sides in 1/2" each side.  

I took my time on the zip and consulted my sewing bible and followed every tedious stage of 'centred zip'.  It took a while but it did work.

You can see the 3 sewing stages here- hand basting, machine basting and then top sewing.  It was a pain to do but it is the best centred zip I have ever done and as this is a long and visible area all down the centre back, I wanted to nail it.  I did notice something else in this picture that I have learnt during May: I am round shouldered so my shoulders come forwards a little. I am stretching my back and shoulders a little more and trying to correct my posture (when I can be bothered).  It is something to consider for future pattern fitting.

All fine, fitted nicely- then I did the armholes, trimming and binding and found the sides were way to big and that I hadn't looked very objectively at the fitting stage.  So I pinned and took it in more graduating to the hip as you can see in the line of pins below (Me-Made PJ pants are in the pic too!).

I did end up with a perfect fit eventually.  A couple of lessons learnt.  If I had traced the pattern I could then have trimmed my pattern for next time- I will make this again.  As I used the master piece I took notes of all the changes in a book that I keep for this very purpose.  If you regularly  make clothes I would wholeheartedly recommend this- so helpful!

I fulfilled my original promise and wore Me-Made garments at least 3 days a week, often more.  I made more than my suggested 3 garments and there is more in the pipeline.  I chucked out old clothes that I no longer need to make space for new makes.  I put a lot more effort into my choices so my old faithful- a long denim skirt hardly got worn at all. My percentage of homemade clothing is a lot higher and now I feel more confident with sewing knits, I know that I will be making a lot of long sleeved and short sleeved Tee tops- these are the bedrock of my usual wardrobe.  I am planning another Bleuet dress- this time in Melody Miller 'Vinyl' floaty linen to wear at Fat Quarterly retreat and my original Bleuet is my top make for this month- I love it.  More PJ pants are needed to show construction details for teaching at Retreat.  And then I have a couple of quilts that need to be done so busy busy- I like being busy.

My other Me-Made posts can be found here:

Me-Made 1

Me-Made 2

Me-Made 3

Me-Made 4

The Flcikr group is full of inspiration if you need ideas for patterns and makes.

Me Made May 13 Begins

 The lovely thing about an online initiative like Me Made May  is how it kick starts or reboots your interest in something.  Looking long and hard at my wardrobe has made me think more about my dressmaking- what I make, what I make it from, when I wear it etc.  I have started a whole load of new dressmaking projects since starting on Me Made May that I have been meaning to start and haven't had either the time or sufficient inclination.  On Thursday I had a day off due to local elections taking place in my work place.  The weather was beautiful, D was working from home so we had lunch together outside in town and in the sun.  Such an occasion called for a dress.

I made this last year, partly to wear for a wedding.  The pattern is a favourite of many sewing bloggers, Simplicity 2215, Cynthia Rowley.  I have made the skirt and the dress without pattern alteration, size 10 and both items are a lovely relaxed fit.    The pleats are irregular, the pockets are well deisgned with a side zip include and I forgot how comfortable this dress is to wear.  The fabric is Lotta Jansdotta's 1st Windham collection and the pattern is called Moira.  Quilting cotton doesn't always work for garments, especially tops but it was great for this dress and the skirt made from the same pattern.

On Friday, after work I wore my recently made Banksia top.

This pattern comes with a tonne of help from the designer and I found Megan helped me on Instagram too when I was going through fitting issues. The pattern is printed on thick paper which makes tracing a lot easier and a more pleasurable experience.  I drafted size XS but I am a very small cup size so I had to pinch out a lot of bust fullness and redraft- you can see the change below.  Swedish tracing paper is my favourite 'paper' for pattern redrafts and tracing.  Not easy to get hold of in the UK but worth investing in.

 The sleeves ended up being way too tight in the armscye so for this version I went sleeveless and will redraft for the next sleeved Banksia.  This pattern comes with a lot of variations on Megan's blog and ultimately the cut reflects that it can be made sleeveless and I think the armhole is tighter because of this  It will be worth the extra fitting as I was happy with the collar, placket and sides.  Here are my alterations:

1. Trimmed the collar down all round by around 1"
2. Bust dart lengthened and widened by fitting on myself.
3. Only half of each placket interfaced.
4. No interfacing in the collar.
5. Length is quite short- I am quite short in the body too but many would need to add another inch.
   
   A dab of fray stoppa or fray check on the fabric between the buttonholes before you cut helps neaten the loose ends.
   Next a pattern I've been waiting to make for ages, Simplicity 6789 vintage 1974.  Wrap round skirt with pockets and button detail.  An easy make.  I chose a yarn dyed poplin and found a great lightweight cotton lawn interfacing here which is a pleasure to use and doesn't bobble and blister!  It was very lightweight for this but it works for me.

I wore it down the beach today- a little breezy for a wrap round, even though this has a lot of fabric round the back I did have to hold it down when walking around close to the sea, sparing everyone flashes of my lily white booty.

I skipped buttonholes and used poppers under the two fastening buttons.

The sides of the waistband dip down adding extra shaping and I added topstitching to turn the seam edges in on the inside of all the side/front seams and add more detail on what is a simple skirt in a simple fabric.

I made medium size 12-14 (vintage sizing is always small so I think this is more of a 10-12 in today's sizing.  It is an easy fit but I would rather have that than tight and I like my skirts to sit below my natural waist.  The top is from a brilliant Craftsy class that I would wholeheartedly recommend, Sewing with Knits by Meg McElwee.  If you sign up for Craftsy emails they regularly send offers and this class includes 5 knit patterns.  I found the fit was perfect for me, size XS, I am very small on my top half (size 8-10).  The fabric is a beautiful viscose Liberty jersey sent to me by the lovely Leila.  I have been making some more jersey tops so I will do a post sharing a few things that I found to take the fear away.  Once you get started, sewing knits is so quick and I find a lot less to worry about in terms of fit. 

And in the world of other sewing, I have been working on a Liberty/Oakshott Impressions Diamond Ring Quilt- a slow but steady project- more of that another post.

And another Maggie bunny as a birthday gift for my granny, very well received!