Me Made May 14 : Days 1-10

A third of the way through Me Made May, two garments made- Calluna Cami and Nautical Opale Maxi- more details on the latter soon.   As last year, it is a really interesting exercise looking at what other people make and reflecting on what I make for myself.   The only drawback is the selfie pic thing- it does seem a little narcissitic but that's the nature of the beast Kerry, embrace it and move on.

Top Row - Gabriola skirt, Chardon Corduroy maxi, Burda blouse

Second Row- Calluna Cami dress, Burda bat wing Dec 2013 issue (Unblogged), PJ pants

Third Row- Briar (unblogged)/Betsey Johnson chambray skirt, Meg Mcelwee long sleeve T/ Lonsdale Maxi, Opale Maxi- info to come.

I lost a day somewhere- I wore the Calluna Cami over two spilt days and some days I have work followed by an evening exercise class so spend the whole day in dance leggings and a t shirt.  I would really like to make more yoga/pilates suitable clothes now that knit fabrics are more available- note for the future.  This is a typical week of clothes for me- I like to be quite covered up and wear layers as I feel the cold easily.  I don't like wearing tights/panty hose- hence so many long skirts but I do enjoy a dress and the Cami was a joy to wear- definitely planning future repeats.

A lot of the enjoyment of Me Made May is not all about what I am wearing, but looking at what others have made and finding new and ingenious sewists.  I have seen so many Grainline Archer shirts!  It did make me reflect that although many Indie pattern releases are dresses, what we wear day to day is separates and a well designed shirt is hard to beat.  Each Archer I have seen has looked good on its maker.  I tend to wear a more fitted style of shirt as I wear my shirts mainly with long skirts but I am tempted by the great results on others.  I am just plotting my next makes- a Jade variant from Grains de Couture Hommes et Femmes, the Amethyst coat variant from the same book and the Gertie sew along slip.  Busy busy busy x

May at Seamstar- Craft Club Offer and Giveaway

 This month at Seamstar, Courtney has come up with stack of offers including a giveaway and a half price offer for verykerryberry and Seamstar followers.  It's all about the Seamstar Craft Club.  Each month, Craft club members receive a new craft box with a monthly makeable kit that can be sewn by hand or machine. The usual cost is £9.99 plus £2.99 p+p (£10.99 plus £3.99 p+p for Europe) but this month you can buy it for £5- half price, plus postage with a no quibbles cancellation

Here's some further details about the patchwork cushion kit (see pic below).   It looks like a great skills builder with piping and invisible zip details- all very handy to learn.  You can see previous Craft Club packages here (scroll down).

The colour fabrics look like part of the V and Co new 'Color me Happy' range.   My favourite in this collection is this wonderful floral, 'Flower Garden'.

To buy this box at half price, you can do so online here quoting the code ssCraftClub50 or ring (see number in pic below.  A bargain and a great way to try out the craft club box.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

In addition, Courtney has arranged for 4 boxes to be given away on my blog and 1 on instagram- I am @verykerryberry.  To win, comment here saying what sort of kit you'd like in a future box and state your country- UK/France/USA etc.  For additional entries leave further comments here for each of these:

- Following me

-Signing up for Seamstar newsletter

-Sharing the give-away elsewhere on social media- Facebook/pinterest/twitter- use hash tag #ssCraftClub/IG use hash tag #ssCraftClub- a comment here for each share

I need to be able to contact you so if I can't find your email with a couple of clicks you will miss out- include it in your comment like this if needed kerrykit (at) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk.  Giveaway will close Monday 12th May 6am GMT, winners will be randomly chosen and informed by email.  Prizes will be sent by Seamstar.

Of the 5 total boxes on offer to win, one will be international, four will be UK.  Look out for another chance to win on my @verykerryberry Instagram feed.  There will be other chances to win through Seamstar so check out their blog, Facebook page and newsletter to hear more

Calluna Cami in Herringbone - The sewing details

Oakshott fabrics are always a pleasure to sew with: beautiful colours and great feel, they lend themselves to quilts, cushions and also to clothing.  There is a post on using Oakshott's newest fabric, Calluna Herringbone over at Lily's Quilts, this post repeats a little of that along with some more detailed construction info.

Since I made the Carme blouse, I have been wanting to make Pauline Alice's Cami dress.  Pauline also has a sew along for the Cami. The Calluna  Herringbone is what I would describe as a shirting weight.  Imagine a beautiful, quality men's shirt, from the sort of gentlemen's outfitters that sells brightly coloured socks and cashmere sweaters- that is the weight of Calluna.  It is light to medium weight, perfect for shirts and dresses.  It is soft and the weave produces a two tone effect with a light colour on one side and a darker version on the other so perfect for contrast details like the button plackets, collar stands, cuffs and pockets on this dress.  This fabric most definitely needs a prewash.  I washed mine twice with  with non bio powder and on a 40 degrees synthetic wash this is the one that has one line beneath the 40.  My top tip for pre washing Oakshott or any other woven, is to clip a triangle off each corner before you pop it in the wash.  This lessens fraying and tangling.  Calluna Herringbone is wide at 132cm/52".  I used around 2.5 metres to make the Cami dress.  Prewashing (i did two) is essential as there was quite a lot of dye loss.

For a change, I sewed the entire dress using Minty, my singer Featherweight and this was a bit of a turning point.  I already love sewing with this machine but had never done an entire garment.  I have been missing out.  She is a dream for top stitching and because all operations are manual, it was a faster more instinctive and intimate process.  I used my overlocker for all seam finshing where needed although this fabric was great for french seams in in the shirt part of the dress.

I did apply a little of my experience from Chinelo Bally's free cutting class from a few weeks back.  For me this class cemented the importance of detailed and accurate measuring.  I find my bodice area hard to fit.  I am small busted, a little round shouldered and rather spare around the breast bone.  I always need to do a small bust adjustment which I have struggled with and still the fit will be wrong.  With Chinelo, a chest measurement isn't just the circumference around the fullest part of your chest, or even over or under that measurement.  This can be broken down into more detail- apex to apex is useful for me- the easiest way to explain this is nip to nip ( you know what I mean), although this presupposes the cherry is on the fullest part of the bun (again, you know what I mean).  This area is relatively narrow for me.  On a pattern with a waist dart like this, it can generally be found half an inch from the top of the dart.  In a bodice or shirt, this is usually a fitted area for me, so I don't need to allow ease- that would come instead at the side.  I also recommend Joi Mahon's Craftsy class Fast-Track Fitting

from: Craftsy.com, she covers lots of popular pattern adjustments and detailed measuring is all part of the process.    I found it very helpful, especially armhole and sleeve adjustments and her aim is to avoid where possible making muslins which I think every garment sewer can identify with!

I didn't make a muslin for this shirt, but I did do a small bust adjustment on the pattern and my main aim was to reduce the apex to apex measurement to 7" instead of 7 ⅜".  This is an area that is narrower on me than on the usual pattern size that would fit me.  It is also an area that doesn't really need ease so it is a direct measurement I can apply from my body to the pattern.  I was thrilled with the result, best small bust adjustment yet, hence the chest close ups and no muslin!  Pauline covers a small bust adjustment along with lost of others like lengthening the bodice here in the sew along.

For the cuffs, I used a single layer of interfacing as I like these to be relatively soft.  They fall in just the right place for me and I can still comfortably put a cardigan over the top.

I had pink snaps from this shop that have been waiting for the right project- I will follow up with a tutorial on these as they can be fiddly but once you get the hang of them, they give such a clean finish.

Details:

Fabric:  Oakshott Calluna Herringbone in colour 01 

Pattern: Cami dress by Pauline Alice, size 38 waist ( with a little grading from 36 in the shirt section)

Changes:

*Small bust adjustment reducing apex to apex to 7"

*Lenghtened the skirt from 50cm to 65cm

*Lengthened the bodice by ¼" by sewing a ⅜" seam at the waist- I think I would lengthen this a little further

*Lowered the collar by ⅜" and cut a larger collar and stand 

*Single layer of interfacing on cuffs.

*Reveresed the button plackets so the fabric folded from reverse to the front so I could used the reverse side of the fabric as a detail.

*Raised the pockets slightly- using a 12" zipper allows for this

*Snaps replacing buttons

*Shoes- Orla Kiely 'Matilda' for Clarks.  (Very flash I know)

Love the dress pattern, love the fabric and a very wearable, pretty and comfortable dress.  Result!

Rock Candy Review

You can find me over at  Sew Sweetness testing and reviewing the Sidekick ruler and Rock Candy pattern for the Jaybirdquilts sew along...

and making this…

See you there!

Me Made May 14

May is a great month for dress making: the weather is getting warmer without the endless need for coats, cardigans and boots (although they are still close by, just in case) and it is Me Made May month. This is Zoe's- 'So Zo What Do you Know?' wonderful initiative and is a chance to be inspired by a whole range of clothes' sewers from beginners to highly skilled.  Follow the hash tags #mmmay14 #memademay14 on Instagram and Twitter  and look out on blogs.

I have been dress making for the last week and I am nearly finished.  Oakshott Fabrics have released a new fabric range- 'Calluna Herringbones' two tone shot cottons which are lightweight but a little heavier than the usual Colourshott, Lipari and Impressions.  I am using Calluna 01.  The fabric is incredible soft with a matt finish rather than shimmery and each side is a different tone which gives great contrast potential. It is particularly nice to use for clothing and I am making a Pauline Alice pattern, the Cami dress to showcase the drape and the contrast possibilities.   I have been sharing my progress on Instagram.  the dress has been sewed on my Singer Featherweight as the Janome is having a service.  I haven't made a full garment on the Featherweight before and I am loving the experience. It is a very responsive and intimate machine and the stitching is beautiful. 

Next on my list is something from a new pattern book, 'Grains de Couture' by Ivanne Soufflet.  I found this rather randomly and follow Ivanne's blog and its inspiring visuals- French dressmaking seems to have such wonderful attention to details, and a lot of Liberty lawn too!  The book is lavish, beautiful presentation and all in French so it is a rather challenging puzzle.  It is a large hardback book with enormous pictures.  Each garment has variations and there is a detailed 'how to' section at the back which each pattern refers too for the essential garment processes.

There are men's garments too and I may be tempted by them but my real motivation is the women's wear.  I would like to make a coat for Me Made May and the trench (top right) is my plan.  Here is my pledge- it also references my Gertie slip plans which are waiting for the return of the Janome and its zig zag stitch.  

Although dressmaking was my first real love in sewing, I feel more a part of the quilting community than the dressmaking one but Me Made May is an especially welcoming experience.  Online, dressmaking can sometimes feel like a rather young sewer's experience and I can only imagine my 20 something self producing dress after dress and loving the endless information and help online.  Now as a 40 something, I have the same feelings but my occasions for dresses are fewer and the reality of a day job wearing a company t-shirt and jazz pants for many hours each week do rather take over and I sew more separates as I know that is what I wear the most.  I am suckered in by dress patterns though and I am guessing there may be another dress made along with the coat, slip and some knicks- ambitious plans as usual.  I have a rather elastic attitude towards time and what I think I can achieve in it.  If you haven't taken part before, step on with a gentle pledge and enjoy the ride. 

#insideout : Fashion Revolution Day, Who Made Your Clothes?

I had mixed feelings prepping and writing this post.  I had the pleasure and pride of pulling out a stack of home sewn outfits, many more than last year.  And then I had the reason lots of people are posting their handmade wardrobes online for Fashion Revolution day: the death of over a thousand people when the Rana Plaza building collapsed.  Garment workers; mostly women, were the main casualties.  Only one day before, cracks had been reported in the building walls but workers had gone back into the building to fulfil contract orders that were due.  Its an unbearable loss of life, even worse in the name of cheap high street clothing.

photo from Laura, Behind the Hedgerows

For Fashion Revolution Day: Handmade, the question is  "Who made my clothes?".   I make most of mine and continuously aim to make more.  Why?  Primarily its not for ethical reasons-  I just love dressmaking.  I've made clothing since I was in my teens and the older and fussier I get about styles, itchiness, fibres, sustainability, (it's a long list)  the more I want to make for myself. I am also aware that by making my own clothes it takes me out of the cycle of wandering round the shops, trying on outfits with that mix of disappointment and self-loathing that only a changing room mirror on a Saturday afternoon can bring; away from the buying of stuff, stuff that I do not need or even want- if you have to make it, you consider much more deeply what you really need.

I don't kid myself that it's a cheap option.  Making your own clothes forces you to consider the true cost.  The effort, the time, the thread and notions as well as the fabric.  The mistakes too, the oddities that get sent to charity shops/given to friends/refashioned. I go through lots of thinking before I make clothes.  If I've spent £40 on the fabric, I want to make something that works, that I will wear and will become part of my wardrobe.   

And at the end of the process, I truly love my clothes in a sentimental, hard-to-let-go kind of a way. They have their ups and downs, like the time when I cut out a whole circle skirt dress back with the grain going the wrong way (shh, it's in this photo, it was Liberty and I think I got away with it)- but I love them all the same.  My wardrobe is my dressmaking journey- there are zips that took over three attempts to insert as well as necklines that worked first time.  There are many items I made for particular occasions- meet ups, weddings, sew-alongs- they tell my dressmaking narrative.

I am a firm believer in the idea that one person can make a difference, even on massive global issues like this. Not everyone can sew their own clothes and few of us can afford to pass up the cheapness of high street clothing but we can all think about our consumption and aim to reduce it a little.  Clothing is perfect to reuse, refashion, recycle. We all need to take a little responsibility and take action, however small. Check out Fashion Revolution Day across social media with the hashtag #insideout

April at Eternal Maker

I just saw a very important delivery at Eternal Maker, a baby boy for shop manager Rachael arrived over Christmas and there is a lovely picture of him with their latest tutorial with an up cycled theme of creating a toy from baby onesie vests, 

photo courtesy of Eternal Maker

Lovely idea- and I'll be talking a little more about up cycling tomorrow with my Fashion Revolution Day post.  Meanwhile, I've been thinking about sewing essentials, the not so exciting purchases (though I find all sewing purchases possibly more exciting than I should) like thread and notions, the things that we use each time we sew, the basics or more precisely, Mark Lipinski's Basics Collection for Aurifil:

I was lucky enough to be sent one of these from Aurifil when Lynne and I wrote 500 Quilt Blocks.  I don't get sent a huge amount of stuff sent to me like this and this is one of the best things I have ever received.  I have about half the box left and all the spools are 50wt.  The colours are the best kind of neutrals that disappear into the fabrics.  Its not a cheap gift but actually good value (individual spools are usually £8 each and there are 12 in this box) and maybe the sort of thing to hint for when your birthday is just round the corner.  You can find individual Aurifil spools here.

For those of you who like embroidery, Eternal Maker have put together a rainbow selection of Cosmo embroidery floss/stranded cotton thread.  My daughter is a keen cross stitcher and I buy her Cosmo threads when I can as they have a beautiful lustre.  As with the Aurifil set, there are savings from buying a set, £10 for 10 rather than £1.10 each.

Scissors: it doesn't get more basic than that.  These Fiskars embroidery scissors are much mentioned on Instagram and blogs as being the business- super sharp and very pointy and they also claim to work for lefties and righties, bonus!

The rotary cutter is as essential a basic as scissors to the quilter and even the garment sewer.  I have this Olfa cutter.  I tried other styles of handle but the retractable blade model was by far the most comfortable.  You can find blades,including pinking here although fresh stock is needed for the standard 45mm.

Pens- for notes, permanent marks, writing on fabric- its hard to beat Pigma Micron.  A 0.25 tiny nib, archival ink which is permanent on 100% cotton fabric so works for quilt labelling.  I also use these pens in my notebook and diaries, different colours for ticking and listing (the habits of a primary teacher die hard).

I know I have mentioned Wonderclips before, more than once, but they are so useful- every time I bind anything I appreciate the 'wonder' part. I use glue basting to as part of machine binding on my quilts and I find two packs of these provides enough clips to hold sufficient sections and remove some for the next glue bit!  

Solid colour fabrics (including some marl/shot colours too) are part of the basics surely.  You often don't know what you'll need until a particular project.  Eternal Maker stock a lot of Kona solids, here are two of my favourites, Melon:

and Lagoon

and you will also find the popular White, Stone and Ash.

If you want a little more variation in solid colour, there are a few shot cotton/chambray, yarn dyed options:

Peppered cottons- this one is Peacock, and there's something of the night sky about it:

Moda Crossweave, this stuff has texture.  It does fray more easily, a little like linen but the effect of the fabric is wonderful.  This is Flamingo.

Essex yarn dyed linen which is wonderfully marled and drapes beautifully.  I've used this a lot in bags and pillows and I think it works well with florals if you want to reduce the floral feminine effect and similarly well on more masculine items.  This is ' Essex yarn dyed Denim'.

And there is standard Essex Linen which comes in solid colours and has all the benefits of linen texture and body and the cotton gives it stability so it behaves itself when you cut sew and press it.  This is 'Light Blue'

And lets not forget tone-on-tone basics, quietly doing their bit whilst the noisier fabrics sing out loud and want to be centre of attention.  Here are some that caught my eye…

Pink Scratch Spot

Silver scratch spot

Silver Cubes

Nice to get back to basics this month ;)