Me-Made-May 2019 Week Two

A Bank Holiday Monday in the UK always cheers you up! What a great way to start the week not having to go to work (unless you work in retail or hospitality of course).  My boyfriend and I visited the Grand Design Live show at the Excel Centre in London to get some inspiration for house related DIY stuff which was great fun. You can see me here looking very happy at the thought of bumping into Kevin McCloud. We did, but only in cardboard form!

Monday 6th May

Top: Superlover sweatshirt

Top: Camber Set top. Made: 2018

Jacket: Belstaff Roadmaster 2012

Jeans: Diesel

It wasn't warm enough to remove my sweatshirt for the photo, you are just going to have to trust me there is a black Merchant and Mills Camber Set top on underneath the layers!

Tuesday 7th May
Top: Grainline Scout tee. Made: 2016
Trousers: Sew Over It Cigarette Pants. Made: September 2018
Socks: Gap
Shoes: Paul Smith loafers
Cardigan: Abercrombie and Fitch sale
Watch: Red G Shock

A combination of me-made trousers AND top today. Both well used and worn. The Scout tee in this version is made in double gauze and it needed pulling down before taking a photo - but hey - I'm not bothered!

Wednesday 8th May
Top: Simplicity 1364. Liberty print. Made: 2015
Trousers: Sew Over It Cigarette Pants. Made: September 2018
Socks: Gap
Shoes: Paul Smith blue suede Miller brogues
Watch: White G Shock

Every time I wear this top I wonder why I haven't made any more of them. It is a flattering silhouette and a fairly straight forward make. I would change the inner facings to a sewn-in version as they always flap about!

Thursday 9th May

Top: Uniqlo merino wool polo neck sweater

Skirt: Simplicity 2154. Made: 2016

Shoes: Paul Smith burgundy loafers

Watch: Clear G Shock

The inclement weather had me wearing a warm merino sweater and a smart navy pencil skirt which was re-made from a previous skirt (read about it here).

Friday 10th May
Dress: Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress. Made: 2017
Jacket: Benneton sale
Shoes: Paul Smith purple Miller brogues

I love this dress but the fabric has really faded over the two years I have made it (you can see it in its original glory here). The silk lining has also shrunk so that it doesn't really serve the purpose of stopping my tights from sticking to my dress as it now only covers about an inch below my butt! I may just cut out the lining altogether or re-line it? Is that too much effort?

Saturday 11th May

Jacket: Belstaff

Top: Grainline Linden sweatshirt. Liberty jersey. Made: 2016

Trousers: Lululemon 'On the Fly' pants

Trainers: Nike

Me and Kurt Cobain in East London conversing about the crazy UK weather. One minute it is hot and sunny, the next minute, HAIL!

How has your week been?

Me Made May 2018 Week Two

The second week of May brought with it typical unpredictable weather with sunshine and showers.

An uncharacteristically co-ordinated collection of garments this week. You could almost say I am curating a capsule hand-made wardrobe where I am able to select my own patterns, fabric and fit!

Day Two

Top: Colette Laurel Top. Fabric: cotton, Samuel Taylors. Made: 2015

Trousers: Gap

Necklace: Tatty Devine stars

Socks: Marimekko

Watch: White G Shock

Shoes: Paul Smith black patent loafers

A simple variation of the Laurel top with slightly extended sleeves. Maybe the darts are a little high but it doesn't stop me from wearing it in the spring and summer months.

Day Nine

Top: Grainline Scout Tee. Fabric: cotton, Samuel Taylors. Made: 2013 

Trousers: Gap 

Scarf: Marimekko

Socks: Gap 

Watch: Black G Shock

Shoes: Paul Smith black patent loafers

This was my first ever Grainline Scout tee in a classic black dotty cotton. It is an easy wear for warm days.

Day Ten

Dress: So Over It Alex Shirt Dress. Fabric: Stoff and Stil. Made: 2017 

Watch: Black G Shock

Trainers: Nike

I am super happy with this shirt dress. I added a fabric belt last week (which I should have made ages ago) which makes such a difference to wearing it. This simple belt addition seems to somehow make it more polished! In the background, you can see a beautiful version of the River Quilt by Jenny Haynes at the Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead. I attended one of their Thursday night Sewing Social events were I pretty much finished off the top of my Marimekko River Quilt and met a whole bunch of lovely ladies too. (A big hello to Clea and Kara!).

Day Eleven

Dress: So Over It Zoe Dress. Fabric: Cotton Sateen, Samuel Taylors Made: 2018

Jacket: Levis

Trainers: Nike

My more recent Sew Over It dress. I have worn the Zoe dress quite a few times and the hidden pockets are soooo fab! I am certain to make more of these.

Day Twelve

Sweatshirt: Grainline Linden. Fabric: Cotton knit, Girl Charlee UK. Made: 2016

Top: Top Shop vest

Trousers: Lululemon

Watch: Black G Shock

Trainers: Nike

Super comfy and a little crumpled as I threw it in my bag to wear if the weather cooled down. This was my first ever Linden and I have worn it lots. The grey striped ribbing is from Ray Stitch and is really good quality.

Have you been taking part in Me-Made-May this year?

Re-discovered any hand-made garments or enjoying recent makes more?

Me-Made-May 2017 Week One

May is that time of year that fellow sewists, knitters, bloggers and crafters alike sign a pledge to wear their hand-made / up-cycled clothes for the month.

This fabulous idea was set up eight years ago by Zo from So Zo What Do You Know?  blog a pattern designer, sewer, teacher and super mum. It gets you thinking about your relationship with your hand-made wardrobe to identify any strengths and areas for development. Also a good time to cull any unworn items or fall in love with some long-forgotten makes that have not seen the light of day since last summer.

This is my fourth year participating and I am looking forward to analysing my hand-made wardrobe to see how I can refine and improve it further. My pledge went a little something like this....

Day Two

Top: Merchant and Mills Camber Set Top made in John Lewis Splodge Viscose. Made 2016 

Trousers: Gap

Cardigan: Gap 

Watch: White G Shock

Socks: Gap

Shoes: Paul Smith Black Patent Loafers

Day Three

Top: Oliver Bonas

Skirt: Dolores Pocket Skirt in Lucienne Day reproduction print from John Lewis, London. Made 2015
Cardigan: Gap

Brooch: Tatty Devine Atomic necklace A/W 2015

Shoes: Paul Smith blue suede Miller brogues

Day Four

Top: Merchant and Mills Camber Set Top made in Ikat Viscose, Samuel Taylors. Made 2016 

Trousers: Gap

Cardigan: Gap

Necklace: Oliver Bonas

Watch: White G Shock

Socks: Paul Smith

Shoes: Paul Smith Purple Loafers

Day Five

Top: Merchant and Mills Camber Set Dress made in Viscose, Guthrie & Ghani. Made 2017

Leggings: Gap

Cardigan: Gap

Scarf: V&A Revolution scarf

Watch: Black G Shock

Belt:Top Shop

Shoes: Paul Smith Chelsea Boots

Day Six

Top: Grainline Linden in Liberty. Made 2016

Leggings: Abercrombie & Fitch

Socks: Gap

Shoes: Birkenstocks

I've been a bit of a Merchant and Mills fan-girl during the first week of Me-Made-May. The Camber Set Top may replace my love for the Grainline Scout Tee and is fast approaching my TNT top pattern!!

I missed photographing my outfit on Bank Holiday Monday but it was just a Linden sweatshirt and joggers to help facilitate serious sofa time.

How are you getting on with Me-Made-May?

Check out lots of other cool crafty blogs at #handmademonday organised by Julia of Sum of their Stories.

Me Made May 2016 Week Three

In May the spring weather always plays a big part in what you decide to wear in terms of practicality. On most mornings this week it was fairly cool, changing throughout the day to a sticky humid warmth. Hence my rather chaotic range of spring-like then autumn-inspired outfits.

I am looking forward to doing a geeky bit of stats analysis at the end of this Me-Made-May. It will be interesting to see what things I am naturally drawn to wearing again and again and those items that I am digging out of the pile having last been worn during MMM2015. A cursory observation at this mid-way point is my most recent makes are getting more wear because they are well constructed with better quality fabrics compared to those garments made a couple of years ago.  

Day Sixteen

Top: American Apparel

Skirt: Dolores Pocket Skirt in Lucienne Day reproduction print from John Lewis, London. Made 2015
Cardigan: Gap

Necklace: Tatty Devine Atomic necklace A/W 2015

Watch: Red G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith blue suede Miller brogues

Day Seventeen

Top: Grainline Scout Tee in knit from Girl Charlee UK. Made 2015

Trousers: Gap 

Necklace: Tatty Devine me-made at Brick Lane workshop March 2016

Watch: Olive G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith black patent Marcello loafers

Day Eighteen - photo taken at the end of a long day, hence major creases!

Top: Gap

Trousers: Sew Over It Cigarette Pants in Herringbone Linen blend from SOI, Clapham. Made 2016

Necklace: Wooden pendant hand-made by my Dad for my Mum when they were dating in the late 1960's

Watch: White G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith tan Marcello loafers

Day Seventeen

Top: Grainline Scout Tee in David David silk. Made 2014

Trousers: Gap 

Watch: Red G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith blue suede Miller brogues

Day Nineteen - Evening - A quick change from work clothes for a mid-week theatre trip

Top: Grainline Linden in Liberty knit. Made 2016

Trousers: Diesel jeans
Jacket: Levis

Watch: Olive G Shock 

Trainers: New Balance

Day Twenty

Dress: Simplicity 9620, cotton sateen Samuel Taylors, Leeds. Made 2014.

Cardigan: Gap

Belt: Vintage 80's from Pop Boutique, Leeds

Watch: Clear G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith purple Dante

How has your Me-Made-May been this week?

Have you found it difficult to get the right outfit due to crazy weather?

Liberty Linden

Of course I finished making a sweatshirt on the hottest day of the year!
Having tackled my first Linden a month ago I knew I wanted to make one in a Liberty sweatshirt fabric. As luck would have it last week Liberty's had a 30% off any fabric sale and I jumped at the chance to buy one metre of Liberty loopback fleece.

As you can see this fabric is a pricey affair even with 30% off it was £34 for one metre.  I have cut out the Linden and there is still enough for some Liberty sleeves on Linden number three?! - I will get my moneys worth. The black knit ribbing is from Ray Stitch and I used about 1/4 metre for the neckband, cuff and hem-band.

Read my post here about the construction / changes I made to the pattern.

Compared to the Girl Charlee UK terry knit fabric on my first Linden the Liberty fleece has very little width-ways stretch so the sleeves are a little snug around the cuff area - nothing that needs changing just an observation.

It is at this point in my journey of making my own clothes that I wonder about purchasing an overlocker.... the seams would look so much prettier.

Overall, I am really happy with my second Linden and can see a few more in my wardrobe.

Pattern: Grainline Linden (Initial purchase price £14 as it's been used for a second time = free)

Shell Fabric: One metre of Liberty Speckled Clouds Murray A = £34.00

Gutterman Thread: Black and white from stash

Total: £34.00

Olive Grainline Linden Sweatshirt

2016 is the year of the knit for me. After winning the stash of Girl Charlee UK knit fabrics at SewBrum in October 2015 it has been my mission to overcome my rather irrational fear of this comfortable to wear stretchy fabric.

The Grainline Linden sweatshirt has been in my PDF patterns inbox on my laptop for a good while so I knew that the olive terry sweatshirt fabric would make a fantastic sweatshirt. I purchased a walking foot in January from Weaver Dee in the 25% off sale on sewing machine accessories. In addition I bought some ribbed knit and some stretch needles from Ray Stitch in Islington.... all this preparation for a basic sweatshirt! Seems crazy doesn't it?

With my new walking foot this was lovely to sew. I set my machine to stitch length 3 and stitch width 3 which created a small stretchy zig-zag stitch that worked well for this weight of fabric. The only issues I had with construction was when sewing the cuff and neckline on - ideally I always like to match the seams but to avoid dodgy sewing I offset the cuff and sleeve seam / neckline seams to reduce the bulk of 6 lots of knit fabric going through my machine.
Normally my Bernina would be able to deal with this amount of bulk but since coming back from her service last summer the handwheel / bobbin-winder has been slipping and then cutting off power to the needle (something I will have to look into at a later date). Overall I now feel much more confident tackling knit fabrics!

Well judge for yourself. I am very happy with the final Linden. It is not 100% perfect but I am not going to point out any of the slight mistakes as they are pretty minor.

Here are some close up shots.

Here she is out in the wild today when I visited the fantastic Newport Street Gallery at Vauxhall, South London. It is a free art gallery owned by Damien Hirst to exhibit his vast personal collection of art. The current exhibition is by the painter John Hoyland whose saturated canvases were the perfect backdrop for the Linden! Thanks to my friend Nao who took the photos for me. 

Pattern: Grainline Linden = £14.00

Fabric: One metre of olive knit from Girl Charlee UK won in SewBrum raffle = free

Ribbing: 1/2 metre from Ray Stitch = £6.00

Gutterman Thread: Grey from stash

Total: £20.00