Me Made May 2019 Week One

This is the fifth year I have taken part in Me-Made-May. During the first week of MMM I wore the following outfits:

Wednesday 1st May

Top: Merchant and Mills Camber Set Top  Fabric: HM Samuels ikat print viscose. Made: 2016 

Trousers: Oliver Bonas

Watch: Clear G Shock

Socks: Gap

Shoes: Paul Smith Burgundy Loafers

I love this top and you can read in my previous post how I have prolonged its life since the shoulder seams burst open at the end of the day!

Thursday 2nd May

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

Watch: White G Shock

Shoes: Paul Smith Burgundy Loafers

This dress has had a lot of wear since I made it in 2017. I have another cut out ready to sew up in a black leaf-print viscose that was gifted to me last year. I just need to get around to sewing it up!

Friday 3rd May

Dress: Christine Haynes Emery Dress. Fabric: Viscose, Chapel Street Market. Made: 2017

Watch: White G Shock

Cardigan: Next via Oxfam, Highgate

Bangle: Oxfam, Putney

Trainers: Nike

A relaxed vibe with my Emery dress on Friday. I suspect the looser fit of this dress is mainly down to me cutting out a larger size although it has shrunk a little in the two years I have been wearing it. I ripped the side seam at lunchtime and spent a little time mending it this weekend.

Saturday 4th May
Top: Eva sweatshirt. Fabric: Tilly and the Buttons sweatshirt fleece. Made: 2019
Pants: Peak Performance jogging pants

I recently blogged about this sweatshirt and wasn't quite happy with the sleeves. The solution? I chopped them off to just above elbow length and I have worn it so much more now!

Sunday 5th May

Dressing Gown: Buchanan Fabric: Paul Frank. Made: 2017

I spent the majority of the day pottering around the house cleaning, sorting and chilling with my dressing gown on! That's what Bank Holiday weekends are for, right? This is my most worn make since sewing it two years ago. I have a second cut out ready to sew together so I can rotate between washes.

How is your Me-Made-May coming along?
Have you discovered any new items of clothing from following other peoples social media and blogs that you would like to make?

Cashmere BHL Charlotte Skirt

Another By Hand London Charlotte skirt. This time in some beautiful cashmere Price of Wales check (that I made my Sew Over It Francine jacket out of) and lined with the same emerald green as the jacket. Worn together it looks like a suit.

The other addition I made to the skirt was to create a hem band and hand stitched the lining to it. I am particularly pleased with my invisible zip and plaid matching skills. Another great bonus is these fabrics have been languishing in my stash box since 2014 after finishing the France jacket. What do you think?

I hand-stitched a black triangle to strengthen the top of the split 

Lined and hand-finished on the waistband and press studs

Added a hem band in the outer fabric 

What invisible zip?

I pledged to take part in the One Week One Pattern this week hosted by Sewisfaction so be prepared to see more By Hand London Charlotte skirts around these parts!

Have you signed up to OWOP17?
If not what would your go to pattern be?

Chambray McCalls 6696

About a year ago I bought two metres of this lovely Art Gallery Denim Studio grid-printed navy chambray from Ray Stitch in Islington. I always had in mind to make another classic McCalls 6696 shirt dress. I made my first version waaaaay back in January 2015.

The construction was pretty much the same as my previous dress with a few minor adjustments as follows:

• Removed 2cm from the collar lapel width
• Removed the gathers at the back bodice
• Added 5cm to the length of the skirt section
• Used French Seams throughout construction
• Bias bound the armscye, pockets and hem
• Rounded off the corners of the pockets

Here are some internal photos of the different finishes.

I wore the finished dress last night to the Sew Over It Islington launch party for their new 1940's wrap dress pattern. They had 50% discounts on paper patterns and 20% off fabric in store which was a little incentive to buy a few things for Christmas presents for some sewing friends. I met my friend Alex (My Creative Experiments) at the shop and also chatted to Karen (Did You Make That?) and Gabby (Gabberdashery) which was great to catch up with these lovely ladies in real life.

Here I am in front of the lush fabrics in the Sew Over It shop in all my McCalls M6696 wrinkled glory!

Pattern: McCalls 6696 Pattern = £8.00 (£4.00 as it's the second time I've used it)

Fabric: 1.5 metres of chambray from Ray Stitch = £16

Gutterman Thread: Navy from stash = free

Bias Binding: 2 metres of burgundy satin bias binding from Ray Stitch = £2.20

Press-studs: from my Grandma's stash = free

Total: £22.20

Sew Over It Pheobe Dress

Despite having a huge pile of pre-cut ready-to-go projects to sew I launched straight into a new dress this weekend. The new Sew Over It Pheobe Dress PDF pattern was printed out and taped together on Saturday and sewn together in 3 hours this morning. It is a satisfyingly quick make as many jersey patterns are.

Of course, there always seems to be a glitch. Just as I was putting the finishing stitches in the neckline I made the unfortunate decision to sew a small line of satin-stitch to secure the bottom of the neck opening for the button fastening.
The stretchy material got sucked into the throat plate of my sewing machine, so much so that I had to unscrew it and spend about 20 minutes snipping zig-zag stitches and pulling thread with a tweezer. I eventually freed the dress but it had a huge lump of built up satin stitch and the beginnings of a hole.

The only way of salvaging this unfortunate mishap was to abolish the keyhole neck opening altogether and sew it shut. Luckily, because the dress is made from stretchy jersey it hasn't affected my ability to get into it. I think I will alter the button opening for all future Pheobe's as it makes it a much faster sew.

I used the remains of my Liberty Linden sweatshirt with lovely loopback fleece 'Speckled Clouds A' and a gorgeous navy blue bamboo stretch knit from Ray Stitch I've had in my stash for a couple of months. As you can see from the dress I didn't quite have enough Liberty fleece left so had to add a band of bamboo knit for a 'design feature' which I think works quite well. Other alterations I did straight onto the pattern was to grade up a size from bust to waist and hips. In addition I only used a 1cm seam along my hip area as the Liberty fleece doesn't have as much stretch as the bamboo knit. I used a zig-zag stitch on setting 2 with a stitch length of 2. I zig-zagged the Liberty fleece seams on the inside but left the bamboo as it doesn't fray.

Overall, I am really happy with Pheobe. It is quite a different silhouette to most of my me-made dresses and a great stash buster with less than a metre needed for each section.

Me-Made-May 2017 Week Two

Week two of Me-Made-May flew by. I started at the weekend wearing a very short shift dress Simplicity 9620 that I don't wear for work anymore since it shrunk in the wash. In my MMM2016 review I identified this dress as something I should modify by lengthening it with a section of fabric but I haven't got around to it yet. I think I should definitely do it so I can wear it more often!

The first half of the week was cold and I still needed layers of clothing (including my well-worn black Gap cardigan) but luckily it warmed up towards Thursday and Friday and you could feel spring was in the air!

Day Seven

Dress: Simplicity 9620 black and white plaid shift dress. Made 2014

Top: Gap

Tights: M&S

Necklace: Tatty Devine me-made at Brick lane workshop. Made 2017

Watch: Red G Shock

Bag: Pink Top Shop

Trainers: Liberty print Vans

Day Eight

Top: Grainline Scout Tee 100% cotton from Sophie, Hong Kong (underlined with cotton batiste). Made 2016

Trousers: Gap

Cardigan: Gap

Watch: Black G Shock

Trainers: Blue Nike Air Pegasus

Day Nine

Top: Merchant & Mills Camber Set top. Cotton seersucker. Made 2017
Skirt: Simplicity 2154 in poly-cotton twill from Samuel Taylors, Leeds. Made 2013.

Cardigan: Gap

Necklace: Tatty Devine A/W 2016

Watch: Red G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith black patent loafers

Day Ten

Top: Grainline Scout Tee 100% cotton from Sophie, Hong Kong (underlined with cotton batiste). Made 2016

Trousers: Gap

Cardigan: Gap

Necklace: Tatty Devine Bubbles S/S 2017

Watch: White G Shock

Shoes: Blue suede Paul Smith Miller Brogues

Day Eleven

Top: Colette Laurel Top. Made 2015
Trousers: Paul Smith
Necklace: Tatty Devine Haberdashery Floral A/W 2016
Watch: Olive G Shock
Shoes: Purple Paul Smith Dante Brogues

The length of my spotty Laurel top works really well with most of my skirts because they tend to sit at my natural waistline but with my Paul Smith trousers which fit at the hipline it meant if I tucked it in to look a little neater it soon wiggled out and bunched around. Maybe I should lengthen the body of the Laurel slightly on my next version?

Day Twelve

Top: Gap

Skirt: Sew Over It Tulip Skirt. Made 2014

Necklace: Tatty Devine Brushstrokes

Watch: White G Shock

Shoes: Red Paul Smith Miller Brogues

Another fun week of Me-Made-May. I am hoping the warmer weather is here for a little longer so I can wear more skirts and maybe some of the dresses I have made this year.

Has the weather affected your Me-Made wardrobe this week?

Linen SOI Shift Dress

After the success of my previous Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress I decided to use some fabric I bought for my birthday in November from Sew Over It (it looks like its sold out now - sorry folks!).
It is a beautiful autumnal floral printed linen which has a lovely weight and drape to it. I paired it with a shocking pink silk lining that has been in my stash since my textile student days in the 1990's!

I sewed the outer shell and lining of the dress using the sewing machine but most of the final finish was completed by hand.

Here are some close up shots of the dress in construction including a nifty way to finish a dress or top without the need to make a fiddly rouleau loop. The black loop is an elastic hair-band cut in half and I added a square of felt to reinforce where the button is sewn into position.

The 'rouleau' loop just needs to be fixed into position between the seams. I hand-stitched through the knot to make sure it was very secure - if you are a fan of machine stitching I would slow down the speed to make sure it manages to go over the lump of the knot.

I chose to hand embroider the neckline with some embroidery floss from my stash. (I selected the 4th from the right). As I decided to line the dress from the start I eliminated the facings of the original pattern and sewed the lining to the neckline and hand-stitched it to the arm sythe. Aside from the aesthetic appeal of hand-embroidery the main reason I embroidered the neckline was to stop the lining from showing and to fix the outer-shell and lining from shifting and moving around.

I am really happy with the final dress and enjoyed spending the time of the hand-finishes including a hand-stitched hem on the outer dress and lining.

I love the shocking pink silk lining which feels very luxurious!

Pattern: Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress on 50% off sale (2nd version) = £3.50

Fabric: 1.5 metres of printed  linen mix from Sew Over It = £17.00

Lining: 1 metre of silk lining from stash = free

Gutterman Thread: Black and pink from stash = free

Embroidery Thread: Dusky pink 03350 = free

Hairband: From stash = free

Button: From stash = free

Total: £20.50

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