Me-Made-May 2018 Week Four

Wow, Me-Made-May week four already. I have been busy with work and had quite a few adventures after work to the Village Haberdashery again for the Social Sewing on Thursday and a meal out in Notting Hill with a friend on Friday. 

Day 21

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

Watch: Black G Shock

Necklace: Tatty Devine stars A/W 2017

Belt: Top Shop

Shoes: Paul Smith black patent loafers

I really like this dress and seem to always wear it with a belt. The viscose has a wonderful drape but is very delicate. Some of the seams are beginning to fray at the sides near the in-seam pockets and I had to do a little repair at work in the morning with some hand-stitching. I may need to reinforce the side seams to ensure its longevity.

Day 22

Top: Grainline Scout Tee. Fabric: 100% cotton, Hong Kong. Made: 2016

Trousers: Gap

Watch: Black G Shock

Brooch: Tatty Devine anchor

Shoes: Paul Smith red Miller brogues

The Grainline Scout Tee is a simple and easy to wear top. Any long-term readers of CJ Made will attest to my LOVE for the Scout Tee! It is a perfect silhouette to showcase a pretty print or to use up a metre or less of left-over fabric.

Day 23

Top: Grainline Scout Tee. Fabric: 100% cotton, Hong Kong. Made: 2016

Trousers: Gap

Jacket: Levi's denim

Watch: Black G Shock

Trainers: Nike

Another Scout Tee. Well, I did say I loved them!

Day 24

Top: Oliver Bonas sale

Skirt: By Hand London Charlotte Skirt. Fabric: Plaid twill, Samuel Taylors. Made: 2017

Watch: Black G Shock

Shoes: Paul Smith purple Miller brogues

As the day progressed my very form-fitting Charlotte Skirt seemed to get tighter. Maybe I tweaked my fitting a little too much on this version because after lunch it feels a bit restrictive. I am still super proud of my plaid matching skills though and I love the black and white twill fabric.  

Day 25

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

Watch: White G Shock

Necklace: Tatty Devine brushstrokes

Shoes: Paul Smith red Miller brogues

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 when I have seen other versions via blogs and IG it looks like a more fitted dress. It also sits higher than my natural waist which makes is so comfy. I would like to make another version and perhaps will experiment with dropping the waist down 3cm and consider nipping in the waist slightly.

Days 26 & 27

Another weekend of house renovations wearing my stylish DIY clothes!

How is your Me-Made-May?

Did you do anything fun over the Bank Holiday if you are in the UK?

One Week One Pattern 2017

This week I took part in One Week One Pattern for the third time. If you are not familiar with this event it was started by Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons, who launched it in 2012, it was then run by Handmade Jane in 2014 and Hannah from Cinderellis Sews last year and this year it has been run by Sewisfaction.

As you may already know from my previous posts this week I chose to wear the By Hand London Charlotte skirt. I have made four versions of the Charlotte skirt and posted about the construction of the different variations here, here, here and here. I guess you are supposed to wear your chosen pattern for the full week but I decided to focus on Monday to Friday because of the more formal choice of pattern. This is not the type of thing I would wear on the weekend to do house chores, errands and general chilling out in.

The photos below show how I styled my skirts with several Uniqlo merino wool turtle neck jumpers, gap t-shirt, Marimekko scarf, Tatty Devine Teeth necklace and on Friday one of my favourite festive jumpers (because December!).

Plaid BHL Charlotte Skirt

As mentioned in yesterday's post I am taking part in One Week One Pattern or affectionately known as OWOP. My pattern of choice is the By Hand London Charlotte skirt.

I made it from some black and white plaid twill that has been in my stash for years which I made into this Simplicity 9620 Shift Dress. There is still some left to make another item of clothing too! The fabric frays a lot so I had to be super speedy with the French Seams during construction. I hand-stitched the waistband and hem which was a therapeutic hours sewing.

I added a back split taking inspiration from this Simplicity 2154 Pencil Skirt I made in 2013. The addition of the back split makes this skirt so much more comfortable and easy to walk in. You definitely have to wiggle around with a very restricted gait if you don't add a split / pleat of some description to this pattern.

Here are the internal shots for your viewing pleasure.

Almost perfect plaid matching around the zip

Perfect plaid matching on the internal waistband - where nobody can see it!

Back split and hand-stitched hem

Perfect side seam matching with a French Seam

Neat zip and back seam with Hong Kong seam using black satin bias binding

Tomorrow I'll be wearing my tropical print BHL Charlotte skirt. Hopefully it won't look too out of place on a wintery London day.

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?

Autumnal BHL Charlotte Skirt

A quick post about my new By Hand London Charlotte skirt that I finished last week using the remnants of some gorgeous Autumnal printed floral linen I bought from Sew Over It last year. I made a Sew Over It Ultimate Shift Dress out of the first metre and a half which I absolutely love. I thought the remaining metre of fabric would be perfect to squeeze a Charlotte pencil skirt out of it and I'm really pleased I did.

No changes to the pattern since the last version (I have graduated from one size at the waist to a larger size at the hips). I constructed it with French Seams, bias bound the centre back seam around the zip with black bias-binding and hand stitched a deep hem.

I lengthened the waistband so I could overlap it and added press-studs for extra security. Overall a speedy make if you exclude the sewing of eight darts!

My wool and cashmere coat is the Sew Over It 1960's Coat which I get lots of wear out of in the winter months.

Pattern: By Hand London Charlotte Skirt Pattern = £9.00 (£4.50 as it's the second time I've used it)

Fabric: 1 metre of linen from Sew Over It = £10 (from stash)

Gutterman Thread: Burgundy from stash = free

Invisible Zip: Black = 50p

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

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

Total: £17.20

Reversible By Hand London Victoria Blazer

I only just got around to wearing my recently finished By Hand London Victoria blazer yesterday. This jacket has been 95% finished since April 2017 and I completed the last section of hand-stitching at the end of August. I cut the second blazer out immediately after making my first iteration of the jacket making sure I didn't make the same cutting mistakes as my last one.

In the spirit of Sew Your Stash September this was made with fabric wholly from le stash. The navy suiting fabric I've had for about ten years whilst the red silk Chinese brocade I have owned for probably over 20 years. There was just enough of both fabrics to make up the Victoria blazer.

I modified the lower lapel shape which was fairly easy to do. I made a paper pattern using the original piece  as a guide and angled the lapel including a seam allowance.

As for the construction, I bagged out the jacket by leaving the bottom of the lining / outer open so it could be turned the right way round and carefully hand-stitched together. It was only when sewing the final finish of the jacket it occurred to me it could be reversible, especially since the silk brocade is quite substantial and holds its shape quite well which makes for a decent outer fabric for a jacket.

I'm not sure I will wear the blazer with the brocade on the outside as much as the navy version. I like the hint of red flashing when wearing it the navy way around. What do you think?      

By Hand London Charlotte Skirt

I have had this stylish By Hand London Charlotte pencil skirt cut out for a couple of months and managed to finish it this week just in time for some warm weather. It could be considered quite an old indie pattern by today's standards and there are some fab versions out there. My favourites are:

This red wool Charlotte skirt by Lauren from Lladybird:

Oona Baloona's amazing floral Charlotte skirt:

And finally Elisalex from By Hand London's amazing tropical Charlotte skirt with back split:

The fabric was a gift from my friend Sophie who lives in Hong Kong. She has an amazing eye for fabric and I wouldn't necessarily have picked this colourful printed barkcloth myself, but I am so glad I paired it with the classic shape of the Charlotte pencil skirt.

I have made a few pencil skirts before here and here with the Simplicity 2154 retro pattern. The construction of the BHL Charlotte was pretty similar so it was a pretty speedy sew.

With only one metre of fabric I had to be careful with pattern placement. I had to cut a second waistband as the first one was way too short (not sure if that was my error or not) so I lengthened the waistband slightly so there was more overlap for a press-stud. I also had to take a little in at the hip area but other than that it is a very good fit.

I finished the seams on the inside with bias binding because the barkcloth frayed really easily. I also hand-stitched the waistband and the hem. I added two press-studs to secure the waistband into place.

The only slight niggle I have with the skirt is my not-so-invisible zip insertion. I am borrowing a sewing machine whilst I decide what to do with mine and it doesn't have an invisible zip foot, so it's a little more noticeable than my usual efforts! I can always re-do it when I get my old machine working (or get a new machine.....).

Overall, I am really happy with this skirt and it certainly added a little colour to what has been a pretty grey week so far here in the UK.

Pattern: By Hand London Charlotte Skirt Pattern = £9.00

Fabric: 1 metre of barkcloth from my friend Sophie in Hong Kong = free

Gutterman Thread: White from stash = free

Invisible Zip: White = £1.00

Bias Binding: Assorted coloured bias binding from stash = free

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

Total: £10.00

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