Me-Made Rejects #2

I try to regularly edit my wardrobe. I have noticed the more confident I have become at sewing the easier it is to pass on any home-made garments to the charity shop. My first few hand-made garments, despite their imperfections were saved from the charity shop bag on several occasions for sentimental reasons.

As I am getting better at fitting clothes for my body shape I feel happy to pass on my hand-made garments for somebody else to enjoy or at the very least get re-cycled. Also, having a blog means I have an electronic record of my achievements / learnings / disasters which makes the process much easier.

Here are the hand-made garments that hit the Cancer Research Charity shop last week:

Free-style Circle Skirt

Previously un-blogged on account of the fact I never wore it. I made it in a splurge of industrious sewing in April 2016 before this years Me-Made-May. I pretty much just free-styled the cutting of the circle skirt by folding the fabric down the centre and re-folding from the corner and cut out a circle. I then guestimated the waist-line cut too and attached to an elastic waistband.

The elastic waistband was re-claimed from a circle skirt I made in 2007 for a school pantomime performance and the fabric was a stash-bust polyester affair I bought from Goldhawk Road. The remainder of the fabric (about 1.2 metres) made it to the fabric swap on the 4th June and was picked up by Tamsin from Pimp my Curtains so watch that space for another make from this abstract fabric.

Hand-sewing the full-circle hem was a nightmare, even though I left it for two days to drop. It's a bit wonky in places! Hopefully somebody will find it and have a bit of fun wearing it this summer.

Black & White Scout Tee

As you know I LOVE the Grainline Scout Woven Tee but this version was made without really thinking about the weight of the cotton I was using. I think when you first start making your own clothes some of the most obvious things (like comfort) get over-looked when we fall hard for an amazing printed fabric. I adore this abstract monochrome print but as mentioned earlier it is much too stiff (even after lots of washes) and restrictive as a comfortable top. I had to say adieu.

Matisse Dolores Pocket Skirt

This was lovingly made as part of my art-work for a course at the Tate Modern during the Matisse: Cutting into Colour exhibition. I was inspired by his bold lines, architectural shapes and colour. I wore this on the final evening of the course when we had a group exhibition showcasing our art-work inspired by Matisse. 

You can read more about the construction here. The pattern was machine appliquéd with hand embroidered elements to pick out delicate details. It was such fun to make but I have not worn it for two years so it was time to share the love!

Tilly and the Buttons Mathilde Blouse

My Tilly and the Buttons Mathilde was a hard one to give away. This blouse was a result of a weekend workshop at Ray Stitch taught by Tilly herself not long after her debut on the BBC's Great British Sewing Bee in May 2013. It symbolises my renewed interest into garment sewing after a 20-year hiatus after art college.

Last year I re-fashioned the sleeves to make it more versatile as I did't wear it with the original blouson sleeves. Even that didn't help!

The main reason this lovely little top didn't get worn was again, due to poor fabric selection. The rather heavy-weight cotton just didn't drape and was too heavy for a blouse. A lesson learnt! I really should re-make this top in some lovely light voile or viscose.

I have passed on my me-made garments to the Charity Shop with a hope they may be re-worn or re-cycled into something more useful. Previous me-made rejects blogged about here. To date I have passed on or refashioned 16 me-made garments.

Have you given away or re-fashioned any of your me-made clothes?

A Mathilde Sleeve Surgery and a Colette Laurel top

Back in 2013 I really got back into sewing my own clothes with much more focus after attending Tilly's Mathilde in a weekend workshop at Ray Stitch in Islington.

It was a great workshop and it was fab being taught by Tilly herself!
I made a few mistakes on this make which in hindsight were due to inexperience in sewing clothes to fit my exact measurements. The bust darts are too high, the length of the bodice is a tad too short and the sleeve cuffs are too small.

I adore the silhouette of the Mathilde blouse but whenever I wear it I feel uncomfortable.
A combination of the fabric not having enough drape and the sleeve bands being too tight conspired to poor Mathilde languishing in the wardrobe all the time. Hence the need for some intensive sleeve surgery!

Here is the Mathilde in it's original state earlier today:

The next job was to unpick those French seams!
I had two potential sleeve donor patterns in mind for the re-sleeve.
My favourite Grainline Scout Woven tee or the new-to-me Colette Laurel sleeve.

As you can see from the photos above; on the left the Grainline sleeve has too shallow a head to be a good fit for the Mathilde, whereas the Colette Laurel sleeve has a high head making it a pretty good match. This is the one I used in the end.

Here is the finished Mathilde with new shorter sleeves!

Onto the Colette Laurel top. This little cutie has been cut out and ready to be sewn together since July 2013 when I bought this haul of fabric (which is almost all gone) from Samuel Taylors in Leeds

I am pretty happy with the fit of the Laurel and think I will be making more as it is a relatively simple sew. Although it's hard to tell on the photos below but perhaps on my next version I will reduce the curve from waist to hip because I think I can get an even better fit. What do you think?

Tilly and the Makegood Festival

I met Tilly today from Tilly and the Buttons fame at the rather fabulous Makegood Festival that was held at the Old Selfridges Hotel in London this weekend. I bought tickets for the event for myself and my lovely friend Natalie after reading about it on Tilly's blog and subsequently reading about it in last Tuesday's Metro!

It looks a bit gloomy but inside this building was lots of fun!

Last summer I took Tilly's Mathilde Blouse weekend workshop at Ray Stitch in Islington and was pleasantly surprised that she remembered my name as she wrote a message in a copy of her new book Love at First Stitch.

Tilly wanted me to model the new stylish T&tB bag to promote her new book Love at First Stitch

I bought Tilly's new book and the much blogged about Coco top too, which meant I received a fab new bag to put everything in. What a lovely lady!

OK, I know I didn't really 'need' a new sewing pattern considering my purchases on Friday but hey a girl has to treat herself every now and then.... I just got a new job.... my toe is still broken.... erm I'm running out of excuses... help me out here girls!

Makegood Festival goodies. And VERY good they are too!

Mathilde blouse

I attended a workshop in May to make the 'Tilly and the Buttons' Mathilde blouse at the fabric shop / cafe called Ray Stitch in Islington. I invited my friend Hayley to join me for the weekend to attend the workshop which was held on Saturday and Sunday from 12 - 5pm. Ray Stitch is a lovely little haberdashery that sells some gorgeous fabric and notions along with great tea and coffee (and cakes).

Tilly was a great tutor, helping everybody through the various stages of the Mathilde blouse construction that included; pin-tucking, stay stitching, machine gathers, basting, French seams, and rolled hems. I had to put in the sleeves two times and am not completely happy with the pin tucks at the front because one is slightly out at each side (luckily they are the same ones for symmetry's sake).

It has taken me quite a while (nearly two months) to finish the Mathilde blouse - it just needed the button holes slitting and buttons hand-sewing! Anyway here it is with a slight nautical-esque theme with the blue 'bunting' printed fabric with red stripy buttons.

If I make another Mathilde I will definitely use a plainer fabric because you don't even notice the pin-tuck detailing at the front because of the busy fabric. Nevermind, at least I know for next time.....