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?

And Other Vices.....

You may know, as well as my love for art and sewing I have another vice in the form of Tatty Devine jewellery. Over the past few years I have bought some lovely pieces, received gifts, grabbed bargains at sample sales and most of all enjoyed the jewellery workshops held at their Brick Lane shop in London.

Below is a montage of images for the workshops I attended in 2016. Some of these lovely pieces I kept for myself and a few I gifted to close friends. After attending five workshops last year I am pretty speedy at fastening jump rings now!

• Sequin necklace (gift)
• Mini Mexican Garden necklace (gift)
• Turquoise Swallow necklace
• White Dinosaur necklace
• Rainbow necklace

My favourite piece is the Dino necklace which was the most time-consuming to make as there were lots of fiddly connections.

Which piece do you like best?

Me Made May 2016 Week Four

The fourth week of Me-Made-May has been great. I started the week on a mono-chrome kick and ended on one of my favourite colours of bright emerald green.

A high point was wearing the new Camber top I made last week and after wearing my Bettine dress in black and white gingham on Saturday morning I came to the conclusion that it definitely needs a re-fashion as it's way too short. My idea would be to add an extra 10cm band along the base of the skirt using the bias of the fabric to create a feature!? I might get around to it over the half term. On to the outfits:

Day Twenty One

Top: Tilly and the Buttons Bettine Dress in gingham from Goldhawk Road, London. Made 2015

Leggings: Top Shop

Necklace: Tatty Devine (sample sale 2016) Red Gem Cut Statement necklace A/W 2013

Watch: Red G Shock 

Trainers: New Balance 

I met my friend Alex at John Lewis on Saturday morning for  catch up and also to see lovely sewing bloggers like Tilly (Tilly and the Buttons), Jane (Handmade Jane), Maria (A Stitching Odyssey) who were spending their day making Tilly's Bettine Dress in the haberdashery department. It happened to be a bit of a coincidence that I was wearing the exact dress the girls were making!

I took a quick photo although you can't really make out any of them as they are deeply involved in pattern cutting and sewing. Left to right: Tilly, Maria and Jane!

Day Twenty Three

Top: Merchant and Mills Camber Set T-Shirt in ikat viscose from Samuel Taylors, Leeds. Made 2016

Trousers: Gap

Watch: Olive G Shock 

Trainers: New Balance

Day Twenty Four

Top: Colette Laurel Top in 100% cotton from Samuel Taylors, Leeds. Made 2015

Trousers: Gap

Necklace: Tatty Devine (sample sale 2016) Red Gem Cut Statement necklace A/W 2013

Cardigan: Gap

Watch: Red G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith red Miller brogues

Day Twenty Five

Top: 1960's hand-made vintage dress bought from a stall in Camden Passage, Islington. Mended 2015

Leggings: Top Shop

Necklace: Tatty Devine (Sample Sale 2016) Jewel Print Triple necklace A/W 2013

Cardigan: Gap

Watch: Olive G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith blue suede Miller brogues

Day Twenty Six

Top: Gap

Cardigan: Gap

Skirt: Self-drafted in Ikea furnishing fabric Made 2009

Necklace: Wooden necklace by Materia CA bought from London Print Studios

Watch: Red G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith black patent Marcello loafers

Day Twenty Seven

Top: Gap

Jacket: Levis

Skirt: Sew Over It Tulip skirt made in Medium weight cotton from Ray Stitch. Made 2014.

Necklace: Tatty Devine 'Untitled' necklace designed by me

Watch: Clear G Shock 

Shoes: Paul Smith black patent Marcello loafers

Have you enjoyed Me-Made-May so far this year?

Have you noticed any me-made 'holes' in your wardrobe?

Self-drafted Japanese Tree skirt

In the lead up to Me-Made-May I had a creative sense of urgency to complete any unfinished projects and start those ideas that have been knocking around in my head for a while.
One such garment started way back in 2013 when I purchased this lovely piece of Japanese Cotton from Ray Stitch that was in the sale for £10 - yeah!

A funky bold Japanese print from Ray Stitch.

With the bold and brilliant print I wanted to keep as much of it as possible so decided to make a classic gathered skirt with a straight waistband.

I cut a long rectangle section for the waistband first, then cut the fabric in half so I could match the pattern around the width of the skirt. I sewed these two sections together after inserting two side seam pockets - I love a pocket!

Pockets pinned ready for sewing.

I stitched the waistband together to make a loop then folded it over.

I chose to keep the front section of the waistband flat and strengthened it with interfacing. The back section houses the elastic - you can see how I finished the elastic in the photo below.

The next step was to run gathering stitches around the top of the skirt section and pull them to create even gathers around the skirt.

Finally I pinned the gathered skirt onto the waistband and top stitched it all into place. Oh, forgot to mention its also lined with a simple white poly-cotton because the Japanese cotton is a little see-through. 

The inside of the waistband with interfaced front section and reinforced sections to stitch the elastic onto.

The completed skirt!

I wore it in the first week of May when I attended a Tatty Devine workshop in Brick Lane. I made a fab necklace as a birthday present for my friend Mel who has recently moved to San Francisco - I hope she likes it!

Fan workshop at Tatty Devine Brick Lane in May

I am still not sure if a full gathered skirt suits me - I usually prefer silhouettes with less fabric volume, I just couldn't face cutting into this lush print even though it was a bargain £10!

What do you think?

Have you sewn something that you are not sure suits you?

Tatty D Parakeet workshop

Last weekend I attended a fun 90 minute workshop at Tatty Devine at Brick Lane. This was the third make-your-own jewellery event I have enjoyed at the Brick Lane shop (bunting necklaces blogged about here).

Onto the workshop; you get a pack of laser-cut acrylic pieces for the style of necklace of that session. About ten other keen Tatty D enthusiasts we all set for parakeet necklaces with a tropical colour way (exclusive to the make-your-own-workshop session).

Here is the necklace in progress - I'm getting quite good at manipulating those jump rings now!

The first step is to lay out the acrylic pieces in order on the handy printed out A4 sheet. 

Get handy with the pliers and attach the jump rings. The final step of construction is to add the chain - the most fiddly bit! 

The final reveal after the protective paper has been removed and all pieces have been carefully cleaned with white spirit!

Tatty Devine Workshop

I was really excited to book a workshop at Tatty Devine's main studio near Brick Lane but a couple of days before the workshop I was told it had been cancelled. I received a full refund AND the chance to go to the 'bunting' workshop free of charge - wahooo!

The workshop ran from 10am - 11.30am so I had a reasonable early start and headed out on the Circle line to Liverpool Street. It a brisk walk from here but the sun was out and I enjoyed the walk past some of the cool cafes, pop-up shops and vintage boutiques around Brick Lane.

The workshop was help in the Brick Lane store and there were pots and pots of little laser-cut bunting pieces in all colours of the rainbow. The hardest thing to do was to decide the colour combination of the necklace. Once the fiddly job of opening and closing the 'junk rings' was mastered there was no stopping me.

Here is the final necklace! What do you think? What colour combinations would you go for?