Me-Made-May 2017 Review

It's the second week of June and I have only just got around to my Me-Made-May 2017 review. I really enjoyed the whole process although I ran out of people I could pester for a photo towards the end of the month. Again, a huge thank you goes out to the lovely Zoe of SoZo blog who created this awesome event eight years ago.

It would not feel right to continue with a full review until I had documented the last remaining outfits of May.

Day Twenty Nine

Dressing Gown: Gather's The Buchanan. Made 2017

Top: Vest by Gap

PJ Bottoms: Paul Frank

Shoes: White Birkenstocks

May Day Bank Holiday was spent happily pottering around the house in my PJ's and newly finished Buchanan dressing gown. I love it and have worn it every day since making it! I think I need another one.

Day Thirty

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

Trousers: Abercrombie and Fitch

Jacket: Levi's denim

Watch: White G Shock

Trainers: Nike Blue Pegasus

Day Thirty One

Dress: Dixie DIY Bonnell Dress in viscose, Chapel Street Market. Made 2017

Watch: Red G Shock

Trainers: Nike Blue Pegasus

After 2016's Me-Made-May I created a list of plans / quests for the year ahead which were:

Re-fashion or donation to charity:

• Bettine dress - Attach a bias section on the skirt to make it more wearable - NOT achieved
• Simplicity 9620 dress - not worn this MMM because it's too short. As above - NOT achieved
• Mathilde blouse - Give to charity as I never choose to wear it - Achieved!
• Grainine Scout in B&W - Give to charity as I never choose to wear it - Achieved!

Future Projects:

• Finish Navy Simplicity 2154 pencil skirt  - Achieved!
• Complete black and white By Hand London Flora  - Achieved!
• Finish Liberty print Colette Laurel dress  - Achieved!
• Re-work the By Hand London Charlie Dress - NOT achieved
• Make another pair of SOI Cigarette Pants - black and white print / Navy / Grey - NOT achieved
• Make a Grainline Moss skirt - NOT achieved
• Make a pair of Grainline Maritime shorts - NOT achieved
• Make more dresses - I have lots of BHL and Christine Haynes patterns in my stash - Half Achieved

So it looks like my sewing plans were half completed with still plenty more to keep me out of mischief, namely making another pair of trousers and perhaps some shorts?

For the coming year it would be great to replace my worn out RTW trousers with some hand-made versions. I have even carefully unpicked a favourite pair of chinos to compare the waistband, crotch rise and leg lengths to my existing trouser patterns (SOI Cigarette Pants and Named Alpi Chinos). Hopefully by May 2018 I might have managed to make another pair of trousers!

Conclusions:

As I have a lot more me-made garments to wear compared to previous Me-Made-May's I found the whole process much easier. I have been able to identify that I love wearing tops that are made in viscose as the drape is softer, more comfortable and forgiving.

I still enjoy bright colourful clothes combined with monochrome but have branched out this year into a few floral prints too. I am also very happy to supplement my me-made wardrobe with quality RTW clothes that I already have in my wardrobe.

One of the most enjoyable and inspirational aspects of MMM is connecting up with fellow sewists.

I have greatly appreciated the lovely comments from fellow bloggers in particular a big thank you to; 

Kat, Louise, Alex, Jo, Tamsin, Anna, Julie, Crafty Clyde, Paulina, Rosemary, Ginx Craft and Let's Get Sewing! Who have all been equal parts encouraging and inspirational with their own amazing makes. See you all for MMM 2018!

Blue vintage dress fix

I've signed up to Me-Made-May and there is nothing like an externally imposed deadline to get the gears into action when I realised the quite limited amount of me-made clothing I will have to wear.
This was the incentive I needed to get some of my UFO's (unfinished garments) completed.

This little job has been hanging around since last summer and the Easter sunshine has spurred me on to finish it.

I purchased this lovely hand-made vintage dress at Rockit in Covent Garden for a knock down price because I spotted the hole in the front of the skirt. I had noticed it when trying it on (and also spied the generous seam allowances in the bodice that I would be able to use to patch it up with). So a huge reduction in price was negotiated!

Here is the dress - I am guessing it's early 1960's. What do you think?

Vintage blue dress from Rokit

So I bet you are thinking "I can't even see the hole at the front of the skirt?!" luckily its only a tiny hole and with such busy fabric you could get away with wearing it 'with-hole' but that's not the kind of style statement I want to be making.

Here is the tiny hole:

Here is how I fixed it.

First, I took a sliver off the very generous side seams inside the bodice of the dress.

I selected a part of the fabric that was mainly blue to match the missing fabric in the hole.

I carefully matched up the grainline of the fabric when laying the patch from the inside of the dress.

I then pinned the little patch in place. The hole seems to have already disappeared even at this stage of the fix!

The next task was to select a suitable thread to 'disappear' into the original fabric - there are a lot of options given the multi-coloured hues of the dress. I chose the second from right which I felt softly blended with the majority of shades in the print.

Onto the hand-sewing! The trick is to carefully fold back a small section of fabric and stitch a very small 'seed' stitch to catch the folded back fabric.

This technique is how you hand-sew reverse applique (a fun link about machine reverse applique here).

This is the finished patch!

From a distance you don't even really notice it!

What do you think?

All ready for Me-Made-May. Let's hope we get some nice weather so I don't need to wear it layered up with leggings and a big chunky cardigan.

Now, I just feel I should make my case for using this item of clothing for MMM I have also had to replace the buttons (the old self-covered ones had worn out) at the back of the dress, add some press-studs at the rear opening (it seemed to have a large area just left open for some reason) and I have adjusted some of the back seams too.

Quite a few additions that in my opinion makes this little blue vintage dress a contender. I hope you agree?

Me Made May 2014

So after much deliberation about whether or not to join in this exciting challenge I have firmly decided it's a yes!

Due to this being my first Me-Made-May I am going to be realistic and gentle with myself considering the fact I haven't got a huge amount of self-made garments to wear during the month; so I aim to be pragmatic and practical with my pledge.....

 'I, Caroline of CJ Made, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear one home-made / customised item of clothing / accessory from Monday to Friday for the duration of May 2014'

The reason I have had to leave out Saturday and Sunday is because I am doing some pretty hard-core house rennovation and will be wearing this outfit every weekend. No joke!

The Jackson-Pollock-esque emulsion splats on the purple fleece counts as customisation right?!
And my worn away trousers have been lovingly patchworked with a variety of fun fabric scraps from my stash!!

I haven't yet figured out the logistics of recording my outfits yet - do I photograph them / sketch them / get a friend to photograph me? I will have a think about it and it seems practical that it will probably be a combination of all three in a round up at the end of every week.

Have you signed up for Me-Made-May 2014 yet? 

Cute Christmas Stockings

I made a few mini Christmas stockings for either gifts or decorations. I have to confess that these started a little gifts for friends but I couldn't part with them ; (

The main body is made from contrasting felt, machine stitched then hand-stitched with blanket stittch. The snowflake and holly decoration are felt with a variety of beads and buttons for added texture and interest.

The little reindeer motifs are from Paperchase (I bought them last year but they still do them - find them here) and I simply added these with a hidden stitch or two to finish them off. The loop is made with a length of felt secured with a large button.

I am looking forward to finding some small sewing related gifts from Santa inside these babies on the 25th December!

Have you made anything festive for Christmas this year?