Me-Made Rejects

Have you got those me-made items of clothes in your wardrobe that don't really fit you or you just don't wear?
I have had these items hanging on my rail for longer than I care to remember. Needless to say I felt that despite the hours of work that went into them I just had to pass them onto to somebody else.

Reject Case One

Material: A gorgeous red silk purchased from John Lewis in Nottingham circa 1998
Pattern: Simplicity 9868 (or similar because I don't have the original pattern anymore)
Purpose: I made it to wear to my friends wedding to go with some lovely red silk kitten heel slingbacks - look it was the 1990's!
Reason for rejection: The bodice is too short and too wide and the arm-holes are too deep

 The skills I learnt when making this top waaaay back in 1998 were; rouleau loops for the buttons, self-covered buttons and making an interfaced collar. So it has been good for something!

The problems I always had with this top were the collar never really fitted quite right, as mentioned in the round up above it's too wide on the main bodice, the bust darts just were not that flattering and it is too short. I quite liked the length back in the days where my 20-year old stomach was svelte and taut, but not so much now....

Well, hopefully somebody at the Oxfam Charity shop in Marylebone will like it!

Reject Case Two

Material: Vintage 60's polyester / nylon mix I found in an old stock cupboard at work
Pattern: Self-drafted from my favourite Top Shop dress
Purpose: I thought this fabric would look super-cool in this dress style - turns out I was wrong.... I just don't think the orange background colour of the fabric is that flattering with my pale skin tone.
Reason for rejection: The fit is perfect but I just haven't worn it in over 7 years... that tells you something?!

Although the green ric-rac picks up on the fab colours in the material it just looks a bit too much altogether. The hem is all picked by hand and I faced the bodice in contrasting fabric (forgot to take photos of that bit).

Well, I hope whoever finds these little hand-made gems loves them and wears them - or cuts them up to make something new - I couldn't bring myself to do that!

It is far better that they are out in the world with the potential for some fun with somebody else than stuck in my wardrobe gathering dust!

The seven year shift or Simplicity 9620

I realised during Me-Made-May that I wear seperates a lot! They are more versatile for my day-job and I enjoy mixing things up with different combinations too.

I do like a nice dress though and in April, as the realisation of MMM loomed closer I figured that I did need to mix things up a bit. Enter Simplicity 9620 in black and white plaid.

This was not a conscious choice of pattern but happened to be a UFO that had sat in my stash pile for about seven years! It had moved house in this unfinished state two times - can you believe that!?

Anyway, back to the pattern.
It is a very easy make. A simple cut on fold for both the front and back (you heard it! NO fastenings) with bust darts and back darts with facings for the neckline and armholes.

The main body of the dress had already been sewn together (seven years ago) so the only thing that I needed to finish on the plaid shift was the facings and hem. I had the neck-facings already cut out but only one armhole facing; and with no extra plaid fabric I had to free-style the finish on the armholes with a rolled hem (machined on the first roll, then hand-stitched on the second).

It didn't take me very long to finish this little cutie and made me wonder why it was abandoned in the first place. The only issue I have with my finished garment is the placing of the plaid. I obviously was not as detail focussed when I originally cut this shift out seven years ago; if I had the chance to re-do it I would make sure the prominent white line in the plaid was centralised in the middle of the dress. I would also aim to match the side seams better too.

At least it shows with extra practise and the help of fellow bloggers like Andrea,  Katie,  Tilly, Winnie and Jen I have improved my eye for detail and my knowledge of garment sewing. Yeah!

Me-Made-May week five or Green Week

Strange how you suddenly fall in love with a colour all over again (or is this just me?). Beautiful bright emerald green swooped me of my feet this week (quite lietrally too because it turns out that I have torn some soft tissue in my knee then broke my little toe - on the same leg!).
So my green love-in started with my Gap cardigan and went from there...

The final week of Me-Made-May saw my first repeat items in the form of the Colette Sorbetto and Grainline Scout Woven tee. It would be a great idea to make some more of these and branch out into more fluid / drapier fabrics.

Overall I have really enjoyed taking part in Me-Made-May for the first time and will definitely take part next year. My most worn items were as I mentioned basic tops and skirts (I have more of these to choose from). Additions to my wardrobe in May were:

• Total Pollocks tee
• Colette Ginger chevron skirt
• Red polka dot Grainline Scout Woven tee (not yet blogged)
• Black and white plaid shift dress Simplicity 9620 (not yet blogged)
• Colourful ikat shift dress Simplicity 9620 (not yet blogged)
• Green vintage dress repair (not yet blogged)

I still have a red jumbo polka dot Colette Sorbetto cut out ready to sew which I never got around to completing and as you know I am part-way through making a green and blue Tulip skirt at Sew Over It.

Here is what my Me-Made-May looked like:

The full list of my me-mades / me-modified / me-mended:

Tops

• Grainline Scout Woven tee x 2 (black polka dot and red polka dot)
• Colette Sorbetto x 3 (B&W stripe, white pin-tuck, patterned)
• By Hand London Polly top x 1 (ikat and Designer's Guild)
• Jackson Pollock inspired tee x 1 (Total Pollocks tee)
• Tilly and the Buttons Mathilde blouse x 1 (blue and white)

Skirts

• Colette Ginger x 2 (cerise pink, chevron)
• Clothkits Trellick Tower x 1 (pink Trellick Tower)
• Self-draft Hirst skirt x 1 (multi-coloured polka dot)
• Self-drafted 'Gap' skirt x 1 (black skirt)
• Simplicity 2154 x 1 (red pencil skirt)
• Self-drafted bustle skirt x 1 (navy blue skirt)

Dresses

• Black and white plaid shift dress Simplicity 9620
• Ikat shift dress Simplicity 9620
• Green vintage dress repair
• 60's vintage dress repair (blue vintage dress)

Jewellery

• Me-made Tatty Devine bunting necklace

As you can see trousers and dresses are not really featured as heavily as skirts and tops which means I have a little bit of sewing to do in the next couple of months to address this inbalance! Yesterday when I visited Ray Stitch in Islington I 'invested' in a few patterns (BHL Flora dress, Deer and Doe Belladone, Colette Montana and Colette Mabel) which will keep me out of mischief for a quite a bit.

I have also recently purchased the PDF versions of Grainline's Maritime Shorts and the Moss Mini which I need to stick together, so yeah, lot's of sewing projects in the pipeline!

How did you find Me-Made-May?

What sewing projects do you have on at the moment?

Me-Made-May week four

There was slighty schzophrenic weather this week with glorious sunshine and crazy rainstorms this next so it made it difficult to decide what to wear - I plumped for positive weather combinations with a selection of skirts / trousers and tees with a back-up cardigan in the bag just in case!

Day 19

• Colette Ginger skirt in multi-coloured striped cotton
• Black American Apparel tee
• Gold Clarks sandals

It was my first outing in this skirt having finished it the day before. It was lovely and cool to wear which was perfect because the temperatures shot up in London.

Day 20

• Me-modified white American Apparel tee this is what happens when you channel Jackson Pollock with fabric paints onto an un-suspecting t-shirt!
• Gap khakis
• Black Gap cardigan
• Gold Clarks sandals

Super comfy out-fit today and a very fitting t-shirt for an Art teacher!

Day 21

• By Hand London Polly Top in cotton from Samuel Taylors and a section from the Designers Guild Ikat collection
• Burgeundy Gap trousers
• Black Gap cardigan
• Gold Clarks sandals

I wasn't 100% comfortable with the fit of the BHL Polly top becuae it hangs a little low at the front and gapes open a bit so if I make another one will need to think about altering the neckline slightly.

Day 22

• Self-drafted bustle skirt in a blue tweed suiting fabric with red zip and orange ribbon detailing
• Blue and white striped Gap shirt
• Gold Clarks sandals

I don't really wear this skirt anymore - I made a couple of them years ago and I think I've moved on... not sure whether to get rid of them though because lots of people commented on my outfit with positivity. What do you think? Should I re-use the fabric to re-fashion them into something new?

Day 23

• Self-drafted 'Hirst skirt' in multi-colored polka dot Ikea fabric 
• Blue American Apparel tee
• Green Gap cardign
• Gold Clarks sandals

I love this skirt that I drafted from an old 1990's skater skirt. I need to create a pattern for myself so I can make more variations. It works really well because it has pockets (although they could be deeper) and the fabric is one of my all-time favourites.

Overall a great week and NO ME-MADE REPEATS YET!!

Things will change next week - I have only a few more me-made items left that I haven't worn - and there's a good reason because they are either badly made or they are not really my style anymore! I have half-term holiday which means I will be doing a lot of house renovations; so I'm not sure if I will get to wear many me-made outfits next week ; ( I will endevour to do my me-made best!