Spring Sewing Swap 2014

Kerrie of KestrelMakes has organized a sewing swap for the last couple of years and when I saw her post about this years swap I decided to sign up. 

My parcel is ready to go and I am hoping it will get there on time!

MMMay 14 final round up

Here is my last round up for Me-Made-May 14. I was marginally better at taking photos this week.  We were away for a few days, but that didn't impact on my clothing choices at all.

Day 21 - 27th May
Blue Cowl top - No photo today

Day 22 - 28th May
White Peasant top

Today was Husband's birthday during which he wore the shirt I made for him at Christmas

I also made him this cake:

lemon ombre cake

Day 23 - 29th May
Autumnal Renfrew - no photo again

Day 24 - 30th May
Magpie top

Today was the Flickr theme Friday. I didn't get a picture of me with my stash, but I did take the opportunity to sort through most of my stash.  I have measured each piece, labeled it and organised by type of fabric (knit, woven, lining) and sort of  by colour with in the fabric group. I laid it all out on the floor and took a picture:

I really need to get sewing - most of these pieces were bought with a plan in mind, I just need to stop procrastinating!

Day 25 - 31st May
Geometric refashion

I set myself the target of wearing 5 me-made items a week thorughout May. I have (I think) worn me-made for 6 days each week, which shows that I am pretty good at wearing my stuff day to day.

There were several days where I repeated items and several makes that haven't seen the light of day yet - mostly due to the weather. One item that I haven't worn at all which surprised me, was my Denim Portfolio dress as that has been worn a lot in the last two MMMays.

I make a lot of tops, which is great as I live in jeans and tops, but I also want to make some more 'bottoms'. I have a pair of trousers cut out, drafted from my block that I have made at my Pattern Cutting class and I have a skirt waiting for the hem to be finished. Several of my stash pieces were bought for skirts/trousers in mind - I just need to get cracking!

Many thanks again to Zoe who has organised these Me-Made months for the last few years. I managed to post to the Flickr page and Pinterest board this year - which has resulted in finding yet more blogs to read!

Month in review:

FO: Little girl's shirred dress

I recently made a shirred dress for a friends daughter. It was her birthday and I wanted to make her something.  Husband says I am making up for not having the time to make my girls things when they were little!

I used some Liberty lawn that had been given to me by my mother-in-law some year ago - I think she gave me nearly 4 metres of it and as this was for a little person I still have about 3 metres left! Unfortunately the colour and pattern is not to my taste - Husband might get a shirt out of it at some point...

I used a tutorial from Jorth on how to make a shirred dress, which worked very well and needed no adjustments.  I made the straps too long so that they could be let out as she grows.

This is the first time I have done shirring and had no idea it was so easy - I love it and am thinking of other ways I could use it! I remember when I was little (early to mid '70's) my mum made lots of dresses in this style for her, me and my sister. I saw a friend of mine wearing something similar last summer which reminded me of these dresses and I have obviously had it in my mind since.

I also made a little fabric flower broach to match, which I pinned to the front.




I have not yet got a photo of her wearing it, but I am hoping that her mum will let me put one on here when I get one. 

MMMay14 round up week 3

Having covered 2 weeks and 2 days in the last round up, here I am with week three. I have been pretty poor at taking pictures this week, so here goes:

(My pledge was 5 me-made items a week for the month of May)

Day 13 - 17th May
Polka dot Anna, worn to Rachel's fantastic #NYLon14 meetup in London. There are photos available on Flickr taken by Kitty Wong.

Day 14 - 18th May
Turquoise blouse - no photo to day

Day 15 - 19th May
Turquoise blouse - worn to my pattern cutting class so that my teacher could advise me on fit.  It is still one of my favouirte summer tops, but I have noticed that the bust dart is too high, it pulls across the back just below the collar and I have excess fabric in the upper chest. She suggested using my block and transposing the style lines on the block, then toile-ing it up, which I may try and do during the summer.

Day 16 - 21st May
Jasmine blouse - First time I have worn this this year.  Last year I noted that the sleeve band was too tight, and uncharacteristically dealt with it  by taking them off and resewing them with teeny tiny seam allowances to make them as big as they will go. However they are still too tight and I am probably going to take them off all together.

tucked - this is how I wore it after seeing the picture below!

untucked

Day 17 - 22nd May
Stripey Lydia - no photo today (I seem to wear this every Thursday!)

Day 18 - 23rd May
Autumnal Renfrew - no photo today

Day 19 - 24th May
Geometric refashion - no photo today

Day 20 - 25th May
Cowl top that I made for Eldest. The neckline was a bit low for her even with a vest top underneath. She hardly ever wore it and said that I could have it. Yay!

Still doing pretty well at wearing me-made. I think the only day I didn't wear me-made was Tuesday - I woke up full of cold and just put on the first things that came to hand. I haven't even managed to post of the flickr pool or the pinterest board during the week - I have just done that today.

It is the last week next week, which will involve a couple of nights away and Husbands birthday - nearly done!

MMAY14 round up

I have just realised that I haven't done a round up of my MMMay so far yet.  I have just about managed to post to Flickr and Pinterest. I have realised that I am not wearing anything me-made today and have therefore missed the Friday Theme - nevermind!

My pledge was to wear 5 me-mades/refashions a week so here goes:

Day 1 - 1st May
Stripey Lydia top

Day 2 - 2nd May
Autumnal Renfrew

Day 3 - 3rd May
Beige self-drafted dress

Day 4 - 4th May
no photo today, but I wore my Granny Lola

Day 5 - 5th May
Magpie Burda top

Day 6 - 8th May
Stripey Lydia top, again

Day 7 - 9th May
Magpie Burda top
Checked for Friday Theme part way through the day and found this painting - it may look familiar to those who read Didyoumakethat's review of Tilly's new book!

Day 8 - 10th May
Double Me-Made: blue cowl top and Ikea Simplicity 2451

Day 9 - 11th May
No photo today, but I wore my Autmnal Refrew

Day 10 - 12th May
No photo on the day again, but I wore my newly made Peasant top

Day 12 - 14th
Peasant top again!

So... Doing pretty well so far.  The weather is a real mixture at the moment which is not helping, but the last two MMM's that I did were too, so I should be more prepared!  The last two days the sun has been out and I have been in the allotment or garden for most of them in scruffy practical stuff that is not me made.

I am off to Rachel's NYLon14 meet up tomorrow and I am hoping that it will be warm enough to wear my new Anna dress.

FO: Peasant style top

This was a very quick sew for me.

I used to have a very blousey voluminous rtw top, in a crinkly cheese cloth-y type of material. It was very old, had made it to New Zealand and back and was permentantly off white, so at the end of last summer I got rid of it.

a diner somerwhere in California wearing my old top, 2009

I have had New Look 6179 for years, bought to make a replacement for the above top.  All I needed was the fabric. I haven't seen cheese cloth for years, but when at Rachel's epic meet-up last year, I spied some on the swap table, which then made it home with me only to sit on my shelves for a year, waiting for some action.

I seem to be sewing with a vague mental 'plan'. A lot of my rtw clothing is way past it's best, so I am hoping to recreate my favourite things in someway hence the making of this top. I have also taken a pattern from my favourite summer skirt, with the hopes of making something similar.  I am really hoping that works, even though I haven' quite enough fabric ..... but I have a plan!

Any way, back to the shirt. It is a simple pullover the head top with long raglan sleeves. I made view B minus the lace additions.  I made size 10 which is the smallest size I think, as the amount of ease seemed huge (in the region of 9inches). My old top was a fraction too voluminous, however I may have gone too far the other way with this one. The instructions suggested french seaming, but I wanted to be lazy so thought it would be easier to use my over locker. 

Silly me... I spent a whole evening trying to rethread in white and broke another needle.  I realised the fix I had done recently may only be a temporary one. I think if I check it over every time I use it, I'll be fine, but it might have to be serviced.

The top is supposed to have elastic in the neck and the cuffs, but I didn't want elastic around my neck. My old top had the body gathered into binding around the neck, so I made, rather inexpertly, some bias binding from the blouse fabric. It could have done with being 5mm wider, but it did the job.  If I make another one, I may bring the neckline up a little as it seems very wide. I decided to leave the sleeves with elastic in so that they would stay up when I push my sleeves up in the kitchen.

Eldest suggested using shirring on the sleeves instead, which I was quite taken with, but may try that on another version.

I followed the instructions for the opening at the neck, but because the fabric is pretty sheer, the facing was very obvious when turned to the right side. I didn't like the look of that so trimmed it down substantially - you can till see it, but is it not so bad. (Didn't take a pic before I trimmed it)

bias binding and the trimmed neck facing

I used some fine cord and a spare button for the fastening.

I wore it the other day but didn't manage to get  picture taken. Hopefully the weather will improve enough that I can wear it during Me-Made-May! I had hoped to enter it in Made By Rae's Spring top Sewalong, but even though it was ready I didn't get round to posting it.

Me-Made-May '14

Well, a little late to the game, but here I am making my pledge:

'I, Tamsin W-P of Pimpmycurtains.blogspot.co.uk, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear me-made or refashioned items for 5 days of each week for the duration of May 2014'

I seem to remember signing up a bit late last year too.  I have signed up to the flickr group this time and the MMM14 pinterest board, so it will be interesting to see everyone elses MMM14's.

I think I will probably do a weekly round up of photos, but to kick the month off here I am in my first MM of the month:

I had just returned from an hour and a half at the allotment planting our brassica seedlings in the rain, and had just worked out that I was actually colder and damper than I realised. I am wearing a stripey Burdastyle Lydia top that I made a couple of years ago.  It is not my favourite top, being too big and a strange fabric, but it is perfect for 'allotment days' or slobbing around.