Saturday 4 September 2010

Self-Stitched-September: Days 1, 2 & 3

Woo hoo! It's finally here! Self-Stitched-September is ON. Born from the embers of an awesome Me-Made-May, our ranks have swollen to more than double and now the latest community challenge in this handmade revolution is live!

Personally, I can't say I was as prepared for SSS as I was for MMM, but therein lies even more of a challenge. August for me was all over the place. The first week was spent in Barcelona trying to shead two years worth of accumulated stuff and having fun and tearful farewells. The second week was spent having an awesome adventure travelling through France on our way to UK, visiting Lyon and Paris. Since arriving in UK mid-August I've been sofa-surfing, staying with friends and relatives whilst we get our shit together. Living out of a suitcase forces you to limited your selection somewhat, but I have to say that I've been getting by pretty well with just a few tops and a few skirts (almost all of which are me-made) that I've been mix and matching.

Having successfully completed Me-Made-March and Me-Made-May previously, for me Self-Stitched-September I guess isn't really about proving whether or not I can get by on just clothing I made myself. This month's challenge for me will be trying to get by in self-stitched clothing in difficult or unsettled circumstances. Whatever September holds, hopefully including moving house, job interviews/trials, new employment and random British weather whilst trying to build up a new life in a new city, I'm going to be doing in me-mades.

Day 1:

Here I am hanging out in my folks' back garden in self-stitched top (made with Simplicity 3835), skirt (made with Simplicity 2451) and pants. Cute crochetted slippers made by my craftin' mamma!

Day 2:

More garden action wearing self-stitched stripey T, navy cotton sateen tulip skirt, pants and later that day, the leopard coat. I have a small confession, that night I went to London to stay where my boy has been sofa-surfing but I forgot my cardi so ended up borrowing his hoodie to keep warm in the flat. If it had been Me-Made-May I might have considered this a Fail, but I'm being a tiny bit easier on myself this month due to having to flit about the country quite a bit.

Day 3:



Remember what I was saying about difficult circumstances? On Day 3 I had a job interview which I only knew about a day and a half in advance. I didn't have a self-stitched outfit that I considered appropriate, so I quickly made this red stretch-sateen pencil skirt using Burdastyle's Jenny pattern to wear with my nautical blouse (and self-stitched vest, pants and leopard coat, of course). Despite having used this skirt pattern twice before, the final garment still ended up too big at the waist, so the blouse went untucked, rather than tucked in like I had envisioned. The stretch-sateen was a remnant I recently picked up for £2 and the skirt is half-lined using some tomato-red/coral stretch cotton I had in my stash. I already had the zip and thread, so at least it wasn't the most costly of near-failures. It must have worked ok, because I've been offered a job trial on Monday (AKA Day 6), so fingers crossed please!

18 comments:

Libra-s said...

Good luck with the job

Alexandra said...

Love the red skirt! Good luck with the job

Tilly said...

Ooh good luck with the job! Hope you're enjoying being back in the UK and get settled soon... x

The 4 Bushel Farmgal said...

Wow, very resourceful! The outfits all look great.

I hope the job works well for you.

Fourth Daughter said...

Good luck! I think if it had been me I would have let SSS fall by the wayside as job interview clothing isn't high on my list of interesting things to sew!

Heather said...

*crosses fingers for you* Good luck with the job!

Cute outfits, too! I love your nautical blouse. :)

Mary said...

Good luck on Monday~wear something lucky :-)

Carolyn said...

Amazingly accomplished, whipping up a skirt to wear for the job interview at such short notice! Well done. And it looks beautiful. All your three outfits all look lovely!

The Sew Convert said...

The red skirt looks so good, I wouldn't have guessed it was done up so last minute! Sending blessings your way for Monday!

Alessa said...

The skirt is really cute! Good luck with your trial day, hope you get the job!

naughty little pony said...

Wow, well done and good luck with the job! I know you will rock it and look amazing. It is so brilliant how the self-stitched / me-maders are growing into such an army! I am in awe of all of you. Wish my me-made-ing was up to the challenge!

Drop Stitches Not Bombs said...

Looks like you are kicking SSS arse! My fingers are crossed for your job trial.

Susannah said...

Hi Zoe! Hope the job trial went well.

I will be visiting Brighton this weekend and would love to meet up for a self-stitched Saturday! Maybe a pint/cup of tea and a little sneaky fabric shopping? Drop me an email if you're around and interested.

lenarrd said...

Good luck with the job! I'm sure it'll be ace :)

frk.bustad said...

Congratulation on the job trial and good luck! The red skirt looks smashing! Isn't it strange, when the same pattern end up a little different each time? I've never understood that. I'm looking forth to follow your SSS; it's such a great challenge, and I just read Makeshift's conclusion after day1 without self-made clothes... Comfort isn't necessarily in the bought clothes!

Zoe said...

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments and wishes! xxx

Tasia said...

Great outfits, despite being unsettled - you'd never know it by looking at you!
Best of luck with the job trial too!

amandamonkey said...

You are adorable - good luck with the job!

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