Sunday 27 May 2018

My Me-Made-May'18: Week 4

Now that we're down to the business end of the challenge, finding unique garment combos (as per my pledge) is definitely getting trickier. I've tried a few combos that I had to change out of because they weren't working, however I reckon I can still mine some gold out of my wardrobe to take me through to the end of this month. So, in Week 4 I wore...



Day 21: 



Day 22: 
Green Suzon blouse



Day 23: 



Day 24: 
La Trop Facile jacket (not shown, when I went outside)



Day 25: 



Day 26: 



Day 27: 
Black swiss dot Scout tee (unblogged but same mods as this version)


This week's takeaways:
  • My stretch faux-denim skirt has got to go. I tried altering the waistline in the hopes that it would sit better, but I've come to accept that it just doesn't work on my shape anymore. 
  • I should finally make a bloody backpack, as I've been saying I will for the last three years. 
  • Would it hurt to spend more than zero seconds on my hairstyle each morning?

I hope your challenge is going well, if you're participating this year. Don't forget, if you've discovered some holes in your wardrobe and are making plans to fill them, there are a heap of amazing businesses offering discount codes to participants up until 31st May! 

Monday 21 May 2018

Me-Made-May'18 Celebration Discount Codes

This year, instead of organising giveaways to celebrate Me-Made-Made, I put out a call to crafty businesses to see if any would like to offer discount codes to participants of the challenge. Holy smokes! I'm thrilled to say that we got an incredible response and I'm so grateful to all the businesses who have offered the Me-Made-May community their support in this way. I've been kindly helped by Jennifer Lauren Handmade to collate these codes, so big thanks to her as well.

So we're three weeks into the challenge now. You've probably gleaned a few revelations about your handmade wardrobe by now, and perhaps you've figured out some holes. A lack of solid coloured tops to go with all crazy print skirts seems to be a common discovery, as does work-appropriate garments, or even, dare I say it, trousers or jeans! Maybe you've figured out that some of your beloved me-mades have seen better days or no longer fit you very well (putting my hand up here to both of these!). Anyways, we have got you covered with some generous discounts on all manner of sewing patterns, fabric, yarn, notions and so on from some amazing businesses. These discounts can help you get the things you need to fill those gaps, and help you get a step closer to the stylish and well-functioning self-made wardrobe that we're all aiming for.

I'm listing these businesses alphabetically rather than geographically. This is an obvious point but I'm going to make it anyway; if you're interesting in buying a physical product (rather than a PDF pattern), please note the location of where the item will be sent from in case you occur import duties/taxes. Ask me how I know to mention this. Onto the list....



Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 25th to 27th May for 15% off fabric



Code: MeMadeMay
Valid: 25th to 31st May for 15% off everything



Code: cocowawamemademay
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off all patterns



Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off digital patterns



Code: MEMADEMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 20% off all fabric and the My Handmade Wardrobe Patterns (paper and PDF)



Code: MMMay18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 20% off all garment fabric



Code: mmmay18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 10% off (please note: in addition, they will be reducing a selection of summer prints on 26th and 27th May)



Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 24th May to 7th June for 40% off all PDF sewing patterns



Code: MMMAY
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off everything



Code: MMM18
Valid: 25th to 29th May for 15% off all patterns



Code: MEMADE15
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off



Code: GCMADE15
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off



Code: MMM18
Valid: 26th and 27th May for 10% off all full priced fabric



Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 10% off individual PDF patterns



Code: MEMADEMAY18
Valid: 25th to 27th May for 15% off patterns



Code: MMM18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off



Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off



Code: JUSTPATTERNSMMM18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off 



Code: MMMAY2018
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off everything



Code: 9W18LPY
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 20% off



Marilla Walker

Code: 20MMMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 20% off



Code: MMMAY25
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 25% off orders over $60 (NZD)



Code: MMM15OFF
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off



Code: MMMAY
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 20% off



Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 40% off



Code: no code necessary
Valid: 24th to 31st May for $20 off annual premium Seamwork membership



Code: MMMAY
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 20% off Liberty Tana Lawn



Code: ENDOFMMMAY
Valid: 25th to 31st May for 15% off everything



Code: MEMADE18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off



Code: MMM18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 10% off everything (not to be combined with other discounts)


Sprout Patterns

Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off everything



Code: MeMade
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off all garment fabrics



Code: MMM18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 10% off everything (excluding Janome machines)



Code: TILLYMMM
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 20% off all paper and PDF sewing patterns (excludes notions, fabrics + kits, pattern bundles and workshops)



Code: MEMADETRUE
Valid: 26th & 27th May for 15% off all PDF patterns



Code: MMMAY18
Valid: 24th to 31st May for 15% off (apparently, it will not show clearly that you have entered a code, but the 15% will be deducted from the product value)


Sunday 20 May 2018

My Me-Made-May'18: Week 3

The third week of MMMay is pretty much over, so it's time to share my less than impressive selfie skillz which have been deployed to document my challenge. A load of these I couldn't be bothered to put on Instagram so they haven't been edited at all. Why not play a fun game with yourself and try to guess which ones those are? 


Day 15:



Day 16:
Unblogged Scout tee



Day 17:
Mariner T-shirt (6.5 years old!)



Day 18:



Day 19:
(I must admit that I didn't wear this outfit all day, it was a bad choice for both the weather and the activities we had planned. But I did change into more me-mades, promise)



Day 20:


This week's revelations:
  • I was starting to wonder if my personal style was veering away from tight knit tops (of which I have a number), but I've realised how useful and comfortable they are for wearing under bibbed garments, like my Milas and my Cleo. I don't have any more tight tops planned because I probably have enough at the moment, but I do have at least one new bibbed garment on the  'things to make' list.
  • My black ponte skirt seems to look a bit too smart and work wear-ish for my currently very casual lifestyle. 
  • I wish I'd made my Cleo pinafore in a denim with some stretch content, and the longer version probably would have seen more use than this one does. 
  • This week I was a good girl and reworked two of my knit skirts that weren't fitting well by lowering the waistline, but I now see that I also need to work on my Mila dungarees some more, and my beloved 1960's Breton top. Pennies in heaven...

Thursday 17 May 2018

Suzon Obsession


I knocked up this blouse a couple of months ago, but stalled on blogging about it because I knew another would be inevitable. Now the second is complete, it's time I shared my new loves with the world! 


Pattern:

I'm not even going to pretend that I'm not deep in the middle of a major ruffle obsession. When I first saw the Republique du Chiffon Suzon blouse pattern, my heart skipped a beat. However, I didn't buy it immediately because RDU don't offer a PDF version of this pattern (my preferred type of pattern to buy), and at the time the English print version was out of stock on their site. Eventually I just couldn't take it any more, and I sourced a copy of the paper pattern from UK online fabric and haberdashery shop Dragonfly Fabrics (although it's is currently out of stock on their site).  

(image source: Republique du Chiffon)

To me, this pattern is near-perfection. The proportions and position of the ruffle are spot on, and I love how the width narrows a little towards the centre front. The collarless neck band sits so nicely, and I love the fit of the body of the blouse; it's loose and comfortable, but the bust darts prevent it from looking formless. 


I'd seen on the RDC site that they had drafted a free downloadable long sleeve pattern piece for this blouse. I decided some sleeves of some description would be a useful addition to get more wear from my blouse, but I wasn't a massive fan of the traditional-looking, full-length, cuffed shirt sleeve design. Instead, I used the sleeve head from the RDC download so I knew it'd fit into the armhole, and frankensteined it with the pattern piece I used for my remade denim Tova top


Version 1:

This isn't my first Republique du Chiffon/Atelier Brunnette project combo. Remember my tragic Areli top fail? Although that project didn't work out, I wasn't put off from combining these two French companies' products again (and then later, again). I got hold of more of the Atelier Brunette Bye Bye Birdy cotton cambric (which basically feels and behaves just like lawn) from Fabric Godmother, this time in black (they also still have the gold version I previously used, as well as pale blue, terracotta and navy). The printed origami bird shapes really pop on this colour way, don't they?


As with my Areli top, working with this fabric was super easy and really enjoyable. Having googled other people's versions of the Suzon blouse, I came to the decision that this project best suited, and deserved, self-covered buttons. So even though I HATE making them (yes, yes, I know there are places that will do it for you, but who has that level of patience to wait?) and my ratio of successful/fail covered buttons is about 2:1, I did it. 


Version 2:

So here she is, hot off the sewing machine! Seeing as the weather is hotting up, and let's face it, I probably don't need two of virtually the exact same garment, I decided to go for the original sleeveless style for this one. Prior to finishing this second version, I only owned one sleeveless top which I wore a lot last summer. Aside from making this version sleeveless, the only other change I made to the pattern was to extend the ruffle piece by about 12cm in total to make it a little fuller. 



I saw this Atelier Brunette Moonstone viscose at Fabric Godmother when I helped out at their open day a couple of months ago. I hadn't intended to come away with any blouse fabric, but whilst cutting lengths of it for shoppers that day, I really fell in love with it. I feel that the print design and colours are way classier than what I'd usually go for, plus it's a breakaway from my usual black/navy/white/red/mustard colour palette, but tonally it's similar to navy so not really a massive departure I guess. 


I have very little experience of sewing with tricksy viscose, so I really took my time cutting and stitching it to minimise the slipping and fraying. Although it creases if you so much as blink in its direction, I love how the ruffles fall in the viscose. Plus, the slinkiness feels so nice against the skin, I can't wait for the next really warm day to take it out for a spin.
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