Me-Made-June '11: Days 10, 11 & 12 (plus a cheat for charity!)

Helloooooo. Hope you had a great weekend. This post proves I spent mine in hand-made wares, mostly!

Day 10:

• Black sailor trousers
• Sacred heart blouse
• Refashioned cardi
• Pants
• Coat

In case you were wondering, I was trying to perfect a jump-photo, like the girls on America's Next Top Model, as they always get commended for 'thinking outside the box' and attempting a jump in their shoots. It's frikkin' hard though, maybe I'll nail it by the end of the month.

Day 11:

• Black sailor trousers
• Black stretch top
• Refashioned cardi
• Pants
• Coat

I travelled to my old home town on Day 10 to spend the weekend with my fam and friends, so you'll no doubt detect a lack of variation in outfits for these three days. However, I was able to answer the perennial question: can one successfully rock hand-made garms to a cider and perry festival somewhere in the middle of the Essex countryside? YES! In case you were in any doubt.

Day 12 (morning):

• No me-mades!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you even believe it?! The very creator of Me-Made-June '11 has cheated her own challenge rules and is wearing not a stitch of her own creation! And she appears to be proud of herself! Well, me and my lovely mummy there did a 5K sponsored run called Race for Life, for the charity Cancer Research UK, along with about 7000 other women.

In fact, seeing as I'm in a confessional mood, I'll admit to having regularly donned non-me-made sportswear throughout this month. I could have knocked up a me-made T-shirt to run in, and I doubt a pair of sweat trousers wouldn't be beyond my abilities, but I really don't see the point in making me-made sportswear just for the sake of this challenge when I already own a drawer full of old sportswear that I can through on for an hour to sweat in. All my sportswear was either bought by myself years ago or given to me fairly recently as hand-me-downs. When these existing items eventually become unwearable, unless my best mate donates me even more of her unwanted sporty garms, I'll happily replace them with me-made versions, particularly if I can find suitable fabric secondhand. That's really how I hope most challenge-participants are approaching Me-Made-June '11: making themselves items that will be useful to them, that maybe fill a 'wardrobe gap', rather than making essentially multiples of things they already own which serve the exact same function, years before that original is due to perish. As awesome as rocking me-made garments is, I can't see making garments which function identically as things you already own as a particularly sustainable or useful tack.

Day 12 (afternoon):

• Black sailor trousers
• Long-sleeved leopard top
• Refashioned cardi
• Pants
• Coat

I'm back in me-mades. Hope you haven't lost faith in me!

Me-Made-June '11: Days 7, 8 & 9

Hi peops, time for more proof that I've been sticking to my word and fulfilling my pledge to wear only me-made garms for the duration of the month.

Day 7:

• Denim sailor trousers
• Stripey T-shirt
• Remade jumper
• Pants
• Yellow jacket to and from work

That's a pretty nautical outfit I'm rocking there! I approve. I'd like to think that my furry colleague, Piglet, also approved, but I doubt he had much of an opinion on the matter considering the subject in question didn't involve him eating someone's sandwiches or running around the park:

Day 8:

• Massive flower mini skirt
• Mustard T-shirt (not visible)
• Saint cardigan
• Pants
• Leopard coat to and from work

I'll be honest with you, I'm basically falling in love with this skirt. The fabric is just too awesome. Every time I caught a glimpse of it in the mirror, it made me smile. It feels really nice to wear as well. The impulse-project mustard T-shirt I recently made does go nicely with it, as I'd hoped, but it was too damn chilly in the studio to wear my cardi open so you'll just have to trust me until a warmer day graces us.

Day 9:

• Navy sateen skirt
• Remade jumper
• Vest
• Pants
• Leopard coat to and from work

Yes, more unseasonal knitwear. Oh well, I have to remind myself I didn't move from Spain to the UK for the weather. I love this skirt though. I forget in between me-made challenges how much I love this skirt. The sateen has some stretch in it, and it's washed into a really soft texture so it feels so nice to wear. I preferred wearing it when I had red tights to rock with it, but they died and I've failed to replace them. I'm going to stop my outfit-based wittering now and wish you all a lovely weekend, see you on the other side!

Poetry and Clothing Project: May

Time to update you on the progress of my 'Poetry and Clothing' project in which I'm making at least one garment a month for a year for my inspirational and super-talented friend Harriet. The first installment was in April, and now that May's package is firmly in her mitts, I'm safe to divulge its contents.

Using my latest pattern obsession (which could soon rival Simplicity 3835 for my affections), I made Harriet a Simplicity 2451 in some of the leftover spotty sateen from my Ceylon dress. This curtain-in-a-former-life fabric was the perfect weight for this style, plus it doesn't crease particularly easily so this skirt should hold its shape well when worn all day. It's possibly not quite the basic wardrobe staple she could really do with, but hopefully it is plain enough to match its way into a few outfits.

Along with the skirt travelled a canvas bag I got at a recent etsy networking meetup I went to (which wasn't particularly useful or interesting, but I got to have a natter plus there was free wine).

In response to the package I sent her in April, harriet wrote me a poem, it's so beautiful that it seems a shame for it to only be read by myself. I'm sure she won't mind, want to read it?

April

She was on the right side of light
tucked her edges between nautical stripes.

She found gambling to be
much as the films had promised and

played poker out on deck, with a frosted glass
in one hand and the ocean in the other.

She forgot the sickening tug of the tide,
or that she has hidden somewhere up her sleeve

that loyalty was to love them and leave them
and love them in the creases of here to there.

She wore battered plastic (low tide treasure)
and a well-worn squint (high sun demanded it)

time was elastic out there, throwing buttons
into the swell for good luck

to wash up, stretched and new
on someone else's shore.


I feel so special to have had a poem written for me!

Me-Made-June '11: Days 4, 5 & 6

So, let's do this!:

Day 4, AKA 'Self-Stitched-Skirt-Saturday', (daytime):

• Cotton blouse
• Denim skirt
• Pants

Plus, the world's pastiest legs! It was sooooper hot on Saturday, so I was able to reach for one of my standard outfits from my Barcelona days. This cotton blouse is really fine and not at all clingy, so great for sticky days.

Day 4, AKA 'Self-Stitched-Skirt-Saturday', (evening):

• Black stretch top
• Black sateen Jenny skirt
• Pants

Poker and cocktails night!!!!!!!!!! It's tricky trying to figure out what to wear when you are just staying in your own flat for the evening, but want to rock a femme-card shark kind of look. How much is too much?! I've got my ganster shoes on that I picked up at a charity shop for £5, and seeing as they are too high to actually walk anywhere in, this was kind of the perfect evening to rock them!

I felt really good in this outfit, because I think it's a pretty good reflection of my style as it currently stands: kind of kitschy-glam with a vintage flavour. Actually, looking at the pics again, it's not as kitschy or glam as I'm capable of, but considering the other players rocked up in jeans or shorts and T-shirts (except for my boy, Patty, who rocked a ludicrous black and gold vintage western shirt, gawd bless 'im!) I felt the most flashy in the room!

Day 5:

• Jam-jam bottoms
• Long sleeved leopard top
• Pants

Despite what you may have expected, I wasn't as hungover as you'd think on Day 5. I'm rocking a comfy top and jam-jams because it was raining and I had no plans to go outside, considering I'd been so busy the day before preparing food and drinks, cleaning and tidying the flat, hanging paintings and buying lamps. That leopard top really was worth the making. It's very versatile. During Winter, I rock it with a vest underneath and cardi over the top, but now it's a little warmer, it acts like a lightly more flattering sweatshirt.

Day 6:

• Bustier T-shirt
• Grey wool dress (recently fixed coz I'd made a rubbish job of the back slit and a belt loop broke)
• Refashioned cardi
• Pants

Today was a throroughly miserable day. I wish I could have stayed at home again in my jam-jams, so grey and chilly. Anyways, this dress turned out to be a major investment in effort. I'm going to make some more wool dresses for next Autumn if the fabric surfaces.

If you are playing with this challenge, how are you getting on so far? Any notable observations or revelations?!

My Stash Amnesty: May 2011

I know that sewing your own clothes and accessories isn't a carbon-neutral activity. I wish it was, but I'm very aware that every time I put the 'pedal to the metal' of my sewing machine or overlocker, I'm contributing to the depletion of fossil fuels. Also, the new zips, thread, elastic, pattern cutting paper and whatever else I use during the process has to be manufactured, often packaged, and then transported and distributed before I get my mitts on it. Arse, I know.

However, I really believe that it is worthwhile to sew with fabric or old garments that have been sourced secondhand, or that we already have in our stash where possible, rather than heading to the fabric shop for every project. I think that can make a big impact on making this passtime of ours a more environmentally friendly activity. I know that can be tricky, particularly if you are just starting out sewing, but I bet that almost every sewer who's been at it for six months or more is sitting on at least 10 metres of fabric they've hoarded. I certainly know I am!

Which is what I wish to come clean about today. I have been sewing from secondhand and pre-hoarded stuff almost exclusively for quite a while now (I've only bought 2 metres of fabric since the start of this year) but I see my stash as a pile of potential, which is just sitting there when it could be turned into fantastic garments giving people joy to wear, or given to other sewers in fabric form for them to have the pleasure of doing with it what they will.

The vast majority of the fabric I own in Brighton (there's also a stash under the bed in my folks' spare room, but I'll deal with that another day) lives on a table at work. It makes more sense to keep it there as there's more space and that's where all my patterns also live. The big table in the studio is better for cutting out on than our little dining table at home, so I tend to start a project in my lunch break then bring it home to work on as pieces waiting to be constructed. The table where my fabric and garment mountain lives is where I'm meant to keep my bag, so every morning I am greeted with a duel pang of love and guilt when I see it all. So, the other night after work I stayed a while sorting and folding so it looks more organised (see above). As you can see, it now consists of three piles.

The vintage prints and patterns (basically fabric porn!):

Plain and modern prints/patterns. Pieces all big enough to form a garment or half a garment:

Odds and sods pile which includes scraps that could be used for contrast pieces, small pieces for undies-making, lace and garments awaiting refashioning inspiration:

Two examples of garments I have awaiting refashioning/fabric harvesting are; this super-pre-loved ratty shirt which has a lovely stripe. When I get round to it I plan to turn it into a Peter Pan collared blouse like this, the process of which I plan to document and make a kind of 'how-to'. Coming to a computer near you soon....

Also, this dowdy dress. the print is a pretty autumnal floral design which looks so 1940's to me. I've got a blouse pattern in mind for this too.

In total, I've got 34 pieces of fabric crying out to be made into something wonderful, but this number is set to rise. Almost every time we get a delivery at work (every two weeks), I usually ended up with a few more bits that aren't appropriate for using in our range. I really want to avoid my stash spiralling out of control. I find it overwhelming and difficult to focus on ideas for new projects when there's so much raw material staring at me. Plus, I know I'm in a very fortunate position to be able to add to my stash with secondhand textiles, so if I can't see myself using something, I want to share the love.

Basically, I'm firmly recommitting myself to my Stash Bustin' pledge. My aim is to log new additions every two weeks if the delivery results in aquistions for myself. Then I plan to use or give away at least that number of pieces until the next time I receive some more stuff, you with me? So if I end up with two refashionable garments and three pieces of fabric one week, I have to use or give away at least five items from my stash before I'm allowed any more. Plus there's the not-so-small matter of that heap of fabric lurking at my folks'. I'm off there next weekend so I'll dig through it whilst I'm there. I'm looking forward to the Me-Made-June '11 celebration meetup/fabric swap to offload some of my long-hoarded treasures. I hope to see you there! I also know some lovely ladies who are starting out sewing, so I plan to flow them some nuggets along the way to hopefully encourage and inspire them further.

So, what are your throughts on your stash? Are you a 'the person with the most fabric, wins' or more of a feng shui'd manageable stash kind of person? Is feeling guilty for owning lots of fabric a commonly felt state, or am I just mental? 'Your thoughts on a postcard...'or in the comments section please!

Me-Made-June '11: Days 1, 2 & 3

Hi peops! Here we go, time to start the documentation of my outfits for Me-Made-June '11, or as my boss has decided it should be called: Making-More-of-an-effort-June.

Day 1:

• Beignet skirt
• stripey long-sleeved T-shirt
• Saint cardigan
• pants
• coat

This outfit was pretty comfy and it felt good to be rocking a more vibrant look than I probably would have scraped together!

Day 2:

• high-waisted shorts
• stripey boat neck T-shirt
• pants
• coat to and from work
• refashioned green cardi when it was chilly

You know me, I'm not the kind of lady to avoid a challenge. I'm the kind that invents the challenges, no?! That's the kind of thought process I was trying to adopt when I realised in the morning of Day 2 that it was going to be sunny and warm enough to put on some of my shorts and fulfill half of my self-inflicted short-wearing challenge. I wore them with my most opaque (opaquest?) tights and my leopard coat which covers my bum on the way to work. But actually during the day I felt really comfortable in them. When I caught a glimpse of myself in them, they made me smile, and the didn't really feel much different from wearing a really short skirt. By the end of the day when it was really warm, I felt confident enough to walk home without wearing my bum-covering coat! In public! I think I'm converted. Though I don't think I would have felt as ok as I did if I hadn't had the opaque tights on. Maybe flesh tights or no tights are the next frontier I need to cross? Watch this space...

Day 3

• black sailor trousers
• mustard jersey top
• swallow detail 50's jacket
• pants

After two days of having my belly squished wearing tights, I wanted to rock a pair of trousers. Day 3, I took the opportunity to wear my black sailor trousers with my new mustard jersey top, a well-worn favourite garment with newbie on its maiden voyage. The slinky quality of the fabric felt lovely, particularly as it turned into a really warm day. I would have felt more comfortable if it was 3-4cms longer. As my boss suggested, I could add a contrast band of something to the hem, but I don't think that would look very good, but I think it'll work really well tucked into my high-waisted black Jenny skirt, though I will still try it out with the massive flower mini skirt that I initially hoped it would work with.

I love this jacket though. I made this ages ago, even before I started this blog in fact. It's made from cotton mix sateen, though somehow it's got really soft so it can be used as a kind of cardi rather than strictly in a jacket-sense

Here's one more pic as I take on the flickr group's mini-challenge of spinning for our documentation photo. I think the point was to wear a full skirt to make a lovely twirling shape, but I wasn't going to let my lack of full-skirts prevent me rising to a challenge!

Impulse Projects

Now, these two new projects of mine don't have a lot in common, I grant you. One is worn on bottom, the other on the top. One is made from woven fabric and the other is from stretch/jersey. So why am I posting about them together? Well, two reasons: 1) I'm trying to catch up with all the things I have lined up to blog about, and 2) they are both impulse projects.

By impulse projects, I mean that I didn't plan on making them that day. In fact, I started making them the split second I had the idea for them. You know those annoying times when you have a pile of fabric and a pile of patterns but somehow they just don't seem to provide a suitable combination for a new creation? Well, I'm talking about the opposite occurance, where the fabric and pattern scream at you and demand to be made THAT INSTANT. I'm not saying that this is a regular event, it's as rare as my boyfriend doing the hoovering unsolicited (i.e, about once every three months. Don't worry, he's stopped reading my blog which is why I can get away with comments like that). But a couple of these occurances have cropped up on me very recently so I'd best get explaining myself.

The first on the agenda is this natty high-waisted skirt of a particularly nautical persuasion. This impulse creation was actually part of a small run I made at work. Normally my boss makes the decisions of what gets made that week from the donated fabrics and garments we receive, because we have very little time to spend on the design process and she is a much more inventive designer with a better grasp on our customer base than I. My design input tends to come in the form of suggestions for details and adaptions, though occassionally I do have an idea of some garments to make which I 'pitch' to her and usually get accepted, which is what happened in this case. The stripey twill came in, I remembered some leather cut out anchors we got some work experience kid to do ages ago, and a design was born. As I might have explained in the past, if I am in love with a particular style and there is sufficient fabric as to not limit the number I'm making for the range, I am allowed to cut an extra one for myself. It's a little perk of the job, which isn't very well paid so the odd garments here and there is a welcome form of payment! PLUS we are representing our brand by rocking the garms, no?

Now, I'm not a pastel kind of girl, but my gut was telling me I could rock this colour as it should sit well with the navy and red elements in my current wardrobe. Plus I had a spare navy leather anchor already cut out and sitting in my stash I was planning on using for a bag project but never got round to using. That's how into nautical stuff I am, I have spare anchor details cut out and ready to go!

So, I made it up, using my lunch break to stitch on the leather bit as that takes ages and I didn't want to be cheeky and do the time-consuming bit on the clock. It's got a simple back slit to allow for movement, and a zip with exposed zip teeth (this is the method I use for most of the zips I put into skirts and shorts for work because I find it's the quickest). I'm actually really proud of this garment because I've made it with the cleanest finish I know I am currently capable of. That is in part massive thanks to the lovely, well behaved twill fabric, also because I concentrated my arse off and wanted to do a good job. My only gripe is that it came out maybe two inches shorter than I would have preferred. Unfortunately, there's no hem allowance to take down to correct this, but it's more than wearable as it is. I was kind of thinking it might look cute to run with the anchor theme and pair it with my ship shape navy blouse:

The second impulse creation wasn't part of our range. The fabric is some incredibly silky slinky jersey in a difficult-to-describe mustard/yellow/gold colour. I have a massive thing for mustard/yellow shades so absorbed this fabric into my stash through some form of osmosis, as I don't recall taking it. It was little more than a bunch of scraps, no longer useful for our range, so taking it from the work fabric stores wasn't as naughty as it sounds! But since its absortion, it had been sitting in my stash for months crying out to be busted.

I already had a couple of projects on the go at work (I tend to have separate sewing projects on underway at work than the ones I have on the go at home) but this was screaming to be made into a scoop-neck, gathered sleeve top instead. I had the pattern pieces so I cut it out during my lunch break and stitched it together at the end of the day. Cutting it out was no easy task as there was very little of the fabric left, therefore it has short sleeves and is slightly shorter in length than I would usually go for. The fabric is really fine, so I simply left the sleeves and hem edges overlocked rather than than overlocking then turning and stitching to finish them as I would normally. I harvested a tiny thin strip of the fabric to use as neck binding. The entire construction was completed on the overlocker, making this lightening fast to construct. The result is quite a skimpy little top, which will push my comfort levels when wearing (bit conscious of my belly!) but I'll give it a whirl.

I did think it might go with my massive flower mini skirt which is threatening to be a lonely wardrobe-orphan, if the world can handle that much of my flesh and form at one time!

Have you had any impulse project experiences, where the elements suddenly came together and demanded action? Were you pleased with the results?