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?

Me-Made-June '11: Inventory and Aims

Here we are, on the very cusp of my fifth me-made/self-stitched challenge: Me-Made-June '11! I'm excited to see what all the other particpants are going to be rocking this time round, both the returnees and the newcomers. I love to see different peoples' personalities coming through in what they wear, and I really think it's more visable with garments that have been self-stitched. Because that individual was involved in lots of decisions along the way, rather than just whether or not they want to buy the garments, there's so much more creative involvement, even if the project wasn't something the sewer really invested much in.

Anyways, I just completed something that I didn't do for Self-Stitched September or Me-Made-March '11: a me-made clothing inventory. Although it wasn't a conscious decision to avoid doing so, I don't think I bothered in September because I was fresh my clothing cull. Looking at my depleated ranks of garments compared to my Me-Made-May's inventory, in which I found a lot of pride, would have been a bit depressing. And March was just cold. My aim was just to get through the month without wearing the exact same outfit (that outfit consisting of most my clothes all layered up) each day.

But over the last few months I've been steadily beavering away at the sewing machine, churning out garments whilst motivated purely by whim rather than identifying holes in my wardrobe. I thought it'd be interesting to see how things are shaping up. With a high percentage currently in the laundry and not possessing sufficient hangers, I decided not to physically collate my me-mades, like I did back in April '10. Instead, I can offer some stats:

• 4 pairs of trousers
• 7 skirts
• 3 shorts
• 6 blouses/woven tops
• 7 t-shirts/jersey tops
• 6 me-made or refashioned sweatshirts/knitwear
• 5 dresses
• 3 coats/jackets
• 3 vests (for layering under my outfits during the day or as part of my sleepy-time wear)
• enough pants (undies) if I keep up with the laundry
• 2 pyjama bottoms
• 2 jersey tops for sleeping in

So there we have it. It sounds like a decent amount, but I'm not sure if it's all particularly mix and match-able, in terms of silhouette, style or colour. Looking at my stock in the flesh, I can see some gaps already, but I'll see how I get on. It's going to be a learning curve for sure, which of course is the whole point of these shenanigans!

Aside from my pledge to wear both pairs of high-waisted shorts this month in the hope that I will begin to feel comfortable in them, what other aims do I have for MMJune '11? Well, I feel I ought to get some wear from my expanding range of dresses and skirts, or just stop frikkin' making them! I'd like to come up with some new combos of garments rather than relying on my tried and tested set patterns. Plus, identifying those gaps, as previously mentioned, and hopefully filling a couple of them up by sewing some things during the month. And after my free time analysis/revelation yesterday, I really should aim to spend more time blogging this month, as those documentation posts tend to push the other stuff I like to write about here out the way a bit.

If you are participating in this challenge(or even if you are not!), what are your aims for June? I wish you all a very happy and enlightening month! xxx

Tilly's Sewing Productivity Project

So, you may or may not have seen Tilly’s Sewing Productivity Project. It’s pretty ingenious. If my interpretation of it is correct, it has been set up to encourage us to evaluate how we spend our free time, and to see if we can fit in more of the main thing we love doing: making shiz! Tilly has recognised and acknowledged that most creative people often put their favourite activities at the bottom of their list of things to do, when really something that can provide such satisfaction/stress-release/outlet for creativity/therapy/etc. really does deserve to have more time spent on. After all, the positive effects will no doubt spill into all the other areas of our lives, right? I know that after even half an hour pushing forward with a sewing project makes me feel happier, contented and more productive generally, and therefore probably a more positive person, at least in the immediate short term. If days go by and whatever reason I’ve been unable to spend time sewing (on MY stuff, not the sewing I do at work), I find myself feeling antsy and frustrated, and certainly unfulfilled.

So, I’ve been analysing very unscientifically my current sewing schedule. I don’t have the motivation or technical ability to make any amazing graphs like Karen has! Anyways, I would say that I usually sew for approx. 40mins of every lunchtime (Mon-Fri inclusive). I am lucky that I have access to sewing machinery and table space at work, so even though it would probably be healthier to spend my lunch break going for a walk around the nearby park, I much prefer to work on a personal sewing project. I walk to and from work which takes 35mins each way, so I kind of feel that’s taken care of anyway. I don’t sew every evening, but usually grab maybe 40mins a couple of times a week. I rarely sew at the weekends as I tend to visit friends and spend time with my boyfriend, and more recently going for a jog instead as this is stuff that I can’t do much of during the week so I try to pack loads into my weekends (funds permitting). Result: approx. 4 hours 40 mins a week spent sewing my own projects.

There are my observations, what are my aims then? What would I like to change? I’m pleased with how my personal sewing is going, but I’d love to get more done and make a dent in my stash. That’s a subject I want to address in another separate post in the near future. Also, I always seem to have a backlog of projects I want to do and I’d love to tick many of these off so I’m freer to develop new ideas. For example, I’m actively avoiding looking at the Modcloth, Orla Kiely or Anthropologie sites at the moment in case they throw up more inspiration for plans and schemes. AS WELL AS THAT though, I want be able to accommodate those very spontaneous projects when the right fabric and pattern suddenly come together and cry out to be made even though there are already four projects half-finished calling out for my attention! I’ve had a couple of those recently which I’ll blog about soon.

In fact I think the paragraph above has been pretty telling as I wrote it: what I really should do is spend more time blogging and expressing myself that way. I have a backlog of completed sewing projects to blog about along with lots more areas I want to explore write about. I usually find the process of writing for my blog an awesome way to clarify my thoughts on a subject, in a way that I would probably never bother to try to do if I didn’t have a blog. It’s a surprise to me how important writing has become to me, and I really don’t think that is currently reflected in how often I’m blogging at present.

So how am I going to find more time and energy for sewing and writing? My midweek evenings need to be utilised better. Less messing around on the internet, though what I get up to which makes the hours whizz by as they do, I couldn’t say right now! And less of this:


Frikkin’ Governor of Poker 2!

Thoughts on Shorts

Ok, so I was harbouring a minor obsession with high-waisted shorts for the majority of last year, but didn’t have a clue where to begin crafting my own. I bought a couple of vintage trouser patterns which I thought might offer an avenue from which to begin, but I don't think I was entirely sure where I was going with it, so they lay dormant along with the plan in general. Thentowards the end of the year I snared my job making clothes for Traidremade, which has kind of engendered in me a more ‘can-do’ attitude and speed of attack. I voiced my love of the high-waisted shorts genre to my boss who directed me to get on with making a pattern for some already. Plus she furnished me with the final piece of the puzzle: a high waisted skirt pattern.

So the desired pattern got made and I have since made approximately 12 squillion variations of the first batch for our range. I was encouraged to make a pair for myself when I made that first batch, which I documented here, but then Winter hit hard and they never got worn beyond that little photo shoot. When it started to get warmer in April, I decided it was finally time to venture outside in my shorts. In that first shorts post, I voiced a concern with not knowing what to pair them with. Well, I cobbled together this outfit (pictured above and below) for their virgin mission. Not the greatest outfit I've ever rocked, but it worked well enough.

How did I feel? Pretty naked! I liked the supportive feeling round my belly, but I didn't take off my long coat because I felt everyone would be able to see my bum! I took them off as soon as I got home! FAIL.

Well, never one to put a little issue like unwearability between myself and a project, I decided to knock myself up another pair in soft denim. This pair is an inch or so lower at the waist and plainer with no added detailing, thinking this would make the whole concept of wearing high-waisted shorts more paletable. Result: the same. I've worn this pair once. For maybe two hours.

As I posted recently, I've made a very similar pair for my friend Harriet who wasted (nice pun, no?!) no time rocking her pair to various events. The lovely Scruffybadger commented that she wish she was braver to wear such things (although she totally could and I have no-doubt she would look amazing!). However, I can relate to her sentiment!

What's wrong with me?! When I look at these pictures, I think both pairs, especially the denim ones, look pretty good. No-one can see my arse and they aren't nearly as revealing as some stuff some girls wear about town when there is the tiniest hint of sunshine. Is 31 too old to rock short-shorts? My gutt reaction is 'hell no'. Funnily enough, when I lived in Spain I had little-to-no problem rocking my navy and red Ruby shorts. Maybe these new pairs are shorter? maybe it's the way they emphasise my figure more and demand the top to be tucked in rather than hanging looser over my belly area? AGH!!! My brain is mental.

So, I'm setting myself a little challenge to make sure I wear both these pairs of shorts at least once during Me-Made-June '11. Please nag me to keep up with this! I'm going to wear each pair for a whole day or a whole evening out, no matter how uncomfortable I feel to see if that's the nudge I need to get into these (literally!). Do you have any thoughts on shorts?

Announcing: MMJune '11 Brighton Meetup!!!

Howdy peops!!! How are you doing? Exciting news: as I write this, about 100 amazing creative individuals across the globe have signed up to take part in Me-Made-June '11!!!! How incredible is that?! Can you imagine what that would look like if we all met up in Real Life in one room? Well, there is of course the MMJune '11 Flickr group where we can all hang. But sadly, the science of getting is all together in the flesh is beyond me. But I am hoping to bring such a meeting into fruition in a tiny way. Enter: The Me-Made-June '11 Brighton meetup on Saturday 25th June 2011!

Sorry all peops that live outside the UK (or somewhere within the UK which happens to be prohibitively distanced from the South East), I really wish attending was an option for everyone. Maybe you could arrange a meetup where you live if you feel there might be others in your 'hood that might be up for hanging. If you do decide to arrange one yourself, let me know the deets and I'll post about it.

Anyways, please note, the MMJune '11 Brighton meetup isn't just for people who have signed up to the challenge, anyone who is into (or would like to get into) sewing clothes is welcome. The one stipulation though if you aren't already participating in the challenge but would like to come along too, if you own a garment you've made yourself, wear it to the meetup!

The meetup will entail meeting at Brighton train station at a to-be-arranged time, then (in no specific order) going for coffee and a natter, checking out the cream of Brighton's haberdashers and fabric purveyors, snooping around a flea market and street market, having a bite of lunch and maybe a wee G&T if time permits. PLUS, if that wasn't enough to lure you down here, Tilly (who I've been convo-ing with about this meetup) has flagged up that she is feeling a bit guilty about the size of her stash, so ingeniously suggested that we add a little voluntary stash bustin'/ fabric swapping element to this meetup. As y'all know, I'm a total advocate of raiding your stash and sourcing second hand textiles for sewing projects rather than buying new fabric where possible. You may also recall my attempts to encourage giving away and swapping unwanted stash items. In short, this suggestion of Tilly's is so up my street, I'm sometimes asked to feed its cat when it's on holiday.

(image source)

I've got a fair idea of how to organise a stash swap, so if you wish to attend this meetup and happen to have some pieces of fabric that you really can't see yourself using, why not bring them along? Remember, one man's poison is another man's medicine!!! This is, of course, an entirely voluntary section of the meetup, you are in no way obliged to bring any of your beloved fabric with you if you don't want to!

So, if you are free that day and would like to come and hang out by the seaside, leave a comment with your email address or a link where I can easily find your email address, and I'll contact you a little closer to the time to arrange the details. Looking forward to (hopefully) seeing you!

Poetry and Clothing Project: April

In my post last week I introduced my new project, the 'Poetry & Clothing' project, in which I plan to make my lovely friend Harriet at least one garment each month for a year. Thanks to those of you who left a nice comment about it. When I explained to Harriet about the project, I asked her to have a think about any gaps she may have in her wardrobe that I could hopefully help to fill.

Off the top of her head she came up with (in her words):

- plain but cute things!
- narrow plain high waisted skirt (PLEAAAAASE!) any colour
- feminine vintage blouse 40's 50's style or anything you like (ruffles, puffs, whatevs!) totes trust your styling
- round neck t-shirts (striped or plain, long or short sleeved)
- nicely fitted sexy dress (always thinking of that beautiful coral one you made for your cousin's wedding)
- anything and everything high waisted
- absolutely anything with a peter pan collar

So there's my brief. I'll try and tick as many of those criteria as possible before the year is out. It's no secret that I'm pretty committed to trying to live as sustainably as I can (without living in a tepee ;-)). Harriet's definately on the same page as me when it comes to such issues, so even though sending her packages via the post clearly isn't devoid of environmental impact, I will be making all the garments for this project from second hand/unwanted fabric and existing garments. These days, my main source for second hand fabric and garments is the donated stuff we get at work that my boss feels isn't appropriate for our range. The bummer is that very rarely do we receive solid coloured fabric, or at least a colour that doesn't make your feel sick in a quality of fabric that you'd actually like to wear. I'm going to have to dig deep in my stash, think creatively and pray to the gods of donated fabric so I can create Harriet some much needed plain garments.

Anyways, time to 'play catchup' and document what was sent in the first package of this project which was April's. Denim high-waisted shorts! I know for a fact that Harriet has a serious weakness for such things, so I thought that would be a solid place to start.

I used some lovely, soft broken twill denim that I'd had lurking in my stash for years (the other half of which I used for this skirt) and wanted to get busted. The pattern is the high-waisted shorts pattern I developed for work, first shown here. I've since made myself a plain denim pair a while ago also, but haven't got round to blogging them yet (slack!). I had to squeeze the pieces out from the fabric for Harriet's pair, so they didn't end up quite as high-waisted as the original pattern, but I think the end result are more wearable that way.

I was also tempted to add buttons or some sort of tab detail but decided to keep them plain for maximum outfit adaptability! Inside I added one of my little 'Electric Pussycat' labels, which I usually reserve for my bag making escapades, but I had them to hand and I love how much more special garments tend to look with a little label attached.

The second garment that squirrelled itself into April's package is a jersey top that was the result of some lunchtime experimentation. A vague garment idea that had been floating about in my head and I wanted to see how this teal stretchy stuff from my stash behaved when made into a garment. I love the look of the final outcome, but the fit was a bit wierd on my figure, so I thought maybe it would work better for Harriet. If not, no loss, as a recent email has confirmed the denim shorts are a winner and have been worn with braces by both Harriet and Lola (Harriet's 1920's tapdancing alter ego!)!