Some of you may know that I took up dressmaking in earnest in 2013 i.e. we are discounting and nevermentioningagain the "patterns / learning to operate the sewing machine correctly / vaguely human shapes are for LOSARS" artefacts I used to whip up as a teen before tangling rakishly about my person, with a, "....they're DECONSTRUCTED, okay?"drawl.
Er... anyway, so this is one hobby that's definitely taken off this time 'round -- to outstrip makeup periodically(!) -- and I decided to take part in 'Me Made May' (read more) this year. My personal pledge is very simple: to incorporate at least one self-made garment into every outfit for the whole month with bonus points (by which I mean cake) for building the outfit around the garment, hopefully to avoid cheating with self-knit scarves thrown over an entirely shop-bought outfit towards the end of the month....
My ultimate aim is to make almost all of my own clothing, as I already do with knitwear, and since my brain likes to convince itself that vintage '30s bias-cut satin slinky full length gowns can totes be daywear while pattern/fabric shopping, hopefully this MMM project will provide visual evidence of 1. which makes really do fit best into my life and 2. the most pressing (er, gaping?) gaps in my emerging self-sewn wardrobe. Towards the end of the month, as I run out of items, MMM will hopefully act as a spur to finish off those boring fiddly details I usually put off like hemming, understitching linings/facings by hand, sewing buttons, blocking knits etc. Or as a spur to do laundry. *shifty eyes*
...I may be teetering on the edge of the bandwagon already :P My Sunday 'outfit' consisting of all PJ's all the time. But I did make my own bunny slippers:
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I do have a wedding to attend next Sunday, so there'll be actual clothings next week :P
But for now, here's this week's roundup. ForSCIENCE POSTERITY.
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pattern: Burda Jenny C, lengthened in both waistband and skirt body to take account of my 5'8"+ long torso and tapered more sharply at the hem made to make more of a wriggle skirt.
fabric: black Ponte di Roma jersey (cotton blend)
shop-bought: Anthropologie cotton shirt
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Er... anyway, so this is one hobby that's definitely taken off this time 'round -- to outstrip makeup periodically(!) -- and I decided to take part in 'Me Made May' (read more) this year. My personal pledge is very simple: to incorporate at least one self-made garment into every outfit for the whole month with bonus points (by which I mean cake) for building the outfit around the garment, hopefully to avoid cheating with self-knit scarves thrown over an entirely shop-bought outfit towards the end of the month....
My ultimate aim is to make almost all of my own clothing, as I already do with knitwear, and since my brain likes to convince itself that vintage '30s bias-cut satin slinky full length gowns can totes be daywear while pattern/fabric shopping, hopefully this MMM project will provide visual evidence of 1. which makes really do fit best into my life and 2. the most pressing (er, gaping?) gaps in my emerging self-sewn wardrobe. Towards the end of the month, as I run out of items, MMM will hopefully act as a spur to finish off those boring fiddly details I usually put off like hemming, understitching linings/facings by hand, sewing buttons, blocking knits etc. Or as a spur to do laundry. *shifty eyes*
...I may be teetering on the edge of the bandwagon already :P My Sunday 'outfit' consisting of all PJ's all the time. But I did make my own bunny slippers:
pattern: hopsalots by tinyowlknits
yarn: Rowan Purelife Organic British Sheep Breeds Mid-Brown Blue Faced Leicester, with other leftover Rowan scraps.
I do have a wedding to attend next Sunday, so there'll be actual clothings next week :P
But for now, here's this week's roundup. For
Thursday, May 1st: black pencil skirt
A typical this-is-why-I'm-not-a-fashion-blogger uniform of mine -- prepared to be bored by many more looser shirt+slim skirt or fitted shirt+voluminous skirt combos over the month.
fabric: black Ponte di Roma jersey (cotton blend)
shop-bought: Anthropologie cotton shirt
Friday May 2nd: forest green pullover
Vaguely schoolgirlish/marmish getup. It became suddenly and unfeasibly cold in London, and I was flying to an even colder European city, so the opaques came out of storage :P
pattern: Peabody by Leila Raabe
yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Shelter US Targhee-Columbia wool in Button Jar
shop-bought: COS shirt, Japanese wool skirt, Falke Pure Matt 100 tights, Duo ankle boots
Saturday May 3rd: taupe coatigan
In the even-colder European city, I brainlessly recreated an outfit I've worn often over this past winter:
pattern: Holt from Smoulder by Kim Hargreaves, lengthened, with significantly slimmer sleeves (srsly)
yarn: Rowan Big Wool (squishy merino) + black wood buttons
yarn: Rowan Big Wool (squishy merino) + black wood buttons
shop-bought: Topshop Boutique black silk shift (c.2002), 7FAMK mid-rise skinnies,
Russell & Bromley ankle boots
Detail of the buttons, which took me longer to choose and then sew on than the entire sweater took to knit:
And the projects I'm aiming to finish in time to wear next week?
A simple, girly blouse eked out of some Liberty lawn leftover from a top I made for mum for Mother's Day:
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| bodice assembled, but decided at the last minute to insert pleats into the sleeves XD |
Lacy cardigan cannibalised from an old project whose fit I was never satisfied with, so DESTROYED:
reskeined and washed yarn hung up to dry
SHINY NEW THING I will no doubt unmake in a few years because crazy like that:
^This is my knit-three-bits-of-a-sweater-simultaneously-because-I-don't-know-how-much-length-I-can-get-from-my-recycled-yarn process. Quite brain-knotting, and not v. conducive to catching all the subtle nuances in (a much improved on the previous season!) Mad Men.