Me Made May 14 - Week Two Overview

Well, here we are rocking halfway through May and the Me Mades just keep on coming.  There's soooo much inspiration that I feel will keep me going for a whole year until Me Made May 15. 

So, for now here's my week two roundup:-

I do love this old favourite broderie anglais shift dress worn for Day 8.  It's such a good work staple and wears so well. 

Day 9 and my teal 1940s style dress saw the light with a cream (not MM) layer.  I was in two minds whether to keep hold of this one but now, seeing it worn again, it will stay in the wardrobe for occasional outings.

Saturday being Day 10 and Eurovision on the telly saw me rooting for the UK in my "London" dress.  Made specially for the Jubilee in 2012 it doesn't get many wearings, but will do now after so many lovely comments from fellow Me Makers

Dress down and casual was the order of the day on Sunday's Day 11 so out of the drawer came my lightweight little ditzy print grey flower frill top (phew - what a long description!) with comfortable un Me Made leggings.

Back to work on day 12 with a recent make inspired by blogger Julia Bobbin and her Mad Men theme.  I wore it with a lace vest underneath and even got compared to a make by the great Vivienne Westwood (faint!)

 

 Day 13 and I was accompanied today by modelling assistant, Louie, who looked lovely as he celebrated his birthday in his neat bow tie.  I wore my fitted flower dress and matching Me Made brooch and Louie got a whole heap of comments and stole the limelight somewhat!

My shoes inspired make for Day 14 was my recently finished leopard and cobalt trimmed HUGE sleeved blouse - it's making me think French chic for some reason.  The blouse got another good reception so will be making many more outings. 

Hope all you Me Makers are enjoying the ride.  Roll on Week Three!!

Happy sewing

Linda x

Animal Print and Cobalt - Burda November 2013 - Number 130

Well, it was the beginning of February when I visited Barry's Fabric Market in Birmingham and purchased a stash of fabric amongst which was a leopard print chiffon georgette.  A later pootle round the Bull Ring and I caught sight of these Dune Dita Shoes and fell in love.  I decided as the shoes were somewhat expensive I would put my sewing skills into action to make a me-style top incorporating the cobalt blue and animal print sassy look.

The pattern used is a Burda Style November 2013, number 130 and I decided that my 2m of chiffon georgette would be perfect for this soft fabric top with vastly oversized sleeves.  I do love a quirk and so added in more trim to the cuffs plus the neck slash at the front and back.

I do so love a big sleeve and these large beauties have a tuck to a gather and movement with this floaty fabric.  The bias edging and cuffs were a bit fiddly and the cuffs actually took 3 attempts due to the first band being too narrow (oops) and the second one being too tight (doh!).  The third attempt, happily, worked, but the cuffs ended up a tad larger than I'd like.By that time I was done with unpicking cuffs!

 I even managed to find a matching button from my button box for the back fastening.(Matches so well you can hardly see it!)

This would be a good work top with smart trousers or skirt or a beach top with a bikini so becomes a multi tasking garment.

Ease factor:  Straightforward, apart from the fiddly cuffs, with three main pieces - front/back/sleeves.
Cost: 2 metres at about £4.00 per metre + a little cobalt edging from satin purchased for another make.

Do you like an animal print - I'd love to know?

Happy sewing

Linda x

Me Made May 14 - Week One Overview

Can't tell you how excited I was when I realised I was in time to be part of this years fabulous sewing challenge organised by Brighton sewing blogger Zoe of So Zo What Do You Know......  The 30th April felt like Christmas Eve!!  I joined in the Flickr MMM14 group to where lots of makes are being showcased.

The challenge was your own as long as it included me made and it got me to thinking about some long ago worn garments that hadn't yet been consigned to the charity shop box.  Day 1 saw the return of this fitted skirt with buttons and faux pockets.  Yeayy.... it looked good and received a good reception. 

Day 2 was the turn of a new item - a gold fine knit - blogged here  with Day 3 seeing an old favourite come out in the form of the silk bubble dress, as blogged here at Indian Summer Clothes, but worn unbelted and with a long sleeved tee for the challenge due to a cold breeze here in Sussex.

Day 4 saw me rummaging in the loft and pulling out a dotty georgette unloved piece, which has now been returned to the wardrobe for future outings.

On Day 5 my strapless stretch asymmetric hem made an appearance, usually worn in the evening and languishing in the "don't throw may wear again someday" drawer, turned into a day dress with the help of another long sleeved tee.

Day 6 was an outing for a super comfy dotty (oh, no used up all my dots for Friday 9th May theme!) 3/4 sleeve top with lingerie lace embellishment at the hem.

I ended week one with my take on the Feminine Wardrobe cotton satin and sash dress as blogged here. 

What a lovely week, and still more than three weeks to go!  Its so lovely seeing all the creations from seamstresses all over the world, garnering ideas for new projects and finding my style. 

More creations very soon.

Happy sewing

Linda x



Burda Gold Top - January 2001/118

As an interlude between blogging about partaking in the wonderful Me Made May 2014, as organised by Zoe of So Zo... What Do You Know? and an overview of my first week, I thought I would share a recent make in the form of a gold knit top - Me Made May Day 2 (Flickr - MeMadeMay14)

This was a fairly easy make with a front/back/sleeves and a scarf - oh and a little pocket and flap. I do love a 3/4 sleeve.

The body and sleeves were a basic put together and pocket made use of my practice of creating a curve as used on my Frills-Definitely A Learning Curve post. 

This was how the scarf looked once I had sewn one edge to the body and sewn and turned the ends.  It was a light fabric to work with so I just pressed and pinned the inside edge and machine stitched it very carefully along the edge of the turn through the neck. Worked a treat and no hand sewing - woo hoo!

A small working pocket on one side with a flat and sweet gold button gave the top a further bit of interest.  The photo makes the fabric look a little stretched but that's just the light, not the fabric!

Here's a nice view of the scarf and dart. 

I did originally think that the fabric might be a bit "Christmassy" being gold and all, and it got consigned to the loft, but after signing up for Me Made May 14 and having a rummage upstairs I thought, hey, why not.  It's not too festive and actually dresses up a dark separate and looks flattering against most skin tones.

Ease factor:  Easy - even the scarf piece and the fabric behaved itself so was easy to sew.
Cost:  Can't remember as this fabric was purchased ages ago, probably around 1.5 metres

Happy sewing.

Linda x