Me Made May–The first half

Here are some of the items of Me-Made clothing that I have been wearing this month. It’s a great project for me, as it has made me think about how to wear my Me-Made items, and what other items in my wardrobe will go with them.

First up are my Style Arc Barb trousers.  I made these from stretch cotton bought from Fabricland.  I must admit to not wearing them much until now, but I found them so comfortable the day I wore them!  I increased the 'rise' so they really do sit on my waist and there's no 'muffin-top' on show!  I have some black ballet pumps on in this pic which I thought looked quite good, but they are a bit small and very uncomfortable.  Perhaps I will get some more in a bigger size.

Second is the Tova top from Wiksten.  This is made with really cheap polycotton from the market!  But it is quite thin and has a nice drape for this top.  It's a good top for this time of year.  I quite like it with brown leggings and boots.

Third photo is my brown jacket made from Butterick 5623
I love this jacket!  It’s just right for this time of year when a coat is too much.   I’ve worn this a lot just recently.  Here it is worn with grey jeans and red suede ankle boots

Fourth photo – a skirt made from a pattern in the second Great British Sewing Bee book.  I recently had to re-do this as I had sewn the zip in the wrong side!  The fabric is quilting cotton I bought at a quilt show!  It’s got a nice weight to show off the box pleats.   I really like how this looks with the brown jumper (from Next) and brown boots.  The yellow necklace was made by my friend Burnice. I don’t usually wear skirts, but I did find this very comfortable, and can see this skirt being worn a lot.



Fifth photo – Sewaholic Renfrew made with off white knit fabric that came in a big bag of scraps!  I love this pattern, it fits well, and is dead easy to make, although the neck is a bit wobbly where I stretched the binding.  It’s just about wearable!  Think I could do with a bit more practise.  Worn with the grey jeans again.

Sixth photo – Black Deer and Doe plantain top.  I took this in a little bit at the sides, but I think I might shape it a bit more after looking at the photos!  It’s a bit warm for this time of year unless we have a cooler day as it is made from Ponte, which is very warm.

I'm hoping that the weather will continue to warm up in the second half of the month so that I can wear some of the summer stuff I have made.

A New Adventure

Welcome to my new sewing blog!  It's my place to show my me-made items, and hopefully get to know other sewing bloggers.

I have always loved sewing!  I learned how to make clothes when I was a teenager with my mother, who in turn learned from her mother-in-law, my grandmother.  My grandmother worked in Rackhams, a big department store in the centre of Birmingham as a seamstress.  She altered all the lovely gowns to fit the rather upmarket clientele.  It was said that she only had to look at a person and she could cut a dress to fit!  She made me several dresses, including my christening gown.  I'll come back to this in a future post.

Through the years I have revisited dressmaking several times, attending various evening classes, making clothes for myself in my 20s, and for my daughter when she was a little girl. I have again returned to dressmaking, and am attending a drop-in sewing class at More Sewing, a local fabric store.  When I rekindled my love of dressmaking one of the first things I did was read the sewing blogs!  I discovered a whole world of independent designers of dress patterns, and gained lots of extra information from tutorials and sew-alongs.  Not only that, but I love looking at the photos of the items made up in all sorts of colours and textures of fabric, and the pattern hacks.

I became aware that there is quite an interest in vintage patterns.  See Marie from 'A Stitching Odyssey' and Kerry from 'Kestrel Makes' Vintage Pattern Pledge.  I began to search in local charity shops and on eBay, and have amassed quite a collection in a very short time.  I adore the vintage illustrations, they are so cute!  The glamour of the 1960s is my favourite at the moment!  Although I love a good 1970s sundress, or a 1980s ‘Lady Di’ haircut! 

So I have opened an Etsy shop selling vintage patterns, and some vintage sewing notions and haberdashery.  I love the cards of buttons, and the old wooden cotton reels!  And the little cards of press studs and hooks and eyes!  Please do pop over and have a look.  I would love to know what you think!