30 - 31 March: That's all!

Phew! The end of me made March! I soooooo don't care what I wear tomorrow.... luckily it's a casual day at work, so no one else will care either :-)




Today was definitely cold, but I was determined to wear this skirt that I didn't think I'd worn this month (please correct me if I'm wrong).  

The skirt is made from Vogue 1038, but I shortened the skirt to knee length. It's an unlined skirt with waistband made from a single piece that wraps around you from one edge of the zip to the other, but the front and back are your usual 3 pieces - the waistband was a little too big when I made it and a bity bigger now. This is a good thing but the skirt needs a longish top to cover up the gaping.

The fabric I used was some $5/metre ex-Cue fabric from Tessuti - some kind of lightweight stretch suiting material. I didn't do a great job with this; I am not proud of all that puckering along the hem (which is also too shallow) and in various places around the waistband.

My top and jacket are not me made - my favourite orange top, bought on sale at Veronika Maine a year or so ago, and a rather old Blooms jacket that my mum was throwing out as "too worn" about 5 years ago.  I like the shape of the neckline on this jacket. Nor are my shoes - favourite orange flatties from nine west, now getting rather scuffed and stained.

And yesterday looked to be a bit cold, so this is what I wore:

* Ancient me made jacket - to be quite honest, I probably made it 20 years ago (when I was 2 ;-)). I think it was made from a Burda pattern but I don't know where the pattern is so I can't tell you the number - guess it's OOP anyway.
* RTW sleeveless blue top. This top has a zip down the centre back that starts at the neckline and is just the wrong length - when you tuck the top in to your waistband you are tucking in the lower part of the zip, which feels pretty uncomfortable. If I'd made this myself it would have been a shorter zip!
* Me made Vogue 1098 Anne Klein pants, previously posted here.A terrible thing happened to these pants later - when I was hanging them up I pulled the zip on the fly up a little and the zip pull came right off! Oops - I'd forgotten I'd cut this zip down in an unthinking manner. I've already had to rethread the zip pull back on once during construction and it took a really long time. I'm not sure I can be bothered again.
* Old shoes that I don't wear very much, Witchery sunnies.

You've seen both the jacket and pants before, but here are a couple of my original pics:



 

 

I've signed up for Sherry's RTW Jacket Sewalong, which I'm really excited about, but I think I'll need a little breather first. We're supposed to have our muslins ready, but all I have is my pattern and fabric:

28 & 29 March: Still Going...

We're nearing the end of me made March, and I'm glad to say I'm still managing to find a few "new" me made things to wear!

This top is something I had thought was a UFO...  it's a test version of the Vogue 1120 DKNY dress made up as a top using a metallic gold fabric that I bought at one of those bargain bookshops that pop up for a few weeks then disappear. I had sewn up a belt to go with it, but was waiting on inspiration for the buckle or something, and also I'd been thinking I needed to sew some tiny vintage beads around the neckline to keep the pleats down.  I don't think I'm ever going to find time for beadwork, and in any event the pleats have settled down now - yay!

I think the top passed. This is no longer classified as a UFO.

Outfit notes: Skirt - bought about 5 years ago from Witchery, made from black ponte di roma fabric. My son's watch that he isn't interested in wearing. Black nine west flats as usual. Sprig from a lavender bush - me made (lol) in the course of hacking back some overgrown plants.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yesterday was a bit chilly, and I wore a skirt that I think looks pretty unflattering on.  It's this grey linen tulip skirt with sash and slanted side pockets from a BurdaStyle magazine issue from last year - I forget which issue, but I think the skirt was paired with a pale lemon short sleeved blouse with two parallel lines of buttons down the front. It looked pretty cute on the model... of course.

Although I know this look is a bit drab it's the best I could come up with for the shape of the skirt. The black jumper (country road) has puffed elbow length sleeves and a scoop neckline - I thought the puffiness of the skirt needed to be balanced out by some kind of sleeve puffiness above. I wore the same as usual black flat nine west shoes. Habit!

These are end of the day photos - please excuse the crumples and weary face.

 

I made this skirt up in the size that corresponded to my measurements, but was disappointed to find a lot of ease seemed to have been included in the waist – I added extra folds (hidden near the side seams) to take up this excess width but am not very happy about it. Also the pleats on the back of the skirt make an exaggerated shape...  The fabric is a lovely heavy-ish pure linen from my ancient stash though. 

 
 Sometimes clothes look nicer flat on the grass.

26 & 27 March: with a nip in the air...

My me made pool of clothes not yet worn in March is getting more limited, but on weekends there's no corporate dress code to consider so everything is possible!

The weather today was cool and damp, so I decided to wear this summery dress with a cosy cardigan. The dress is from Vogue 1179 DKNY, made in a good quality jersey from Tessuti fabrics, and the cardigan is an ancient one from Witchery.  I was barefoot most of the time, but when I did go out briefly I wore the shoes pictured (from Wittner). I used to wear this dress a lot until the combined effect of "sack" comments from my partner and a large rear-view in a lift mirror put my off it. I think I did a good job with the dress, but the design may accentuate certain curves seen from behind :-).

 





And here's a photo that shows the dress better - taken when I'd just finished it:





Yesterday was cooler, and I was out and about a bit going to the GP, the shops and a family dinner, so here's what I wore...

Trenery jeans and jumper, camper shoes, Witchery sunnies, me made t-shirt and bag.

I blogged about the t-shirt back in December; it's a hybrid made from V1013 and V1128 that looks like this up close:


The sleeve shape means it layers well over a close-fitting long sleeve t-shirt too.

The bag was  made using a small piece of loose woven cotton from No Chintz in Sydney, with a layer of wadding then some interfaced thin cotton.

The pattern came from Ric Rac's blog, but I had to make a shorter strap - not enough fabric.  It nearly matches my jumper - near enough was good enough for me!




PS I should mention my daughter also chose a bit of me made today: she's wearing a Gap skirt, a Bonds singlet and blouse made from cotton voile using a pattern from the Japanese book "Cute Clothes for Good Girls" (or something like that). The original in the book is shown in a heavy cream linen, with pocket flaps, but my version is good for summer - and for building ponds in the garden beds.



Hope you have a good week!

23 -25 March 2011: Sewing Sneaks into MMM

I know I'm getting slacker about uploading me made March photos to Flickr and about posting with details... the thing is, I just don't have much spare time, and I'm slow at reviewing photos (which are mostly dreadful and need firm cropping). On the days when I'm uploading/blogging I don't seem to get any sewing done!

I have a backlog - today and the previous two days - but that means I've also achieved some sewing :-).

I made a "draft" version of the skirt from V8718 last week, and this week made some pleasing progress on the matching V8718 jacket.

The fabric is a DKNY stretch linen (linen with lycra I believe) that I stumbled on and couldn't resist at The Fabric Store.

V8718 doesn't have you line the skirt but as the matching jacket is fully lined I think the skirt needs it - the photo on the left shows the skirt pre-lining, pre-taking it in a bit, pre-hand sewing etc. Different fabric stores gave me different advice on lining a stretch woven skirt... one said make the lining bigger than the skirt, another said d NOT make the lining bigger or it will make the skirt bumpy. I will try it out with a slightly too big lining and see how it looks...




And here's a jacket progress shot:

I guess you can't tell yet... I've also made the peplum but not yet attached it to the top part. I think the next steps are to make the lining version, make the collar, sew outer and lining together, and make the gathers in the sleeves.

So far I love the jacket - lots of cutting out (not fun) but the sewing part has been easy.  I haven't made any size adjustments (just a straight 14) so it may not fit perfectly, but I think it looks OK on my dressmaker's dummy.

And here are my MMM outfits:

Today, going to a childcare appointment and working from home: the yellow Burda skirt (issue 7/2009, pattern 111), again worn backwards, worn with a top from Trenery, and orange flatties (not shown):




This skirt is now officially in my wardrobe - a useful skirt.
















Yesterday, a regular work day: a top from Vogue 2859 top (a 1935 pattern reissue) with a RTW skirt, the usual black flatties:

Not in.

This top slithered around on me all day, threatening to undo itself despite a knot. It only managed to do it once, luckily while I was still at home. I think I would be more confident wearing this over a dress though.









The day before yesterday, another regular work day: Vogue 1086 dress with slip that I wouldn't normally wear to work. Worn with turquoise frilly cardigan from Veronika Maine and camper shoes from a great sale a few years ago:




I love these shoes so much, and I think the cardigan improves on the dress, but the dress remains the sort of thing to wear when everything else is dirty (or when it's me made March).

21 - 22 March: Vogue-ing

This is what I wore today - as it looked by the end of the day:
 

* a new Vogue skirt (Vogue 1038 Donna Karan Collection), which I thought I'd finished late last night.  On getting dressed this morning the lining hem proved to need taking up more - so some rushed machine hemming happened before heading out. I used stash fabric for this - a loose weave fabric with what looks to me like a small herringbone pattern (please correct me if you know better). I love this pattern, but I am still making my skirts too big! I think I will have to re-measure myself. And maybe start factoring something else in... do waistbands grow a lot???
* my old faithful (well, a MMM repeat) Vogue 1128 Anne Klein top (originally posted here) 
* a much older (10 years? more?) RTW houndstooth jacket. A few weeks ago a woman in the supermarket queue commented on this jacket - she told me her grandma had just given her the exact same jacket as a hand-me-down, and now she'd seen it on me she was going to wear hers too. Except mine isn't vintage - perhaps just dowdy! I thought the two similar patterns, skirt and jacket, would be interesting together - not sure.
* nine west black flats


Here are a couple more photos from this afternoon, including genuine creases from a day in the office:

 

Yesterday I wore my black V1013 DKNY dress, which I showed in my inaugural post.  Here's what it looked like yesterday:

The fabric was a stash material - some kind of moire maybe? It's heavy and feels fantastic on.  I love the puff sleeves on this dress (which really challenged me at the time) and just the shape of the thing - and somehow in this dress I feel as though I'm wearing something vintage!  I wore this with a bizarre necklace with little feathers on it from Diva. And the same black Nine West flat shoes to and from work as today, changing into the same plain black heels at work. 

I've had to overexpose this photo so you can see the way the dress falls... black dress in the late afternoon of a rainy Autumn day - tricky!









Below are a close-up of a sleeve, a close-up on the dress form of the back opening, and a close-up of the front of the dress. In the dress-form photo you can see the fabric a bit better.

I can't think what I'm going to wear tomorrow!

19 -20 March 2011: Wet, Grey and Blue

I'll try to keep the me made outfit info brief today.



Today: raining on and off. My son had a friend over in the afternoon, then my daughter helped me bake biscuits for her childcare. I wore a me made dress - Vogue 8486 with a bias-cut lining added, with my bright orange flats, footless tights and thin cardigan bought in a shop at Wynyard station (ie very cheap).

The fabric for the dress was from Tessuti - one of those back of the rack finds - a partially sheer stripey knit, and it needed lining due to those sheer areas.   More details are here.

My son wore a me made long sleeve jersey top that's good for this in-between weather - and if you're wondering, yes, all the stripes do match up, and my daughter wore my WORST surviving me-made outfit - a jersey dress and leggings.  It's survived because she loves it.  The dress was made straight from the envelope from an op shop pattern, and I was disappointed with the width and boxiness as well as with the fabric, which fades a bit more with every wash. The leggings were made without a pattern and don't fit well either.

 










Here she is after doing a comprehensive clean of the bathroom mirror - with toothpaste.  I know she was trying to be helpful but I did have to remove the toothpaste from the mirror...

I really hate this dress and I hate this fabric, but this is what she chose to wear!

 

Yesterday was a rainy day at home too. I tried to take the kids to the library but we found it had closed at lunchtime - what stupid hours - so we went to the bookshop and then out to lunch. The bookshop was fun but obviously you have to limit yourself there in a way that isn't necessary at the library...

This is a picture of the top I was wearing from back when I made it. It's pattern 108A from Burda magazine issue 2/2009 - obviously I added a ruffle, but I also added a wide band at the wrists and as I didn't have the full sleeve width I made the sleeves each in 2 pieces, with the extra seam running down the inner arm parallel to the original seam. 

Then here's my son's me made book bag, useful when you're returning lots of books to the library, and here's me as I was dressed today (Kmart gumboots, Witchery stretch cord jeans).

And my daughter was wearing me-made jersey shorts that you've seen before - they were obscured by her raincoat when we went out (yes, she looks to be doing a haka but I think she was trying a Strong Girl pose), but you can see them later in the afternoon when she was helping her dad make pizzas: