Me Made May - Week 4

 May is almost over. This time of year always leaves me feeling a little anxious. Partly because it's exam season, and partly because I never feel as though I've made the most of the last beautiful weeks of Autumn.

I'll admit, it's going to be a relief not having to hassle my dear photographer quite so many times a week. How do all those stylish fashion bloggers do it?!

Day 11
Shirt: My first Archer! Unblogged as it's currently button-less. Expect a more detailed post soon.
Grey top: Cotton On
Jeans: Cotton On

Day 12
Sorry for the blurry camera-phone photo.
Top: Mint striped Coco. First repeat of the month. Not doing too badly so far.
Jacket: Thrifted. Love this jacket - it goes with literally everything!
Jeans: Old, Just Jeans

Day 13
Top: Me made, unblogged. Just a simple kimono sleeved crop-top. Made from a super soft, possibly wool-blend, thrifted scarf. Miss P has a great tutorial for drafting your own :)
Beanie: Me made, buy here.
Jeans: Cotton On
Necklace: Zose Designs

Day 14
Oops. No photo, but I have been wearing an old pair of me made pajama pants! Comfy, low-rise, made from checked flannelette with ribbing for the waistband. Nothing groundbreaking.

One week left to go :)

But first, assignments! And cuddles...

Me Made May - Week 3

Halfway there!

Day 7
Black coat: Thrifted
Necklace: Fawn & Rose
Dress: An old refashion, unblogged. The original dress was a too-tight, button-down maxi dress with frayed button holes. Now it's very comfortable, although the neckline is a little too loose. It looks like a mess in the above photo, but the front section of the hem is actually a ruffle:

Day 8
Had to resort to phone camera selfies.
Top: Vintage
Skirt: Self-drafted. Just a gathered rectangle with an invisible side zipper. This skirt fits comfortably, but I'm still not sure whether the colours or the strange satin fabric is really my style. Maybe it just needs pockets.

Day 9
Navy cardigan: Target
Earrings: Vintage
Dress: Another refashion - such a basic one that it really wasn't worth a blog post. I love the loose fit and the off-center print, but I think I still need to shorten the hem by a few inches.

Day 10
Beanie: Me-made [buy here]
Top: My Simplicity Kimono Tee. Still super comfortable; perfect for hermit days. Must remember to make more of these!

In other news, my African Violets are flowering for the first time, and Miss Beanie is growing fluffy Winter fur!

Me Made May - Week 2

Last week was a little crazy, but so far I have just managed to stick to my pledge of 4 handmade items a week. The main problem I'm facing is the cold weather; I have plenty of short floral skirts and summery tops, but a severe lack of anything warm and cosy!

I'm planning on sewing up a few Archers for the coming weeks, but right now I'm seriously pining for a bomber jacket!

Day 3

My trusty grey handwarmers  - me made [buy here].
Green skirt - me made, unblogged.
This skirt is one of the first pieces of clothing I ever made, but I still wear it quite a lot. The waistband is just a really wide strip of elastic, so the join is pretty messy. The fabric is warm and kind of spongy - perfect for Autumn.

Day 4

Blue Coco dress - me made 
Red beanie - me made [buy here]
Knit scarf - Modcloth.

Day 5

Darling Ranges dress - me made
Black coat - thrifted
Boots - Route 66.

Day 6

The birthday dress! This is just a teaser photo - I'll do a full post about it soon. You can probably see that it's nothing like my original plan, but I love what I ended up with in the end :)

Hope everyone's second me-made week went well!

Surviving the cold with Coco!

I think that was my first blog title pun! The first two days of Me Made May have been a success - all thanks to Tilly's Coco pattern. I have used this pattern three times so far: first this dress, and now two super comfy tops. I actually don't think I'll get through the rest of this month without wearing them again (or making more). It has been so cold that snow is predicted for this weekend. Proper snow!

Seriously, it may look like a nice sunny day in this photo but the air was so freezing that I've been wrapped in a blanket ever since!

Check out that awesomely smooth neckline!

The neckline on my Coco dress was a little gapey, despite stabilising it with a woven selvedge strip. This time I used a strip of very thin fusible interfacing and it worked like a charm. The little grey gloves I'm wearing are from my shop. Nice and warm, but not really the best match for this outfit. I'll definitely be making some black ones!

After all these years of pulling on freezing cold jeans in the morning and longing for my pajama pants, I have finally discovered that it's way warmer just wearing a maxi skirt with tights underneath! Completely irrelevant information right now for any northern hemisphere folk. Maybe you'll remember it next Winter and thank me :P

The second top is made from a slightly thicker (and less iron-friendly) knit. The big plaid pocket is some flannelette from my stash, cut on the bias so that it stretches with the knit. I kind of love the combination.

Both tops are made from the thrifted fabric I found the other week. I cut a size 2 this time, to accommodate the extra stretch in the fabric, but I probably could have graded up across the chest as it does pull quite a bit across that area.

Pattern adjustments: Shortening at the waist plus a small sway back adjustment.

When I first started sewing, I just couldn't get excited about the idea of making basics like these. Now that I do, it feels like my sewing has reached a whole new level. Neither of these tops are a completely perfect fit, but they are still ridiculously more flattering than generic store-bought sizes. This has a surprisingly large impact on my self confidence - something I might go into in more depth at a later date.