Me Made May week 2

Here's what I wore:

7th May - navy spotted Peony
8th May - Gertie Portrait blouse (still to be blogged)
9th May - purple Tiramisu
10th May - double whammy - grey marl Kimono tee and Deco Cardigan
11th May (no picture) - blue marl Kimono tee
12th May - blue birdie Sorbetto (which you can just about see!), Anise jacket
13th May - Alma blouse

Almost half way through May, it still seems to be going well and I'm currently planning my holiday packing to include lots of me-mades!  We leave on Friday - woohoo!

I am noticing a definite colour trend in my me mades - lots of blue, purple and burgundy!

How is your Me Made May going?  Are you enjoying it?  Has it changed your future sewing plans?

Finally, a Burda Success!

For the past few weeks I've been in a weird sewing place - somewhere between Me Made May panic and holiday sewing (we are going to Sicily in mid-May - so some of my Me Made May photos will hopefully look more exotic than my back garden/ dining room!).

But I think this dress will hopefully cover me for both.

Despite having terrible reviews from most bloggers, I actually quite like April's Burda -- it's the first one I've bought for ages! 

Source: Ooobop

In addition to the cover dress - vaguely Laurel-esque?  Ok without the huge sew-on gemstones.  I have plans for this pattern, hopefully you'll be seeing it soon, acceptable muslin permitting! - I liked this pattern:

Source:  BurdaStyle (who make it very difficult to link directly!)

I wasn't so keen on the shiny fabric but thought it could make a good basic knit dress for holiday and at home.  I had some nice navy viscose knit fabric from World Fabrics (their website isn't great, but good prices, speedy delivery and the quality seems good from what I have seen so far!).

In terms of pattern modifcations, no way was I doing welt pockets in a simple knit dress so I left them out.  The pattern includes a belt but I don't love self fabric belts for this sort of dress and thought I'd be more likely to style it with a leather belt as per the picture.

Spotted anyone?

The pattern was nice and long so no length adjustments needed.  I did take it in at the sides slightly to give it a bit more of a waist and make it more fitted around the bust.  This was really due to my fabric choice rather than the pattern as the original size would have made it too bunchy around the waist to wear with a belt.  My only annoyance was that I didn't follow my sewing spidey sense and ditch the fiddly little neckband pieces.  I wasn't clear how much seam allowance to add and it was hard to attach them over the top of the pleats at the front neckline, meaning a bit of unpicking.  But again could have been due to my fabric choice being thicker than theirs.  I should have gone with my idea of cutting a wide bias strip (or I guess i could have just cut a straight grain piece since I was using stretch fabric!), which would have been much easier.  Still, live and learn!

It's not exciting but I like it a lot - it's simple and I reckon it will get worn a lot this summer.  Now I just need to find the perfect tan sandals to wear with it!

Photobomb!

The finishing finishes me off...

I always find I have difficulties getting garments finished.  By the time you get to the final stages, the interesting sewing is done and you're left with boring hemming, and I did exactly the same with this cardigan.

I posted previously that I was working on the Kate Davies Deco cardigan.

After seeing Kerry's Manu cardigan I checked out Kate Davies designs and totally fell in love with this design.  The lines are inspired by art deco buildings and 1920s artwork.

I had the perfect buttons already in my stash and chose the wool to go with them - Rowan Felted Tweed DK in Maritime.

This was to be a portable project to do over Christmas when we were away from home (and away from the sewing machine!), and also to do on the train.  However as it is knitted in one piece, it soon got too big to carry about every day for my commute.

Although I have been knitting since I was 7 (my gran taught me and my mum also knits) this was my first adult garment.  I knitted when I was pregnant - a couple of blankets, hats and cardigans (I love baby size things - they knit up so fast!) and have done a few since then but I'm only just now learning properly about tension, and how much difference my tight knitting makes to the fit.  Yes, I know I should have realised before - but this was my first tension square!

I needed to use 3.25mm (the pattern calls for 3mm) needles to get the right tension and I added 2" extra into the body above the waist shaping and before the pattern started, and the same onto the sleeves.

I learnt so many new techniques on this project - You Tube is an amazing resource for knitting, crochet and sewing how tos!  I learnt how to knit the sleeves directly onto the garment using short row shaping and the wrap and turn method , and a three needle bind off amongst other things.  I must admit I didn't buy an extra 2 sets of circular needles to pick up around the armholes - at £6 a pair that would have been a hefty investment, especially since one was in the size I was already using.  I borrowed DPNs from my sister in law and used them instead.  The pattern method meant no sewing up at the end, just weaving the ends in.  I had also learnt to join the ends together as I knitted after reading a post on Karen's blog about it - I didn't even know this existed, so thanks Karen!  Fewer ends to weave in is good.  I also learnt to use the Magic Loop for knitting the sleeves in the round (thanks again You Tube!).  Links to all You Tube tutorials are above.

I finished in in February, and blocked it (another new technique to me!).  I was slightly concerned on the size pre-blocking as it seemed small, but came out fine. 

And then it just needed button bands, snaps and buttons.  It waited.  And waited.  Until the Sewing Bee came on TV and I needed a hand sewing project to do while watching!  And of course it was finished in an evening.  I used raspberry pink grosgrain ribbon - I love the flash of the contrast colour inside!  And the buttons are just perfect in colour and style for the design.

Sorry for the stroppy face - no idea why!  I am very pleased with it!

Very pleased with it and you'll definitely be seeing it duirng Me Made May!

Me Made May week 1

I think I said before I'm not putting up daily outfit pics - if you are anything like me, you probably follow hundreds of blogs and it gets impossible to look at all the Me Made May pics.  I am loving the Flickr group though - it's great pattern inspiration!

Here's week 1 for me:

May 1st - Red Pavlova top
May 2nd - Rose print Kimono Tee
May 3rd - Mad Men dress
May 6th - Burdastyle Handbook dress

I did fail on 2 days in terms of getting pics taken.  I had a streaming cold and hubby went off on his mountain bike with the camera.  The challenge of camera phone plus a 4 year old proved too much for me!  I did wear me-mades on the 2 days I didn't get pictures.  One was my Burda tee, and the other was my striped Kimono tee (as usual when I am feeling ill, I revert to jeans and tees!).

I have lots of recent finished items, so am trying to get them blogged before you see them in my MMM pics!

Hope you are enjoying it too if you are taking part.

Pledging...

I am nervously joining in Me-Made-May this year!  I loved watching it last year but had only just started sewing so had nowhere near enough me mades to join in.  Not sure I do this year, but I'm in anyway!

 'I, Joanne of Sew Little Time, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear one Me Made item each day (maximum of 2 days per week can be my Anise jacket) for the duration of May 2013'

I'm slightly terrified of this but I can't imagine Zo will come and get me if I don't manage it!  Five days a week will be pretty testing for me.  Even thinking out it has prompted a few changes to sewing plans (more separates - I have a feeling you'll see a lot of Kimono Tees!) and a wardrobe reshuffle to bring my Me Mades to the fore so I can see what I have to choose from.  I guess they should be at the front of the wardrobe anyway!

And I've got a bit of time to sew a few more things, don't i?

I'm hoping to spot where the wardrobe holes are as a result of this, and also push myself to see if I can find outfits for a few orphans!

I'm going to be blogging a weekly round up of items rather than one every day.  I'll also be on holiday during May and although we are supposed to have wifi I don't know how reliable it will be!

Are you pledging?  Is it anyone else's first time too?

The much belated International Craft Swap Post

Fianlly now that Mad Men challenge and Sewing Meet Up madness is over, I am finally getting around to blogging the Craft Swap goodness.

So Rachel at House of Pinheiro paired up all the participants and I blogged about the fact that my swappee, Mrs M Makes, lives on a few miles away from me, so we decided to meet in person to swap our goodies!

We met in a local coffee shop (despite the fact that neither of us drinks tea or coffee - see, kindred spirits!  I don't know anyone else who doesn't drink tea or coffee) and swapped our gifts over a Diet Coke.

We had to follow a nautical theme/ colour scheme and make something, plus include a small purchased gift.  After reading up about Mrs M, I knew she loved travelling, so I decided to make her a Really Useful travelling washbag.

 I used my most useful sized washbag (from a Sanctuary gift set I think) as a template for size, and using mainly stash fabric, buttons and ribbons (as Rachel was hoping for) I replicated the size, lining it with waterproof lining fabric.  The only things I bought for this were the zip and the lining.

As I always find pencils and brushes fall to the bottom of a bag, I added a flap and a pocket with slots of hold these:

For my bought gift, I included a piece of Lush Karma soap.  It smells gorgeous and always makes me think of holidays so hopefully Mrs M will enjoy using it!

I was truly spoilt in return!

The first thing I opened was my bought gift.

Mrs M was in Malta on holiday (see I said she liked travelling!) when the swap was announced and picked this up.  It's an Eye of Osiris, traditionally found on Maltese fishing boats to ward off evil spirits.

See, nautical!  Very clever!

She also made this amazing leather notebook with an anchor button and anchor print paper inside for writing my sewing lists (she knows me well already - I love lists!)

She HAND SEWED this book!

And lastly (told you I was spoilt!) she made me this gorgeous jewellery to tie in with the colour theme:

How lucky am I?

Thanks for lovely presents Mrs M.  Check out her lovely blog Mrs M Makes to see all the other skills she has - she makes stained glass!  She's had a great idea for a Craft Circular, which would be lots of fun to get involved in if you love all kinds of crafting!  And thanks for organising the swap Rachel - you picked a great partner for me and we'll definitely be meeting up again since we are so close by!

Yet another Amazing Sewing Meet post

Photo by Digpal Singh

Yes, I know, you've read about this a million times! (or probably 45 given that 45 lovely sewing ladies were there!).  I met some fabulous ladies, some I had met before and some for the first time, but all fun, friendly and wearing the most beautiful handmade clothes!  The V&A, Goldhawk Rd and the Cedar Village Bakery Lebanese Restaurant didn't know what had hit them (especially the restaurant as they were expecting more like half that number!  But they coped admirably!).

Me, the adorable Clare from SewDixieLou and the very lovely Handmade Jane (Photo by Digpal Singh)

I recognised at least 2 or 3 people from reading about their dresses on blogs before the meet - I knew Sally from Charity Shop Chic from the back as a result of her fabulous mad Men dress!

Thanks so much to Rachel and Janene for organising and to all the lovely people who made it such a great day.  And Minerva Crafts and Abakhan for providing the goody bags - what a treat!

I had made a shopping plan before getting to Goldhawk Rd and I am happy to say I stuck to it!

Two gorgeous lawns (the blue tulips and the green) for summer dresses.  I was planning a Hazel with a bigger skirt but I'm not convinced is the fabric has enough body, so I'm going to use the tulip print for Simplicity 2444 (sleeveless with no collar):

and see how it behaves.  If I love it maybe I'll make another with the green!  The blue boat print viscose (£3.50/m - couldn't believe it!) is for a rub off of a much loved and worn top I already own.

I also got a couple of plains:

The (rather crumpled sorry!  I have prewashed but not ironed!) turquoise linen is for this Burda dress:

(the other version of the dress in the mag is actually much nicer - this looks pretty bland and worky!  But I'm hoping for something Laurel-esque).  And the blue twill (actually much more of a royal blue but looks quite purple in the pic) is for a Megan Nielsen Kelly skirt with either red or white buttons.
And I did really well in the swap.  There were loads of patterns in my size:

I know one is from Stevie (I think the front left - let me know if you gave in any of the others!).  Lots of people seemed to be trying not to pick up any patterns, hence why I did so well!  But I was a lot more restrained on fabric.  I try not to buy fabric just because I like it - I usually have a project in mind for it.

I got about 1m of each of the blue rose print cotton (maybe a lawn?  lovely and soft anyway!), the red spotty cotton, and I think 1.5m of the green (it's not really that turquoise!) twill.  And I grabbed a couple of spools of thread and zips and some pink ribbons to placate the small person at not having gone via a toy shop as she requested!

What a fab day!  My faith in sewists (and my blogroll) are much fuller for it!