Tomorrow starts Me-Made-May ’17. Again an exciting challenge from the sewing community. Zoe, the founder, describes it as follow:
“Me-Made-May’17 (#MMMay17 for social media interaction) is a challenge designed to encourage people who sew/knit/crochet/refashion/upcycle garments for themselves to wear and love them more.”
To sign up you make a pledge that you post in the comment of Zoe’s blog post.
My pledge
I, Wis from www.whatisew.be and @wis_g, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’17. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made garment each day for the duration of May 2017. I will not repeat any garment. More, I will wear at least 10 garments I didn’t wear last May 2016.
Me-Made-May ’16
Last year—mmmay16—I participated for the first time and I enjoyed it tremendously. These were my observations:
1. I was able to wear at least one self-made garment every day.
2. No repeats!
3. Wearing only black clothes in the eighties I am wearing a lot of colour being 55!
4. Taking a picture of yourself every day is quite confronting.
5. My style is very eclectic!
6. There are only 6 self-made tops.
An eye-catcher is a person or a thing that attracts the attention
The online sewing community is very visual. So, every day I see heaps of sewing related images on social media and blogs. Some of them catch my eye because they make me think or they give me inspiration. Here, I want to share these eye-catchers with you.
I have a love-hate relationship with trench coats. I love wearing them but the RTW-ones I bought in the past all had some fitting issues. So far I didn’t think about sewing one myself but when I saw this beautiful trench coat of Maria I might give it a go. On her Instagram feed she didn’t mention the pattern she used. Maybe she drafted it herself? Look also at the fabulous embroidery she put on the back of the coat.
I mentioned it before: making my own bra is on my sewing wish list for a long time. Again—when I saw this amazing make by Jennifer —I said to myself: “Wis, what are you waiting for?!”.
This is the third version of the Wanted-T-shirt Annika made. Also in a plain colour and with short sleeves, this t-shirt is an eye-catcher. The design of the neckline is dazzling.
Amber from @soisewedthis made a stunning version of the Highlands Wrap dress, a new pattern from Indiesew. I love her choice of fabric for this perfect Summer dress.
Rachel from @shesewsvintage brought the Astoria from Seamwork again to my attention. This is also a pattern that I want to sew for so long. I love her fabric choice. It gives this top a real vintage vibe.
I finally finished my Rosa Shirt Dress from Tilly and the Buttons. Pfft, that was a long-term project. I started it the beginning of December 2016. In fact, I thought my first blog post would be about it. More, I wrote it already in my head: “My first shirt dress, my first Tilly and the Buttons pattern and my first blog post”. Little I did know…
The chorus line fabric
The fabric is a 100% viscose I bought in Paris, at Sacrés Coupons, last September 2016. I immediately fell in love with the design. It reminded me of the girls in the chorus lines of films from Busby Berkeley, which I adore.
Beautiful this fabric may be, it is a real burden to work with. Viscose fabric can’t lay still on your table. So I had to cut out every piece on a single layer. To match the fabric lines I used the fabric piece to cut out its twin. It took forever!! (Having to cut on the garden table in our holiday house didn’t help either.)
The Rosa Shirt Dress Pattern
This is the first pattern I sewed from Tilly and the Buttons and it was a very satisfying experience. I bought the paper version of the pattern. It came in a nice envelope with pattern and instruction booklet. I chose the dress because of the flattering semi-fitted shape caused by the curved princess seams.
Based on my measures I cut out a straight 7. Being a #sewingtall girl I lengthened the bodice with 3,5cm and the hem with 5 cm. Here I did something stupid. To lengthen the pattern I used leftovers from the pattern paper but I didn’t notice I used my, already cut, collar pattern piece. Luckily Tilly sent me the pdf pattern to replace the lost collar. What a great service!
Next time I will lengthen it more as it came out on the short side.
The sewing process
The instructions in the booklet are detailed and illustrated with clear photos. So it was not difficult except I didn’t get my tension right for the topstitching. (Another struggle in this project). I put some golden piping on the front yoke. Then I got a case of sewing block and didn’t work on it for four months.
Because of the Sew together a shirt dress for Summer challenge the sewing community is currently buzzing with all kind of info about sewing a shirt dress. That gave me desire to finish my Rosa. With a stretch needle, a walking foot, new thread and a deep breath it worked out. Also very helpful were the tips and tricks about buttonholes and collars, posted by the #sewtoghetherforsummer team.
As I am not fond of rolled-up sleeves with tabs I finished them with a small elastic.
Is this a quick sew?
No, the Rosa Shirt dress isn’t a quick sew. Not only because of my struggles but also because there is a lot of stitching to do: the princess seams, the yokes, the piping, the topstitching. Plus, the construction of the collar and buttonholes takes time. It is not that difficult though when you follow the instructions.
Conclusion
Sewing the Rosa Shirt dress was quite a chore—due to the briskness of the fabric—but I am glad I sewed it. I’m wearing it for two days now and it’s been an absolute pleasure. More, I love that it is a shirt dress. Will I sew another? A shirt dress, yes. Will it be a Rosa? I don’t know yet because first I would like to tackle the Carolyn Pajamas dress.
An eye-catcher is a person or a thing that attracts the attention
The online sewing community is very visual. So, every day I see heaps of sewing related images on social media and blogs. Some of them catch my eye because they make me think or they give me inspiration. Here, I want to share these eye-catchers with you.
This stunning coat from Csews caught my eye. Of course, it’s because of the brilliant fabric she used. The pattern is the Pilvi Coat from the sewing book Lotta Jansdotter Everyday Style. This coat pattern is beautiful thanks to the simple lines and the raglan sleeves. That is why the result is so great: a beautiful fabric doesn’t need a complicated pattern.
I was immediately taken by this elegant dress made by Kasia. On her blog, I read that she used a dress patron from Knipmode and made some alterations to it. That was even more striking because Knipmode is a Dutch—my mothertongue— pattern magazine and I think Kasia is Polish. So reading and sewing this pattern should be easy for me.
Catherine from Thread Snips proves again what difference fabric can make to an already great pattern. This is gorgeous fabric. No more words needed!
Renee’s Lucy Backpack
This is such a cute backpack made by Renee. See more pictures of it on her Instagram feed. It’s the Lucy Backpack from Swoon patterns made in playful canvas from Cotton+Steel. I want to sew one too but I have two bags waiting in my WIP-drawer already.
#hellospringdress
@runningNstyle along with @jamorebyjackie and @robertswife_collection, are hosting a new friendly spring dress contest. Sew an inspirational spring dress and post a picture of it on Instagram before April 28, using #hellospringdress. There are some prices to win. Another sewing challenge to motivate me!
Although March is a long month I didn’t achieve a lot of sewing. There were a huge workload and family to take care of. On top of that, my sewing room was such a mess that I felt no desire to smuggle in some sewing minutes.
Luckily there is the Project SewMyStyle so at least I sew one item a month. But I succeeded to sew some more. Read all about below:
March sewing
The nanöo top
If you follow my blog then you know that every week I select patterns that are special for me: “the eye-catchers“. The nanöo top was one of them. This pattern gives striped fabric a nice cachet. I wore it several times and get compliments about it. Probably there will follow more.
Watson bikini’s
I was desperate in need for new undies and nothing better than using your leftovers to sew some. This time I used the Watson bikini pattern because I have it for more than two years now. Also, the pattern kept popping up lately. It is a quick sew—especially when you use your overlocker. But I like the fit of the Ladies Basic Briefs Bottoms from Jocole more. That is the pattern I used for my previous self-sewed undies.
The Virginia leggings
The third project of SewMyStyle was the Virginia leggings from Megan Nielsen. Leggings are way out of my comfort zone but I accepted the challenge. I am glad I did because these are so comfortable and I love to wear them combined with a dress or a skirt.
Straight skirt
I finalized the muslin of my self-drafted pattern for a straight skirt. This is the project I’m working on in the pattern drafting class I am following
WIP’s
Did I finish any WIP’s this month? No! Did I create new WIP’s? No! So the score remains 6 WIP’s.
April Planning
What are my sewing plans for this month?
First, I would like to sew a Moneta dress for my daughter. (repeat from my March planning)
Second, I am going to test a pattern for Snitchenatterns. (sshht, big secret)
An eye-catcher is a person or a thing that attracts the attention
The online sewing community is very visual. So, every day I see heaps of sewing related images on social media and blogs. Some of them catch my eye because they make me think or they give me inspiration. Here, I want to share these eye-catchers with you.
Follow below what caught my eye the last week and at first glance, they are all dresses:
The dress from the ‘Stylish dress book’
I never sewed a Japanese pattern and I never had the urge to do so. Until I saw this amazing dress Ece sewed. I learned that the pattern came from the Japanese ‘Stylish dress book‘. This book—with the patterns in it— is present in my local library so maybe I have to give it a try.
The golden velvet dress
I was immediately triggered by this fascinating dress of @mokosha_II. It was not only the fabulous gold velvet but also the pattern was intriguing. It turned out she made it herself by mixing a bodice and a skirt of two different Burda patterns. That gave me some ideas for the future.
Martini dress from Capital Chic made by Ooobop
I am always glad when sewists I follow alert me to pattern designers I didn’t know before. So did Ooobop. She sewed this stunning version of the Martini dress from Capital Chic. They are an indie pattern design company with nice patterns. I like that this pattern has a one-piece and a two-piece version. Ooobop also designed the prints on the dress herself. Read all about it on her blog.
The V9015 Jumpsuit
I featured the V9075 before in the eye-catchers. Look at this breathtaking version Alex from sewrendipity sewed. It only reinforces my love for this pattern. I am going to tackle this pattern soon now.
The Jolene dress from Ready to sew
Kylie made a stunning version of the Jolene dress, a new pattern of ‘Ready to sew’. I’m thinking this would be a perfect pattern for the #sewtogetherforsummer challenge.
If you follow my blog then you know that every week I select patterns that are special for me: “
