Me Made May '15 Round Up

I'm a bit late with my round up - I blame the children for getting ill after the half term holidays had finished!

This was my first time joining in with Me Made May. I haven't got the biggest handmade wardrobe, hence my pledge:

'I, Amy, of sewnintheattic.blogspot.co.uk, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear two garments made, adjusted or refashioned by me each week for the duration of May 2015.'

I really enjoyed the month. I got to wear all my casual makes and a few of the RTW items that I had adjusted/altered to fit me. I did find it a challenge, but I met my pledge  - phew! Here are some of the photo's:

Top row from left to right - RTW altered top (elasticated hem which I chopped off and re-hemmed, taking in the sides too and RTW skirt which I took in on the waist; Blue modified Simplicity 1620 top; RTW altered top (as 1st photo).
Middle row - RTW top with elasticated waist which I chopped and hemmed with lace; Zigzag Colette Moneta dress; Floral Simplicity 1717 A-line skirt.
Bottom row - Blue Colette Moneta dress; Stripy Maria Denmark Kirsten Kimono Tee; Blue modified Simplicity 1620 top.

The only part of the month that I'm a bit disappointed by is the record of it all. It was quite a busy month for me at home and I probably should have taken more pics of me and posted to instagram. But I didn't, so there we are! So some of the repeats of garments, and a few other RTW items which I have altered I haven't got a record of, so you'll just have to take my word for it! Currently I'm managing a blog post every 3+ weeks, which is not really where I want to be as I have quite a few unblogged garments queuing up. I also like to gather my thoughts before I write too, so I don't know how some of you bloggers manage to be so instant, I'd like to be like that too! Last week the kids were home with me and we enjoyed the half term holidays with little day trips and activities. One highlight was St. Lawrence's Wood, at Hartshill Hayes Country Park in Nuneaton - the bluebells were out, the sun was shining and the kids were little angels!

St. Lawrence's Wood at Hartshill Hayes Country Park

Another highlight was visiting to the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry to look at the Story of Children's TV. My two boys were probably a bit young for it (3yo), but slightly older children would love it, especially if you all go with a grandparent too, as we did; there was much reminiscing about shows like Andy Pandy, Thunderbirds, Sooty and Sweep, Blue Peter, Play School...I wish I'd had a bit more time to explore, but the boys like to whiz round at the moment!  

On the left - a couple of photos from the Children's TV exhibition.  I loved Play School - used to watch with my mum and we always had a cup of hot chocolate!
On the right - One of the Shaun sculptures from London - my two don't do posing for photos!

Finally, at the end of half term, we spent some quality time visiting family in London. We planned a 'three's and under' sightseeing trip round London - a first for our kids, but not their cousins. On Saturday we took overground and underground trains from Woodford to Tower Bridge and walked over the bridge and past HMS Belfast (which we will definitely visit when the boys are a bit older). We found a couple of Shaun the Sheep sculptures along and over the Thames too. Then we hopped on a river bus and cruised up the Thames to Westminster Bridge. A spot more sightseeing - taking in Big Ben, Parliament Square and Westminster Abbey. With four children three and under this was quite an undertaking! We finally headed back to my sister-in-laws for a well deserved BBQ and a glass of fizz!

On the Sunday we went to the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. If you like Dolls Houses, they have a fantastic collection, along with many childhood toys and I did find a few sewing related items too! The museum is, of course free, and it's well worth a visit if you're in the area and have young kids as they have free activities including an indoor sandpit! 

Excuse the terrible photo's! The quote on the left says it all really!

The kids also started to get ill over the weekend and I had a child at home for the first three days back after the holidays, so I'm a bit behind with cleaning duties (haha, when am I not behind on this kind of stuff!)! But I did make a few things in May - Zigzag Moneta and a stripy Kirsten Kimono Tee. SOOO loving that Tee pattern. I also treated myself to an overlocker (serger). Which helped with the speed of these makes! I've just taken pictures of them for the blog - I'm trying to be a more organised blogger! I might get round to writing up the Spring for Cotton post one day too!

Ok, back to MMM stuff. I did find the month challenging because I don't have that many makes, and a couple of items I've recently spent making were more occasional wear. And even though it was my husbands birthday at the start of the May and then my brother's, there were no fancy dinners outs, just evenings in with friends and family, so nothing I dressed up for. Maybe this month I will get to wear them more. Although as I type, the summer has kicked in and so now I feel like I need to make a summer dress/ skirt/ top and my wintry makes might be redundant until October!

It's been fun seeing all the photos and reading many of your round ups about Me Made May and I already know that I will be taking part next year AND making more of an effort to document and record it.

If you have any suggestions for summer top patterns please send them my way!

Modified Simplicity 1620 Top (view B)

We're over halfway through Me Made May and it's going well so far. I've been wearing the me-made kiddie friendly garments through the week and have been hitting my target of two a week, with additional appearances from ready to wear (RTW) items which I've adjusted or altered in some way to fit me better. I haven't been great at documenting it on instagram, as I said I would. But I will either play catch up at some point, or I will post a round up at the end of the month (having said that it's half term next week, so it'll probably be in June sometime!). Me Made May is something which I haven't participated in before and it has highlighted to me how few items I have made and liked; the practicality of the items I've made and just how much I rely on an outfit beginning with jeans and ending in a top of some kind that will go with my converse (aka mum uniform)! This leads me to think I might have to produce a few more tops, but also that I may have to try my hand at jeans?!! The skirts that I've sewn or altered are really nice to wear, but I do need more tops to go with them. So I think my sewing focus may have to be on some practical tops in the coming months. Hope you are enjoying Me Made May?

Maybe I will do a bit of stash busting and make another one of these...

Modified Simplicity 1620

This top started life as Simplicity 1620, view B (pictured below) and was a bit of a failure! Firstly, I picked a size too small - the actual fit of the top was fine on me, but it could have done with being a bit bigger for this style. Secondly, I didn't realise I needed a hollow chest adjustment, so the neckline was awful. It gaped open and I had no real way of fixing it. At first I pinched out the excess on either side of the centre front and stitched the fabric down at the neckline to emulate the tucks along the bust of the garment, but it didn't look good! And I didn't like wearing the top at all.

Image from Simplicity.com

I was on the verge of binning it, but then I had an idea to cut a new neckline to see if I could cut out the bad bit...I also chopped of the kimono arms to make a tank style. The top works SO much better than it did before and I wear it quite a lot now! Yay!

Tuck details on the front

The fabrics; a navy blue cotton lawn, and a very drapey, rather expensive polyester, both from John Lewis last autumn (I can't find them on the website, so maybe they have sold out online?). I really struggle to find floral prints that I really really like. This one I do, but it's a polyester so I feel a bit meh about it. And that's probably the only negative about this top for me. But look, I did manage to make bias binding out of it (although much spray starch was used!)!

The other mistake I made was not taking a photo of the top before I hacked in to it! But this is what I did... I stood with the original top on in front of a mirror and using a piece of tailors chalk, marked where I wanted the new seams to be on the front of the top.  I removed the top and folded the top in half along the centre front line and lay a folded piece of fabric under it, matching the centre front (this would be the facing). I spent a bit of time lining it up so that when I cut in to it with my rotary cutter I would cut the facing at the same time as the new neckline (allowing a seam allowance of 1cm too). I did the same with the back of the top but took a bit of a guess on where the neckline and armhole would fall. It all worked out. And if it hadn't, well the top was heading for the bin anyway!

I then sewed the facing and top together and finished the seams of the armholes with some home made bias tape. I clipped the seam allowance of the facing and neckline and understitched the facing. However, as the gaping was still a little noticeable, I used a twin needle to topstitch round the neckline too. It still doesn't lie flat, but the top is much more wearable than it was before. 

What a horrible photo. But that was the best of a bed bunch!

I guess that when we make something that doesn't work out, it frees us up to be a bit more experimental and it makes us into better problem solvers/ better sewists, I've worn this top lots since making these adjustments, so I'm very pleased I didn't bin it! This makes me wonder if you have ever used a mistake to go all carefree and experimental? Did it work out?

Spring for Cotton and Me Made May '15

Hello! It's very nearly May, so it seems like the time has flown by since I came across the Spring for Cotton sew along hosted by Rochelle from Lucky Lucille at the beginning of April!

Image from Rochelle at LuckyLucille.com

I wanted to join in and had recently purchased a beautiful cotton lawn that fit the bill of 100% cotton. I just needed to find a vintage pattern and I could play too! Could I find one in my size?! that I liked?! and would arrive in time to make it?! No! So my back up plan came into play. I ordered the 1940's Tea Dress by Sew Over It. Me and my lovely sister, Sarah, (who could be tempted to start sewing, she has my mums old singer machine, but hasn't ever used it) had been eyeing up 1940's dress patterns (vintage and inspired) for a while. Ideally we were looking for one with a sweetheart neckline, and maybe a gathered shoulder yoke, but I'm thinking maybe of adapting the Sew Over It pattern if we can't find something similar (maybe, when I'm a bit more confident!). Anyway, I thought it would be a great dress for the Spring for Cotton sew along as vintage inspired patterns are also permitted.

Fabric is a cotton lawn

Image from sewoverit.com - 1940s Tea Dress by Sew Over It

I'm pleased with my progress so far, I've had to lower the bust panels by over an inch, make a forward shoulder adjustment and basically redraw all the pattern pieces for the front bodice. I only started last week, and I'm totally loving the challenge and the pattern itself. I've adapted the sleeve pattern too, so hoping they turn out as cap sleeves once I attach them! Then there's the invisible zip, neckline facing and hemming to do....before tomorrow's deadline! It's totally doable in one evening right?! Nothing like leaving it to the last minute!

Just sleeves, neck facing, zip, hem and buttons to complete!

And finally, in this short blog post...

I'm also signing up for Me Made May 2015, along with many, many others in the sewing community. This is run by Zoe of 'So, Zo...What do you know?', if you didn't know. And you can sign up here, there's still a little bit of time to do so! Here is my pledge:

'I, Amy, of sewnintheattic.blogspot.co.uk, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear two garments made, adjusted or refashioned by me each week for the duration of May 2015.'

I shall post my outfits on Instagram when I'm wearing them, So follow me on there to see them (link on the sidebar)!

Will you be joining in with Me Made May'15?