Beach dress - #OAL2019

At last I've got this fabric made up!  I bought it two years ago and I'm very pleased to have now got a dress from it as it's really only going to get worn in summer.

I first came across the fabric on instagram in July 2017 - someone I follow had made a fabulous dress from it - and a bit of googling tracked it down to an Etsy shop.  I bought two yards - not sure why a shop in Spain is selling in yards rather than metres? - it's a wide border print fabric and there was enough to enable me to do a bit of print placement.

I used the bodice from Butterick 5748 - a retro reprint, and the skirt from Simplicity 3749 - a vintage pattern both from the early '60s.

Because the fabric was a border print I used half-inch seam allowances on the bodice side and back seams rather than the usual 5/8", to give a little ease.

The cutting out took a bit of time, but the sewing together was straightforward.  I'm not sure whether I'll actually wear it with the cardigan I knitted for the outfit-along challenge though.  They go well together, but I'll probably only wear this dress when it's hot and sunny - when I won't be in need of a wool cardigan - unless I'm in an air-conned building or on a very windy beach!

Paris in the rain dress

I bought the fabric for this dress when I visited Paris last month and the name comes from the fact that the day I went to visit Make My Lemonade on Canal St Martin (which is where I bought it), it was raining.  Quite a lot.

I knew I would be making a dress in this style, I just wasn't sure which bodice pattern I'd use - I decided on Butterick 5748.  This is the first time I have used this bodice with this skirt and I'll be doing so again I expect because they fit together perfectly at the waist, without any fiddling about with the pleats to get a match.

I bought 2.5 metres of fabric - which is lovely - and used all of it - there was enough for pockets and a certain amount of pattern matching which I'm very pleased about!

It was the perfect dress to wear to Hampton Court Flower Show last week - I finished it just in time on the Wednesday evening before visiting on the Thursday, and the weather was lovely - lots of warmth and sunshine.  This really is my favourite style of summer dress.

Le tour Eiffel dresses 2 & 3

Well, I've now completed half of my me-made May challenge for this year with these two dresses.

I've had the fabric for both of these for some time - I bought the blue version in October 2014 and I've had the orange since at least August 2014, so I'm very pleased to have got them both made up as I love this print.  The orange one in particular is now one of my current top 10 favourite me-made dresses.  (The others are - not in any order, I don't have an absolute favourite, Happy Homemaker, Wing Song, Bobby dress, 50s print dress, Flamingolex, navy lemons, lime green roses, bluebird on the vine and Tropicanna.)

So, these two dresses - firstly the blue one.  This is a mash-up of the bodice from Butterick 5748 and the pleated skirt from New Look 6824.  I think this is the first combination of these two options (although I did make two dresses last year with the the straight skirt option from this pattern).  It came together pretty quickly, and there's not really any more I have to say about it!

Now, the orange one.  This is the bodice from Simplicity 2444 and the skirt from a vintage Simplicity pattern, 3749.  This is also a first combination of these two patterns and one I'll make again.  An easy sew and I'll almost certainly be taking this one to Paris with me next month.

I love orange and pink together, it's such a summery colour combination.

Le tour Eiffel dress no 1

The second of my me-made May pledge dresses, this is the same pattern combo as the Tulips and St Ives dresses and, apart from the time it took to cut out, came together very quickly.  I really like this bodice/skirt combo, it's quick to sew up and doesn't take long to iron.  Much as I love big, pleated and circle skirts on dresses, this is an ideal work-wardrobe shape because of the quickness of the ironing!

This is another stashbusting dress which I wanted to get made in time to take with me to Paris and I got it finished with a couple of days to spare.  I had several people comment on it as I was wandering around - the sweetest one was a little girl, about 3 years old, who tugged at her mother's hand "maman, maman, regarde cette robe" with a big smile on her face.  I was very pleased to have got it made up!

This took more metreage than the Tulips dress because the fabric isn't as wide, and I think the next dress I make will be from a smaller print which I won't need to faff about with pattern matching...

I love the graphic of this design and have this fabric in two other colourways (hence this being no 1), which I hope won't take me as long to get made up as this did (I've had it for at least a couple of years I think).  Although I think I'll probably use a different pattern.

Tulips in Paris

This is the first of my me-made May pledge dresses which I made a couple of weekends ago.  I've had this fabric in my stash for a while and I wanted to get it made up and get some wear out of it before tulips are out of season for another year!

It's a mash up of the bodice from Butterick 5748 and the straight skirt from New Look 6824 and is the same bodice/skirt combo I used for the St Ives dress I made last summer.  The fabric was 58" wide and I only had 1.6m of it, I think it was an end of roll remnant, but that was enough fortunately.

The dress gets its name because I made it to take to Paris and the song 'Tulips in Amsterdam' kept going through my head as I was making it.

St Ives dress

I made this from three remnants which I bought a while ago (I seem to be saying that a lot recently!) from, I think, Fabrics Galore at either an Olympia or Ally Pally show.  It's furnishing fabric and each piece was 1m long, and cut halfway down the vertical length of the bolt, so I was a bit limited as to pattern choice, but figured I could work something out.  And this is it!

A Butterick 5748 bodice and the straight skirt from New Look 6824.  I had a bit of fiddling around to do to get the pleats in the front of the skirt and darts in the back to match up with the bodice darts, and also to make the skirt the same width as the bodice at the waist seam, but it all worked out in the end.

I hemmed it by hand - with thinner fabrics I usually machine sew hems, but I thought this fabric would be too bulky for a machined hem, and it's thicker than the pink polka dot fabric of the previous dress.  Even though it's a straight skirt, I seem to remember it still took quite a while to do, but hand hemming was definitely the right choice.  I love this dress, just a bit miffed that we had such a grotty summer this year and I didn't wear it much.  Here's hoping for better weather next year!

Me Made May 2017 final round up

Well, May flew by!  Here are my last three outfits for me-made May.

I do wear most of my dresses to work, but not the maxis, so as Monday was a bank holiday I wore my Tropicanna dress and a Honeybee cardigan - I really love the colour of this yarn (swoon).  

On Tuesday I wore a polka dot Butterick 5748 with an rtw cardigan.

And finally, yesterday I wore my red Cambie dress and a handknitted laceweight cardigan which I made a few years ago now - I must get around to knitting up the laceweight yarn I have in my stash - I love the fact that it makes such lightweight cardigans.

Despite having a few days off work during May they, and the weekends, were mostly taken up with doing other (fun) stuff.  And so I failed on the sewing part of my pledge, which was to make four dresses.  I did get the knitting part done though which was to complete two cardigans.  

Here are all this month's outfit photos...

Some of the outfit combinations from this year I also wore during me-made May 2014, 2015 and 2016 which just goes to show how useful some of these dresses still are!  And also that my taste in clothes hasn't changed much ;-)

And now, it's on to #OAL2017!

Me Made May 2017 week 3 summary

Well, we've had another week of dreary weather.  Although there has been some sunshine there hasn't really been much warmth and several days were really rather grey and either damp or downright wet.  Urgh!

So, I started the week off with an Anna dress and rtw cardigan.

Then I had a few days away with work, so Tuesday to Thursday's outfits were chosen with suitability for travelling and survival in a suitcase in mind.  On Tuesday I wore an rtw skirt and t-shirt with my Primroses for Spring cardigan.  I'm not sure how much longer this skirt is going to last, I've had it a few years now, love the colour and have worn it a lot, so once it finally does get to go for recycling I'll be looking out for some corduroy in this colour to make another one, although the style may be different.

On Wednesday it was another rtw skirt and t-shirt and my blue Palm Leaf cardigan.  This is another skirt which I've had for years and really like.

On Thursday I wore an rtw dress which has so many colours in it that I'm spoilt for choice when it comes to pairing it with a cardigan - but I chose this orange Emelie cardigan which I made in pre-blogging days and which is a bit big really now - I'm not sure though whether I can be bothered to unravel it all and reknit it, maybe... because I do love the colour.  Just not yet.

On Friday I wore an rtw t-shirt, a skirt which I've just bought from Lindy Bop, having seen Kate Davies wearing it in a pattern photo - I absolutely love it, and the yellow of my Bette cardigan is a perfect match.  I love the jumper in the Kate Davies photo as well, I hope to make it this winter...

On Saturday I had a day at home catching up on the washing, ironing and general housework and wore an rtw t-shirt, skirt and my Cherry Blossom cardigan.

And today, yay, the sun is shining and the forecast is saying that we are in for a sunny, dry and warmer week.  At last!  So I've ditched the tights and as a small celebratory gesture, I'm wearing a dress covered in sunflowers.

I haven't sewn a stitch yet this month (apart from the curtains mentioned in last week's round up post), but I have done some knitting and have finished a cardigan, which I'll write about during the week.  The second cardigan I have on the needles is also coming along nicely, I'll get the body finished today which will just leave the sleeves to get done before the end of the month.  So at least I'll fulfil the knitting part of my pledge if not the sewing one!

Me Made May 2017 week 2 summary

So, week two.

On Monday I had the day off work and as it was 8 May, which was VE day (also it wasn't particularly warm), I decided to wear my Suffragette City top with black leggings.  I did get some sewing done - I had a pair of curtains which needed hemming - I'd cut and pinned them weeks ago and then put them to one side, so I got my act together and finished the hemming.  Bonus is that now I have plenty of pins available for dressmaking use!  I then cut out a denim skirt, but haven't done any more to it than that yet.

On Tuesday I wore my Anna La Paloma dress and an rtw cardigan.

On Wednesday I wore my Paper Roses Cambie dress and Sam Stewart cardigan.

On Thursday it was my pink polka dot Butterick 5748 dress and an rtw cardigan.  This dress changed colour slightly in the wash some time ago and the dots are a now a more vintage-y looking cream colour which I actually prefer to the original white.

Friday was my Cath Kidston birds dress and an rtw cardigan.

Saturday was Bluebirds Emery dress and an rtw cardigan.

And on Sunday I wore another Emery with an rtw cardigan.

And that was week two.  Another not very warm week unfortunately - what is it with the weather?

Me Made May 2017 week 1 summary

I've finally finished my clothes cull and have donated several bags of clothes and shoes to charity so now I  have a bit of storage capacity for new makes.  That being said, I haven't actually finished anything yet this month, but I do have tomorrow off work, so there maybe something finished soon!

I spent some time last weekend sorting out and photographing outfits which led to the realisation that I need to knit up the cardigan quantities of green yarn which I have stashed, and I could also do with a pink t-shirt!  Photographing things in advance saves the hassle of doing daily photos, which I find makes for an easier life.

So, without further ado, here is my round up of the first week for this year's Me Made May challenge.

Monday was a bank holiday and therefore was freezing cold!  I wore my Monochrome Breton jumper with some black leggings (although the photo shows a skirt - I can't put trousers on Myrtle unfortunately).

On Tuesday I wore a dress which I made during MMM 2016, and an rtw cardigan.  I have these in several colours and they will probably feature a few times this month.  They're very useful with summer dresses and are from Woolovers, although they don't seem to have them on their website now.

Simplicity 2444

Wednesday's outfit was another dress which I made for MMM2016 and an rtw cardigan.

Christine Haynes Emery

On Thursday I wore a lime green By Hand London Elisalex dress and rtw cropped cardigan from Fever - again, not on their website now.

By Hand London Elisalex

On Friday I wore my green birds dress with an rtw cardigan

McCalls 5764 - vintage from 1961

Saturday's choice was my tape measures dress and rtw cardigan from H&M.  A woman came up to me in the petrol station as I was going to pay and told me she loved my dress - it's lovely to get a compliment like that, I was smiling all the way home!

Vogue 8789

And today I'm wearing my red roses dress and an rtw cardigan by Banned.

Butterick 5748

I hope to spend a large part of tomorrow sewing because I haven't taken the cover off my machine yet this month!  Actually this year...  There has been progress on the knitting front though, so that's good.

The Bobby dress

I don't always give my sewing projects names - or the knitting ones for that matter - but this dress gets one.  Last August my grandson was born and sunflowers featured heavily in the flowers which my daughter and I received at the time.  I'd already seen and liked a dress made up in this fabric on Roisin's blog and so decided that I was going to have a dress covered in sunflowers too.  I'm not sure I agree with her about the '90s fashion vibe, but then, I was busy with small children in the '90s and probably completely unaware of what was going on fashion-wise.  In fact, now I think about it, I have no idea what was going on with fashion in the '90s; the only thing I would have concerned myself with when buying clothes was "is it machine washable?"  In fact, this still holds largely true now, although I've actually bought very few clothes since I started sewing again.  The only things I will consider buying that need dry cleaning are coats, and handwashing, well, only things I've knitted.  Everything else goes in the machine, even if the care label says it shouldn't and nothing has been rendered unwearable as a result.

Anyway, I digress, back to the sewing.  Once I'd decided I was going to buy this fabric it took a bit of hunting around on the interwebz to find it, but Ebay came up trumps.  I'd seen it in the flesh at Minerva (I was in the area at the time) so knew I liked it, but they didn't have enough, so Ebay it was.  And then it sat in my stash for the best part of a year because really, I'm not going wear sunflowers at any time other than high summer.  As my grandson's first birthday approached I decided I should really get my act together and make it up.  It's a Butterick 5748 bodice with an Emery skirt and came together very quickly once I'd got it cut out.  I cut the bodice out flat rather than on the fold so that I could get a flower in the centre of it

The Bobby dress

And since we've had a bit of an Indian summer this year I've worn it a few times in September too, but it's put away for the winter now.  Now I must go because I have a big pile of winter clothes which have come out of hibernation and need ironing...

Me made May final round-up

Here's the final round up for this year's me made May.  I'm hoping that June will be warmer!

Day 22 - a vintage Laura Ashley dress and Cad cardigan, which I knitted back in 2011.

Vintage Laura Ashley dress and Cad cardigan

Day 23 - a Simplicity 1990 dress and an rtw cardigan.

Simplicity 1990 and rtw cardigan

Day 24 - Yes, it was just about warm enough to justify wearing my Flamingolex dress - hooray!  This is still one of my absolute favourite dresses. With an eye-searingly bright rtw cardigan.

Flamingolex dress and rtw cardigan

Day 25 - An Anthropologie dress which I adore, and Emelie cardigan which I knitted in early 2013.

Burgeoning hypericum dress and Norway Spruce toshsock Emelie

Day 26 - Bluebirds dress and an rtw cardigan.

Bluebirds dress and rtw cardigan

Day 27 - Up, up and away dress and rtw cardigan.

Up, up and away dress and rtw cardigan

Day 28 - Watermelons Anna dress and rtw cardigan.

Watermelons dress and rtw cardigan

Day 29 - Ocean Waves cardigan, finished in 2012, and polka dot Simplicity 3774 dress - I must make another of these very soon, I love this pattern!  This is the first time I've worn these two together and I'll do it more often - they really go well together.

Simplicity 3774 dress and Ocean Waves cardigan

Day 30 - Carmen Miranda dress and Gooseberry Fool cardigan, knitted in 2011.

Carmen Miranda dress and Goosebery Fool cardigan

Day 31 - Tropicanna Anna maxi dress - I love this, although because it's got a V-neck back as well as front I think I'm going to replace the front bodice with a bateau-neck because it slips off my shoulders rather too easily if I'm sitting down.  It's fine when I'm vertical, gravity keeps it in place!

Tropicanna dress

And that's it for this year's me made May.  19 handknitted cardigans and 22 me made dresses - three Annas & variations, three Elisalexes & variations, three Emerys, two Butterick 5748s, one New Look 6824, one Simplicity 1990, one Simplicity 3774, two Vogue 8789s, one Vogue 8728, two Cambies and three dresses which were mash-up combinations of two patterns (Elisalex/Emery, Butterick 5748/Simplicity 2444 and Elisalex/New Look 6824).  I've really enjoyed it and it's made deciding what to wear each day easy.  I took the outfit photos in batches, usually on Sundays, and once I'd seen the weather forecast for each day I'd look through the photos and pick something suitable.  It says something about how cold this month has been that so many me-made cardigans have featured - normally at this time of year I wouldn't be wearing wool!

And now I must do some housework!