Pink polka dot Ruby dress

This dress has the bodice from the Ruby dress pattern by Simple Sew, which was a freebie from Love Sewing magazine.  However, the circle skirt in this pattern is too short for my taste, so I used a skirt from New Look 6886, which is cut on the cross.  It's made from a 2m furnishing fabric remnant, so the skirt holds its shape quite well.


I traced the bodice pattern and increased the seam allowance to 5/8" (it only had a 3/8" allowance) because I thought it would make for easier matching up with the skirt if both parts of the dress had the same seam allowance.

Why don't all patterns have 5/8" seam allowances?  It would make mixing and matching patterns much less time consuming!  Also, I'm sure that one of these days I'll make up a pattern which only has 3/8" allowances and forget that fact and sew it up with 5/8" seams...

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?

Purple polka dots dress

This is another dress which I cut out in August last year and have only recently got around to finishing, although I actually sewed most of this up before I abandoned it, so it only needed the back seam finishing, hemming and the sleeves setting in.

The pattern is Simplicity 3184 from1959, and because I did most of the sewing last year I'm not counting it towards my vintage pledge.

I really wasn't sure whether I'd want to put the sleeves in, but decided to cut them out anyway since I could always remove them if I ended up not liking them.  Fortunately I do like them, so no need to unpick and refinish the armholes!  I seem to remember it took me a while to cut this out, because I wanted the polka dots to line up, so there was a fair bit of moving pattern pieces around on the fabric.

It didn't take me long to finish this and I'm really pleased with how it fits, I'll probably make another one, although possibly without the sleeves, just to have a slightly different version.  Also, I didn't put the bows on the back and I cut the skirt 6" shorter.  I don't remember now why it got put to one side for so long - it may simply have been that I felt a need to do more knitting and less sewing - but I'm glad that it's done now as this was the last of the dresses that I cut out intending to sew them up on August bank holiday weekend last year - ever the optimist!  (The others were the Carmen Miranda dress, the turquoise Ditto roses dress [and I still have another two dress lengths of this rose print fabric to make up, I love it], the Scandinavian birds dress, and the orange floral maxi dress.)

I bought the fabric in Fabricland and I used all two metres of it.  So, another spotty dress to add to my collection of spotty dresses!  It's also a really good match for my purple hearts cardigan, (or the cardigan is a good match for the dress, depending on your point of view), so that's good.  Now I'm off to my knitting group which I have sadly neglected for the past couple of months.

Me made May week 1 round-up

Well, I need to catch up here, it's already day 23 of me-made May!  So, without further delay, rewind to the beginning of the month.

1 May - Roses are Red dress and Sam Stewart cardigan.  I blogged about the dress here, but the cardigan I only finished last month and it will get its own post later.  This was the first time I'd worn this dress this year - it's not really one I would wear in the winter so I'm very glad that Spring is here because I love it!

Day 1 - Roses are Red dress and Sam Stewart cardigan

 2 May - Pink tape measures dress and Shell Pink cardigan.  I wrote about the dress here, and the cardigan here and here.  This cardigan is lovely and warm, although it has pilled a bit...

Day 2 - Pink tape measures dress and Shell Pink cardigan

3 May - Noro cardigan and jeans - which won't fit on Myrtle so they didn't get photographed.  It was flippin' cold and this cardigan is nice and warm!  I haven't blogged about it because I made it back in 2012, before I started writing this blog.  It's just a basic stocking stitch cardigan really - not much more to say about it than that!

Cardigan made with Noro Silk Garden yarn

4 May - Dotty Anna dress and Pecan Primrose cardigan.  Dress blogged here, and cardigan here.  I really like both of these - separately and together!

Day 4 - Dotty Anna dress and Pecan Primrose cardigan

5 May - Garden Birds dress and Blue Palm Leaf cardigan.  Dress blogged here, and cardigan blogged here.  It says something about the weather we had at the beginning of the month that I was wearing wool cardigans rather than lighter weight rtw ones.

Day 5 - Garden Birds dress and Blue Palm Leaf cardigan

6 May - Paper Roses Cambie dress and Sam Stewart cardigan.  Again.  Dress blogged here.  I am so pleased with this cardigan - it goes with quite a lot of my dresses!

Day 6 - Paper Roses Cambie and Sam Stewart cardigan

7 May - Pink Polka Dot Butterick 5748 and an rtw cardigan - the weather must have been warmer!  Dress is blogged here.

Pink Polka Dot Butterick 5748 and rtw cardigan

And there we have it - a week's worth of outfits; only two more catch-up me-made May posts to go!

Autumn and winter sewing plans

My sewing plans for the next few months are to make up dresses in the following

Purple tape measures - a shirtdress (although not sure which pattern yet), John Lewis purple bricks - at the moment I'm thinking a Simplicity 2444 with a stand up collar and long sleeves.

Tape measures and bricks

Khaki polka dot fabric - another shirtdress, olive atomic fabric - something with a fitted bodice, long sleeves and a straight skirt, mustard keys - not sure yet, but something with long sleeves and not too many seams to break up the pattern.

Olive atomic, mustard keys and khaki polka dots

Viva Frida fabric - still undecided on pattern for this one.  The brown and blue floral and the turquoise roses are, I think, destined to be made up with 60s patterns.

Viva Frida, brown & blue floral and turquoise roses

 
The sunflower fabric I absolutely love, and I think I'll save this to make up when we have some grey, gloomy days in the depths of winter - which I'm sure we will - and it will cheer me up as I sew.  Not sure of pattern, but maybe an Emery.  The resin beads fabric (I've called it this because that's what it reminds me of) will be a Simplicity 3774. 

Sunflowers and resin beads

Then  there are three Liberty fabrics which my mother has had for years and now they are mine!  The yellow floral one is voile and has a real 40s vibe to it I think, so I'll almost certainly use a 40s, or 40s inspired pattern for it.  The other two are Tana lawn - there is enough of the top one to make a dress - maybe a 40s pattern again, but the turquoise one will probably become a blouse because I don't think there's enough for a dress.

Liberty fabrics

I'd also like to make some separates.  The two fabrics below are destined to become skirts although I haven't decided on pattern(s) yet, and I'd like to make some shirts and blouses, but haven't decided which patterns to match with which fabrics, and in fact, to start with, I might just practise by using up some of my left overs - I like the way Rochelle New mixes and matches the fabrics she uses.

Trees and ferns

I realise that even without the knitting this is almost certainly far too ambitious to get through in six months, but ever the optimist I'd like to think I'll get at least some of this done.  And I can come back to this post next spring and see just how much I managed to make (or not!)

Spots before my eyes

Still in catch-up mode, there are three polka dot dresses in this post, one of which I actually made last year and realise I haven't got around to blogging about it.  The other two I made this summer.

So, I'll start with the one that's been unblogged for the longest.  The pattern I used is Butterick 5603, one of their retro reprints.  It started life with a contrast bodice - white polka dots on green - which took me ages to cut out because the fabric had so many flaws in it.  I'm not sure that they would have been immediately obvious to anyone else, but I could see them and therefore had to cut around them.  Once I'd made up the skirt and attached it to the bodice I decided I didn't like the overall look and so cut out another bodice in the same fabric as the skirt.  Now, about the fabric... it was cheap; a polycotton which I bought on Goldhawk Road because I liked the idea of a dress with green polka dots on it.  However, after sewing it up I realised that polycotton polka dots were not for me.  The fabric frayed quite badly and is very thin, so not only is the bodice lined, the skirt is too.  This meant that there were several layers of fabric at the side seams - albeit thin layers.  And that, together with having to remake the bodice because I didn't like the first version, meant that by the time I'd finished sewing it, I was glad to see the back of it.

Butterick 5603 Green polka dot dress

I've only worn this a couple of times since I made it, which is a shame because it is a pretty dress.  I will make up this pattern again because I really like the skirt, but I'll use the bateau neckline V-back version of the bodice next time - I didn't really enjoy sewing this cross-over version.

The next two dresses were much happier sewing experiences.  The first one is made from some cotton I got in Fabricland because I absolutely loved the colour and which was a pleasure to sew with.  I can't remember where I came across this pattern (Simplicity 3774) because it is out of print - probably on someone's blog, although I can't remember whose.  But it is one of several patterns I've bought in my quest to find the perfect pattern to make something similar to the Vanity Project tea dress that I blogged about here.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and will be making more from this pattern, it was a good buy and an easy sew.

Teal polka dot Simplicity 3774

And the third dress for this post is a Butterick 5748, another retro reprint.  I absolutely love this pattern, this is the third one I've made, although only the second with the full circle skirt that comes with the pattern.  I cut this a size smaller than the first two I made which I had to fiddle about with to improve the fit.  The fabric is a lovely cotton which I bought from Minerva last summer.  The only downer about making this dress was that there was a lot of fabric in the skirt, and the skirt was fully lined, and I made this in July when it was really rather hot by English standards.  Having a lot of fabric piled on my lap while I was sewing wasn't the most comfortable of experiences, but clearly it wasn't bad enough to put me off  because I made another two dresses this summer with fully lined skirts... which will be for another blog post.

Butterick 5748 Blue polka dot dress

Me Made May - week 3 round up

A bit behind schedule on posting here, life, in the form of redecorating, has intervened.  There has been topsy-turvyness in these parts for the last couple of weeks, but things are pretty much back to normal now and all the boxing up, packing up and moving around of STUFF was so worth the end result.

It has meant no sewing though, and not much knitting either, but I have been able to do a bit here and there.  Now to catch up on Me Made May.  Week 3 is the only week this month that I actually went to work every day - June will be a bit of a shock to the system, since I only did one full week in April as well, a girl could very easily get used to part-time hours...

So, Monday's outfit was my Up, Up and Away dress with a fuchsia pink cardigan from H&M, dark brown tights and chocolate brown El Naturalista shoes.

12th May outfit

On Tuesday I wore my Dotty Anna with a navy cardigan from Woolovers, navy tights and Orla Kiely by Clarks shoes - I love these shoes ;-) I hope she does another collection.

13th May outfit

Wednesday was a very. good. day. because the sun was out so I could ditch the tights YAY!  I had thought about having a week of wearing bird print dresses every day, but decided that was probably a bit too much of a good thing, so the first one of the week made its appearance today - my Bluebird dress, worn with a bright blue Woolovers cardi and navy Birkenstocks - the season of painted toenails is here at last!

14th May outfit

On Thursday I wore my Measuring Up dress - the ideal dress for Me Made May don't you think ;-) - with a pink Woolovers cardigan and pink Birks.

15th May outfit

For the last day of the working week it was back to birds again.  My Cath Kidston Garden Birds furnishing fabric mash-up dress (Elisalex and NL 6824), with a blue cardi from H&M and navy Birks.  I think I may have to bias-bind the skirt seams of this dress, because having washed it a couple of times they have frayed a bit.  I usually pink seams to finish them, but these I zigzagged because I thought if I pinked them and they frayed there wouldn't be much seam allowance left to do something different.  The bodice should be fine because the seams are all encased.  Something to bear in mind on future furnishing fabric garments.

16th May outfit

Well, that's a week's worth of outfits caught up.  Last week's and next week's combos I will put in one post at the end of next week - I only worked three days last week and next week will be four days with the bank holiday tomorrow, so they can all go in one post.

The decorating work meant that I had to miss the NYLON2014 bloggers' meet up last Saturday which I had been really looking forward to.  I did think I might be able to make the afternoon shopping part of the day, but as it turned out, it was not to be.  So I shall be living vicariously through the posts of the bloggers who did go and hope that I'll be able to go to another meet up in London at some point.  And I don't really need to buy any more fabric at the moment... although my sister has bought some fab fabrics from Goldhawk Road recently which have set me thinking that one or two more purchases wouldn't hurt...  I wonder whether the fact that the Tories have been kicked out of Ham & Fulham council in the elections last week might mean a reprieve for the Goldhawk Road shops.  I really hope so.

Well, that's it for this post, I have a sleeve to finish knitting (oh what joy).

Me Made May round up of weeks 1 & 2

Ok, so here is a round-up of the outfits which I've worn to work during the first two weeks of this challenge.

Day one, Thursday 1st May - my pink pansies dress, which I blogged about here, with a maroony / wine coloured cardigan from H&M, similar coloured tights (no idea where from other than my wardrobe), and El Naturalista shoes.  I haven't actually worn this dress much since I made it, not sure why because it's really comfortable and is a good fit, but with long (well three-quarter length) sleeves I probably won't wear it again now before the autumn.  So, MMM was a good excuse to wear it, and enjoy wearing it :-).




1st May outfit

Friday 2nd May I had the day off work and Monday 5th May was a bank holiday, so day 2 of the challenge was Tuesday 6th May when I wore my recently made pink polka dot dress with a navy cardigan from Woolovers, navy tights, and the same El Naturalista shoes as I wore on MMM day 1.  I really like this dress, it's a lovely  muted shade of pink, the fabric is beautifully soft, it's got polka dots on, and a low back.  And it looks good with navy!



6th May outfit

 Wednesday 7th May I wore my yellow and blue floral dress made from a vintage-repro Vogue pattern - I must get round to making another of these.  This fabric drapes beautifully and the print has a bit of a retro vibe to it I think.  Worn with a pale blue cardigan from H&M and Orla Kiely for Clarks shoes, which also have a retro vibe, but about two decades later than the dress!

7th May outfit

I wore another yellow dress on Thursday, my  recently completed yellow birds Emery.  I teamed this with a charcoal grey cardigan from H&M, charcoal grey woolly tights - yes it was that cold, and chocolate brown El Naturalista shoes.



8th May outfit

 The final outfit for this post was my other Emery, a sleeveless red daisy print one, which I wore with a green cardigan from Woolovers, crimson red tights and green El Naturalista shoes.  I'm really hoping that next week it will be warm enough to ditch the tights since it will be nearly the middle of May.  It's also the only week this month when I'm working all five days, so I plan to do another round-up post next weekend.



9th May outfit

 I wish I could say that I've been making good progress with my knitting, but... (Although I have done some, I'm not as far along with it as I'd hoped to be.  Still, another 20 days left in May so I just might get it finished.)

Another polka dot dress - Sew Dolly Clackett no 5

The last of the five dresses I entered into the Dolly Clackett sew along is this one - a Butterick reprint of one of their 1960 patterns.  This is the second dress I've made from this pattern and this version has a gathered skirt because I only bought 2 metres of this fabric and to cut the circle skirt of the pattern would have needed more.  Not sure what else I can say about it really - bought the fabric at Ally Pally last autumn, sewed up quickly, looks bigger on Myrtle than it is on me, although I think it could do with being a bit smaller in the bodice.  Maybe I'll take the side seams in at some point, but at the moment I can live with it.




Pink polka dot dress

I'm really pleased to have made these five dresses this month - I've missed sewing while I've been knitting.  Though now I'm missing knitting!  I have a cardigan I really want to get finished before it gets too warm to wear it, (I live in hope) so I think maybe I should have that as a me-made-May pledge - I will finish knitting my pink cardigan.  I also intend to wear a me-made dress to work every day during May - I might devote one week solely to bird print dresses.  Someone at work actually asked me when I was going to wear my Flamingolex again, which made me feel all warm inside - a dress that I have made has made a positive impression on someone - so it will definitely feature in the bird-print-week.  Now I must away and knit a few rows.

Dotty Anna & Lily Anna

Here are two more Anna dresses from By Hand London – this is such a pretty and versatile pattern that I will be making more of them this year.  I made both of these in December but haven’t had time to blog about them until now because, well, life.

The first one is made from some polka dot fabric which I bought at the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally in October.  I like polka dots, in the same way that I like gingham, and bird prints, and I like this particular one very much because (a) it’s cotton not polycotton and (b) it’s white dots on a colour rather than the other way round.  I decided to make this with a gathered skirt, which is just two widths of the fabric (58” wide) with one cut in half to accommodate the back seam, so I got the whole dress out of 2m of fabric.

As with my first Anna I cut a size 12 and took the back neckline in by ⅝” and tapered it out.  I also did size 14 bust pleats because the pleats on my Anthro Anna come up a little high.  With a machined hem this dress came together very quickly.

Dotty Anna

This next one is a v-necked maxi version made with stretch cotton which I bought in Fabricland recently.  As soon as I saw it on the roll I knew I wanted to make an Anna maxi from it (and that doesn’t happen often – it’s more usual that I buy fabric without a particular pattern in mind).  I bought 3.5m and as it’s 56” wide and I cut the skirt pieces 6” shorter this was enough fabric, even though it has a one-way print.

This too I made with size 14 bust pleats, however I didn’t think to cut a size 14 skirt front, so there is a bit of mismatch going on at the waist.  I don’t think it’s that noticeable though and it’s not something I’m going to fret about.  Next time though, if I am using the skirt pattern pieces, I will either cut a 14 skirt front, or use the size 12 bust pleats and make them shorter so that things match up.  With a gathered skirt of course this doesn’t matter!  I also tapered all the skirt seams from ⅝” out to ½” to give a little more room around the waist and this has worked well.

As I was sewing the skirt pieces together I noticed one of them had a mark on it – not sure what from, but having seen it I decided to cut out a replacement piece which fortunately I had enough fabric left to do.  If there hadn’t have been enough I’d have left it and tried to ignore it, it wasn’t that noticeable really and I’m not sure that anyone else would have seen it, but once I knew it was there…  However, I didn’t have quite enough fabric and so the replacement piece was a bit shorter than the rest.  This meant I ended up cutting 1½” off the length, and with a machined hem of ⅝” + ⅞” it is now an ideal length for wearing with flip flops rather than killer heels.  Which is just fine actually as I tend to live in Birkenstocks in the summer.  The only thing I haven’t done, and probably will, is to top stitch the neckline to keep the facing from riding up at the front.



Lily Anna maxi

I’m really pleased with both these dresses and I’m sure other versions will be appearing in the next few months.  At least one more maxi (this is the only maxi dress pattern I have), and maybe a mash-up with the Elisalex skirt, possibly one with the Cambie A-line skirt if I can make the darts line up (or use a fabric where it won’t show if not), and, well, we’ll just have to see where the fancy takes me for further outings of this pattern.