Another Know Me ME2016

I had intended to make two more of these before putting the pattern away, but time ran away with me and the next one is on the spring sewing schedule now. 

This version is made from Broderie Anglaise which I bought in Coupons Merveilles in Paris earlier in the year.  It was a 3m coupon, but after washing and drying it measured 2.85m, so again I made a gathered skirt with inseam pockets, not the version in the pattern.  I also lined the skirt and bodice and lowered the neckline - I used plain red cotton voile for the lining.  The sleeves are slightly shorter than given in the pattern, to lend that fabric to the skirt length.

I'm very happy with how it's turned out.  I don't have much red in my wardrobe, so this is a welcome addition.

Peppermint / Elbe Bardon dresses

Here is another pattern which had caught my eye on Instagram and so far I've made four of them.  The first I made in May with some quilting cotton that I bought years ago and never made up because I kept changing my mind about which pattern to use.  So I finally made a decision and it became this.  The lower tier is a bit narrower than the pattern piece, because of the width of the fabric.

The next one, which I started in late May and finished in early June, was made with Coco linen from Merchant & Mills.

Bardon number three, which I made in July, was from some red cotton gingham which I bought years ago in John Lewis with no clear plan - I think it was an end of roll and reduced, I only had 1.7m, which is not a length I would have bought by choice.  Because of that I used different pockets (from a purple Simplicity gingham dress which I made in July - I'll link to it once I've written about it) - the ones which come with the pattern are quite generous.  As it was, one of the pocket pieces is made from two pieces of fabric sewn together!  The front skirt piece is also slightly narrower than the back, because of the not-really-enough length of the fabric.  For this one I modified the armholes to the next size down (although I can't now remember whether this was just for the front or the back bodice as well...), which gives a better fit.

And the last one so far is this one, which I made in August, in a lovely salmon double gauze which I bought from Fabric Godmother this summer.

The skirt pieces (tier 1) are per the pattern, but the next one down and the bottom frill I cut to use up all the fabric length.  Again, I used smaller pockets (the same ones as for the red gingham version).

And here's the pattern, which unfortunately is only available as a pdf, so I pieced the bodice together and traced it, but helpfully the dimensions are given for the skirt sections so I just used the measurements and cut them out of dot and cross paper.  (I hate piecing together A4 pdfs.)

Love it!

Me Made May 2017 week 4 summary

Gosh, this month is flying by and finally, the weather has warmed up!  This has definitely influenced my choice of dresses - the summery prints are now in circulation.

Monday's outfit was an Emery dress with rtw cardigan.

On Tuesday I wore my Get Cutie bird print dress with an rtw cardigan.

Wednesday saw flamingos making an appearance with my Flamingolex dress and an rtw cardigan from Audrey Star's Boutique.  I love this dress - the style and the fabric, and I have enough fabric left over to make a skirt - I should get on and do that, I'd much rather wear it than let it languish in my leftovers box!

On Thursday I wore my Carmen Miranda dress and an rtw cardigan.

On Friday I wore my Beachhuts Cambie and an rtw cardigan.

Saturday saw the first wearing of my lemon print dress - I bought this in Sainsbury's a few years ago now and love it.  I paired it with a me-made tie front cardigan from pre-blogging days (I didn't use a pattern, so no link).

And to round off the week today I'm wearing my orange floral Simplicity 1801 maxi with an rtw cardigan.

Thinking ahead, a couple of weeks ago OAL 2017 was announced.  This is a challenge to create a complete outfit with a knitted and a sewn garment, and is hosted by Lauren Taylor and Andi Satterlund.  In 2014 I watched from the sidelines, in 2015 I made these, last year I didn't get around to joining in but this year I definitely will. The challenge runs for the whole of June and July and I've got two possible combinations lined up - I'm not sure that I'll get both cardigans knitted, but two dresses should definitely be possible.  I've got the cardigan pattern for one combo and the dress pattern for the other finalised, so still need to decide on the other two in order to get a complete outfit!

Ten of hearts cardigan

I finished a version of this earlier in the year and decided that I wanted one that actually looked like the picture on the pattern - this doesn't happen often, usually there's some small detail that I want to change in a pattern, whether it's the colour, the yarn, the shaping, the length...

Pattern from Subversive Femme on etsy

I bought the yarn from Wool Warehouse in Leamington Spa - I'd called in there and had a look at several of the Cascade 220 colours and ended up picking three - this one, enough for an Agatha (so now I have no excuse not to knit this pattern - this is the recommended yarn), and one other colour although I haven't quite decided which cardigan that will become.

And here's my version

This was a very quick and easy knit because it's thick wool (well, for me anyway), although I did have to go down a needle size to get tension.  And exceptionally, I actually got the same stitch and row tension as the pattern!  Almost always one or other and usually both of these are different and I end up having to get the calculator out (or wing it and hope for the best, ssshhhh....).  The lace pattern is easy to memorise, and the back and sleeves are plain stocking stitch, so the knitting was done in a week.

Easy to memorise lace

I love the buttons - vintage ones from The Swagman's Daughter and a perfect colour match - yay!  It's always a bit of a leap of faith buying buttons online, because of the possibility that the colours will not be exactly as they appear on my monitor, but I struck lucky with these.

Close up of the buttons

All in all, I'm really pleased with how this has turned out and I can see me getting lots of wear out of it (I might even knit another version...).

And one more photo for good measure

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!

Me made May week 2 round-up

Moving swiftly on, here's a round-up of week 2's outfits.

8 May - This is an rtw dress, I absolutely love the print and have bought some of the fabric which I have yet to make up.  Once I've done that I'll probably either turn this dress into a skirt, or maybe pass it on.  The cardigan is an Emelie which I made in 2013.

Day 8 - Home Sewing is Easy dress and Emelie cardigan

9 May - Here we have my grey and yellow birds Emery, and Little Grey Cardi, which I made back in 2011.  I should wear it more - I've got quite a lot of clothes that it would go with and I wore it a lot when I first made it.

Day 9 - Grey and yellow birds Emery and Little Grey Cardi

10 May - This cardigan is the same pattern as the one for day 9, but in blue and made a year later.  The dress is my Antoine et Lili-ish Cambie

Day 10 Antoine et Lili-ish Cambie and Queen Anne cardigan

11 May - Red daisy Emery dress and an rtw cardigan.

Day 11 - Red Daisy Emery and rtw cardigan

12 May - Vogue repro pattern 8728 in floral fabric which I love, and an rtw cardigan.  I think I've got enough of this fabric left to make a blouse - it's very soft and has a lovely drape - so that's added to the ever increasing list of things I want to sew!

Day 12 - Mustard yellow Vogue 8728 and rtw cardigan

13 May - An rtw dress which I bought in Sainsbury's last year after seeing it on Sarah's blog and a work colleague telling me the same week that she had seen a dress in her local Sainsbury's which she though was very 'me'.  It was obviously meant to be mine!  The cardigan is one I've knitted this year and yet to blog about.

Day 13 - Lemons dress by Tu and Primroses for Spring cardigan

14 May - another freezing cold day - wearing an aran weight cardigan in the middle of May is just not on!  I finished it in early 2013, so it predates this blog.  The dress came from People Tree a few years ago and is one that I've worn a lot.

Day 14 - People Tree dress and grey aran cabled cardigan

Well, that's two weeks caught up now, only one more to go!

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!

Carmen Miranda

I didn't make this dress until the August bank holiday weekend and was hoping for an Indian summer during September so that I could wear it before the weather got too cold and it got put away for the winter.  This isn't a print that I would wear when it's freezing cold outside.  Well, the weather gods smiled on me and we have had some lovely sunny and really quite hot days this month and I've worn it twice.

I can't remember exactly how I came across this fabric - possibly a google search for pineapple fabric - but I bought it from The Polished Button earlier in the summer and I absolutely love it!  The bodice of this dress is Butterick 5748 and the skirt is Simplicity 2444.  I think I'd recently made the blue polka dot dress and couldn't face another circle skirt so soon so decided on a pleated one instead.  However... the bodice darts and skirt pleats don't line up with each other, which I don't think matters particularly with this fabric because it's such a busy print, but I don't think I'll use this particular pattern combo again.

Carmen Miranda dress

Despite the mismatching, I'm very pleased with this dress - the fabric is very soft and I love the colours and the print.  And it makes me smile whenever I look at it. :-)

Autumn and winter knitting plans

Originally this was going to be one post together with the sewing plans but I decided to split it into two shorter rather than one loooong post so, here are my knitting plans.


I've got some baby knitting on the go at the moment - a cardigan - and then I have two hats planned and also a cuddly toy, but haven't decided what to make after that - but I will be using the yarns below in various combinations.

The toy will be a lion and I've bought a pompom maker for the tail - I'm now wondering what else I can make pompoms for...

Drops Baby Merino

For myself I really want to knit the Icon dress.  I love this and bought the pattern and yarn at Unravel in February 2013 after having seen the dress on the Purl Alpaca stand  and tried it on.  I started knitting this last autumn but ground to a halt because of a hemming construction issue, but I think if I start soon I should be able to get it finished in time for Unravel next year.  Since it's knitted from the bottom up the most time consuming knitting will be at the start and then it should, theoretically at least, get quicker.  And no sleeves, yay!  I don't like knitting sleeves, for me it's the worst part of cardigan knitting.

Purl Alpaca Icon dress and Purl Alpaca yarn

However, I do want to knit several cardigans, but realistically am unlikely to make more than a couple simply because there aren't enough evening and weekend hours to get through all the knitting and sewing I want to do.  In my head I can knit much faster than I can in reality.  So, I'd like to make one or more of the following  Paulie, Love Potion and Funky Grandpa

Paulie, Love Potion and Funky Grandpa

and I've sorted out the following yarn combinations as possibilities...

Handmaiden Casbah

Malabrigo Sock

Handmaiden Casbah again

Then I'd also like to make Audrey in Unst in some lovely mushroom coloured wool which I bought in Loop,

Audrey in Unst and The Uncommon Thread BFL light DK yarn

I'd also like to make a green cardigan and a grey cardigan in the wools below, I have ideas in my head for how I want them to turn out, I just need to work them out on paper.

Madelinetosh sock in Grasshopper and Drops baby merino grey yarn

I just need to pick a final stitch pattern for each one from one or other of these books - they are a great resource, which would be even better if the lace patterns were charted - although it doesn't usually take me long to write out a chart it would be nice if I didn't have to!

Barbara Walker Treasuries

And finally on the cardigan front, I bought the mini-skeins below at Unwind in Brighton back in July, and would also like to use these in combination with probably either some grey (again) or maybe navy wool for cardigans too.  Although not all the same cardigan.  They may end up being used for one of the stripey patterns above...

Madelinetosh Unicorn tails and fivemoons mini skeins

Then finally finally, I also really want to knit this jumper in Excelana Land Army Green, but with long sleeves.  I can't see the point of a short sleeved jumper for me, my arms would get cold and I've got enough wool for long sleeves so I just need to work out the shaping and away I go (yeah right - loads of enthusiasm too many other calls on my time at the moment!)

Pattern in A Stitch in Time Vol 1 and Excelana yarn from Susan Crawford

 
I'm also kinda missing lace knitting, so a shawl or two may end up on the needles as well...

And just like the sewing plans I know that this is a hopelessly over-ambitious list...