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.)

Watermelons!

Yes, it's another Anna - I just love this pattern, it's so versatile.  I first saw this fabric in Fabricland last summer and was drawn to it because I love these colours in combination with each other.  However, I decided against buying it, I think because I don't actually like watermelons.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I just happened to be in the vicinity of my nearest Fabricland and I found myself as drawn to this fabric as I was last year.  I decided that two metres were going to come home with me because (1) I love the graphic and (2) I don't actively dislike watermelons, it's more that I don't positively like them - indifference would be a more accurate description - which is a shame, because I'm sure that on a blisteringly hot day they are probably very refreshing.  And indifference to the fruit is not a good enough reason to not buy the fabric.

I didn't know what I was going to make but figured that two metres would be enough for a sleeveless summer dress, and so it was, although only just, because this has a one-way print.  Although tbh, I doubt anyone would notice if I'd cut any of the skirt panels upside down.  And it was only just possible to get this out of two metres, I don't think I'd have got a size 14 out of it, so, lucky that I'm an Anna size 12.  This came together very quickly last weekend and, like my Flamingolex, makes me smile whenever I look at it.

Not much to say about the construction, cut as per pattern, graded the skirt seams out to half an inch to give a bit more wearing ease, and made the bust pleats about an inch shorter.


Watermelons!

 Now, I really need to get some knitting done otherwise I'm never going to finish my MMM challenge pink cardigan.

Emery no 2, and Me-Made-May

Yes, another bird print dress and my second Emery, although this time with sleeves.  I saw a dress made up in this fabric towards the end of last year, although for the life of me I can't remember whose blog it was, and knew that I had to seek out the fabric and make a dress from it for myself.

I love yellow and grey in combination with each other and, as I think is kinda obvious by now, I also have a thing about bird prints.  So, I found the fabric at Hawthorne Threads, and while I was there another bird print fabric somehow found its way into my shopping basket as well.  I think that is going to end up as a shirt dress, quite soon I hope.

Not much to say about this dress that hasn't already been said by other bloggers - it's a great fit, this fabric has a bit of stretch in it - and is easy to sew.  And I love it :-)

Grey and yellow birds dress

 I've decided to sign up for Me-Made-May this year and this is my pledge - I Helena of libraknitsandsews.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14.  I will wear a me-made dress to work every day during May and will aim to finish a cardigan I started knitting last month.  I would also like to make a dress with buttons, or more accurately, buttonholes!

Wearing a me-made dress to work every day during May won't be difficult because I'm not actually working that many days this month due to the bank holidays and me deciding to take extra days off next to them.  I think I've already made enough dresses to wear something different every day.  But I do need some impetus to finish the cardigan I'm knitting - if I don't get it done this month I can see it languishing unfinished until the autumn.  I've knitted the body up to the armholes, so about a third of the way there.  I need to finish the body, add the button / buttonhole bands, finish off the neck and then do the sleeves.  If I lose the will to live over any part of this it will be the sleeves - knitting sleeves is just plain boring as far as I'm concerned.  But I want it to have long sleeves, so I'll persevere.  And the yarn I'm knitting it with is lovely, and that definitely helps.  If anyone reading this is on Ravelry, it's this one. 

Now I think I need to go and decide which pattern-with-buttonholes I'm going to make up, and start cutting out fabric.

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.

The love affair with bird print dresses continues (Sew Dolly Clackett dresses 3 & 4)

Two more Dolly Clackett inspired dresses in this post.  The first one is a mash-up of a size 14 Elisalex bodice and the pleated skirt from New Look 6824 in a size 12.  The front half of the dress lined up beautifully - the princess seams matched up exactly with two of the pleats, and the side seams matched too.  I had to do a bit of fiddling about with the centre pleats on the back though to get them to line up.  I had already bought an rtw version of this dress but, because I love the print, and inspired by Roisin's Madarch dress I bought a metre and a half of furnishing fabric to make myself another in a different colour.

I'm really pleased with how this has turned out, my only concern is whether the invisible zip will hold up to use because the fabric is quite thick.  Time will tell I guess.  And I like this bodice / skirt combination, I can see it happening again!


Garden Birds dress

 The second dress is all New Look 6824 although I decided I wanted a v-neck.  I first saw rtw dresses made from this fabric in Zegerman & Lusky in Greek St London and fell in love with the fabric but couldn't bring myself to spend over a £100 on a ready-made dress, so decided to try and find the fabric online.  Get Cutie in Brighton have it as part of their range of fabrics, so I bit the bullet (I think this is the most expensive fabric I have bought so far) and bought two and half metres.  So, another bird print dress to add to my collection.  I think I may have a week of wearing just bird print dresses to work next month, can't wait to wear my Flamingolex again, I just love that dress. ;-)

And now I'm off to hem another avian creation.


Bluebird dress

 

Emery the First, Sew Dolly Clackett No 2

So, here is my first Emery (there will be several more, I'm working on the second one this weekend) and the second dress for the Sew Dolly Clackett sewalong.  I've seen several cropping up in blogland - check out Sarah's blog, she's made lots of lovely versions, I particularly like the one she's posted today, and her la de freaking da dress.  All the reviews have been good so finally I caved and bought the pattern and I'm so pleased that I did.

I decided that I would do a sleeveless version first, for quickness, to see how it fits.  I didn't self-line the bodice (I used white cotton lawn instead), and I didn't follow the bodice construction notes that came with the pattern either.  I'm really pleased with the fit, I did a size 6 bodice and a size 10 skirt - to give it a bit more fullness - and I didn't have to shorten the skirt, which is a big plus :-).  Like By Hand London's Elisalex and Anna dresses, this is going to be another go-to pattern for me.

I have no idea how Roisin is going to choose winners for this competition so many gorgeous dresses have been entered and I love lots of them.  I also now have a whole lot more blogs to follow and a much longer fabric wishlist!

Daisy Emery

Well, that's it for now, I'm off to finish Emery number two.

Sew Dolly Clackett dress no. 1

Having sewn nothing at all during the first three months of this year (I was knitting though), April has seen me cut out and sew five dresses so far and I have another laid out on the floor waiting for me to finish typing and get the scissors out.

The first to make it to this blog is an Anna maxi made from floral fabric which I bought on Goldhawk Road last year (or maybe it was early this year?).  As soon as I saw Roisin's Georgia dress I knew that I wanted an Anna maxi from that same fabric and spotted an end-of-a-roll of it in Toni's, so after a bit of friendly haggling over the price - there was more on the roll than I needed - it came home with me and I've finally got around to making it up.  Having a week off work over the long Easter weekend has given me the time to get quite a bit of sewing done and I've realised that the dresses I've made have all had some Dolly Clackett influence.  Dolly's was the first sewing blog I discovered last year, just by clicking a link in someone else's blog actually, and as a fellow dress lover I have been inspired by lots of her makes.

To celebrate Roisin's upcoming wedding, a competition has been launched, and there is now a fabulous selection of dresses appearing in the flickr group.  I'm not really one for joining in sew-alongs or knit-alongs, mainly because I have enough deadlines to work to in the day job, knitting and sewing are for relaxation; but occasionally serendipity intervenes, as it has here, when I noticed that all this month's makes had a Dolly Clackett element to them.  And since I've had so much inspiration from her sewing I've succumbed and entered.  Also, I love seeing what other bloggers make and it's only fair to return the favour I think.

I realise that this blog needs some serious work on it, but that will have to wait until I replace my PC, which has decided it doesn't want to talk to blogger anymore, and typing posts on an old and very slow laptop is time-consuming, but at least it works!   I'm digressing here aren't I?

Back to the dress.  Here she is.


Tropicanna dress

Back view

I love the Anna pattern - this is my fourth take on this dress - and I decided I wanted it to have a V-back which I think has worked out pretty well.  I now feel the need to make more maxi dresses for the summer and fortunately already have some patterns which have maxi versions, so there will be more appearing here over the next few months.  The fabric on my floor is calling me now, so I'm going to cut out my second Emery.  The first one will be for my next blog post. :-)

Update May 2017
Much as I loved this with both a v-neck back and v-neck front, I found that it slipped off my shoulders rather too easily unless I was vertical (when gravity would keep it in place), so last year I unpicked the fron bodice and cut a replacement with the bateau neckline option and this has solved the falling-off-shoulders problem!