Thursday 12 June 2014

Me Made May: er June

Well, I got off to a cracking start on MMM but then I hit a bit of a rut. Not because I ran out of clothes, but more I ran out of photography. My husband went away for a few days, we don't have a full length mirror and my arms aren't long enough for more than a face selfie. Also I wore the same thing a few days in a row and it was too embarrassing to record that for posterity. In the end, I did wear something home made every day. I just didn't record it.

I also made some new things. Dresses. The Coffee date dress to be precise, although I made mine without the ruffle at the front. I actually made three, and inevitably haven't photographed them, although I wear them all the time.

Just for a change, this is made with Marimekko upholstery (well, quilting weight) fabric. I added pockets to the side seams which makes it awesome and I love it. It's a bit see through at the top though, not so much that it's indecent, but that I can see where the facing finishes. If I did another one in white, I might do a fully lined bodice. Or I might just not do another one in white. Or I might just live with it. The options are endless.

The fit on this dress is great. That's why I made 3. And once I'd got it all traced it was a pretty quick sew. So this goes nicely with the 'make a dress that isn't a sack and wear it' resolution I set myself. Pleased with that!

The other big thing for me this month has been sewing running stuff. Not much, more hacking it, but still a change of direction. Really the only days I don't wear homemade it's because I'm in sports wear all day. These days are rare it must be said. There's a blog I read sometimes called Ginger Makes. Goodness Ginger makes a lot of stuff. Anyway, she made some terrific sports wear just as I was making mine, which makes me look completely amateur.

My running group had ordered club tees, which are fun to wear for races and things, because inevitably there'll be people there from other groups so you recognise each other. Anyway, the one I ordered was a funny shape and I wasn't sure whether I would actually wear it. Realising that meant that if I cut it up and it went wrong, I still wouldn't wear it so I wouldn't really lose out. Now it's a slightly lumping tank, which is fine. And I did wear it. I also made a completely ridiculous running tutu out of the worst fabric ever. But it too has a pocket. There will be more running tutus with pockets. Just not out of tulle with paint splodges on.

Tuesday 6 May 2014

Me Made May the first few days

 
May 1st: Refashioned denim skirt. Refashioned tshirt. Nominally refashioned cardigan (it came with awful gold buttons which I replaced with plain ones)
 
 May 2nd: Refashioned (er, taken in an inch) tshirt. Zinnia skirt. Baby. I made him and all.







 
May 3rd: Long Wiksten tank with hacked pockets. I made this last year and it's too big for me now, but I'm not sure how best to take it in. Back darts? Elastic? I can't just sew down the side seams because of the pockets and the binding at the arm holes.


















 May 4th. I seem to be wearing the same outfit as May 2nd. I'm nothing if not consistent.

May 5th: Pencil skirt from ikea upholstery fabric and Loft tshirt.

Things I have learned so far this month: I have an embarrassing dependence on upholstery fabric. One Ikea skirt, two Marimekko (from Crate and Barrel) garments: the long Wiksten and the Zinnia skirt. Secondly, my family are not gifted photographers. The bottom two are selfies as my husband is away. The top ones are his work. Fortunately we have other talents.










Friday 2 May 2014

April is the cruellest month

Well, so said TS Eliot when he was in more pensive than Practical Cats mood. April hasn't been especially cruel here, but it's certainly been busy. Spring break. More snow. A Living Social offer at  a local fabric store which saw me buying half a hundredweight of impractical knits. And then all of a sudden it's May, and I didn't manage a post in the whole of April, although I certainly started a bunch in my head.

But this post really is just to say I've signed up to Me Made May and as such will endeavour to where something home made every day this month. I might even get my head around other social media and post to Instagram or Twitter or something similarly new fangled.


Going back to my to do list for the blog for the year, this is the bloggy thing to get involved with.

It's Day 2. I did quite well yesterday with a refashioned skirt and adjusted tshirt (I'm counting those) and today I'm wearing another adjusted tshirt and a homemade skirt (a Zinnia which I haven't blogged about yet).

In other news...

This is not about to become a running blog, but just in case you're interested, April was a month of firsts for me: I ran further than a half marathon distance (14.5miles) for the first time. I did squats with over 40lbs on my bar and I almost, so so close, ran over 100 miles in the month. If I counted all the .2s it would have been. And if I had totted up the month's mileage on Wednesday evening (April 30th) rather than Thursday morning I would have gone out and run another mile there and then just to make sure. What's particularly annoying is that I certainly won't do 100 in May, and probably not June. And then we'll be travelling in July and August so I probably won't then either.

I will learn the lesson of patience instead. Ha.

Thursday 27 March 2014

March

Despite being a proselytising atheist by nature, I decided to do two things for Lent. Firstly I gave up wheat, realising I had a rather dependent relationship with my bread bin and that my diet needed shaking up a bit. The first few days were pretty tough, but then I made a batch of flapjacks which got me through a few long afternoons (although they possibly didn't do a lot for addressing my afternoon carb cravings). It's getting easier, but I'm still looking forward to a raisin bagel for breakfast on Easter Day.

Secondly, I decided to try to challenge myself to sew for an hour each day. I must say I haven't always managed, but some days I've done more so I think it about evens out. I've enjoyed the practice of trying to carve out time for things, but generally it's easier to carve out time for things I can do out of the house (like running or going to the gym) because there are a lot of distractions at home. That said, I have got loads done, and it makes me realise how much you can achieve with just one hour a day. Next year I might do a whole year of one hour a day, but with different things. It would make for a fun experiment!

So I made my Geranium dresses for my friends daughters. They are currently in transit from the US to the UK so I hope they get there and she likes them. I mean they like them. In a rare moment of snowlessness I managed to photograph them in the yard.


The top one is an age 4 with gathered skirt, patch pockets and frilly cap sleeves.



The other one is age 6, with a notched neckline, pleated skirt and inseam pockets. I like how they are clearly from the same family, but not identical!



Snowlessness does not equate to windlessness so they're blowing about a fair bit. Also the neighbour's kid was out shooting hoops at the end of the road and giving me funny looks. I didn't want him thinking I was sewing dresses for my boys (although it was tempting to try them on them).

The sunshine was deceptive, it's still hovering around freezing, but I caught sight of a brave crocus which made me yearn for the sun and summer. So optimistically I decided to make a little denim skirt out of some thrift store jeans and yellow bias tape. For some reason I have yard upon yard of yellow bias tape. Clearly I made if for some project or other, but seriously, there's yards.


 
There's more snow forecast for tonight so I'm not anticipating wearing this any time soon.
 
 
Looking back at my list, I think I'm doing quite well:
 
  • More pjs for the boys: DONE
  • Another couple of Wiksten tanks for me: one DONE
  • A Wiksten Tova: fabric allocated.
  • A pleated skirt for the summer. Maybe this Zinnia. And a Moss. Not done, but I'm hoping for the patterns for my birthday.
  • A Lola dress (I actually have fabric for 3. Whoops). DONE
  • Geranium dresses for a friend's daughters. DONE
  • Finishing the Impromptu quilt I started last year. DONE
  • Making the Pigeon quilt I bought fabric for a year ago. DONE

 
But now in other news, I have something else to finish. A Marathon. Yep. A Marathon. 26.2 miles. I did a half, really only with 6 weeks notice, figuring it was about time I pulled my finger out and did something with my time. Other than sewing, obviously. Whilst I was training, applications opened for the Marine Corps Marathon. There's a possibility I got a bit carried away in the moment, but I entered the lottery and, oh dear, got a place. The website tells me it's in 215 days. Best get training.
 


Wednesday 19 February 2014

Finishing February

Sometimes I just don't feel like sewing. I don't know what to sew, or there's too much to do and it's all over whelming, or I forget how much I like hiding in the basement, surrounded by lego and Skylanders (no, I don't know what they are either) with my sewing machine and a podcast. But sometimes me and my sewing mojo are just in sync. And I tell you, now is one of those times. The last few weeks have been super productive, which is weird, because on a daily basis I feel like throttling everyone at the thwartedness of all my plans. DC has had a lot of winter snow, to the extent that of the seven weeks since the Christmas holidays, my boys haven't had a full week of school. One week they should have done, in that there weren't any weather related closures, but there were 2 teacher work days. 2. It was like teacher planner people laughing in the faces of despairing parents across Fairfax County. I hope they put them to good use. But I still seem to have got things done.



My husband is really supportive, and I love him for it. But today, when I wanted to go to a gym class, and there was (another) two hour school delay and I couldn't he tried to say he understood. But he doesn't. He doesn't have his plans thwarted day after day by children, illness, snow. He just has to go to work and have nice lunches. But then apparently that thwarts his inclination to stay at home and do lego and find out what Skylanders are. You can't win, can you?

And it's interesting, because I have more going on at the moment than I have for a while, but I still have time, it would seem, to make for sewing. More time even. I'm running lots, going to the gym and sewing. But not all at the same time. That would be complicated. A time comes, doesn't it, a while after having a baby, when you remember who you are, and what you love and you remember to carve out time to do it. And somehow you rediscover the energy to do it. And then it snows and it's back to chocolate biscuits and gin.

And snowgheritas. They're like frozen margheritas. But with real snow.



So, finishing. I have Done Well.

Less well at taking pictures and all that though. Still, baby steps.

 

 
 
Firstly, pyjamas for the boys. My big boys are getting to that age where they want to wear sweats and branded tshirts. We compromise at cords and character tshirts, but I'm fairly sure hell would freeze over before they wore something homemade. Unless it's fancy dress of course, where different rules apply. But they do like a homemade jammie. Particularly when they get to make the tops. This is a fairly failsafe formula I've developed over the years: make the bottoms, hack the top. So each of these is a store bought (or in the little one's case, hand me down) tshirt with the sleeves cut off and replaced with the trouser fabric. Then I use the sleeve fabric to make the trouser cuff, which kind of ties things together. Each set reflects the boys' interests, from left, bugs, dragons and fishies (does not bode well for hand me downs. Should have thought that through). The big boys got to draw on their tshirts with fabric markers. Months ago. Seriously, before Christmas.
 
 
Eventually I did get round to starting the trousers, but made a complete cock up of the dragon ones by using an old pattern I'd made from their old trousers, and then deciding to convert it into a one piece pattern which just didn't work. Then I had to wait for my friend to come home from holiday to buy new fabric and blah blah blah they took ages.
 
Lessons learned: use a proper pattern (in the end I used the free one that you get when you sign up for emails from Sew Can She). Don't promise children things until you're sure you can deliver. Don't try and take photos of 3 children in one go. Measure twice cut once. Don't look at 'pjs for 3 kids' as one item. Seriously, that's 6 items of clothing. Don't forget you have a fourth child. He was holding my legs whilst I was trying to take photos.
 
Secondly. The Impromptu Quilt. I started this months ago. I have a love hate relationship with it. Mostly hate related to the foul polyester fabric I chose for the surround, not entirely realising just how much of it there would be. And how polyestery it was. Still, it has been completely redeemed by binding. And now I quite love it. I just haven't photographed it.
 



 I have a lovely friend in the UK who is very keen on giving me hugs. I am not very keen on receiving hugs, and apparently it's quite off putting to hug someone who is flinching (although I am told I have got better over the years, and now only flinch internally. She still knows though). I am hoping that the quilt will serve as a proxy hugger whilst we are overseas, and that she will know I am thinking of her. Like me, she is a mother of boys and so, perhaps, is in need of a bit of pink and floral in her life / house. There certainly isn't much of that here.
 
Lessons learned: Those deceptively simple quilts you see online are actually fiendishly complicated a lot of the time. Buy the best fabric you can afford not the cheapest you can find. Don't leave a project out on the spare bed for 6 months - the children will rearrange it. Don't give up on something (but do step away for a bit). Read the instructions. Make the backing bigger than the front. Yes, really.
 
So those two projects were both things I had already started and needed to finish. The third thing I had bought the pattern for, and fabric for, but not got any further than that. So this counts really as in 'finishing (using up) stuff I already own' rather than finishing a project. It's a Lola dress from Victory patterns. It has pockets. Big ones. I tell you I'm never sewing anything without pockets again.

 


 
It came together really quickly after the inevitable faff of printing, cutting, sticking, tracing, cutting and pinning that you get with download pattern. And my sewing machine did a good job with its zigzag stitch, rather than the recommended serger.
 
Lessons learned: don't get your (well, mine) husband to take photos of you. Don't wear thick welly socks to have your photo taken. Don't stand by your kitchen bin to have your photo taken. Really the learning points here are photography related. Also, trust the measurement size and don't say 'surely the pattern must lie, and really I am 2 sizes bigger than that', because probably the pattern doesn't lie. I'd very much like more of these in my life, but one size smaller. And (see points from above) in a better fabric. $3 a yard is a bargain for sure, but it's kind of thin and see through. And I give the children electric shocks.
 
 
Fourth project: a Wiksten tank. This was an upcycle from a friend's cast offs - actually a shirt of her husband's. She's a bit smaller than I am, so the top's a bit tight on me, but I was really pleased with how it turned out. I made a tank dress last year, (with hacked pockets, clearly) which is now too big, and love the pattern. This time and particularly because I was sewing for someone else, I really paid attention to the finishing, sewing French seams inside and being really careful with the bias tape. I even ironed it.




Lessons learned: Don't take pictures in your hallway either. Or of a too small top that you're wearing over leggings. Good finishing really pays off in a lovely finished garment. Don't throw anything away ever because it might come in handy to turn into a lovely tank. Don't write epic posts about everything you've done in a month because it's exhausting.

Still, I think that nails February!



Sunday 2 February 2014

New year's resolutions... busted

So, Christmas, new year, came and went. I never did write that post about buying sustainably made clothes. Or about Christmas crafting. Although I did actually do some. And I resolved that this year I would get my act together, and I would sew and craft and create and I would photograph it and write about it and I would do at least one post a month. Well. That hasn't worked, has it. In my defence, I've written this post a dozen times in my head. Does that count?

I thought for my January post I would write about what I want to do with this blog for the year. Whether I want to keep it going or not, and if I do, then how I'm going to actually manage it, and what I want to achieve with it.

And so my theme for the year is going to be 'Finishing'. Finishing in various senses of the word, firstly as in completing projects which I have either started or at least envisaged, and secondly, in the technical finishing of a piece, so making sure the threads are knotted,  and tied. Hems are pressed. Grafting is done. And also that details are included. Pockets. Buttons. Finishing touches. That's kind of point 2.b. But also thirdly, in the spirit of being more environmentally conscious, finishing things I already have, so no more fabric for a while. Unless it's gorgeous. Or a bargain. Or necessary.


So what am I going to make this year? No doubt other stuff will creep in, but broadly I would like to make / finish the following:

  • More pjs for the boys
  • Another couple of Wiksten tanks for me
  • A Wiksten Tova
  • A pleated skirt for the summer. Maybe this Zinnia. And a Moss. Which I know isn't pleated, but I have just the fabric for.
  • A Lola dress (I actually have fabric for 3. Whoops)
  • Geranium dresses for a friend's daughters
  • Finishing the Improptu quilt I started last year. Oh dear. I just looked at the Flickr pool. Everyone else finished ages ago. 
  • Making the Pigeon quilt I bought fabric for a year ago

And challenging myself a bit, with new projects and blog stuff
  • Making more things from the books I  already have
  • Making a dress for me. Like a proper fitted dress, not a sack, and then wearing it! Maybe a Coffee Date Dress
  • Participating in something bloggy. Kids clothes week is now, so it ain't going to be that! Perhaps if I can get my head round it I might do Me Made May

I also seem to have remembered how to knit again, so would like to do a couple of things. I already made an O W L sweater, which I've wanted to do for years. Now I have my eyes on a Quince studios Camilla.

So, 2014. A year of blogging and finishing. 1 post down. 11 to go. Phew.