Tuesday 20 April 2010

Thoughts

Well I have been thinking through the implications of me-made-may, As usual I have decided to go for the whole hog before thinking things through properly!! Enthusiasm always wins over practicality with me!!

I have several dresses I could wear, a couple of pinafore dresses, and some tops, plus cardis and socks, but I haven't got any trousers that I have made at the moment. However, I have several pairs of trousers and jeans that are all fine, so I don't need to make any!! I'm really trying not to over buy/make stuff. My whole theory of refashioning and making is also about training myself to be content with enough and not excess.

So I have got enough made by me outfits to last a month with a bit of mix and match, but I know I will need to wear trousers at some point so I may have to say I will do made by me except trews!! I know this is probably splitting hairs and you probably don't need to be so involved in the cogs turning in my brain but I like to be fair about stuff and not cheat!!

I have also been thinking about the back-pack problem and have some ideas that involve an old suit, some shirts and jean offcuts!! Just trying to work out what I can do for the straps, and do they need to be adjustable!

Well I'm off to continue to think and will share any conclusions I come to in a day or so! Feel free to add your conclusions!


Sunday 18 April 2010

I'm home


Well I'm home from my wanderings. I had a pretty good time and I spent 4 days with my gorgeous daughter so that was great. It's now sunday afternoon and I'm feeling pretty lazy so I'm sitting in bed trawling through my fav blogs. I find its a bit like catching up with old friends without the emotional energy needed for that.

As you know I have been a great supporter of Wardrobe Refashion and all that it stands for, well now that it's changing and a new blog has started called The Thrifty Garde Robe and I've been checking posts on there and after a wander away from there, I found a blog called So, Zo and she is holding a, made-by-me-may. In March she pledged to wear only things she had made herself, except undies, tights and shoes and was so enthused she wants to do it again in May and has invited others to join her. You can do a lite version by wearing only 1 handmade thing a day, or just weekends or just 1 week of May. I'm going to try for the whole hog but for me it will include refashioned stuff as well as made from scratch.

On the way back from London we visited Bicester Village outlet shops. It was a lovely sunny day and so was very pleasant walking round, I did buy some shoes cos Clarke's were doing 3 for 2 and my daughter was buying a pair, they are a pair of red loafers, that are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. I would never usually buy that style and I'm still not why I did, but they are comfy and I will wear them!!

We also went into several bag shops but didn't really see anything to die for, but I did find several in the Radley shop that were definitely worth hanging on the crook of your arm!! But I have a ton of bags and I can now resisit them fairly well. but I am looking for a back pack to use on my bike, as my normal bags don't fit in my basket and if I get shopping I need the basket for that, and lo! in Radley they had a nice soft cushiony back pack a bit like this, except the one at Bicester was purple!! It did have a 1/3 discount but still a lot of money for what will prove to be a whim!! So I need to make a backpack from all this ton of fabric I have lurking in every corner of my house!!

I handed over the secret projects at the weekend, they were socks for him and a shawl for her!! both were much appreciated but the socks were a little long so I had to alter them but that was a quick job and now fit perfectly, so Happy Anniversary Sara and Andrew.

This is the back of the shawl, it is a feather and fan pattern and the wool was called Silver streak, very apt for 25 years!! I cannot tell you how hard it is to find silver grey sock wool, or maybe I have had that particular moan!!

These are the socks, you'll notice they have one coloured toe! That was because I ran out of wool when I made them originally, however, when I made them smaller, the coloured toe was much admired so I had re-create it even though I did have enough original wool!!

And this is me with pin curls, I think it looked better in real life!! I would definitely do them again, I put the grips in to damp hair in the morning and took them out about 5 hours later and they lasted all evening and the next day!! I think they would have looked better on longer hair but that will have to wait!!

Friday 9 April 2010

Parasol top and pin curls!!


So this is the parasol top that I made from the Cynthia Rowley
pattern, shown in a previous post. the fabric pattern doesn't show up on this photo, because it is a bit light. Sorry photography is not one of my skills or more to this point one of my husband's!! But it is a really pretty fabric with different colour parasols all over it, in lots of colours and although they are light they aren't as pastelly as it looks here!!

This is also a day old pincurls which have been refreshed with my straighteners!! I'm definitely a fan of pin curls, I'm not sure the back of my hair is quite long enough yet as it is very layered, but the front looked good yesterday when it was done. I'm afraid I have a rotten cold so wasn't really up to posting yesterday, I'm a bit surprised I managed to do the pincurl thing at all!!

Anyway I'm off to a party this weekend and I haven't even had to buy so much as a pair of stockings for it!! My outfit all comes from my wardrobe and that is quite an achievement especially as the dear old tune-king, offered to buy me a new dress!! I'm off to wonderwool in Wales in a couple of weeks and would rather spend there than buy a new dress that won't get many wearings!! Also I kinda like the feel that I had a hand in putting something together, I refashioned the skirt for Saturday from an evening dress I found in a charity shop!! So I would rather make something now than buy it anyway!!


This is the back of the parasol top and as you can see it gaps a bit, which I'm not going to do anything about for this top but next time I will change it. There are 2 ways I can do this, I can make 2 tiny darts in the pattern before cutting, on the neckline so taking in that fullness. I'm a little worried that if I do this it may be difficult to get on as its made from a stable fabric. Or I can cut the neckline a bit lower at the back, and again reduce the fullness. I only have enough fabric for a sleeveless version for the next one and I don't want the neck line to be too much bigger in case it keeps falling off my shoulders!! So have any of you got any ideas for me? It hardly seems noticeable in this picture but it feels like a big gap as I'm wearing the top!!

I have finished all my secret projects in plenty of time and will be handing them over this weekend so will post pics after that.

I have also started an Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket, and I'm faithfully following the instructions, but it definitely looks odd and even with the instructions and pictures I cannot for the life of me see how it will work so I will post details of that when I finish it. I was too lazy to do a tension square, and - I couldn't read the ball band, the writing was too, too tiny! I had spare balls of 4ply to use so I have done it in that and the tension seemed roughly right but if you fold it where I think you do it will fit a smallish baby doll!! Maybe I'll donate it to a premie unit!!

Are any of you involved in Wardrobe Refashion? I have been a great supporter and follower of it for a couple of years but sadly it is about to change, in a way that I probably won't be able to afford to join in anymore. But I want to thank Nikki, who started it all, for the hard work she has put in and for the intros the blog has given me to so many of you out there whom I follow avidly!! Nikki I wish you well for the future, I don't think you read this blog but I wanted to mention you anyway!!

I'm away now for a week but I will try and return with some pics and stuff to chat about, let's hope the sun stays shining here in Good Ole Blighty!!

Sunday 4 April 2010

Happy Easter

I have been busy on my secret projects this week, although I did manage a bit of sewing on Thursday and I have just got the hem to do of my first top, pics will be here soon.

I just wanted to wish peeps a Happy Easter and hope that you have all enjoyed the break, especially here in England where we get 2 bank holidays either side of the weekend. We had sun today but Friday it rained really hard as soon as I poked my nose outside!! Its still really cold though so lets hope spring decides to get here soon!!