You're alive to me, Hank! CALL ME! Me-Made-May 2012 rounded up

And just like that, Me Made May was over.

May has been one of those months where it feels like it's been impossibly long and also incredibly short, I'm not sure if anyone else has felt that way about it. It's been a good month for lots of reasons and I'm so glad to have taken part in Me Made May. I have three remaining outfits to show you, but I can't upload them to the Flickr pool until tomorrow...

Me Made May Outfit 15, Tuesday 29th May 2012 - Sewaholic Lonsdale dress and red wedges from Primark

My gingham Lonsdale dress! Ah I love this dress so much, and I love gingham - the whole day I was wearing this I was plotting what next I could sew up in gingham. Not too much to say about the dress itself as I've blogged about it before, but it really is a darling design. I wore it to work but, even though my workplace is fairly okay with the more casual end of things, I did cover up a bit:

 A bit more covered up with a chiffon bolero from Fever Designs

 You can see the shoes a bit better in this one...

This was a lovely cool outfit for what turned out to be an unexpectedly physical and tiring day. I must say that the pairing of gingham and the cherry red wedges did make me very happy. They're from Primark, but a few years ago now and I tracked down a pair on ebay after seeing my friend Lauren wearing hers like, a year ago. They're very comfortable and I can see me wearing them looooads over the summer.

It was still bloody hot yesterday and I knew I had another long day in a hot room so it worked out well that I still had a Rooibos to wear:

Me Made May Outfit 16, Wednesday 30th May - Colette Patterns Rooibos dress, and yellow wedges from Internacionale

If I look a bit manic here it's because I was feeling it - it had been quite a morning by this stage and, while I wasn't stressed, I was feeling a bit mental. This dress is fabby and if it's looking familiar to you at all, that's because it was made from the same set of curtains as the Simplicity 2591 I wore on the 16th May. The shoes were a birthday present from my stylish sisters in September and they're very cool. I really like how the groovy print gives this dress a 60s feel, and the chunky wedges go really well with that.

My amazing friend and colleague SJ has taken most of my Me Made May photos. Not only has she been a willing helper, she's been absolutely hilarious and really got into the spirit of taking the photos - this is me cracking up at her. SJ - YOU'RE A LEGEND. Thank you!

And, finally, today:

 Me Made May outfit 17, Thursday 31st May 2012 - Colette Patterns Peony dress and yellow shoes from Topshop

My Peony dress, which was featured on the Colette Patterns blog earlier this year! I blogged about it myself here, if you want to know a few more details about it. This is a great dress to wear to work, it's very comfortable and cute and the more I wear it, the more I love the print and the less irritated I am by the wrinkle in the neckline. Shit, who am I kidding. That still annoys me, but not enough to put me off wearing the dress. It was a bit cooler today so I threw a wee cardigan on over the top:

The yellow shoes are from Topshop, but also came from ebay. I have them in pink and they're marvellously comfortable, and these yellow ones are the perfect match for the yellow in the cardigan. I love stuff like that. Anyway, SJ had the day off work today so I must thank my other photographer, my darling Nic, for getting up this morning and taking these photos of me before I headed off to work, and while my hair still looked okay.

So, anyway. The stats! At the end of April, this was my pledge:

'I, Roisin, of It can’t be from Dolly Clackett… She gave me an Easter Egg! sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear at least two handmade garments per week for the duration of May 2012. In addition, I pledge to have sewn at least two more garments by the end of May 2012"

I'm so pleased to say I did it! By wearing 17 handmade outfits in 31 days, I spent more of the month in me-mades than not - this works out to just over one every other day, without any repeats. This means that I could do a me-made month properly because of course the no-repeats thing is also a bit artificial. The other bit of my pledge was to sew at least two more handmade garments and I sewed four dresses.

So, what did I learn from Me Made May? A few things. One is pretty obvious, which is that sewing improves my mood and makes me happy. I sewed a lot this month (for me, anyway) and it's been ace, and not at all stressful. So I will try to keep up the happy sewing habit. It helps that I freaking LOVE the dresses that I did sew, so that's cool too.  I've been so enjoying wearing my me-mades, it's totally spurred me on to sew more.

 One of the dresses I sewed this month - Simplicity 2444

I learned that I love bright colours and loud prints - only one of my me-mades is in a solid colour. It's all novelty prints and bright colours. I don't plan to make any changes to this - the funner the better, in my opinion. I also learned that multiples work for me - In my 17 outfits I wore 3 Simplicity 2591 dresses, 2 Colette Hazels, 2 Colette Chantilly dresses, 2 Colette Rooibos dresses, 2 Colette Parfait dresses and 2 Sewaholic Lonsdale dresses. Also that, heck, I love Colette Patterns! I don't plan to change this, this works for me, but I do want to explore other patterns too.

I really enjoyed taking part in this challenge. I was a tiny bit concerned that I would really hate imposing a restriction on my wardrobe and, I admit, to start with I spent a lot of time stressing about what to wear when. I got over that pretty quickly, though. I took the opportunity to work on another challenge I'm involved in - Shoeperwoman's Shoe Challenge. As well as going no repeats on the dresses, I went no repeat on the shoes. I saved 15 pairs of shoes! I don't know what my total is up to now though because during May I gave away some shoes, and acquired a few more pairs, including these beauties...

Carvela Australia shoes... I <3 the John Lewis sale

So, all that remains really is to thank the fantastic Zoe for organising this challenge. It's been a brilliant community over at the Flickr pool and I have so enjoyed seeing how other bloggers rock their me-made creations. It's been real, and I would do it again. THANKS, ZOE!

So, yeah. That's been my experience of Me Made May. Now it's Thursday evening, there's pizza and wine on the way and I'm on the brink of having a whole lovely week off work. We don't have much planned apart from going to Cambridge with Lysy and The Scientist for a few days, and I might just even fit a wee bit of sewing in. See you all soon, friends!

Good god, Hank. You look like the fella that killed the other fella! Me Made May outfits 13 and 14

Yo YO, my friends. Not melted yet, I hope? Everything grand here in Clackett Towers, Nic and I are both feeling pleasantly roasted after a weekend in the sunshine, and I'm gearing myself up for having next week off work - hurrah! We're also nearing the end of Me Made May, and I'm sure the non-sewing contingent of my readers will be glad when I stop wittering about sewing. I am going to witter a bit here though because my last two me-mades are new (to me) patterns, so I am going to share my thoughts about them with you. I'm awesome like that, I know.

First up is what I wore on Saturday - my first crack at the beautiful Sewaholic Cambie pattern:

Me Made May 2012 outfit 14, Saturday 26th May - Sewaholic Cambie dress and Schuh Garda wedges

I'm going to take off the Pattern Review format here to keep my thoughts in order...

Pattern used: Sewaholic Cambie dress, view B

Fabric and notions: 3 metres of the fashion fabric, 1 Ikea bedsheet for lining, blue bias binding, a zip and some interfacing. I bought the zip and the fabric from Royal Fabrics in Leamington and I had everything else in my stash. Nic actually chose the fabric, possibly in the back of his mind he had Scruffy Badger's version which I had shown him earlier that week! 

Any changes made to the pattern? None at all. I cut a size 8 and it's a good enough fit that I'll do the same for my next make - perhaps I'll bring the shoulder straps up a tiny bit, but this is an adjustment I have to make to most RTW clothes anyway.

Did the project go well? YES! Fabulously so. I loved sewing this dress, and the pattern is a gem. I sewed it in a slightly different order to that suggested in the instructions but this was just a minor thing - as the lining is essentially the same as the shell I sewed this as I went along - so all darts done at once, that kind of thing. I think I would have enjoyed the experience a bit less if I'd made the shell and then had to go back to the beginning for the lining. I had a horrible moment when the dress was finished of thinking that I'd messed up the pocket placement because they're so far forward - but, phew, they're meant to be!

Cost: Around £30 including the pattern. It took around 7 hours, including cutting time.

Would I make it again? HELL YES. Try stopping me.

I wore the dress for a day of socialising and lazing in the park with Nic, and I can happily confirm that it's suitable for lolling around in. As I mentioned above, Nic chose the fabric and while it is a bit Laura Ashley chintzy I do like it. I think I'm a wee bit pale for so much white though so I think it will look better in the cooler weather, with a more vibrantly coloured cardigan. I wore it on Saturday with these fabulous wedges from Schuh:

I bought these on ebay - it feels like years ago now, but it was only a few months - but the weather had been too miserable to wear them. I was really happy to get them out of their box! They have an ankle strap but I took it off, they were horrendously uncomfortable with it but a totally different matter without. Hurrah!

So... on to today and another newly-sewed garment:

Me Made May 2012 Outfit 14, Monday 28th May - Simplicity 2444 and silver shoes from Topshop

Pattern used: Simplicity 2444

Fabric and notions: 3 metres of polka dot cotton, a zip and some bias binding and a wee bit of interfacing. Everything except the fabric was in the stash, and it came from Royal Fabrics again.

Any changes made to the pattern? Sort of, but very minor ones. I catch-stiched the armhole facing down, rather than having the stitching showing. I cut the skirt front on the fold, instead of having a centre front seam. I didn't see the point of that, and either way I was going to have to cut the skirt pieces on the crosswise grain. This had mixed blessings, really - no need to worry about matching the pattern, but it did make figuring out where to put the pleats a bit more complicated. I would do it again, though.

How did the project go? Pretty smoothly. This pattern has so much potential. I absolutely love the way the bodice is shaped with the horizontal darts. It could look really dramatic in the right fabric. The instructions were a bit irritating, especially those for the pleats but it all worked out fine. This is another one that I was able to sew up in a few hours - I'll probably be able to do it a bit quicker the next time.

Cost: Again, around £25 including the cost of the pattern.

Would I make it again? YES. I'm quite drawn to the idea of making the bodice and skirt in contrasting colours.

I wore this to work with these silver mary-jane shoes from Topshop via ebay. I was a bit worried I might be too warm in this dress, but I was very comfortable.

So, yeah. There are three days left of May and I have three dresses left... this has worked out pretty well!

Other than that it's all quiet here in Clackett Towers. The weekend was grand, and on Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting my Twitter friend V the Obscure, who was in Leamington for the weekend. She joined us in the park to catch the last of the sunshine. Once you get over the initial awkwardness of not knowing someone in real life, you quickly realise why you like them so much on Twitter. It was lots of fun! Nic and I don't have a garden, and Jephson Gardens has the advantage of having ice-cream on sale, and we don't have to do any gardening.

Accessories in the park

After a cup of tea, a shower and a snack, Nic and I headed out for the evening. We had two parties to attend, one of them being my dear Lauren's housewarming party.

Saturday 26th May 2012 - Bettie Page Alika dress, Irregular Choice bag and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon shoes

This dress also looks fab with a petticoat, but in this weather? NO THANKS. At Lauren's there was some Eurovision watching going on. Now I don't normally pay Eurovision much mind, but it was very enjoyable to watch it with a bunch of other quite incredulous people. Although I have to say, I was not feeling Sweden at all. The crazy Moldovan entry right at the very end had everything, I can't believe it didn't even place. WEAK, Europe. Weak.

Anyway, that's me for this evening. I've got dinner and a few episodes of Fringe to look forward to - see you all later in the week!

Laugh all you like, lady, but after a month of eating cockroach you will be begging for gerbster - Me Made May outfits 9 - 12

Holla to you, fellow me-maders and readers! I'm just recovering from a few days of feeling unwell, and spending yesterday in bed. I can't honestly say that the all-day "team day" I attended on Monday made me ill, but I'm sure it didn't help either. Sigh. I have been well enough today to actively enjoy the good weather so it's all good really. So anyway, on to a wee round up of my me-mades over the past week:

Thursday 17th May 2012, outfit 9 - Cod Afrique Hazel dress and Irregular Choice Little Miss Oh shoes

I wore this to work last Thursday and it was the first time I had paired this dress with these shoes and I was childishly delighted by the fact that they match so well. You can't see it in the photo but the stitching on the shoes is blue. Don't all rush to tell me I'm lame because I knows it. I do love this fabric and this dress is great to wear to work but I probably wouldn't use such a stiff fabric for this pattern again because it does tend to blouse out around the gathers. Ah well, not everything has to be totally flattering, does it?

Colette Patterns Parfait dress, pink shoes from Primark and Cath Kidston satchel

I really don't like the photos of me in this dress, major derp time. This dress is cute as you like but it just hates being photographed, please trust me that it does look better on. Still, I'm not really enjoying it on me so I think I'll donate it to someone else who'll look fabulous in it. Anyway, I wore it for most of Saturday until it got too cold to wear a cotton sundress so I put my pyjamas on. I do love the shoes, though, which were a present from Nic.

Monday 21st May 2012, outfit 11 - Colette Patterns Chantilly dress and Irregular Choice Flick Flack shoes

I wore this to work on Monday for our team day. I was already starting to feel majorly cruddy, hence the rabbit-in-headlights expression here. Not much to say about this dress as I wear it loads and I love it. It's holding up so well, and it always attracts lots of compliments. I've worn it with these shoes lots of times, because they're the obvious match and I love any excuse to wear them. A colleague pointed out (not unkindly) that they look like elf shoes but I think that's only made me like them more.

 Wednesday 23rd May 2012, outfit 12 - Colette Patterns Amber Hazel and Irregular Choice Mermaid shoes

A new dress! And another Colette, making this roundup a quartet. This is the first time I have sewn with stripes, but it's a bit of a cheaty one, because pattern matching was minimal on this make. The fabric is a polycotton I bought a few weeks ago from Ditto. It creases like nobody's business, but then the creases drop out quickly so it's all good. I don't have much to say about the construction - I lined the bodice as I did with the Cod Afrique Hazel above. It only took a few hours from cutting out to hemming and it's been so comfortable and chic to wear today. I love the way the stripes look on the bodice:

Yeah, I wasn't so long awake when this photo was taken and it was bright!

Being as this dress combines mint green and stripes, I named it after fellow blogger and friend, Amber.

Having had a grey weekend and being ill means that life has been pretty quiet over the past week or so. I had last Friday off work, which was excellent. The sun briefly appeared and Nic and I were able to have our lunch in the park. I spent the afternoon pottering around and sewing and while I didn't wear a me-made outfit, I did try to keep with the theme and wore another handmade dress:

Friday 18th May 2012 - Moxia Aloha dress and wedges from Internacionale

I bought this dress from Zegerman and Lusky on Greek Street in Soho when I was passing through London a few weeks ago. If you find yourself at a loose end in the west end you could do worse than popping into this fabulous little store. This dress is from their own range, Moxia, and I adore it. It's really nicely made and neatly finished and for £35 I couldn't have made it any cheaper or better. You can't beat a good novelty print, either. I wore this out on Friday night, adding a petticoat and dancing shoes, to a fundraising event at Bath Place in Leamington. It was a brilliant night with good food, friends, music and dancing.

Anyway that's your lot for this evening. Nic and I are off to have dinner in the park. See you later in the week!

Bobby, if you weren't my son I'd hug you.

So, another grey and rainy weekend, eh? I'm taking refuge in the house and using the time to sew, but I am a little bit gutted that the sun has gone in! I'll tell you all about what I'm sewing in a future post, but for now I'm going to look back at the Kentish sunshine of last weekend...

One of our reasons for heading Kent-ward last weekend was that our dear friends Victoria Deloria and Mr S were getting married in the village Vic grew up in, near Faversham. After such a rainy few weeks, I was delighted to see the sun come out over the weekend. The wedding was in the afternoon but as Nic and I had to navigate our way from Folkestone to Faversham on public transport, we got up bright and early. We did attract some glances on the bus to Canterbury but I think we look pretty spiffy:

Nic in tweeds and I'm wearing my Bettie Page Captain dress and my Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Lady Dragon cherry shoes - Nic's lovely mum took the photo

We stopped for lunch and a potter around Canterbury, which is beautiful in the sunshine - if it hadn't been for the fact that I was carrying only a clutch bag, I would have done a bit of shopping in Funky Monks, which had a beautiful Horrockses dress for £30! If you're in Kent, this shop is brilliant and you should definitely visit it. Before long we'd hopped on the bus to Faversham to meet The Rev and Monte, before making our way to Eastling for drinks with the groom before the wedding. I didn't take many photos of the day, but the wedding was beautiful - seeing two people I love get married was so special! Vic in particular was absolutely radiant, getting married in the sunshine in the village she'd grown up in. After the ceremony we gathered on the lawn for Pimms and cucumber sandwiches, and Vic changed into more suitable footwear:

The guests outside the Church

DANGEROUS TREES

The bride in alternative wedding footwear - red Hunter wellies

The reception was in the village hall - a hog roast followed by a barn dance. Parked outside the hall was Vic's something old, something borrowed and something blue:

 I've always wanted to be a tractor model....

Sadly we had to leave before the festivities really kicked off, but in any case I'm not sure my dress would have been suitable for an energetic barn dance. Nic and I had time for dinner in Canterbury before catching the bus back to Folkestone and it was lovely - if a little chilly - to have a wander around the city at dusk.

We were both tired out on Sunday and had a quiet day of reading, playing Scrabble with Nic's folks, and walking on the seafront. Knowing that we'd be by the sea, my packing was definitely nautically themed...

Stop Staring Sailor Swing dress and Vivienne Westwood Melissa Ultragirl shoes

There's not really a huge deal more to say about the weekend so I'm going to leave you with a few more photos:

Nic on the seafront...

I love the way the sunlight glitters on the water

On my way to get my feet wet. It was definitely too cold to paddle...

 Stagecoach bus tickets in Kent alway seem to have these weird messages on the bottom...

Blue sky over Russell Gardens, Temple Ewell

Waiting for the bus in Sandgate

Sandgate, Kent

And for now, it's back to the sewing machine. I'll catch you all in the week...

I think we might have noticed a corpse on the floor when we were getting changed - Me Made May 2012 outfits 4, 7 and 8

I had to go back through my flickr stream and check today, because I suddenly thought I must have miscounted my Me-Made-May outfits - it turns out that I had forgotten to post about one last week. DERP DERP. Anyway, here is the one I missed from my last round-up:

Me Made May 2012 outfit 4, Wednesday 9th May 2012: Simplicity 2591 made from Joel Dewberry Majestic Oak fabric and worn with necklace from Aspire Style, red shoes from Topshop and Ness Ebony bag 

I've made four Simplicity 2591 dresses - two in this design and two in another. That might seem excessive, but this really is a great pattern to work from and I think each version I have made looks so different. This dress doesn't get as much love as some of my other handmade dresses which is a shame, because it is jolly to wear and it is nicely finished and it fits well and all of that. I did think after I wore it on Wednesday that I must wear it more often. I think it's the fabric that makes me feel conflicted. I'm not at all sold on the colour - it photographs more yellow than it actually is in real life, and I find it hard to accessorise. Additionally, the fabric was a gift and not something I would have chosen for myself, and it has less-than-positive associations for a variety of reasons. Still, I love the print, which reminds me of a Churchill dinner set my parents had when I was a child:

Image from Replace Your Plates

Anyway, it was cold last week so I wore this with my now-in-the-laundry white cardigan, and the yellow of the dress does look good with my red shoes from Topshop:

So, in summary, despite having somewhat conflicted feelings about this dress I will endeavour to wear it more often.

So, I showed you the me-mades I wore over the weekend so let's fast-forward to this week! I was at the seaside over the weekend and had been going for a bit of a nautical theme because, why not. I think I unconsciously carried this forward into what I wore to work on Tuesday:

Me Made May 2012 outfit 7, Tuesday 15th May 2012 - Colette Patterns Sail Away Ceylon and Irregular Choice No Place Like Home heels, worn with a plastic anchor necklace which was a gift from Lauren

When I initially counted up my handmade items in my head at the end of April I forgot to include this so when I remembered it I was all "YESSSSS" because I really, really love this dress. You can't quite see in the photo above, but the print is polka dots and anchors, and I went ahead and added polka dot buttons:

The anchor necklace is a wee bit long for the neckline of the dress, but I couldn't really resist it anyway. Also, for anyone keeping count, yes those ARE my second pair of red sequined shoes of Me Made May. I love me some loud shoes, is all I can say to that. Anyway, one of the things I really like about this dress is that it's one of the least home-ec looking of my hand-made dresses, even with the novelty print.

That brings us to today. The sun finally came out in Leamington, and it was much needed - I'd had a fairly shitty day at work yesterday, even with my fabulous frock on. I did manage to get out of the right side of bed this morning and put on something colourful to jolly myself along:

Me Made May 2012 outfit 8, Wednesday 16th May 2012: Simplicity 2591 and Irregular Choice Oz shoes

Another Simplicity 2591! I do think this is my last one of Me Made May, though. I made this one from a vintage curtain I bought at a fair, and I blogged about it here when I made it last year. I haven't worn it for a while and I was really pleased with it when I put it on this morning - it's really well made! I'm standing a bit weirdly here because my friend SJ was taking these photos in the stairwell at work and I felt a bit awkward, but it's a really good fit. I love the fabric. It's SO LOUD. It seems like pretty much everything handmade in my wardrobe is made in some sort of novelty print, but I can live with that. The only thing for it was to wear it with equally loud Irregular Choice shoes, of course.

And that's your lot for this evening! I'm nearly finished my second Hazel dress (zip and hem, then it's done) and came home to find some exciting post:

So, that's my weekend sorted out! Thanks to the wonderful SJ for taking the photos for me, and tune in later in the week for my post about my seaside weekend.

Pump Jockey! Works for tips! - Me Made May 2012 outfits 5 and 6

Yo YO, everyone! Has the sun come out where you all are? Is it making you feel fabulous? It hasn't been quite enough to warm these old bones, but it's hard not to smile when the sun is shining. Nic and I are just back from a lovely long weekend with his folks in Kent and, with the exception of getting caught in the rain on our way home through London, it was all fine and dry and happy.

I do have lots to tell you about the weekend but I don't want to cram it all into one blog post, so look out for a few more over the coming days! The fine weather forecast for the weekend made Me Made May a bit easier, so on Thursday morning I put on one of my very favourite handmade dresses, my first Sewaholic Lonsdale dress.

 Sewaholic Lonsdale dress and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa cherry Lady Dragon shoes

I'd just been caught in the rain when this photo was taken so the old hair is looking a bit crazy, there! I can't really say anything about this dress that I haven't before. Sewing it was lovely and wearing it is even better! And, I try not to play favourites with my shoes, but I do think the cherry shoes are actually my favourite ever pair. They look fabulous with everything, and were good for a day of travelling and wandering around. Plus, you know, they were reasonably practical in the rain. The sun was shining but it was still cold, so I topped this off with my lovely white cardigan:

This is a dress that I wear really often - which tells me I should make some more for the summer. I still haven't made the maxi-length version, so perhaps that's a summer sew that should be added to the list!

On Friday, Nic and I visited his grandparents and I wore my sixth me-made outfit, one of my pledge dresses, another Simplicity 2591...

Simplicity 2591 made from Michael Miller Eiffel Tower fabric and worn with a blue cardigan from H&M and Vivienne Westwood for Melissa Ultragirl shoes

Aw, I know. You can't really see the dress properly in that photo, but I do have more. I just love photos of the sea! This is the fourth 2591 I have made and as such, it feels sort of cheaty to count it in my pledge... but, eh, I still made it so whatever. It's a really lovely pattern to sew from, although the different variations make the pattern instructions a bit of a faff.

Hey, aren't my sunglasses neat? They came from local retro shop Braderie and although they're a wee bit eccentric I do love them! This is the second dress I've made with that lovely Michael Miller fabric and I can't honestly say I have the Eiffel Tower out of my system yet. I may be considering getting some of the black and white colourway. I'm a wee bit obsessive like that. It's so lovely to work with and it's a good weight fabric for this dress because it isn't overly drape-y and the bodice needs a bit of weight, I think.

Lovely as it was, the seafront proved not to be the best place to take photos so when we got to the village where Nic's grandparents live, we stopped for a few more. It was a bit less breezy there:

You can't really see it in this photo, but as with my Foux du Fa Fa Chantilly, I added some horsehair braid to the hem. I like the shape it gives to the skirt, and it makes the print more visible.

I think before I wear it again I'm going to add some topstitching to the neckline to keep the facing from rolling in the way that it is in this photo. Otherwise, I love this dress and can foresee it getting lots of wear this summer, sunshine or not.

Anyhoo, that's your lot for now, but I'll be back later in the week with some seaside tales.