Me Made May - The round-up

Well May flew by and June is following in its footsteps making this round-up post very late indeed! In addition to the lateness of this post I feel guilty about tailing off towards the end of May and not posting any photos. FAIL.

I did however succeed in the other part of my pledge, and despite lack of photo evidence I can assure you that I did wear two handmade garments every week throughout May! HURRAH! In fact on some occasions I exceeded my pledge and found myself wearing a lot of handmade stuff although a lot of it was on repeat.

To make up for the lack of my awkward photos here is a compilation of the makes that got an airing last month.

Sencha's no. 1 and 2!

Kelly's no. 1 and 2!

Oh look, 2 Sorbetto's!

Spot the difference between these Moss Skirts

I had hoped that May would bring with it a flurry of sewing that would result in lots of basics to wear such as the Renfrew I've banged on about for a while but this was only partially true. I managed to whip up two Kelly skirts in quick succession and two sorbettos but that Renfrew still eludes me! I've also got two (identical) Moss mini skirts...can you see my M.O. emerging? I'm like the Noah of the sewing world and my wardrobe is my Ark.

So, what did I learn during Me Made May? Well I really need to slow down this Noah's Ark business and take the time to wear the garment a bit first to get a better handle on fit and what it's like to actually wear. The problem I've found is that although I often think something fits at first or that it's only minor so I can put up with it, with wearing things more regularly fit is a real issue. And I'm ending with two garments that don't quite fit instead of taking the time to think about and remedy the issue in the second attempt.

This is also partly a result of sewing more and also reading Fit For Real People. I always thought I had broad shoulders but it seems I also have a swayback, high round back, forward shoulders and who knows what else! The moss mini skirt is a good example, I made this with no alterations as the sizing was exactly mine. I thought the fit was perfect but after a couple of wears I've realised that I get a funny ripple of fabric across the back and also (probably as a result of stretch) it's a little big and sits much lower on the hips than I really like. And I've got two skirts like this! But am I going to fix them? Probably not.

Well anyway, that's enough words from me. I think my point is that I'm going to take my time and work on fit. I've already implemented this plan and have something pretty good to share with you later this week!

Me Made May - Days 14 & 18

Wow, over half through May! This month (and year) is flying by. I have to admit I cheated a little bit with my photos this week - I didn't manage to get any photos of my outfit on Tuesday so I recreated it this morning. On the plus side, I actually wore this same outfit twice this week (I had meetings with different people so I thought I could get away with it!)

This is the circle skirt I wore the week before paired with the second Sencha blouse I made.

I made this last summer following my (as yet unblogged) first attempt at the Sencha blouse. This one is made from organic bamboo silk from Raystitch with a silk dupion collar and covered buttons. It's been a while since I made this but I recall (after many many toiles for my first one) making a square shoulder adjustment of about 3cm to alleviate some serious pulling from the shoulders and a lethal strangling neckline. At first it seemed to have been the right thing but I have realised that the neck stills pulls up a bit so next time I might drop the neckline a little.

I also took in the back darts quite a bit as there was lots of room in the back and I prefer things a little more fitted. I think I took them in a couple of cm on each side. The fabric is quite sheer which really called for french seams. But I forgot. So instead I employed a lovely little faux french seam. I had already sewed the seams with a 5/8" allowance, I then folded each side of the seam inwards to enclose the raw edge and sewed them up. Not a bad save in the end!

I think you just about make out the faux french seam (apologies for the worn/un-ironed mess)

The inside of this top is far from perfect but I loved spending a bit more time on it and really enjoyed all the hand stitching that is suggested, I think catchstitch might be my most favourite thing ever! I drafted the collar following Gertie's tutorial and it turned out perfect! The tutorial was so easy to follow and the collar went together great. Because of the sheerness of the fabric I had to reduce the neck facing so it sat right behind the collar and didn't show through. I got a piece of silk dupion off eBay for a few pounds to help build my stash and thought it would be nice to use for this. It was, until I decided to stick my top in the machine a couple of times and it's now started to wear. Oops. Here's a pic of the collar and silk covered buttons.

Can you see the frayed edge on the right? I should really take more care.

 I love this top, the only problem is I get this crazy crease and baggy areas around the middle. It's either a result of terrible posture or bad fitting. Or both. Look.

Can you make out the huge crease along the front?

(Not sure if you've noticed but I am not friends with the iron). I'm hopeful that I may have found a solution and by lengthening the darts it will reduce the excess fabric here. I'm going to try it on my next Sencha but if there are any other suggestions out there I'm all ears. 

Saturday's outfit consisted of my recent Grainline Moss. I made this with a nice wool mix so it's work perfect but I think it works pretty well for a casual weekend too. I'll share some more details on this next week. 

Surprise - it's not ironed!