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 6 & 7

The sun is finally out! Kind of - the last few days have been beautiful but our summer in the Lakes appears to be over already, it's forecast rainy showers for the next two weeks. I wish I had got a photo of Windermere this morning to share with you, the lake was like glass and the reflection was incredible. But alas, you'll just have to imagine it instead. Sorry.

Yesterday was beautiful too and I managed to finish another Sorbetto top at the weekend which made for a perfect casual me made bank holiday outfit.

I feel like such a latecomer to the Sorbetto party but I can see why it's been so popular. I added about 5 cm to my second version as the original was a bit too short to wear untucked. I'm really glad I did this as I think this one goes really well with jeans but I'll still be able to tuck it in with skirts for work. I've made no other adjustments apart from the length but I have realised that there's a lot of room in the back...

Hmmm. The word swayback keeps entering my head. Please can someone tell me it's not as scary as it sounds...

I'm really not a floral person and I'm generally pretty rubbish at buying prints but I've seen so many lovely things on other people that I thought I should take a punt and I think it's worked out ok. I got this viscose fabric at my local fabric shop (30 miles away!) for £6.99 which I thought was pretty good. It took easily less than a metre to make so I reckon it cost me a about a fiver.

Back to work today and I got to wear my brand spanking Kelly Skirt! I made this last week and was really pleased to do it in a day from tracing the pattern to doing all those pesky buttonholes. It is a beginner pattern and was super easy but I think I'm a pretty slow sewer and there's always something I have to unpick.

I love this skirt but it does crease a bit easily. It's a linen/cotton blend and I took these pictures after a day at work so you can probably see the creases from where I've been sat on my backside all day and the bad crease along the waistband.

I didn't make any changes to the pattern at all, cutting a straight size S and the fit is pretty good. There's a bit of dodgy sewing on the front waistband which means it gapes a little but its not too bad. You would be shocked to see the insides of some of the things I've made but I'm trying to make a effort to be a neater and all round better sewer and I finished all the inside seams on this with the overcast stitch on my machine. What a revelation! I'd tried this stitch before but it hadn't quite worked so I had just been zigzagging on the odd occasion that I bothered but it never turned out very well. This on the other hand looked beautiful! But the best thing is...I've got owls in my pockets!

Everybody needs owls in their pockets

Mmmm, look at these lovely buttons!