Me-Made-June: Day 4

Not much to say about this outfit, was planning to wear a skirt I made years ago, but put it on and realised it desperately needed to be shortened about two inches (and adjusted at the waist), but wasn't in the mood to do any sewing, so changed!

Dress: Me-refashioned (Primark) / Slip: M&S / Brooches: eBay & Accessorise / Earrings: Gift from friend

This started life as a maxi-dress, but it was a bit narrow at the bottom hem to comfortably walk in, so I cut off the bottom ruffle, and re-sewed it at a shorter length. The part of the skirt that was chopped off became the matching tie belt. Unfortunately I chopped off rather too much, so it's now insanely short, hence the slip. I plan at some point to make a half slip to wear with this in black with a ruffle round the bottom, so it looks a bit more planned and less like I just couldn't find the right length slip...

When I was ironing the dress this morning I realised it's actually really badly made - for instance the ruffles on each side of the bodice are slightly different distances from the neckline. I know Primark is never going to be high quality (I bought this at a time when I didn't have much cash so I was limited in choice), but it's definitely still nice to be able to look at something and think "I could make that waaaay better."

This was worn today for running some errands and generally lounging around the house. It was pretty warm and muggy today, so wasn't up for doing much more than that (it's currently thunderstorming so hopefully will be a bit more comfortable tomorrow). Planning on doing some sewing tomorrow to expand my me-made options for the next few weeks...

And here's a bonus kitty photo!

Me-Made-June: Day 3

It's a bit sunnier and warmer today, so I can wear a dress, woo!

Dress: Me-made (self-drafted) / Necklace: Alexander McQueen / Hairband: off-cuts from this top (so I suppose technically me-made too) / Flowers: Accessorise / Belt: Primark

Not much to say about this outfit, other than after a spot of shopping (of the household kind unfortunately), and maybe some gardening, it'll be worn to drink cocktails with friends on our balcony (mojitos and caipirinhas are planned...)

Me-Made-June: Day 2

Second day, and I'm out and about!

It's a bank holiday here in Suisse today, so my husband's off work. We wanted to get out of town, so popped along to Lausanne and met up with some friends for lunch. I like Lausanne, it always seems a bit more happening than Geneva (I think maybe because it has a fairly substantial student/academic population from EPFL). There's also a couple of fabric/haberdashery shops there that I want to check out at some point (couldn't today as everything is shut on bank holidays!). It's very good for getting fit too as it's insanely hilly. We walked down to Ouchy and had an ice cream by the lake, and had a meander through the Olympic park (as demonstrated by the photo above). Shame it wasn't a nicer day - it was really windy, and very grey (so you couldn't see the mountains the other side of the lake), but also quite muggy. I don't think I really needed my coat!

So, on to the outfit:

Skirt: me-made (self-drafted) / Top: Uniqlo / Cardie: Primark / Necklace: Accessorise / Tights: H&M / Shoes: Office / Bag: Ted Baker

I've got a lot of wear out of this skirt, and for one of the first things I've properly drafted for myself, I'm super pleased with it. I think I might have to do a refashion on the cardie though - I've realised how sad the ribbing is looking. It's a cheapy Primark purchase, so it's not surprising that it's sagging a bit. I really like the main fabric, so I might chop off the ribbing and replace it with something else. Hmm, I'll have a think.

Me-Made-June: Day 1

Right, let's get this started...

Dress: New Look 6748 / Cardie: H&M / Leggings: Uniqlo / Necklace: Accessorise (maybe?) / Belt (although you can't actually see it): Primark / Feet: bare as I'm in all day today

So here's the first outfit for the month! Woo! I had been planning on another outfit, but it's suddenly turned bloody freezing (12˚C today according to the thermometer on my balcony compared to 28˚C on Sunday), and I've realised I have a limited amount of warm clothes, so this is what the outfit ended up as. Although it's still not warm enough!

This is a dress I made about 3 years ago and has been folded up at the back of a shelf for the last year until I did my inventory a couple of days ago. I'm not super happy with it, although it's not as bad as I remember. I think many of the things I didn't like about it I now know how to fix, so I might do a few adjustments on this (not least shortening it by at least 2"), and remake this pattern in a better fabric (I ordered this over the internet and it wasn't quite what I was expecting, it's almost a sort of swimsuit feeling fabric. But I liked the print so I used it anyway :)

Oh, I was also experimenting with hairstyles - I haven't had my haircut, but currently have a mock-bob...

It's supposed to warm up again in the next couple of days, so I'm looking forward to wearing more summery stuff soon!

SO EXCITED!!!!!

I've just bought tickets to see Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot at the Brixton Academy in July, with support by the Jim Jones Revue!!! I actually got so excited I nearly hyperventilated...

Now to planning what I'm going to wear, I need something crazy rockabilly - I've been to see them both before, and whilst the JJR audience were fairly mixed, I felt distinctly underdressed at the Brian Setzer gig (despite having felt totally overdressed on the way there). I'm planning to get a proper haircut and set the day before for a wedding, so hopefully I can keep that look going for the next evening.

Did I mention I am REALLY RATHER EXCITED!!!!!!!!!

Two days to go...

...until Me-Made-June begins!

I've been inventorying (is that a word?) my self-made and refashioned items, and I think I'm ok to start off with, but I still have a couple of items I want to sew to fill in a couple of gaps and give some more possible combinations. I also need to make a couple of swish dresses for swish parties I have coming up in June (and these can then hopefully been worn to some of the million and one weddings I'm going to this year...)

Self-made/refashioned items

Dresses:

• Floral jersey self drafted
• Floral jersey self drafted with cowl (review of this coming up)
• Leopard print Budapest dress
• Green and white seersucker sundress
• Shortened ruffle dress
• Snake print jersey dress
• Birthday green silk dress with draped sleeves (this needs a proper review too)
• Birthday linen/cotton vintage pattern dress (although this may have turned into a wadder, and may become a skirt...)
• (I also have two Christmas "stunt" dresses, but I don't think I'll include those here!)

Tops:

• Gingham blouse
• Black tank top
• Black oversized T-shirt top
• Blue oversized T-shirt top
• Gold and black wide neck top
• Cream jersey tie collar blouse

Bottoms:

• Jeans skirt
• Black high waisted skirt
• Blue linen pleated skirt

Toppers:

• Vintage pattern green swing jacket

Accessories:

• Jersey strand necklace
• Yellow knitted circular scarf (well, this is almost finished, although I'm not sure it's the right sort of weather to be wearing it!)
• Green and black earrings
• Moderately fluffy petticoat

A few of these are things that I made a while back, and my sewing skills have improved since then (and skills in knowing what to sew that suits me), so I'm not sure I like wearing them any more. Well, this is meant to be a challenge, so I will challenge myself to wear these things too. And if I don't like them I will attempt to adjust/refashion them, or give them away (argh, why is that so hard with self-made stuff? It's like giving away my babies. Even if they're ill-fitting, unflattering and badly made babies). I think a couple of these things might be the wrong season to wear too (it's currently 28˚C here, so all I can think about are loose summer dresses).

Planned items

• Green stripe seersucker dress
• White eyelet dress
• Stripey sheer lawn tunic dress
• Maxi dress
• Swanky summer party dress
• Pencil skirt
• A-line skirt with kick pleat
• White lawn/eyelet top
• Extra tank tops
• Lightweight cardies
• Sweatshirt "jacket"
• Green denim shorts
• Cuffed loose trousers
• Kitchen and garden aprons
• Flowers for hair
• More (as yet undefined) jewellery

Hmm, that's quite a lot of stuff to sew isn't it - and that's just the "essential" things. Better get going!

Heads up: Alexander McQueen

A heads up to anyone in London - Harvey Nichols currently has a selection of McQueen couture dresses in the windows of the Knightsbridge flagship store, promoting the New York Met Museum retrospective.

You can't get up terribly close to the dresses, and the window reflections play havoc with taking photos (as you'll see the evidence of below), but it's still super interesting to be able to see such a selection of (a) proper couture catwalk dresses and (b) McQueen dresses from as far back as 1999. It always surprises me how "handmade" many catwalk dresses look (haha from my vast experiences of about 4 V&A exhibitions!!!). I guess they are one-offs and not really meant to be seen super close up. It would be amazing to actually be able to have a proper nose around them to have a look at all the internal construction...

The display is only up until the end of May, so get there quickly! Here's a few photos to give you an idea of what's there:

I did some shopping whilst I was in London (of course) and now seems like an appropriate time to show you some of the jewellery I bought - yep, an Alexander McQueen pendant! I'm sure it's not to everyone's taste, but I adore it...