Me-Made-June round-up: Days 19-23

Day 19: I wore exactly the same as on June 12 (minus the passport), so it didn't really seem to merit a picture.

Skirt: Me-Made / Necklace: Me-Made / Top: Uniqlo

Day 20: A lovely sunny day, so I did some gardening...

Dress: Me-Made / Apron: Me-Made / Leggings: Uniqlo

Day 21: By this point in the Me-Made challenge I'm starting to get a bit desperate - I've certainly identified some large holes in my Me-Made wardrobe that need filling soon. As the outfit is near enough a repeat (the same dress as 4 June), I thought I'd put some variety in the photos.

Dress: Me-Refashioned from a long dress / Leggings: Uniqlo / Blue belt (not seen): eBay

Day 22: A low point, and also really hot and humid - I wore the same dress as 1 June, but without any accessories or even a belt, so it definitely didn't merit a picture.

Dress: Me-Made

Day 23: I felt a bit better about my Me-Made clothes by the next morning (helped that it was significantly cooler after some late afternoon thunderstorms the previous day). As it was a little cooler, I took the opportunity to wear my high-waisted BWOF skirt (it was still on the verge of being a little sweaty by the afternoon). I need to make some belt loops on this skirt as the belt gets a little free-floating. I plan to make them from thread chains as I don't want them too bumpy if I wear an untucked top over it (which is actually how I seem to wear it most often, as I feel a little self-conscious with a top tucked in). I actually changed out of the shoes shown below into sandals after I took the photos. This outfit was probably a little overdressed for my activities this day (going to the garden centre!), but hey, it's always better to be overdressed than underdressed...

Skirt: Me-Made / Necklace: Me-Made / Cardie: H&M / Top and belt: Primark / Shoes: M&S

Me-Made-June round-up: Days 16-18

Day 16: This evening was my husband's work summer garden party, at the boss's super swanky house by the lake. Unfortunately it rained like a monsoon nearly all evening, so we were huddled in the marquee. I also forgot to take a photo of my outfit there (I blame the vast quantities of champagne consumed), so this picture is a reconstruction from the following day (minus the vast quantities of champagne). I'm really pleased with this dress, I love it so much!

Dress: Me-Made / Jacket: Me-Made / Belt: eBay / Shoes: M&S / Earrings: Accessorise

Day 17: The mini-challenge on the Flickr group was a photo with a loved one. Mine was a slightly lateral take on the theme - a photo with my sewing machine! I do truly love it and all the happiness it's brought me - it's a Brother PS53 that was a Christmas present from my mum about 7 years ago.

Dress: Me-Made

Day 18: Lunch in Manor before doing a food shop (never a good idea to do the food shop when you're hungry...). The blue top is my second attempt at this pattern, and I'm still not entirely happy with it - the pleats saved the gaping neckline, but means it pulls funny at that shoulder. I think part of the gaping problem was caused by the clear elastic sitting weirdly, I don't think I'll use that next time... The twin stitching at one of the sleeve hems has also gone a bit weird after a couple of washes, and I've noticed a couple of small holes by it too. Next time I sew with this rayon slub jersey (I have some in several colours) I'm definitely going to stabilise more, use a smaller size needle, and maybe even try a stretch needle, rather than just a jersey ballpoint one.

Jacket: Me-Made / Top: Me-Made / Vest top: H&M / Jeans: Uniqlo / Shoes: Office / Necklace: La Mollla by Tiziana Redavid

Me-Made-June, holiday edition: Days 12-15

So, Barcelona was fantastic (if far too brief a visit!). I went with my husband for our second wedding anniversary - we'd actually visited 9 or 10 years ago for our first holiday together, and we loved it. I'm pleased to say it was even better this time. I love how laid back but also how buzzy and young feeling the city is. However, I did discover I had forgotten nearly all the Spanish I used to know, and kept trying to speak to people in a random mixture of French and Italian...

Day 12: Off on holiday! Looking happy queuing to get on the plane at the departure gate. It's a great approach to Barcelona as you fly in - the flight path follows the coast down so you get to see a beautiful panorama of the entire city, beaches and port. That first evening we wandered out for some tapas then ended up in a jazz bar listening to a blues band (with an amazing harmonica player).

Skirt (not seen in photo): Me-Made / Necklace: Me-Made / Top: Uniqlo

Day 13: I love this dress, it's so comfy and pretty. I must make more like this. Today was our actual anniversary, and we had a very lazy and lovely relaxing day. Had a lie in, followed by a long lunch of tapas and sangria by the sea and an afternoon on the beach. Bliss. We also stumbled across lots of street parties with bands and dancers. We still don't know what they were celebrating, but figured it must be something to do with Pentecost...

Dress: Me-Made / Belt: Primark / Flowers: Accessorise / Beach towel: From a cheapy supermercat on the way, we forgot to pack ours

Day 14: A sightseeing day... Sagrada Familia in the morning, Fundació Joan Miró and the teleferic up Montjuïc in the afternoon, and dinner in a veggie restaurant in the evening. It was amazing revisiting Sagrada Familia after a decade and seeing how much the building had progressed. When we visited last, the glory facade was still a building site and that end of the nave was roofless and floorless. Now it is a proper consecrated building, and it is breathtaking. It's like being in a huge stone forest. There was a fascinating little exhibition in one of the side rooms about Gaudi's architectural use of natural and mathematical figures.

Day outfit. Dress: Me-Made / Scarf: Accessorise / Shoes: Bata

Evening outfit. Dress: Me-Made / Bracelet: Georg Jensen / Earrings: eBay

Day 15: Well the morning outfit was actually my swimsuit, as it was back on the beach for a couple of hours sunbathing before the flight back. Then a quick shower and stuff everything in the suitcase for the flight back to Geneva. This was the first time I've actually worn this shirt, and it does have a slightly annoying habit of the top part flapping closed, whereas I want it to keep open and wide at the neckline as it's much more flattering. I think some judicious steaming and pressing will have to be done.

Blouse: Me-Made / Jeans skirt: Me-Made / Shoes: Office / Wine: rosé

Pattern review - mock wrap dress

Pattern description

Simplicity 2369. I made view A: Misses' dress with wrap-look front and raglan cap sleeves, with the long ties from views A/C.

Pattern sizing

Sizes 8-24. I cut the 18.

Fabric used

A slightly odd and springy cotton jersey with elastane that I bought online many years ago. It wasn't quite what I was expecting (much thicker and spongier than I thought!) and I wasn't particularly in love with it, but I wanted to make a test garment with this pattern, so used this stuff as it wouldn't be a loss if it was a wadder!

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope when you were done?

Yep, pretty much.

Were the instructions easy to follow?

Yep, fairly straightforward although I did need to read them carefully for the attachment of the two fronts and the ties (I'd had it in my mind that the right front was attached at the left side, but it's not, rather it's closed with the tie slightly in front of the left side seam).

I'd had a look at the Pattern Review opinions on this, and there were many that said that there was a printing error in the instructions with one of the pieces reversed, but this seems to have been corrected. I also used (a modified version of) Trena's instructions for attaching the tie to the right front piece in order to enclose the seam allowances.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I like the half-wrap front, I think the pleats in the front piece into the ties is very flattering, not least because it covers a "tummy" very effectively. I also think the raglan sleeves are very cute, but I'm not convinced they suit me.

I have some issues with the sizing of this pattern, as usual for many "Big 4" patterns it had rather a lot of ease, especially as it's sized for knits. This wasn't a huge problem for me as I prefer looser fitting jersey clothes, but I will adjust for this if I make it again. The main front piece also seemed weirdly wide at the right hand side (I had to take it in by over 2"). I also thought the cap version of the sleeves were too big (i.e. too wide on the lower edge) - this might have been less of an issue with a softer, more drapey fabric, but with my fabric they were very sticky-uppy (wow, my vocabulary is not working today). You also need to extend the grainline on the cap sleeve pattern piece, as the printed on ends about an inch after the cutting line.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made

I wanted the tie to extend around my back to keep my waist defined, so cut the long tie piece plus the back waist measurement, and caught it in the right side seam instead of the left one. I omitted the neck facing and just turned the edge and topstitched it with a twin needle. Ideally I would have added clear elastic, but I'm currently not on speaking terms with my clear elastic, so I added a snap at centre front to keep it from gaping.

I needed to take in the sides of the bodice by about 1cm on each piece (i.e. to the size smaller!) and could have taken in the waist even more. I took width out the sleeves at the underarm seam, tapering from 1cm (both back and front) at the underarm (to match the side seam) to about 2cm at the sleeve hem. This stopped the sleeves looking too ridiculous. The main front piece was also insanely wide, I took out 2.5-3" of width at the neckline edge/waist by simply taking a tuck next to the side seam - I didn't particularly fancy unpicking the serged seams, and figured it wouldn't particularly show as it's under the other side piece. One thing that's good is that I don't seem to need an FBA - I made this up as a test garment in part to see if this was needed. This is quite fortunate as I didn't really know how to add this to these pattern pieces!

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I might sew this again, although a different view, either the tunic length view C, or another dress but with the longer sleeves from view C. I would recommend it to others, but with the caveats above.

Conclusion

I'm not entirely sure raglan sleeves suit me - because of the seamline, they tend to narrow my shoulders and make them appear less straight, which then can make my larger bottom half look slightly out of balance. I might experiment with some colour blocking and see how that looks. Having said that, I do like this dress, as a house dress and occasional summer casual dress.

Me-Made-June round-up: Days 8-11

Just a quick round-up for these days, as they're not terribly exciting outfits - I was saving my good stuff for holiday...

Day 8: Hanging around the house and running a couple of errands. I know the photo's a bit blurry, but I liked it, so I sort of vintaged it a bit to make it look like it was meant to be like that...

Skirt: Me-Made / Necklace: Me-Made / Top: H&M / Jacket: H&M / Shoes: M&S / Bag: Primark / Cat: Furry

Pattern review - Cowl neck jersey dress (plus a bit of Me-Made-June action)

Dress: Me-Made (reviewed below) / Belt: eBay / Earrings: Accessorise / Shoes: M&S / Jacket (also worn that evening, but not seen in this picture): Me-Made

I'm going to catch up on my Me-Made-June outfits with a couple of review posts - unless it's something new, then daily outfits aren't terribly interesting! However, this is actually the Me-Made outfit for 16 June, that I wore last night to my husband's work summer party - I unfortunately forgot to get a photo taken so had to recreate it this morning (well, actually this afternoon - it was a very good party).

Pattern description

Self-drafted casual dress, a modified version of a previous dress. Loose fitting with cowl neckline, elastic waist and side seam pockets.

Fabric used

Smooth jersey, I think it's probably polyester.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope/sketch/idea when you were done?

Pretty much, I think I was wanting the cowl to drape a little lower, but I'm happy with it as a first attempt at drafting and making one.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

Quick to sew, and I think the cowl neck is flattering.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made

The skirt is exactly the same as the previous dress. I took the extra length out of the bodice, and apart from that, the back bodice is identical to the previous dress. For the front bodice, I kept the dart excess in the shoulder area, but put in pleats instead of gathers. I then slashed and spread the bodice along three curves from the shoulder area to the centre front just above the bust point until the top line was at right angles to the centre line, and added a cut-on facing. The facing is caught in the shoulder seam (but doesn't have pleats in order to reduce bulk), and in the top of the armscye.

Construction details

Construction was pretty much the same as the previous jersey dress. I used narrower elastic on the waist (about 6mm I think), and made sure I trimmed enough from the armscyes before applying the binding. When I tried it on the cowl wasn't sitting quite right. I think one of the reasons was that it's cut on the straight grain rather than the bias (as it's jersey), but I was expecting this. I think the other reason is that the fabric isn't quite heavy or drapey enough, so I decided to add some weight to the bottom of the facing. I wanted to add some proper lead weights or chain, but couldn't find any, so added three metal buttons, which works pretty well.

Would you sew it again?

Entirely likely, but I will almost certainly be adapting it again - well, definitely, as I'm currently working on a dress with a lace overlay based on this bodice.

Conclusion

I'm very pleased with this dress and have already worn it several times. The combination of this fabric and style has meant it's a little dressier than I intended, but that's actually ended up being a good thing, as it's a perfect summer party dress, and can be made more or less dressy with choice of shoes, accessories and hairdo!

Barcelona!

I'll catch up with my me-made outfits towards the end of next week - I'm off to Barcelona in an hour and a half, to celebrate our second wedding anniversary :)