Thursday 31 May 2012

Me Made May'12 Days 25,26,27,28,29,30 and 31

So the last week of Me Made May'12.  Apart from having my photo taken everyday, I've enjoyed the process.  I've made some new clothes, worn several things I haven't worn in ages and of late bemoaned the horrible hot weather(I have to complain about the weather, I'm British).  So here are the final week's clothes.

Day 25
A thrifted Wallis skirt and my 1970's style t-shirt with my new gladiator sandals.  I don't know why I am pulling that face?


Day 26
This picture was taken late in the day (not at 7am like most of the other pictures), so my blouse is looking a little the worse for wear.  Helped in no small part by Hagrid giving me a through soaking when we gave him a bath.  He is such a good boy, in so many ways, we just have to get his behaviour with other dogs under control.


Day 27
This may not be the most flattering dress in the world, but it is very cool.  Comfort definitely was more important than style here, have I complained about the weather enough yet? 


Day 28
I made this blouse from some thrifted vintage fabric a couple of year ago and I think this may only be the third time I've worn it.  I have a White Stuff tunic top that I love and keep looking for patterns to replicate it, but this pattern was not it, the sleeves are a little tight, I may try to rectify that so that I will wear this more often. 


Day 29
An entire Me Made outfit here, both refashioned.  The top was originally a pillow case and the skirt initially a man's shirt.  There was a trend a couple of years ago of converting men's shirts into dresses, but for women far more petite than me.


Day 30
A repeat of my outfit from Day 16.


And Finally Day 31
The ubiquitous purple chambray skirt and my new Wiksten Tova blouse that I finished on Tuesday. It's a lovely pattern and fairly straight forward to make, this is really a wearable muslin and it's made from a sheet I bought for £1.29 (and that I have enough left of to make another 2 garments).  I was slightly depressing to have to make the XL size, as I don't think of myself as an XL person, but that minor quibble is not going to stop me making it again.  I have quite a few pieces of fabric that I can use to make this top.


As I said earlier I have enjoyed the challenge of Me Made May, but I probably need to create my own challenge rather than follow someone else's.  I definitely could do with utilising better what I already have, before I go out an acquire more stuff.  And even though the above shirt was made with a thrifted sheet, it did require the purchase of a new pattern. I have more fabric and patterns than I will probably ever need, so what I probably need to do is impose an embargo on  buying any new fabric or patterns for a while and try and use what I already have.

Watch this space and see how that works out... 

Thursday 24 May 2012

Me Made May'12 Days 16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 and 24

Day 16

I made this skirt last month, it's an adaptation of the same pattern I used to make the purple chambray skirt (New Look 6106).  I bought the floral fabric as a remnant (my Achilles heal) last year, but it wasn't quite enough to make a whole garment, so I bought some plain turquoise fabric to co-ordinate with the floral.  And this is the result, I think it goes beautifully with my Ness t-shirt.


Day 17

The Chambray skirt again, this time teamed with woolly tights and a jumper.  A week later I am missing the cooler weather.


Day 18

My Bustle Skirt, but not a very good picture of it.  This is quite a dramatic skirt to go about in, but you do have to negotiate sitting down in it.  I keep meaning to make another one, but haven't quite got round to it yet.


Day 19

The same outfit as on Day 10, but here with the addition of my 1940's style apron (I was making Sunday lunch).  This is what I wear when I'm trying to be a Domestic Goddess, I don't know how well it works.


Day 20

As Hagrid's behaviour with other dogs is less than exemplary, we take him for his walk at 6 am, so here I am ready for the walk in my home made jeans and a hooded top I made about 15 year ago.


Day 21

I made this t-shirt a few years ago using a vintage 1970's pattern, but the instruction were not as good as they could have been because I've never felt the collar lies quite how it should.  Or it could just be my aversion to working with jersey, that makes me feel this t-shirt didn't quite work.


Day 22

I lovely cool floaty skirt I made last year. I didn't think a gathered skirt would suit me, so I actually made it by making long darts in the fabric, it required a little trial and error in the fitting, but I think it worked well.


Day 23

This dress is made with the same pattern as the top on Day 4. I bought the fabric in the John Lewis sale, long before I bought the pattern, consequently I didn't have quite enough fabric for a traditional layout.  I therefore cut out the side panels and collar width wise rather than length wise, but I feel it actually improved the design.  


Day 24

A whole self made outfit for a change.  The skirt I made last week, again using New Look 6106 (one day I will actually make the skirt with the contrast border as on the pattern).  I'm sure it would have been simpler to just use regular fabric, however it is actually refashioned a charity shop find, a pair of size 22 cropped trousers, to make the skirt.
The top must be at least 15 years old, it is also a refashion, but of a something I made that didn't fit.  I had tried to make a shirt from a pattern designed to be made with stretch fabric in decidedly unstretchy fabric, so I converted it into this little top as I couldn't bear to abandon this fabric.



Tuesday 15 May 2012

Avengers - Thank You Joss


Avengers is awesome.  If you haven't been to see this film yet (and from the box office that is only about 3 people in the world), you should rush out and see it now.


Fluffrick and I went to see it for the second time last week and I'm trying to see when we can schedule seeing it again without feeling like we're abandoning Hagrid.  


I should confess that I am a huge Joss Whedon fan.  Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dollhouse, Dr Horrible, I love them all.  But this should not detract from the fact that this is a brilliant film, full of great characters, humour, peril, action, sibling rivalry, oh and awesomeness and a bit of Hulk. Who knew the Hulk was funny? Joss Whedon did.


So a huge Hulk sized Thank You Joss, please do it again, now!

Me Made May'12 Days 9,10,11,12,13,14 and 15

This post should actually be called, "Why can't the weather make up it's mind!".  I have discovered that there are far more handmade summer clothes in my wardrobe, but the weather has most definitely not been summery. So what to wear?

Day 9

This is a favourite skirt of mine, it's made with the same pattern as my denim skirt, which is from an old issue of BurdaStyle.  It's a very soft dark green moleskin and what you can't see because of Hagrid's lovely head are my white, green and red argyle socks, they have brought a smile to many a face.  Why do people find socks funny?


Day 10


This is my new favourite dress, I blogged about it here.  It is just so comfortable and I get to wear turquoise tights with it. 



Day 11

A whole outfit made by me.  The denim skirt again, which I have taken in so it doesn't sit quite so low on my hips.  The blouse is an old one, probably from the early 90's, it's from a "style" pattern and they went out of business a long time ago.  Of course when I put it on I remembered why I don't wear it very often, the buttonholes are large and come undone, of course I could fix this in about ten minutes, I just haven't got round to it.


Day 12

Here is a lesson in why I should take better care of my paper patterns.  I made these trousers a couple of years ago and they are really comfortable.  But I didn't put the pattern pieces back in the packet and now I don't quite know where they are.  That may not sound like a big problem, but I have 30 years accumulated fabric and patterns to look through.


Day 13

This is a blouse I refashioned from a charity shop skirt, the detail of the inset lace doesn't show up in the picture unfortunately.  The picture had to be taken as soon as I put it on, as it is made of linen and creases if you look at it.


Day 14

I wear this little top a lot.  I am a sucker for remnants, if I can get something at a reduced price I'm happy.  This top was made from less than a metre of fabric. I think it turned out quite well, even if none of the pictures with me looking to camera didn't.


Day 15

The t-shirt again from day 5, with the addition of a jaunty scarf and a Hagrid who is far more interested in the neighbourhood cats than having his picture taken.


Tuesday 8 May 2012

Sewing, sewing, sewing

I've actually been doing quite a lot of sewing the past couple of months.  I had a little time off after sewing all the costumes for the show last November.  But now I'm back in the groove and it was something I could do and still keep Minnie company when she wasn't well.  I have been meaning to make a wristband pin cushion for a while now.  If I have a pot of pins when I'm sewing it will inevitably end up on the floor up side down.  This pin cushion is always handy and I don't know why I didn't make one years ago.


So this is the shirt I was making for Fluffrick when I got side tracked by my denim skirt.  I did get the shirt finished, Fluffrick has worn it many times and even tolerated having his picture taken.

I finally got around to making Minnie a new collar.  I had made her previous collar, but it was getting rather threadbare and worn.  She only got to wear it for a handful of weeks and now it's sitting in the top of the box along with her ashes.  We will scatter her ashes and those of Bonnie one day, I'm not good at letting go.



This is a bag I made for a friend's birthdays.  She is a Mum of 3 so this has plenty of room for all those Mum things, plus six pockets, that should be enough, shouldn't it?




Me Made May'12 Day 5, 6, 7 and 8

I already have quite a number of clothes that I have made myself, some of them dating back over a decade (well I have been sewing for nearly 30 years). But participating in Me Made May gives me a really good excuse to make some more.

Day 5

I made this t-shirt yesterday, I'm not sure how much I like it yet, I think I would prefer it to be a little more fitting.  I also made the jeans, I usually live in jeans and I don't think I could go a month without jeans.  However, I think I must have recycled a zip when I was making them and it refuses to say up, so I think I'm going to have to replace it before i wear them again.


Day 6


This is a dress I made many years ago and I can't remember the last time I wore it.  I am not one of those people who gets rid of something if it's not been worn in the last year, especially if it is something I have made myself.

Day 7


Two more things that I made many years ago, in fact I think they both must be over ten years old (in fact I had forgotten I even had the trousers).  But at least that means that I'm not any bigger than I was ten years ago.

Day 8


I think this skirt will be a frequent participant this month.  It is very comfortable and goes with my Aubergine El Natralista shoes.  The top I made last week, with material that had been hanging around for a while, it's just a simple grey cotton, so I jazzed it up with some buttons. 



This is the button detail.



Doesn't Hagrid look handsome in these photos?

Friday 4 May 2012

Me Made May '12 Day1, 2, 3 and 4


So I have signed up to participate in Me Made May again. I did try to take part in 2010, but as Bonnie became very ill part way through the month I had to give up.  That did of course save me the trauma of having my photo taken every day; I really hate having my photo taken.  I am supposed to post my pledge on my blog, so here it is.  

'I, Katrina of RollingEyeballs, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear at least one home made or refashioned item each day for the duration of May 2012'

So here is Day 1
 

I made this dress a couple of months ago, (using Simplicity 2938) but this is the first time I have actually worn it.  I kept meaning to do a post about the massive discrepancy between the fabric requirements quoted on a back of a pattern, against the actual fabric required, but never quite go round to it.  This pattern says you need 2.2m of 1.5 wide fabric, but I actually made this using only 1.2m.

Day 2 

Both the skirt and the cardigan are home made.  I need to take the skirt in a little as it does sit very low on my hips, this is probably because I just bound the waistband rather than facing it.  This is the skirt that distracted me from Fluffrick shirt, but I did finish the shirt as well, so I don't feel too guilty. The cardigan I made many years ago from a very over sized t-shirt.  I don't know why I thought an over sized crew neck t-shirt would ever suit me, I much prefer it as a cardigan.

Day 3 

Here the top and skirt are home made.  The top dates back a few years, from when I had an addiction of buying vintage patterns and fabric on eBay.  The skirt is a purple chambray (made using New Look 6106) that I made a couple of weeks ago, just after I had signed up to Me Made May.  When looking through all the clothes I have made myself a great number of the are patterned, so I felt I needed a plainer piece of clothing, but maybe purple isn't all that plain.

Day 4


This tunic I made a couple of year ago, from fabric I had left over from making a dress.  I made it using Simplicity 2927, which I have used a couple of times and need to make again. Sadly the pattern is now out of print, so I will have to look after my copy of the pattern, something I am decidedly not good at doing.

Wednesday 2 May 2012

Goodbye...Hello


I didn't realise it had been so long since I had posted, nearly two months.  Part of the reason for not posting was Minnie Mo's health.  The little girl had been getting gradually worse since the start of the year, she had been diagnosed with renal failure last June, then started to have spinal problems at Christmas. So very very sadly we had to make the decision when she also developed liver failure, that she had been through enough.

I miss her more than I can say, she was a little bright spark who kept us on our toes.  She was a rescue dog from the lovely people at Rotherham Dog Rescue, she had been a stray and was painfully thin when we first adopted her.  We don't know exactly how old she really was, or what her name was, because it certainly wasn't Minnie, as she never really responded to it.  I liked to call her Contrary Mary, as you could be sure she would do the opposite of what you wanted her to do, but then as mere humans we should have realised that she was in charge.
Lovely Minnie Mo on holiday in Arran
 So as Minnie left us we realised that we needed a new dog to keep us in hand and sadly there are always dogs that need rescuing.  We went looking for another little terrier to fill the Minnie sized hole in our lives, but we ended up with a whole lot more.  Let me introduce you to Hagrid.


Handsome Hagrid
This lovely lad is a Standard Poodle/Saluki cross and he is big, he can easily put his paws on your shoulders and lick you face, something we are trying to discourage him from doing.  He is a big soft boy, but a little nervous.   He does have some issues with other dogs, but then so did Minnie at first and she overcame it in time and as he is only two years old, he has plenty of time to learn.  We met Hagrid at Mill House Animal Sanctuary and it was love at first sight.  I'm sure he will make frequent appearances in this blog.