Hi guys,

So my Me Made May pledge was to try to blog about how I was doing, as we went through the month. As the first two weeks for me have been 3 day working weeks, no point in making it any more frequent than that. Plus these first two weeks have been to just wear the garments I’ve made as they come. In the coming weeks, I’m going to be trying to style them up a bit. I’m nervous that this will fall flat after a few days haha. I’m not necessarily challenging myself to wear different things each time – heck I’ve only made about 7 things!! But to try out putting things like scarves and belts with it – just to see if they work. Then the separates I’m coupling with ready mades to help me see what items I might want to put on my Make list going forward.

I started with my purple cowl neck dress from Sew Over It. This dress is so easy to wear – it’s such a favourite for me. It’s warm, comfy, and looks fanTASTic in the office. There’s not much I can pair it with except for accessories, but I actually know more about what I can pair this with than I know for other things, so looking forward to this one. I just love it.

Then I was in one of those needing to feel comfy moods the second day, so out comes my other favourite, the Drape top pattern from Simply Sewing magazine. I paired it with some black ready to wear trousers from Next which are an ok fit but not perfect – they’ve been a work-horse for a while and will do for a while until I can make lots more trousers. My drape top is one of those tops that I put on and I feel myself. Sounds silly when I read it back, but some clothes do that, don’t they?

The third working day of May for me was a Friday and we have a slightly more casual dress code on a Friday. I wanted to wear my denim Tilly and the Buttons Miette skirt but I also wanted to team it with a white shirt I’d just bought from Next. I’ll explain why in a sec, but I had no idea how cute it would look I was really pleasantly surprised. I want to make my own shirts a some point – not quite yet, I’ve made a couple of tricky items (one I will blog about very soon), so I want a break from scratching my head! Next project will be easier, so I can relax and enjoy the sewing for a bit. What I do want to try to get hold of though is a high collar shirt. I have quite a long neck, and the white shirt collar I bought just tends to lie flat – which is one look. But I’d love to have one of those shirts that stands up and makes a statement. Enough about shirts – my Miette skirt is really fun and cute and versatile – I’m so pleased with it. I did think that I ought to have one or two in other fabrics, so I can use them in different situations. I wonder what fabric would work with this for a work-y type skirt… hmm…

The following week we had a bank holiday and then I had to stay home on the Tuesday because my little boy was poorly (he’s fine, just a dicky tummy – eating me out of house and home again now!). So where I had just ironed my Lander trousers, I set them aside, threw on jeans but found my other Drape Top, which I made from a fairly delicate grey jersey. The shoulder seams are falling apart already – must not have backstitched them – and the edges are fraying from going in the tumble dryer. So although in photos, it looks lovely (scruffy attempt at a belt around it though haha), it’s awful to look at in real life. I love wearing it around the house though, on a weekend when we’re not doing anything that involves other people haha! I think I might see if there’s enough leftovers to make it again, but I’ve got to save it from the pesky tumble dryer if I do…!

Then the next time I got to go into work, the Landers finally got a good airing, and I also decided to put on my Azur cami from LAVitaly. I had originally thought about the grey 50s top, but I put it on and nahhhh – the two greys didn’t go well together. The houndstooth is a kind-of blue-grey, and the 50s top is a very grey-grey if that makes sense! Anyway, they didn’t go. The Azur definitely DOES go beautifully with it though. The Landers are just wonderful. Felt so professional that day at work. I did feel like they were tight by the end of the day, but I think I’ve got my son’s bad tummy, so everything’s feeling a bit tight this week. I know that’s a bit too much info, but it’s relevant I think. I’m really hoping it’s that, and I’ve not got them too snug to last a full day. Maybe they’ll relax a bit over time anyway.

Dress-down Friday again and I went for some ready to wear denim shorts. It wasn’t the warmest day, but nice enough to get away with it. Then out came the 50s rockabilly top finally. It’s got such a brilliant curvy shape to it – shows off the girls very nicely! 🙂 so pleased with how it looks with these shorts. It did make me think that I would REALLY REALLY LOVE to make some classic capri pants. Not cropped trousers, not shorts, but proper capri pants that stop just under the knee and are fitted, but not tight. I had some linen capri pants a few years ago, and got too big for them, as they were also starting to fall apart. I would love to recreate those and have a couple of different colours. A sandy pair, some classic black ones, and who knows beyond that.

So conclusion for future plans so far: high collar crisp white shirt, capri pants, more Miettes in different styles. All the drape tops in the world!