A new habit

Today is the last day of the month - and marks the end of the Me Made May challenge. I can't believe how quickly the last few weeks have gone. Having been really dedicated over recording the process in the first week or so, you may have noticed I have become a bit, well, slack, for the latter part of the month. Oops!

As I am currently nursing a poorly throat, resulting in complete loss of voice, and am feeling too lazy by far to do a proper catch up post, you can see the daily pictures over at my Flickr - if you want to, that is. I am sure most people will be quietly relieved to have been spared a couple of dozen pictures of me posing awkwardly. The daily posing is believe it or not the one bit of the challenge I won't miss.

If I have been guilty of letting the `diary' about what I've been wearing slip, the actual challenge itself (to wear more of my own handmade clothes in my everyday life) has been brilliant, and I have enjoyed every bit of it.

The month has kick started me into a new habit - of wearing the stuff I have made on a regular basis, particularly these dresses that I had barely worn, just because I'd thought of them as special occasion outfits.  Finding things to wear each day wasn't really a problem - once I took a proper look at my wardrobe and was willing to consider wearing long neglected items of clothing again. It's funny how you can end up limiting what you wear week in week out to about five or six things - I have rediscovered plenty of nice very wearable clothes I had forgotten I had. Daft, especially considering all the effort I had at some point or other put into making them.

During MMM, I shortened this top by a few inches - realising it had been the length that had held me back from wearing it. I have always loved the colour and pattern, but it just didn't seem to sit right. Until now, that is. I think I wore it four times over the month of May - hooray for a new favourite top to go with jeans!

And as for my plan to pose outside as many favourite places in my home town of Bedford as possible - well, that part of the challenge was also really good fun. Although, there are loads of places I didn't get to in time - still, I guess there is always next time. This sweet shop is definitely a firm favourite place - with me and my three sweet loving little girls. Never underestimate the power of sweets to encourage/bribe some good behaviour...

So all that is left for me to say is a big thank you to Zoe for organising MMM. The month has introduced me to a new mindset when it comes to my own clothes, where I have learnt to feel a bit more proud and a bit less sheepish about wearing stuff I've made - and, I have had fun getting inspired by all the other super talented participants of MMM. Take a peek at the group Flickr pool - thanks everyone, I have thoroughly enjoyed spying out all your beautiful outfits and hope to see you next time round! X

Happy Sewing Bunny

After a couple of rubbish attempts to make a black top, I have finished it. And worn it. Twice. Without washing in between, either. Nice, huh?

The Smug Cake I am holding on this occasion is one that has a carefully
crafted portrait of my husband on it (in case that wasn't immediately obvious!)

So, after the total disaster with the Sorbetto, I opted for another Lisette 2211, but with my new favourite addition of a Peter Pan collar edged with ric rac. Love the stuff. This time I went for pink, and I must say I am happy with the look of it against the black top. I think it gives just about the right amount of definition and interest - even if it did take me a bit longer than I'd have liked to get an even amount of pink peeping out from the collar. Ric rac is most definitely one of my new favourite things!

I'd been waiting for a black top to go with this skirt, which I finished AGES ago and still hadn't worn. And then, having finished a top, the skirt just didn't look right. It needed something to make it a bit more black, and tie into the top. So I used the leftover scraps from the top to add a band to the bottom of the skirt. And now, I really like it - hooray!

The black lawn cotton was only £7.99 for a metre from Singers, and so, including trims and thread, I got myself a top for under a tenner. It feels nice and airy - just right for the current heat wave we're experiencing. And the skirt only used the remains of half a metre I'd bought for a purse - admittedly of expensive Japanese linen (at £16 a metre), but still not bad, and buttons and zip taken into account, still came in for under a tenner (just).

These two items of clothing are evidence if ever it was needed of why I could never make money out of making clothes. Don't get me wrong - I have LOVED the process of creating them, and will enjoy wearing them lots now they are finished. But it took me ages to reach a point where I was happy with it and felt like it was finished. Much tinkering had to be done before I liked the finished result.

Retro Bobble Purse

And happily, now I've finished the top and skirt, I was able to fish out the matching purse that had been waiting to be used (this was the reason I bought the lovely Kokka fabric in the first place - the skirt was never part of the plan, but rather, just something I randomly decided to make because I had just about enough scraps left over to make it).

All in all, I am a happy sewing bunny this week. But here are a couple of shots of the wrong side to right side stitching disasters of last week - lest I get too ahead of myself...

The Quest for a Black Top

I've been after a black top for a while now.

I need one to go with a skirt I finished about a month ago, and still have not worn as I have nothing to go with it. And, as I have signed up to Me Made May, I am currently unable to wear my new(ish) skinny red jeans, as I have nothing me made to go with them. So you see, it really is important that I hurry up and make a top. Yes I could buy one (Sang, I can hear your words ringing in my head to this effect) - it would be quicker, and mean I could get on and wear my skirt and jeans sooner. But I have backed myself into a black top corner where I am convinced I have it in me to make something far lovelier, that, in one super duper garment, manages to cover all of my black top needs.

This quest has not been going well.

To start with, it took me forever to decide on a pattern. Having eventually settled on trying the hugely popular Colette Sorbetto, I must admit that by the time I had printed the free pattern out and painstakingly stuck it all together, I lost patience and guessed the sizing. I know, I know. But at the time, my logic was to plump for the same size that had fitted me perfectly each time with the Jasmine, my logic being it was the same brand of pattern, so it was bound to fit, and most definitely not worth making the 30 second trip upstairs for the tape measure.

That is the story of how black top # 1 turned out to be about two sizes too small, and promptly got chopped up and turned into a lining for this bag.

On the bright side, I now have a new bag - made out of a print I loved at first sight and had been hoarding - that, as the lining is a bit patch worked, will only ever be destined to be enjoyed by me. It is big and strong enough to pass the Picnic Test (if we ever get more than half an hour of sunshine at any one time, that is). Incidentally, by this, I am talking can a bag cope with a bottle or two of Robinsons Squash, sandwiches, crisps and cakes, and a token few pieces of fruit (that will almost certainly be returned home again), plus the usual essentials that you might need when in the company of small children (spare pair of pants/nappy/wipes/Diet Coke).

Still sulking a bit from the failure of the first Sorbetto, I opted for a different pattern for black top # 2. This time, it was going to be the tried and tested favourite Lisette 2211 - with my new love addition of a Peter Pan collar.

If the lesson from black top # 1 was to prepare properly, the lesson from # 2 was to flippin' well pay attention, and not make life hard by doing stupid things like sewing wrong side to right side and ending up ploughing ahead in that same vain until you have an almost finished top that needs unpicking. The situation was not helped by the fact I was trying to sew during my once fortnightly opportunity for sneaky afternoon sewing (eldest at school, middle girl playing at her friend's, youngest snoring upstairs). The sewing mess was so bad that I stopped and opted for mopping the kitchen floor. And made a cake, ready for a long awaited Friday night of sewing with the girls.

Still unfinished...

I love sewing with friends. Not least because then at least you have someone to laugh with when things don't go quite according to plan. And the cake helped, too.

Me Made May catch up

Almost half way through the month long challenge to wear something home made each day - I'm really enjoying it!

Here's what I've been wearing over the last week or so:

Out for a meal with the hubby, to our favourite curry house in Bedford.
Wearing a me made skirt with flowers made from favourite scraps.

Skipping down cemetery hill. Wearing this dress and a matching clutch
(not in picture as perched on the bin with my camera on self time mode)

Happy birthday to my favourite four  year old! Won't even begin to bore you with the saga of why this cake was a disappointment (not elephant shaped) for the birthday girl. Wearing a skirt in some gorgeous Amy Butler print.

We interrupt the pictures of me in things for a day to include one of a little girl. Wearing this dress (and clearly enjoying using her big sister's new umbrella while she's out of the way at pre school)

With the lovely butchers David and Pino, on Stanley Street in Bedford. Sun is shining, all me made stuff on today, and I can vouch for the fact the steak in that bag was GOOD.

Miserable bank holiday weather, so wearing my Tanya Whelan tunic with leggings.

Willing my friend Leyanne to hurry up and take the photo before too many other of the school mums wonder what on earth I'm up to. Wearing another Lisette 2211, and using some of the gorgeous birthday fabric given to me by my best friend.

On cemetery hill again - and wearing my Lisette skirt and Jasmine top.

The Party Bag Factory - wearing another Jasmine top, this time made out of
a pretty Tanya Whelan paisley print from Singers in town.

I haven't made anything new for the challenge - but that may be about to change, as I'm about to try making my first Sorbetto top.

I'm keeping my first one plain and simple - in a black lawn, as I want it to be something to go with several other things. Having cut it out, my enthusiasm for the make is waning, as, having held the pieces up against me, I am not convinced the finished top with even cover my belly button and have any hope of fitting - wish me luck!

One of the most fun parts of the challenge so far has been it is getting me to wear a lot of things I haven't worn in a while - mainly just through habit, and rediscovering them again. Depending on the weather, this coming week will see quite a few repeats cropping up, as I'm coming to the end of my  ready made me made clothing not yet worn during this challenge. Hey ho, though - that's about it for now!

Sticky Stem Ginger Cake

Me Made May 2012 day 4, and I'm wearing my Liberty Tunic

I have been going to Fancy ever since it opened about a year ago. And, until today (thanks to my Mum for allowing me to share some of hers), I had never sampled the sticky stem ginger cake.

Apologies to any readers who are not within easy reach of Bedford, but those of you who are, my top tip for something to do this weekend is to get yourself to Fancy and treat yourselves to a slice of the ginger cake. It is divine. And, if you are not a fan of ginger, and don't want to go for the obvious (but firm favourite) option of chocolate brownies, then see if they have any chocolate, fig and almond cake in. 

Anyhow, there is (sort of) a sewing related reason I am going on and on about cake. Whilst having an after school `Hooray, it's Friday, and the grandparents are up for the weekend!' treat, I arranged a date with the owner, Saffron, for another charity sock monkey night - I can't wait, I can't wait! 

Here are the details:

Sock Monkey Night @ Fancy

Thursday 14th June 2012, 7 pm onwards

£10 donation here to St. John's Hospice

Bring your own socks and scissors! 

Please help spread the word locally if you can - every penny goes straight to the hospice and we are teasingly close to our target of £1000 - clicking on the Facebook button at the end of this really gets people talking about it and turning up.

Onto other things, Me Made May is proving to be a lot of fun. Boy, the other ladies (I think it's just ladies, but sorry to any men I've missed) taking part are a talented bunch, and seem to be a lovely lot with it - just further confirming my view that the world of craft is an overwhelmingly friendly and supportive one. The wish list of patterns I'd like to try continues - oh, if only there were more hours in the day...

Here I am seemingly enjoying a delightful `Yummy Mummy' moment yesterday. (Ha, ha - those who know me in real life and not just the bits of me I choose to project on my little blog, and have therefore seen me wearing sweaty running kit about the town know I am anything but a Yummy Mummy)

What you can't see in this picture is my (then) extremely grumpy toddler, sulking in the corner just in front of me. Not even the kind bribe of a lollipop from my lovely hairdresser Maria could crack a smile out of the girl. Needless to say, she was positively perky and all smiles the moment it became clear we were about to leave the torture chamber she had been so cruelly subjected to for half an hour.

I really enjoyed wearing this dress as a casual number. Wish I'd done it more often, rather than categorising it in my mind as dressy and only for special occasions.

Oh, and the rain continues.

Um, a pretty daft pose...

...taken outside Penguins Class, whilst waiting for my eldest daughter to finish school for the day. Not much else to say about this picture!

Today is a day I usually go for a run round the park with the littlest one in the buggy once the older two are at school - and, I have been known to arrive at many an afternoon pick up still in my running kit. Nice. If nothing else, Me Made May '12 will be a month long challenge to shower a bit sooner after my runs (a good thing) and encourage me to smarten up a bit.

The skirt is another shortened version of the Lisette 2211 pattern - made out of scraps leftover from this woollen pinstripe dress. The cardigan was given to me by my Mum for Christmas last year (she is a super knitter, and the reason why I am an extremely lazy one). I am wearing a pair of patent mustard coloured shoes I bought on a whim and love - they are comfortable enough to run around after children in, and really bright and fun (and not at all what I'd normally choose).

Am loving the Flickr group and seeing all the amazing hand made loveliness everyone else is wearing. Really, really inspiring. If I had to pick a couple of favourites, they'd be this one and this one - the result of which is I will almost certainly go to bed tonight and dream about making my very own Colette Patterns Rooibos dress.

I can hear the rain pattering down outside, as my thoughts turn to what to wear tomorrow...

Me Made May 2012

I thought this sounded like a fun way to kick start me into wearing a few more items of hand made clothing (and venture away from my usual daily diet of jeans, and the same t shirts and cardigans).

So here goes:

`I, Janet of Kitchen Table Sewing, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May `12. I endeavour to wear one item of me-made clothing each day for the duration of May 2012. I am going to try and get photos of what I'm wearing outside some of my favourite places in my home town of Bedford.'

First up is a Lisette 2211 skirt and matching Noodle-head gathered clutch, all made out of £10 worth of red wool fabric I bought on a whim from a place in Nottingham. 

You can join in or follow along here on the Flickr group or checking out the Facebook page.