Friday, May 31, 2013

Me Made May: Week 5


Day 27: Easy gathered skirt; Basque blouse; shoes from op shop.

 

Day 28: Butterfly Frock;  belt and sandals from op shop.



Day 29: My Dream Dress;  Chic A Booti cardi; Corelli shoes.



Day 30: Butterick B5711 Blouse;  skirt from op shop; Target flats.
Can you believe I've only worn this blouse twice? I really need to wear it more often. I got so many compliments when I wore it yesterday!



Day 30: New Look 6078;  Just Jeans flared jeans; KMart boots.
I just love this blouse so much!

To sum up my first Me Made May- I enjoyed having to be a bit more creative with my wardrobe, instead of wearing my favourite items over and over. It also made me realise how much my sewing has improved over the last two years.

I am off to my dear friend's wedding tomorrow and made this dress just for the occasion. It's a shame that it will miss Me Made May by one day, but here it is. I will post action pics on the weekend.



Sunday, May 26, 2013

Me Made May: Week 4


Day 20: Ottobre Magazine knit tunic; Big W leggings; Tony Bianco boots (my birthday present to myself)
I made this tunic a couple of years ago and have been too scared to touch knits since then, but I think I may give it another go.



 Day 21: Colette Pastille; Target cardi; vintage 70s boots- another birthday present to myself! These boots fit my tiny legs LIKE A DREAM and the leather is gorgeous- so dark and rich!



Day 22: I cheated here. I wanted to wear this dress (not me-made) with a me-made belt, but it was cold that day and I had to wear tights. The belt looked crap with the tights so I decided to go for a totally second hand outfit instead. 
The dress is Dec Juba, from Salvos; the cardi is a hand-me-up from my stepdaughter;  the tights are a hand-me-across from my sister in law; the shoes are from Lifeline. Total cost: $17.



Day 23: Backwards Birdie BlouseEasy Gathered Skirt; Big W cardi, shoes from op shop.


  
Day 24: Stuggling here. The only me-made item is the satin scarf I'm wearing as a belt! 
Miss Shop cardi; really old polka dotted blouse; Lee Riders jeans from op shop; Diana Ferrari shoes.



Day 25: New Look 3668;  black Kitten D'amour jeans from op shop; Diana Ferrari flats.



Day 26: Teal New Look 3668; Target cardi; Lee Riders jeans; brown leather platform sandals from op shop.

I'm really struggling with MMM! I have saved my favourite dresses for the final week. The weather here has become pretty cold lately so it's been harder to dress as I don't have all that many winter MMM items.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Me Made May: Week 3, Part 2


Day 16: Cool Weather New Look 6808; Portmans skirt; Target flats (which I didn't end up wearing to work in the end- I chose black heels).



Day 17: Friday, my day off with my girl. I'm wearing a tunic top that is probably too short to be worn over leggings but oh well. I just love this fabric! I decided I wanted to make a couple more of these tunics then realised I sold the pattern when I had a pattern cull a few months ago. D'oh! 

 

Day 18: Good Enough To Eat Dress;  Pinup Couture heels. This was for a fancy night out with my friend and her fiancee to celebrate my birthday. We went to a French restaurant and I had escargots for my entree. Yummm! The bill came to $330 for the four of us. Yikes!!!



Day 19: My birthday, sans glasses and fringe! I think I will grow my fringe out for a while so I can pin it back 'coz I like the way that looks. 
The top is another version of the tunic from Day 17 and I love it. The jeans are Lee Riders, a miracle op shop find in the right size for $8, but the zipper keeps falling down. Shoes and earrings also from an op shop.



I got some great presents- a pair of Tony Bianco leather knee high boots that are only about 2cm too big for my tiny calves (a big achievement), and from my wonderful mother-in-law, the Cambie pattern by Sewaholic which I've been wanting for ages, and this amazing long tunic that she knitted from the most incredibly soft wool-bamboo blend. I love it!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Me Made May: Week 3, Part 1


Day 13: Op Shop acrylic knit top; easy gathered black skirt



 Day 14: Self-drafted circle skirt; blouse from op shop, shoes from op shop.



Day 15: Shitted Feet Dress; awesome leather platform sandals from op shop; cardi knitted for me by someone who used to be my friend on Facebook but who promptly de-friended me after she made this. What?!

I don't like the Shitted Feet Dress very much. I won't be wearing it again until I've picked it apart and done some things to make it look better. I might give it a sweetheart neckline.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Me Made May: Week 2, Part 2




Day 9: 50s Mail Order Dress; really old cardi with a bleach stain on it; Rivers shoes.



 Day 10: Self-drafted circle skirt; KMart top; Rivers shoes (with the straps undone because I was lazy)



Day 11: KwikSew 3521; Chic A Booti cardi (really horrid, cheap and nasty store, but the cardis were cheap so I bought 2).


I have a few things to say about this outfit.
 
 Firstly, I do not have enough me-mades to wear an entire me-made outift every day for May, so there will be a lot of 'outfits' that are really just one item, like this one. Towards the end of the month when I run out of stuff, it will probably just be a scarf!

Secondly- jeans. I really hate jeans at the moment. My body has changed so much in the last two years that it is impossible to find jeans that fit me properly. Luckily, I have a habit of buying good quality jeans from op shops without trying them on, and upon searching through my jeans collection, I found 3 pairs that were too big for me last year but that fit over my larger bum now. They are still too big around my hips but a belt will solve that.

Thirdly- HOW FANTASTIC IS MY JACKET.
I decided that this Mother's Day I didn't want any more pyjamas, slippers, bath stuff, keyrings, etc and informed Husband that I would be purchasing myself a leather jacket. I could not believe my luck when I found this on Ebay. It is from the 70s but it looks brand new- the condition is immaculate. And it was only $50!!!! AND IT FITS ME LIKE A GLOVE. I wore it all day today and I want to wear it to bed.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Me Made May: Week 2 Part 1

I've decided to do two blog posts per week for Me Made May. Mostly because Blogger is being a pain with loading pictures.


 Day 6: Study Hall Skirt;  knit top from op shop, Target flats.
I've only worn this skirt once before. For all the work that I put into it, it's a huge disappointment. The pleats don't sit well and it's too short by far.


Day 7: New Look 6000; beads from op shop.
I've only worn this dress once or twice but I love it. I feel incredibly sexy in it, even though it shows that I have no hips whatsoever.


 (This photo taken by Jimmy, bless him!)


Day 8: Self-drafted circle skirt; New Look 3668 blouse; Target cardi (a hand-me-up from my stepdaughter!)

I started this skirt on Saturday night. I thought it would come together quite quickly. Well, it did- the actual construction only took about an hour and a half. But the hem took FOR EFFING EVER. My god, I never want to do that again! Measure out the hem line and mark all around it, press the hem, cut off excess hem allowance, finish raw edge (I was going to use lace to finish it but the 4 metres of lace I have wasn't enough! So I overlocked it), gather the hem to ease it, sew basting stitches in preparation for machine blind hemming, sewing the blind hem, and then when I thought it was finally finished...unpick all the basting stitches! That part alone took me an hour! WHAT A PAIN.

Whinging aside, I ADORE the skirt. It's made from some suiting I got for $4.95/m and it has a lovely drape, washes really well, doesn't fade, and DOESN'T NEED IRONING. EVER!!!! 

I am going to wear this baby to death!

I'm enjoying MMM so far as I've had to put a bit more thought into what I wear, instead of picking the same favourites all the time.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Me Made May: Week 1

So here's the roundup of my first week of boring (compared to many other bloggers), badly photographed me-made outfits.


 
Day 1: New Look 6078 blouse; Portmans skirt


 
Day 2: Sew Liberated top (made before I started blogging); Country Road skirt, $5 from op shop


 
Day 3: Op shop dress-to-skirt; Review top


 
 Day 4: Self-drafted a-line skirt (not blogged), Review top, Target cardigan



 
 Day 5: My first frock (photo by Jimmy, my 5-year-old)

I started making a black circle skirt last night and just need to sew the mammoth hem. Gah!!! It's enormous!