Me-Made-May part 3

‘ere we go, another Me-Made-May ’13 post….

11 May
Forgot to get a photo today. Oops! Nothing exciting to show you anyway, as it has all already been worn this month. My Hungry Cat-erpillar skirt and the green cardigan my mother made that I wore back on 7 May.

12 May

Me-made black merino cardigan (un blogged, made about 3 years ago)
Denim skirt – Moochi, from a thrift store
Black nursing singlet – The Warehouse
Black over-the-knee socks with white hearts – somewhere in China (or Japan? I forget which…)
Black ultra-hi Converse sneakers

Thoughts on today’s me-made garment: I did a boo-boo while making this top. Somehow, while cutting out the fabric, I got distracted and cut the sleeves the wrong way. And didn’t have any fabric left to re-cut them with. So the stretch goes along the sleeve rather than across. Oops. Anyway, despite that, this tends to be on high rotation in my wardrobe. And every time I wear it, I get annoyed that the top of the v doesn’t sit flat, as the hook and eye tape that closes it up the front stops about 1.5 cm from the top. So now, I’m going to fix it. A new hook-and-eye will be added, and annoyance will be gone! Yessss!!!

13 May


Me-made Beatrice dress
Me-made 40s Tartan bolero
Navy belt – from a thrift shop
Black tights with skulls – Leg Avenue
Heels – Dr Martens

(Check it – I had punk moments at the office. Skulls on the back of the tights, skulls on the shoes. Oh yeah.)

Thoughts on today’s me-made garments: Loving the Beatrice dress! Although I do need to put some finishing touches to the inside of it, got some facing to tack down and a couple of button holes need a bit of going over by hand as my machine wasn’t liking the fabric. Must do that soon…. As for the bolero? No changes needed, I’m perfectly happy with this one. Although I don’t wear it often as I struggle to figure out what to wear it with…. This dress seems to work, I think?!? (Opinions, please? Dress and bolero combination – yes or no? I can’t decide – argh!)

14 May

Me-made Flip Side dress
Yellow cardigan – Glassons
Jacket from a clothes swap party
Sunglasses – Kate Sylvester
Grey tights – Columbine
Black boots – Dr Martens
Bag – gift from Karen in Canada (thanks, Karen! )
In the cup – amazing 75% dark hot chocolate. Mmmm!
(Thanks to Natalie for the photo and a lovely outing at lunch today.)

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment: Oh, if only this fabric were better than it was! I love the print, I love the style of this dress, I don’t love that the cotton is a looser weave than it should be and as a result doesn’t sit as well as it should. *sigh* As a direct result of that too, the pockets are a bit mis-aligned (despite my super-careful placing of them) and the invisible zip at the front is a bit puckered at one side on the end. Which I do intend to go back and fix, as well as tacking down the armhole facings more since the dratted things keep flipping out despite all the tacking that’s already in place at the seams. Oh well, it’s still pretty colours and it turns out it can be layered for autumn dressing, so I’ll keep on wearing it.

15 May

Me-made Patch skirt (unblogged as I made it about 12 years ago…!)
Heart cardigan – Glassons, from TradeMe
Nursing singlet – The Warehouse
Tights – Columbine
Shoes – “Stylish Lady” by Minx

Thoughts on today’s me-made garment: I can’t believe how long this has been in my wardrobe…! Even though I hardly ever wear it, somehow it escapes all the wardrobe culls. It’s the Skirt That Would Not Die! Note to self: must wear this more often.

The “Anne” Blouse

Guess what? I finally made something! OMG!!! Yes folks, it’s been a while. Far, far too long. Over a month. And not for lack of inspiration or desire to create. Nope, I’ve got lots of plans, lots of patterns, lots of fabric. Just not a lot of time. But hey, my new rule – 5 minutes sewing a day. Eventually, things get completed. Eventually.

So here it is – my first creation for the WSBN Burda Sew-along – the ‘Anne’ blouse!

Which also happens to be my first-ever creation from a Burda magazine. Yes, when I unfolded the pattern sheet, I got scared. And when I looked at the (pathetic) instructions, I got even more scared. But I pulled on my big-girl pants, stepped up to the tracing challenge, and you know what? It really wasn’t that hard! Not hard at all, in fact. (Once I discovered that the numbers down the bottom of the sheet show you where to look for each correlating pattern piece, so you don’t have to sift through all the text on the pattern sheet trying to spot pattern piece number 8 and so on. Wish I’d discovered that a bit earlier on in the tracing journey, but hey, now I know for next time.)

In fact, it was so not-hard, I’ve already traced out my next pattern to make up. And have plans for more. (Seriously folks, if you’ve been putting off sewing from a Burda magazine for fear of the tracing, fear not. It’s no where near as hard as it looks. Go on – get brave and give it a go!)

So, this blouse, It’s pattern number #122 from the October 2012 edition of Burda Style. And here’s where I’d like to give a big thank-you to Anne, who sent me this magazine as part of a swap we did. Thanks Anne!

I choose this blouse because of the yoke – it’s rather interesting. I found it hard to tell from the image (and even harder to tell from the instructions) but the yoke is hanging free on two sides, and stitched in to the shoulder and sleeve seams on the other two. It’s also not quite the same shape/size as the neckline, so you have a subtle double-layer effect where they overlap. (I had to go hunting for made-up versions of this over on Burdastyle to be sure about this, the instructions were that poor.)

There are darts in front and back for shaping, and with no collar either it’s a very easy blouse to make up. (It still took me a good week-and-a-half to make, but hey, like I said earlier, 5 minutes sewing a day will get you there. Eventually.)

The original design is about 6-7 inches longer – I shortened it so I can wear it out over skirts. I also shortened the sleeves, simply because I didn’t have enough fabric for long sleeves. (*cough* design decision *cough*) Now here is where things got a bit frustrating – I made this up in the right size for my measurements. And it was far too big. (Except across the shoulders, where it fits fine.) I’m wondering if this is because I’m used to sewing with vintage patterns, and modern patterns have far more ease? Those of you who sew from Burda magazines – do you find they have far more ease than you need? Or is it perhaps just this one pattern?

(Now I look at the picture again, it does seem to be intentionally a bit loose. Hmmm…. Should look more closely at that next time.)

Anyway, I took it in by over an inch on each side seam at the waist, tapering up to the sleeves and down to the hem. I think it’s still a bit loose, but I’m not 100% sure – it feels loose, but my Other Half is of the opinion that it fits fine. I’d like a second opinion here folks – should I take it in a bit more, or leave it as it is? Be honest here!

I made a couple of changes in the construction methods as well. When it comes to the free-hanging yoke, the instructions don’t ask you to sew up the section that lies next to the neckline. Instead, you’re just meant to turn the seam allowance under and leave it. Um, what? I ignored that. Rather, I folded the yoke pieces in half, right sides together, stitched up that seam, turned them out the right way again, and then went back to following the instructions. Nice and neatly stitched together, and no visible stitching. Easy as.

I also choose to use domes instead of buttons. Because sewing with a hammer is fun. And I get to feel like Superman when I get changed at night. The fun in feeling like Superman at the end of the day cannot be underestimated. I urge you all to sew with hammers, make a top that does up with domes, and give it a try. Seriously, go and do it!

So, there we have it. The Anne blouse. My first ever Burda magazine creation. I’m rather pleased with it, even if I’m not yet convinced by the fit. And on that note, excuse me – I’m off to trace another pattern. Happy sewing, folks!

Roundin’ up the Burda Sew-along progress….

The WSBN Burda Sew-along is in full swing! There are pins popping up with inspirations and creations over on the Pinterest board, and blog posts appearing around the place too. It’s so exciting seeing what everyone is planning and making for this challenge!

I’ve just finished my first creation for the challenge – there’ll be a post up about that later this week once photos are sorted out. But in the meantime, here’s the first of the challenge round-ups…. (click on the images to go to the original blog posts)

Flossie FT – the boat top

Flossie FT’s boat top – check out that fabric, so adorable with it’s little anchors everywhere!

Every Stitch I Make – Project 20

Every Stitch I Make has made a pretty, flowey, drapey knit fabric top in a lovely shade of red.

Woodland Rabbit – Burda Style 4-2013-121

Woodland Rabbit created this pretty summer dress, made from a vintage bed sheet, using Burda Style 04/2013, pattern #121.

kbenco’s projects – Burda Style 03-2013-151 tshirts

kbenco has been busy, making three variations of the Burda Style 03/2013 #151 boys tshirt. (Check out the cyclist on the raglan sleeve – love it!)

Woodland Rabbit – Burda Style 9-2011-128

Woodland Rabbit’s on a roll! She’s also made a lovely shirt using pattern #128 from Burda Style 09/2011.

Sewing For Me – purple tunic

Sewing For Me made a lovely purple tunic using pattern #137 from Burda edition 03/2011.

Gotten all inspired by the creations and want to make up a Burda pattern yourself? These may help…

Every Stitch I Make – Tracing a Burda pattern

Every Stitch I Make put together a helpful post on how she traces and stores her Burda patterns.

The Curious Kiwi – unraveling Burda “instructions”

The Curious Kiwi wrote a great post on how to translate the “instructions” that come with Burda magazine.

Me-Made-May ’13 – part 2

The second group of five-days-of-Me-Made-May ’13….

6 May

Me-made Gingham-To-Go shirt
Horses cardigan from Max
Navy belt – vintage, from a thrift shop
Herringbone wool skirt from WORLD
Purple footless tights with print down side, from a clothes swap party
Knee-high boots – Dr Martens

Thoughts on today’s me-made garment: this shirt has had one heck of a lot of wearing since I made it! The pattern instructions were a bit lacking, and as a result I messed up the notched collar in a non-fixable way, which means it a) isn’t really notched, and b) doesn’t sit open like it should. But despite that (unchangeable) mistake, this shirt is a win. I’ve already made it a second time, and I’m gonna be making it again with longer sleeves in the future.

7 May

Me-made All Buttoned Up dress (first time I’ve been able to fit into this since I was about 12 weeks pregnant! Yay! So excited, I love this dress. )
Made-by-my-mother cardigan, knitted from a 1940s pattern
Yellow tights from Glassons
Shoes by Poetic License

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment: I love this dress. Ain’t nothin’ that needs changing here! Must make this pattern again….. Soon! (Hmmm. I seem to be saying that about a lot of patterns….)

8 May

Me-made Journey dress
Made-by-my-mother knitted purple wrap cardigan
Dark grey tights, probably Columbine
Dr Marten black knee-high boots

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment: this will be the last time I wear this dress for a while. It’s a maternity dress, which has hooks and eyes at the front waist to expand as a belly grows. But now, it’s just too big for me. Oh well! Two things I’m going to change before I put it into storage though – stitching down the interfacing at the neck (why oh why do they never stay flat?!?!), and reattaching the hooks at the waist – I put them on the wrong way around, with the hook part curving outwards, and as a result they tend to catch on knit tops.

9 May

Me-Made-May ’13 outfit. 1970s me-made skirt.

Me-made 70s Lounge skirt
Purple wrap cardigan from Episode
Black nursing singled from The Warehouse
Purple tights, either Columbine or Glassons
Black heels from Ziera

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment: first time I’ve been able to wear this for ages – yay! (It’s exciting finding I can fit into a couple of things again – thanks Me Made May for making me reach to the depths of my wardrobe in desperation!) I like this skirt, the only thing I’d alter is the hem – I did a machine hem, and I’m tempted (although not yet convinced I can be bothered) to go back and do a hand-stitched invisible hem instead…..

10 May

Me-made Johanna shirt
Blue cardigan from Glassons
Black skirt from Juli Hunter
Black ultra-hi Converse sneakers

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment: this shirt is all good. Good length, good fit, and it has snap fasteners instead of buttons – gotta love that. Must get around to tacking down the facing on the inside, though….

And there we have it – another five days of Me-Made-May ’13, along with a bunch more things added to my to-do list! How’s your Me-Made wearing going? Learnt anything about your self-made wardrobe yet?? (Go on, tell me! I’m curious!!)

Photo A Day

The next week-and-a-bit (trying to catch up on posting!) in the April Photo A Day challenge:

8 April – On your plate

A few of my vintage Crown Lynn plates. I do love me some Crown Lynn. One day I’d love to own a full set of the ‘Fiesta’ design, with it’s cross-hatch and candy-coloured polka dots….

9 April – Tiny

Teeny tiny bottle of nail strengthener, from the gift bag at the Andrea Moore/Millicent fashion show.

10 April – A place

Memorial half-way around the Basin Reserve cricket ground. I walk around the Basin Reserve on my way home from work almost every day and see this memorial from the other side of the cricket grounds.

11 April – Detail

Detail of a gate I see on my walk home most days. I love this gate, it’s full of curves and points and is asymmetric and makes me smile with it’s pretty and it’s randomness.

12 April – In the middle

Big ads for current exhibitions, hanging in the middle of spaces in the wall at Te Papa museum.

13 April – View from your bed

Generally the first thing I look at every day (or, more accurately, grope blindly about on) – the top of my bedside chest of drawers. On here lives my bedside lamp, lip balm, a teddy bear I’ve had since I was about 16, the baby monitor and my cellphone (which also doubles as my alarm clock, hence the groping-around-blindly first thing in the morning. Either the cellphone alarm or the baby monitor wake me up.) True confession: a lot of dust also lives on here.

14 April – Water

Just for the heck of it, a little rubber ducky floating in a glass of water outside, at night, on bricks damp from rain.

15 April – Alone

Bridge on the waterfront. There’s a lot of padlocks attached to the bridge side nearest the water, they’re called ‘love locks’ and are meant to represent the longevity of the lovers who attach them. This one is all alone on it’s section of railing, apart from the rest of the group.

16 April – Your favourite colour

Bright orange, always happy and cheerful, makes me smile. These were a gift from my partner, presented to me when he got home today and now making the kitchen windowsill a happier place.

Me-Made-May ’13 – part 1

Hello everyone! It’s time for Me-Made-May ’13!

My pledge for this year was to wear every item of me-made clothing I have that a) fits me, and b) fits my current lifestyle (i.e. baby-friendly) during the course of May. I’ve also decided that I’m going to critique every me-made garment I wear, and improve anything that bugs me even a little bit about it. Your thoughts and opinions on this would be most appreciated, as I try to make my me-made wardrobe better than it was at the start of the month! If I’m feeling brave, I’ll do a little wrap-up post at the end of the month, and review how many of those changes/improvements I’ve done during May.

Since I’ll be writing a bit more about each garment, I’m planning on doing Me-Made-May posts every five days. (Or that’s the plan, anyway!)

So, here goes….

1 May

Me-made Martha dress
Glassons cardigan (from a clothes swap)
Columbine grey tights
Dr Marten grey heels (with skulls and roses embossed on the toes!)

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment – the waistline is too high, and I’m considering unpicking the bodice from the skirt and adding a strip of fabric between them to lower the waist by 1.5″. What do you all think – should I use a strip of the same fabric, or a contrasting one??

2 May

Me-made Backing Black cardigan
Made-by-my-mother wool jacket/cardigan
Warehouse nursing singlet
Illicit jeans (I didn’t realise how faded they are until I saw this photo! I’ve been wearing these for about 10 years now – yikes!!)
Adidas sneakers

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment – I can’t think of anything to improve about this one, actually! Next time, I’d add a bit more ease around the base to allow for the ric-rac removing the ease that’s in the fabric, but otherwise, I’m pretty happy with it. Not sure why I haven’t worn it for a few months, I think it’s time it saw the light of day once more!

3 May

Me-made Melissa dress
Max horse print cardigan
Vintage navy belt (from a thrift shop)
Columbine grey tights
Vintage pink slip (from a thrift shop, and I swear it wasn’t peeking out for most of the day!)
Blue shoes, I forget which brand/shop, purchased in Napier a while back
And a mug of warm tea on a cold and windy night!

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment – I love this dress! And I’m thinking about making this pattern again very soon, in the long-sleeved version for winter. I am going to add a snap fastener at the waist though, as the fabric gapes a little when there’s no belt worn with it. (The pattern calls for a self-made belt to keep it closed at the waist.)

4 May

Me-made Carrera dress
Made-by-my-mother knitted wrap cardigan
Nursing singlet from The Warehouse
Purple tights, printed down one side (from a clothes swap party)
Converse ultra-high top sneakers

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garment – I’m actually pretty happy with this dress, nothing I’d change about it (well, not in this version, anyway! If I made it again, I might pinch out a little bit of the sides of the neckline to allow for stretch due to nursing a baby, but a large part of that is the property of this fabric, so maybe I wouldn’t even bother changing that….). No changes needed – yay!

5 May

Me-made Zoo Team shirt
Me-made Hungry Cat-erpillar skirt
Converse black-and-red plaid sneakers

Thoughts on today’s Me-Made garments: Firstly, the skirt. I love this skirt. I’m considering making another one in blue with fish swimming in shapes around the base. Not much more to say about that, really! Now, the shirt. I think this is starting to get a bit too loose around the waist, but I’ll give it another month before I take it in. (The last of the baby weight is slooowly but surely coming off! I think…?!?) There is one small change I do want to make though – the collar isn’t sitting quite flat where it joins the front at the notch (does that make any sense?), so I’m going to go back and trim the seam allowance to see if I can take out some of the bulk that’s stopping it from being as smooth as it should be. A nice, easy adjustment, I hope!

There we go – the first five days of Me-Made-May ’13! I’m quite enjoying taking a critical view of my me-made garments and putting them aside to adjust. You see, I’ve been changing from a do-it-fast to a do-it-better sewasauraus rex, so I’m looking at things a bit more critically. I figure this is a good thing. (And mainly inspired by all of you other lovely people out there, who show off what you make and as a result are inspiring me to get better with my own creations! Thank you all – you’re a wonderful source of knowledge/inspiration/entertainment. )

Burdas, Burdas everywhere

I’m surrounded by Burda magazines! They’re scattered in every direction, scattered to the four winds.

By which I mean – I have a grand total of four Burda magazines.

Yes, that’s right. Only four. And three of those I’ve acquired this year. What can I say? I’m a bit late to the discovering-the-awesomeness-that-is-Burda-magazines game. But I’m here now, and I have every intention of adding to my meager Burda collection, yes indeed!

But in the meantime, wanna play show-and-tell with Burdas? Here are mine:

First up, my Very First Burda. All the way from April 2005. I picked this one up for the grand total of 20c at the annual library sale of withdrawn books a couple of years ago and have been meaning to try using a pattern from here ever since. The pattern I want to use changes, but the intention is still there.

Following on, in order of date-of-publication, is this one, from October 2012.

I acquired this one through the recent stash-swapping party, from the lovely Anne of Mercury Handmade Fashions. (I sent her some Fijian island print fabric in exchange, which she made into a cute skirt for one of her daughters – check it out over here.)

The next two came together from the lovely Claire of Sew, Incidentally. I was super lucky and won one of her second-blogging-birthday prizes, and these were part of the amazing package she sent me! (That I just realised I still haven’t blogged about. Oops! Sorry, Claire! I really must do that soon – the tailors ham she sent me is a Thing Of Beauty, and I’ve been learning how to use it properly so I can prove myself worthy of it.) They’re the January and February 2013 editions, so pretty and shiny and new (and now bookmarked, haha!):

My plan for the Burda Sew-along is to make one thing from each magazine during May.

Yes, that’s a lot. Especially since my sewing was very unproductive in April. But I’m determined to figure out this whole work-life balance thing, and having a sewing target will hopefully help me do that and carve out even just 15 minutes for myself each day! One must have self-time, after all, or one may go a bit bonkers. (Hmmm, might be too late for that, if that last sentence is any indicator….)

First up is #122, a blouse from the October 2012 edition.

It’s got rather interesting yoke details – they’re only attached at the shoulder seam and the sleeve, so the other two sides hang free. Took me ages to decide what fabric to make this one up in – the first three I decided on I didn’t have quite enough of, so I’ve settled on a brown floral. Of which there wasn’t enough to make long sleeves, so I’m doing a short-sleeved version. My first ever Burda pattern experience! So far, it’s going quite well, but I’ll tell you more about that another day.

How about you? If you’re joining in the sew-along, what pattern/s have you decided on? (And have you seen the Pinterest board for the sew-along? There are some pretty inspiration pictures and fabrics starting to appear on it! If you want to be added to the board so you can pin too, let me know your Pinterest name below and we’ll get you on it to join in the fun.)