“Bows” wardrobe challenge and Me Made June days 16-22

With some crazy busy times at work, and my mother visiting from Dunedin for a few days, I’m a bit behind in my blogging. So here’s a full week of Me Made June outfit posts, with the latest Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge thrown in as well.

16 June

Me-Made items:

• Black-and-white tartan skirt
• Plum merino tshirt
• Black merino cardigan

Yay, a full me-made day today!

Where I wore it:
To work and home again.

My thoughts on this outfit:
It’s kinda a comfy type of outfit – the tartan fabric in the skirt is heavy and soft and has quite a bit of stretch, so the whole outfit is just warm and snuggly. Good for cold winter days!

17 June

Me-Made items:

• Black merino cardigan
• Unrequited Love dress with self-fabric belt

Gaps in my me-made wardrobe:

• Warm singlet top for under the dress
• Winter jacket (although I’m part-way through sewing one
• Long scarf (although I have been wearing either the one my friend Christina made or one I knitted myself most days this June)

Wear I wore it:
To work (do you sense a theme here yet?!). And then to the airport to pick up my mother when she arrived from Dunedin. The plane was delayed due to the ash cloud that’s been hanging around from the volcano in Chile, so this outfit got to hang around Wellington airport for a while, just chill-axing.

My thoughts on this outfit:
Kimono sleeved dresses in heavy-ish fabrics don’t go well under cardigans with narrow sleeves. So so much effort to get the sleeves over nicely. *sigh*

18 June

Me-Made items:

• Long woolen scarf

Made-by-friends-and-family items:

• Long handknitted charcoal cardigan made by my lovely mother

Gaps in my me-made wardrobe:

• Jeans (I just wanted a jeans day. So I did it.)
• Long purple merino top

Where I wore it:
Out to the Dowse art gallery with my mother, where we saw some cool (although rather small) exhibitions on teapots, recent NZ furniture designs (most of which I wanted to take home with me, so awesome!), and an exhibition on no-waste fashion (various designers from around the world who use different pattern laying and cutting techniques to use every single bit of the fabric). We also went to lunch at Cadillac, a 1950’s style American diner out in Lower Hutt, which my mother loved as they had formica tables, old record covers, and big books of bound newspapers from the 1960’s. (Shame about the food, though. But the venue was lots of fun to look at !) And then hanging out at home with my mother in the evening at our house, knitting and watching a DVD.

My thoughts on this outfit:
I know that those fitted merino tops over jeans don’t suit me. But I was really tired from work last week, and just having a down day and not at all in the mood for my usual dresses. (It doesn’t happen often, but yes, sometimes I’m just in that sort of mood!)

19 June

I forgot to take a photo today! But I can tell you that I wore my me-made rust coloured skirt with gold ribbons that I wore last weekend, and my me-made black merino cardigan. And a black merino top under it, which is a definite gap in my me-made wardrobe.

Mum and I walked into town (in the rain – we are strong brave Southern women, and a little bit of wintery rain won’t stop us, no way!) and met my friend Steph and her three lovely children for yum cha. Then mum and I went wandering, and found a super-awesome Trelise Cooper clearance sale, where mum convinced me to let her buy me a couple of things. New Years resolution of no new clothes officially broken. I’m still suffering from pangs of guilt, argh!!!

20 June

Me-Made items:

• Black merino cardigan (yep, I admit it – this is a wardrobe staple all year round!)

Gaps in my me-made wardrobe:

• Black dress trousers for work
• White shirt for work

Where I wore it:
To work. Only a bit different today – my colleague Steph and I were out in one of the PostShops doing some customer experience benchmarking research, so aside from a super-quick trip into the office this morning to send an email I was hanging out in the PostShop with customers all day. Hence the black trousers and white shirt.

My thoughts on this outfit:
I just don’t feel comfortable in this type of trousers and shirt combination. Dresses and skirts are so my natural things to wear! Maybe that will change when I finally get around to making some 1940’s style black trousers…. We’ll see.

21 June

Me-Made items:

• Imitation is Flattery skirt
• Sleepy Secretary blouse
• Black merino cardigan (not worn in photo, but you’ve seen it a lot by now

Where I wore it:
To work. (Exciting, right?!)

My thoughts on this outfit:
I like it! I’d forgotten I had this skirt and that it sits at the natural waist, so it goes well with this blouse. Yay, the first outing for my pillow case blouse! 🙂

Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge – bows!

And now, on to 22 June and the latest Wednesday Wardrobe Challenge – bows!

I struggled a bit with this challenge. When combined with the Me Made June challenge, it turns out I don’t really have anything with bows. (I’m not really a bow sort of girl anyway, it must be admitted.) So here’s what I pulled together for it:

Me-Made items:

• Guys and Dolls top
• Imitation is Flattery skirt

Bows:

• Bows printed up the front of knee-high socks (bought over in Tokyo last year – this is the first time I’ve worn them)
• Obi belt made by my lovely friend Nat, tied in a bow at the back

I’ve decided these socks just aren’t me – I’ve had them in my wardrobe for a year now and not worn them, and I felt a bit uncomfortable in them all day. My friend Nat loved them, so they will soon belong to her. 🙂

I met my friends Nat and Trees for lunch today so we could take wardrobe challenge pics. Nat gave us these ultra-cute little Hello Kitty figurines she picked up when she was in Hong Kong recently.

Aren’t they adorable? Trees has the red one with the suitcase, and I’ve got the pink-and-green one holding what various people have described as an air traffic controller bat, a frying pan, and a mirror. Who knows what it’s really meant to be, it’s cute either way.

Want to join us for the next Sew Weekly challenge? The theme is ‘item you’ve had the longest’.