Nautical Jersey Dress

Yes, I admit it. I have run out of names for my nautical inspired creations. However I have not run out of inspiration for more nautical garments, so that's fine. I made this dress a few weeks ago, before a weekend away in Madrid. Madrid can get HOT and I realised I had nowt to wear during such temperatures that was pregnancy-friendly so a quick project sewing project was required. (Check out the pic above, that's a portrait of my grandmother painted by my grandfather in the 60's. She doesn't look that into my creation does she?!) 

So first we need to talk about the epic fabric. I'm insanely lucky to be able to say that it was a gift from the phenomenally lovely Winnie from Scruffy Badger Time. She is such a sweetie. It's a really lovely drapey jersey with a large elastane content, making it super comfy to wear. I still have sufficient fabric left to make an adult's top or a couple of toddler/child garments, whichever I get round to first. 

The pattern is yet another interpretation of my own batwing top pattern. Following on the success of a T-shirt version of this originally long-sleeved design that made for my best mate, I then simply extended the pattern down into an A-line dress shape. The sleeve bands/cuffs are made from a contrast scrap of navy and white striped jersey of a similar weight left over from my maternity stripes top. This dress was constructed using an overlocker for all seams, plus my usual machine with a three-strep zigzag stitch to hem it. This dress actually took longer to cut out than to construct, got to love that ratio when you're tight on time. 

Look! It's me and my mate Anna (who lives in Madrid) with our bumps! Jersey-based success! This may be the most comfortable garment I have ever made, and certainly the most comfortable maternity garment I own. I wore it two days straight in Madrid and it even saw a bit of use back in UK before the sun decided to piss off again and Summer was replaced with clouds and rain. I managed to get ice cream down the front though, which I see as a victory. 

If I had to split hairs and find a flaw with this creation, I'd say that I made the sleeve bands/cuffs a little too loose. If I could be arsed to unpick, recut and reattach them then the gathered effect of the sleeves would be a bit more apparent, however I can't so it is what it is. As with all successful and speedy creations, I'm now tempted ti make a whole heap more using any pieces of similar weight jersey in my stash. However the UK weather has shown that, due to the fact that I have literally only worn this once since returning from Madrid, making a pile more of these dresses would probably be a waste of fabric. Still, I am confident that it'll see post-pregnancy use too, possibly with a bit of skimming in at the side seams at some point (although maybe not!).

Refashion Friday: Maternity Belly Band

Ok so I must confess this wasn't what I intended to share with you today. What I planned to blog about was a phenomenally successful jeggings-to-maternity-jeggings refashion (akin to this) where I took an old pair of jeggings, cut away a scoop at the front, inserted some thick jersey with elastic casing around the top and ended up with a comfortable and fabulous pair of maternity jeggings. Except that didn't happen. The jeggings I chose to refashion were so old and dead that when I cut away the front scoop (to just under where the zip had been) it became evident just how paper-thin the fabric had become and how little life there was left in them to salvage.

I had started the aforementioned jeggings refashion by creating a ring of thick jersey with elastic encased at the top that I intended to 'drop in' to the cut away section of the jeggings. So when the original plan had to be ditched, I hemmed the jersey section and ended up with was a belly band instead. Not exactly a refashion (although you could refashion one from an old, thick, jersey T-shirt cut up with elastic encased in the top as I have read some people suggest) but it does extend the life of my jeans a while longer, so I'd argue a belly band just about has a place in Refashion Friday! 

To anyone who has been pregnant before, I'm sure you'll be intimately aware of The Belly Band, and their jeans-life-extending properties. I didn't think I needed one before this point, because I planned to go from my 'bigger' jeggings straight to some refashioned ones with stretchy jersey inserted here and there. However when my refashion failed I didn't have any other pairs I wished to sacrifice, and had tickets to the theatre that evening with nothing to wear on my bottom half (how comes a garment, my black treggings for example fit fine one week, then be totally too small the following week?! The magic of pregnancy...). So the belly band came into play allowing me to wear these second-hand jeggings a bit longer. So, for those who haven't been pregnant or had close-up experience of a belly band, what does one conceal? Look away if you are of a sensitive disposition..... 

It conceals a hot mess of elastic, buttons, gapes and baby belly! You are then free to wear a top that might not quite cover this whole mess of exposure. Or a top that would cover it but you might still feel you'd like a belly band for an extra bit of security round the area. A belly band has to be fairly tight for it to fulfil its function, so you kind of have a feeling of being hugged round your middle all the time you're wearing it (well I did anyhow) which can be a bit weird. 

I'm tempted to try another jeggings/jeans to maternity bottoms refashion, using one of the many how-to methods that can be found on the internets or by experimenting on my own. However, I don't want to sacrifice any of my other pairs because I want those pairs for when I'm 'on the other side' of all this maternity stuff. I could go charity shopping to source another starting point, but a friend has just given me a few pairs of her old shop-bought maternity jeans (I think she bought them second-hand so they're aiding at least their third pregnancy!) for long-term loan, so I'll try and get by with those instead. If I ever get preggers again in the future, I will have a better stab at refashioning jeggings/jeans into maternity wear, as I'd love to feel entirely maternity wear-self-sufficient! F*ck the man!!!

Jennavive's Liberty Awesomeness

I wanted to write a little post as a follow up to a recent giveaway I hosted alongside Sewbox.co.uk to celebrate the start of MMM'13. I think it's kind of a shame that once a giveaway's closing date has passed, and if you weren't lucky enough to have been a winner, that's often the last you hear of it, so I thought a little update was in order. If you entered the giveaway in question, you'll remember that Sewbox.co.uk were generously offering up two prizes: 1) a sewing pattern of your choice and, 2) 1 metre of fabric of your choice from their range. The winners were selected by random and sent their prizes. I'm really pleased to report that the winner of her choice of fabric, Jennavive, was awesome enough to send me a picture of the garment she made with her prize (see below)!

I didn't check every single entry link, but it seemed that all those who entered to win some fabric picked a Liberty print as their favourite. Liberty print seems to be like crack to sewers! Anyway, I have to say that, although not a huge fan of Liberty prints myself, I personally think Jennavive's choice was one of the nicest! 

Using a pattern that is close to my own heart (Newlook 6808), I think her blouse is so pretty and wearable, as well as being a fabulous use of a limited quantity of fabric. The solid coloured contrast collar is a touch of genius, and look at how neat the finish of this blouse is?! Phenom. Massive thanks to Jennavive for sending me the picture of her creation and for allowing me the pleasure of sharing it here on my blog, and of course to Sewbox.co.uk for providing the prizes.

If Modcloth did Maternity...

.... I think their offerings would look something like my new smock top! In fact I don't think this top would look at all out of place in Modcloth's Nautical style selection. I look at that damn website often enough, it was only a matter of time before their inspiration filtered down so directly into my creations.

This smock top is my second attempt at the Made by Rae Washi dress/tunic pattern. I'm still totally I love with my first version of this pattern, my African Wax fabric Washi dress, but sadly it didn't see many wears before my chest/bust expanded to deem it unwearable (thanks pregnancy hormones and increased oxygen requirements!). I'm sure it'll see more action in the future, post-birth and breast feeding, but I'm still currently lamenting its loss so I thought I'd have another whirl at the pattern.

I went back to the drawing board, printed out another copy and this time cut out the Large rather than the Medium size. I wanted to use this lovely piece of pique cotton with zigzag border print that I got from Claire at the Walthamstow swap and meet-up earlier in the year, but its limited quantity restricted my style options a little. For example, I had to make the tunic rather than dress version (which I was happy with), however any kind of sleeves were pretty much out of the question. As cool as the border print was going to be, I wanted to add some more interest so created a faux-button stand/placket with navy ricrac stitched down along the edges and some awesome vintage navy and white buttons that have been languishing in my stash for far too long. The only purchase I made for this make (aside from the pattern itself, of course) was the ricrac as I didn't have any navy in my stash. 

I've already worn this top once on the last day of MMM'13 when I went to Madrid for the weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that our current spell of sunshine lets me get more use from this top as it was a real joy to make, but I doubt will see any use post-maternity as it really is very 'smocky'! 

Refashion Friday: The Refashioners are BACK! Plus Men's Shirt to Maternity Top

A couple of months ago I let you in on the exciting fact that Miss P's 'The Refashioners' challenge was coming back to a computer near you. Well, now the sewing bloggers who she invited to take part have finished their homework and their creations are being put on display to inspire and delight on Miss P's blog all this week and next. There are ten participants in total, with some seasoned refashioners in the mix, and some who are newer to making garments from existing garments, and I'd really recommend you head over to check out their awesome transformations. 

I was one of the lucky bloggers to have been asked by Miss P to participate. My starting point was this nice stripy cotton men's work shirt which I turned into the maternity-friendly smock top you see pictured below. This top style doesn't have to be for maternity, the proportions can be tweaked to make a 'normal' garment just as easily. Head over to today's post on Miss P's blog if you'd like a step-by-step run through of how to create your own version!

Pinterest Your Heart Out: Pin It Forward UK

 

Hi peops. So along with a whole bunch of other UK-based bloggers (300 in total), I've been invited to be part of Pinterest's 'Pin It Forward' campaign. Their aim is to get more peops in the UK using Pinterest and are getting UK bloggers from a variety of interests to help them do this. I admit that basically I'm in love with using Pinterest for gathering and sharing visual inspiration, but I'm not a selfish lover (!) and I'm up for helping others who have yet to discover its joys so I agreed to get involved.

So for those who haven't figure it out yet, basically Pinterest is a website that you sign up to for free on which you can create pin-boards of things that interest you. You can gather 'pins' to put on your board from Pinterest itself (either by following other members whos's taste you appreciate or by using their search tool), from other places on the internet, or by uploading your own pictures.



I find it is really helpful to collate all my visual inspiration together on various Pinterest boards, rather than having all those images scattered in various image files, bookmarked links and so forth. It's helped me in obvious ways (like being more organised and able to trace the source of an image quickly, for example), and in more unexpected ones too (for example, like pinning lots of images of outfits I like then seeing them collated together and being able to analyse what trends come through).

One of my most beloved boards I've been carefully curating is my imaginatively-titled 'Refashioning Project Ideas' (there's a snippet of it pictured above). It's full of what I consider to be the coolest, loveliest, prettiest, quirkiest and most wearable refashioning/upcycling/remaking clothing and accessories projects I've come across.

If you haven't got involved yet and fancy a piece of the Pinterest-action, a quick and easy way for you to join up can be found here.

MMM'13: Days 28, 29, 30 & 31: THE END!!!

So here we go, the final instalment of MMM'13 challenge documentation plus my thoughts on this year's challenge. Normal service will be resumed shortly, you may be saddened or relieved to hear!

Day 28:

Me-mades:

Mariner T-shirt

Blue treggings

Vest (camisole/singlet)

Pants (knickers/undies)

Captain jacket

Also worn: second-hand cardi

Probs the last day I'll wear the Mariner T-shirt until after my pregnancy. I'm at risk of stretching it out and I love it too much to let that happen. 

Day 29:

Me-mades:

Leopard print batwing top

Black treggings

Vest (camisole/singlet)

Pants (knickers/undies)

Captain jacket (not in this pic)

Also worn: second-hand cardi

Day 30:

Me-mades:

Stripey T-shirt

Black treggings

Vest (camisole/singlet)

Pants (knickers/undies)

Captain jacket (not in this pic)

Also worn: second-hand hoodie

Day 31:

Me-mades:

New smock top! (Will blog about tho next week)

Blue treggings

Pants (knickers/undies)

Later on I'll probably wear my Captain jacket and a second-hand cardi

Wowzers! It's the final day. It feels pretty momentous. It's nice to have something new to wear for the final day of the challenge, plus I'm going through some mental pregnancy-related hot flush today so I'm actually not covering it up with a million extra layers like usual! 

Ah what can I say?! Another me-made month of challenge is over. As I mentioned in my pledging post, my life circumstances made this a special one without me needing to try and think up ways to amp my personal pledge myself. This was a really interesting month, clothing-wise. I started prepping for the month by removing all the garments that I could no longer wear to make getting dressed each quicker than it would have been if I had to sift through all my clothing. I also added a couple of extra pieces hot off the sewing machine as the month evolved, but far more pieces had to get removed by 31st May. Even my beloved treggings are getting close to the end of their useful life (until after the birth at least, when hopefully I can do the opposite of what I'm doing now: gradually tightening up the elastic rather than gradually letting it out!).

I've found it interesting, if a little alarming, to look back on my documentation pictures from this month and see all the garments and outfits I wore a matter of weeks ago that I can't wear now I'm at the end of it! I'd imagine if I were to do a Me-Made-June or July this year (which I'm not, although I will be wearing A LOT of me-made clothes in those months and beyond), my outfits would have to consist of almost entirely different items than those I wore in May.

But aside from the strange and magical expanding trick my body is pulling, I've been really pleased with this month. Personally, I think I've created a pleasing amount of variety within my outfits despite having less me-made items to work with than previous challenges. I'm also happy to report that, thanks to the advent of my me-made black and blue treggings, I only resorted to wearing mass-produced (though second-hand) jeggings once throughout the whole month, despite my pledge 'permitting' me to wear them up to three times a week. Guess I am more clothing-self-sufficient than I had anticipated!

And on a wider, community level, I couldn't be more excited about how many people got involved and challenged themselves this year! A truly stellar flickr group of about 6000 images of me-made awesomeness has been created from this year's challenge, and of course not everyone challenging themselves is part of that, so even more days-worth of me-made outfits occurred this month than you can see over there. Hopefully most of the participants have got something from this challenge, be that feeling more confident in their making skills or appearance, or maybe having learnt about what they prefer to wear so they can tailor (nice pun!) their future makes to filling the gaps that came to the surface this month. Hopefully next year's will see many of this year's participants coming back to amp things up, and fingers crossed we'll be joined by more new-comers up for seeing what it can do for them!

Til next time....