Last month I made my pledge for Me-Made-May…
‘I, Margaret of thecraftycreek.com sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’16. I endeavour to wear one item of handmade clothing or accessory each day for the duration of May 2016′
Me-Made-May is organised by Zoe on So Zo…What Do You Know. The idea is to pledge to wear your handmade clothes (and accessories) as much as possible for the month of May, just as a way of encouraging us to wear more of the clothes we make. I did it last year and it was actually quite useful in identifying where the gaps in my wardrobe were. Hopefully this year it will be a bit easier, especially as spring has finally arrived!
I’ve decided to do a weekly post to let you know how I’m doing, rather than boring you with an outfit shot every day! Monday seemed a good day!
Me Made May
This first outfit was before spring decided to arrive, in fact the weather had reverted to winter with snow and hail!! The cardigan was one of the first knitted fabric items I made and it has been worn to death over the winter, just wish they made it in another colour! The wool skirt was from last year and it’s one of my winter staples.
What else do you wear to a sewing class, but a sewing shirt! I bought this fabric at the last Yorkshire Spoolettes meet in Dewsbury earlier this year. This was my first Archers pattern (from Grainline). The skirt is from last summer, a simple straight skirt pattern in a navy cotton twill.
You can tell the weather has changed!! I was really pleased with this outfit, I made the pansy waistcoat last year after my trip to Goldhawk Road, I liked it but I hardly wore it as I couldn’t find anything to go with it. The teal skirt is my first Fumeterre skirt by Deer & Doe, I love it, but again I struggled to find a top to go with it.Whilst I was packing the two happened to sit together and I thought ‘bingo!’
Another photo in the class room, this is a dark purple knitted skirt and cardigan, from the Butterick pattern I seemed to sew all winter. I lengthened the skirt (it was meant to be above knee) I love the length and the silhouette of this outfit but I didn’t count on the skirt riding up my legs!!! I tried underskirts, no difference, so before I set off for my trip to Denman I undid the side seams about 6″, so I’ve got small slits up each side. It does seem better. The shirt was my second time with an Archers Pattern, love it!
Yesterday it was Leeds Half Marathon, it was a baking hot day, luckily it wasn’t quite so hot in the morning when they were running. I made this top last year and it’s lovely and cool.
Here’s my daughter Helen with her medal, she doesn’t even have the decency to look like she has just run 13 miles, this was taken less than 5 minutes after she finished!…oh to be young again!!!
We’re over a fifth of the way through the 
There’s a lot of top-stitching on a satchel, so I bought some special top-stitching thread in a gentle contrast of pale pink, lesson learnt, next time (if there is a next time!) it will be matching thread, it seemed like a good idea at the time!! I’ve not sewn with top-stitching thread before, as it is so thick I decided to use a jeans needle that I’ve got in ready for my ginger jeans. My thought being that it’s strong enough for multiple thick fabrics and also used for top-stitching jeans. My machine thought otherwise! It was fine edging the basic pieces, but when it came to the first test of stitching the pocket gusset to the pocket it just flatly refused to play ball, threw it’s teddy out, made awful noises and sent messages on the computer saying STOP! The needle jammed in so much that I had to unscrew it, take the foot off and pull it out with forceps!!
The satchel went together fairly quickly, I cut it out Monday night and if I didn’t have prior appointments I could have stitched it all yesterday.The outer fabrics are all interlined with iron-on woven interfacing, it is stitched to the lining and then turned. What makes it stiff is double sided extra-stiff pellon, it’s weird stuff, feels funny, but it works! It’s cut out 2cm smaller than the pattern so it can be rolled up, slipped through the turning gap and positioned about 6mm-ish away from the seam.After lots of hot iron and steam it adhere’s to both sides, giving it the body it needs.
I bought lots of plants but even at a flower show, I managed to buy some fabric!!! One of the stalls was selling oilskin type fabric for making wipe-able tablecloths etc. I spotted this gorgeous one that is like a carpet of woodland flowers, primroses, violets…it was just asking to be made into a cloth for our conservatory and even better it was only £5 per metre, I bought 2m as I thought that would be generous enough for our table. Our dining room table is in the conservatory and we eat every meal there, it’s a great solid oak refectory table, perfect size, but it is looking decidedly well used! One day I’d like to get it stripped down and re-polished, but for now a pretty cloth will suffice!
I ‘m still busy organising my new sewing room and making it my own space. Years ago (probably about 20!!) I bought a wooden storage unit at Ikea, i used it for general craft stuff for years but since my reorganisation it is my haberdash drawers. I’ve got a drawer for bindings and trimmings, one each for elastic, ribbon, zips and lace, in fact lace has got two drawers!!
thecraftycreek 