It’s July

June, and me-made-June, is now over and I made it through the entire month wearing at least on homemade garment each day. Yay, I’m proud of myself! I’ve really learnt a lot, my most important lessons are here, and here are my last two outfits.

Day 29

Skirt – Another Belle
RTW top

I feel this outfit is perhaps a little too casual for the office, but I had no important meetings tody. I really like the pink/white combination so I felt great in this outfit.

Dress – The Wedding (Guest) Dress
RTW Cardigan

I did an unworn dress (unworn of June) for the last day. I really like the bottom part of this dress, the bodice is nice but not very practical. It’s a boat neck and since I didn’t feel like flaunting my bra straps I wore the cardi all day. Perhaps the bottom part could be part of a Frankenpattern (I just learnt that word!), but I’m not sure I still have it. I could probably copy it off the dress, though.

Next me-made challenge will be Self-Stitched September. I’m not sure if I have enough clothes to last me the whole month, but perhaps I should get fall sewing underway!

Advertisement

Today I’m in RTW clothes

Me-made June is over and I made it! For every day of June I have worn at least one homemade item. I’m proud of myself! This was my first me-made challenge and I’ve learnt a lot.

· More solids and neutrals
While I do have a lot of me-made clothing, I don’t have many outfits. I need to make clothes in more neutral fabrics and more solids to make them easier to match. This also goes for my RTW wardrobe. Prints are fun, but they shouldn’t be in the majority since they are hard to match.

· More everyday clothes
We don’t have a very formal dress code at my office, but still I want my clothes to be appropriate, but still me. I need to incorporate those two elements into my work.

· Use better fabrics
The better quality fabrics may come more expensive, but they are easier to work with and the clothes look more polished when they are finished. At least for the clothes that will be wardrobe staples I will use high quality fabrics instead of just going by price. For more trend pieces, a simpler fabric may be used. Also natural fabrics are preferable to artificial.

· SWAPing
I need to make clothes I can wear together, make outfits rather than individual pieces of clothing. I might not make a full plan and stick with it, but the new things need to go with the old.

· More separates
Another part in building a wardrobe. Making separates will allow me to make more outfits. One dress is one outfit with only accessories changing. A top or skirt can be part of many outfits.

· Pockets

A simple point as I many times would have wished a pocket. Just big enough to hold the bus pass or the keys. If the model allows it, I might add more pockets to designs.

· Dare!
The most important thing I’ve learnt is to dare. Dare to try new techniques, dare to wear my cloths, dare to look good. Dare to be me and don’t worry what others will think.

To sum up: Make pretty clothes that coordinate and are wearable, then dare to wear them!

Guess what? More Me-Made-June!

I’m falling behind on everything. New projects, posting about me-made-June, posting about anything else. Anyhoo, here’s what I’ve been wearing.

Day 23
Wrap on Top bolero
RTW t-shirt and pants

This bolero is a good enough project, it’s not perfect but it works. Nothing more, nothing less.

Midsummer weekend
Oldie, but goody top
RTW pants
Trampoline

Over the weekend I was not very creative in dressing. This is what I wore the entire weekend. For Friday it was clean, on Saturday we did fondue and you don’t want to wear clean clothes for that and on Sunday you didn’t want to put on clean clothes. So one outfit for the entire weekend.

Day 26
Flouncing sleeves top
Exposed Zipper Skirt

A complete me-made outfit. This outfit made me realise that solid neutrals make good outfits and they’re easy to match. I see more neutrals and solids in my future.

Day 28
Midnight Sun skirt
Blouse – Banana Republic Outlet

A repeat skirt. Making this type of outfit as I did for the Midnight sun outfit and also my “Dress” is great as you get three looks; the skirt, the top and the dress. As I see this pic and as I saw myself in the bathroom mirror at work, this blouse would work even better with a belt. Perhaps next time I’ll wear it I won’t be sleep deprived.

And Me-Made-June goes on

I’m not very good with keeping up with my me-made-June posts, but here comes another badge of outfits.

Day 16
Blouse – The Azalea that Wasn’t
Pants- H&M

I really like this blouse, the neckline, the sleeves. I feel comfortable in it and I think it’s totally work appropriate. Picture taken in my office.

Day 17Midnight Sun top and skirt

I did vow to wear the top and skirt together and I did! I feared it was a little too much, but wearing it I made it my own and I didn’t feel overdressed. I can wear pretty things if I want to.

Day 18-19

National Day Shorts
White tee

Just chillin’ at home in some me-made shorts. The weekend consisted of running, playing with the kid, sewing and grocery shopping. This is what I look like then.

Day 20

Not a Maddy blouse
Cardi – Target
Jeans

The fit on this blouse isn’t perfect, but under a cardi it works fine. It’s an interesting blouse and I wish the fit was better. A third attempt perhaps?

Day 21Just Floral Top
Cardi – H&M
Jeans (as a side note, I bought new pants today, so perhaps this jeans overload will end)

My first repeat garment, the top. I matched with a lower cut cardigan this day to show off the neckline which was lost last time.

Day 22

The Indian Shirt
Exclusive Skirt (just finished, not yet blogged)
Obi belt – Le Chateau
Tank – H&M

I really like this outfit! I like the contrast of the soft colours with the black belt. Also the contrast of flowy on top and straight on the bottom.

There you go, a few more days. Now it’s midsummer time, celebrating of the solstice, and we’re going away all weekend. In me-made clothes.

Halfway into Me-Made-June

Day 10

Me-Made Sweater, Mother’s Day Sweater (not blogged)

The task of the week was to take a transportation picture so I took one in the car (not while driving). The me-made element is a very simple sweater over a GAP tank and jeans. Not the most inspiring outfit, but still good enough.

Day 11

Me-made dress, The Dissertation Party Dress

I was attending my cousin’s wedding and the dress code was semi-formal. At first I had planned on wearing a lovely RTW dress, but the day before the wedding I had a dream about this dress and decided to wear it instead. I’m glad I chose this dress, because not many opportunities arises to wear a dress like this. And imagine, my first sewing project in my sewing revival  was a silk dress with chiffon sleeves! Apparantly I was fearless back then.

Day 12

Me-made dress, Elusive Plaid dress (not yet blogged)

I chose this rather new maxi dress as my travel dress (we flew to the location of the wedding). It is so comfortable and I like the feeling of maxi dresses (even though this is my only one). What can I say, I love this dress!

Day 12

Me-made dress, The Envy dress (also un-blogged, I’m falling behind)

This dress is a simple jersey dress. The fit is not perfect, but I suspect that would be easily fixed. I bought a new backpack over the weekend and felt very school girl in it, so I took the picture at my old high school.

Day 14

Me-made top, Flouncing Sleeves top

Wearing the same pattern two days in a row, but two very different clothes. The dress from yesterday is from the same pattern. I made this top after the dress, so the fit is better on the top than the dress.

Day 15

Me-made blouse and skirt, Three-Year Blouse and Exposed Zipper skirt

I did a complete me-made outfit today. It’s an OK outfit, but there are many minor mistakes with both pieces that annoy me. One thing I do like is the lace detail around the neckline.

Halfway into me-made June I’m starting to learn what I’m missing, what I need to think of for future projects. It’s quite a learning experience!

Me-Made-June days 7-9

Day 6 I wore nothing me-made. I made a pair of shorts for those next lounging at home days.

Day 7
Shirt – The Indian Shirt
Skirt – The Orangery Skirt
Tank – H&M
Bag – Bijou Brigitte

First day back to work and I chose an entire me-made outfit (I don’t count the tank as I see it more as underwear). The shirt, however, doesn’t really show off its best in this picture. Can I blame the rain?

Day 8
Dress – Pretty in Pink Dress

Still warm and a dress is a simple way to keep from having to put together an outfit. This is still one of my favourite me-made dresses, I really like the silhouette.

Day 9
Top – Just Floral Top

Kind of an un-inspired outfit. I couldn’t wear the top as it is so I paired it with a cropped cardigan. An in-between day for me.

Me-Made-June continues

Five days into me-made-June and here’s what I wore for days 2, 3, 4 and 5.

June 2

We spent the day at the race tracks (nope, no wins for me) and I wore my Celeste dress (never blogged). The fabric is light blue with white polka dots, so I wore it with white shoes and a bow in my hair and felt very put together.

June 3

The day was spent at home cleaning and baking in preparations of my son’s first birthday. I wore an H&M tank and my Lovely in Lavender shorts. Oh, and it was decided in the MMJ Flickr group that we should spin in our photos today. I am spinning, it’s just that a pair of shorts don’t give you a good effect by it.

June 4 – a.k.a. My son’s birthday

For the birthday party I wore my Floral and Coral dress. I paired it with a belt from DressBarn (originally paired with a shirt).

June 5

With incredibly hot weather here I’m dressing very casual and tourist-y. After some day-after cleaning we took a walk in the nearby forest; I wore my Ma Belle-skirt, an H&M tank, a C&A sunhat and Mizuno running shoes.

Me-Made June is here!

The time is finally here, the very first day of my very first me-made Challenge. Today was just a home day, the little guy had his one year checkup with the nurse and he got some shots. So, what did I wear?

Top: Oldie, but Goodie top
Pants: Target
Shoes: Aerosoles via Marshall’s

A perfect leisure outfit. I wouldn’t wear this to work, but for just visiting the nurse in early summer weather it’s perfect.

I’m Challenging Myself

One year ago I was very much pregnant (due May 30th), having stopped worked and read many blogs. A lot of sewing bloggers participated in Me-Made-May, hosted by Zoe. I really liked the idea and wanted to be in at one point. Up came Self-Stichted-September and I was breast-feeding at the time, which limited my closet. When Me-Made-March rolled around this year I had stopped breast-feeding, but it was very sudden and unexpected so I was not prepared at all.

But now, for Me-Made-June I’m in! A lot of the clothes I’ve recently made were for summer so I think it’ll be no problem dressing in my clothes for June. I go back to work on June 7, so my work wardrobe will be home-made.

I have also left summer clothes thinking behind (in May, yep) and begun pondering what to make for fall (when I must juggle work, seeing the baby in off hours and doing my own things), I have some ideas.

My pledge:
I, Helena of https://eitchy.wordpress.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-June ’11. I endeavour to wear (at least) one handmade garment each day for the duration of June 2011

In other news this cute squirrel pincushion will soon grace my sewing table (given that I was not too late claiming my win and that The Sew Weekly accepts overseas winners). For April The Sew Weekly hosted a pincushion giveaway and I was one of the lucky winners!