Me Made May 2015

As I said when I wrote my pledge on Zoe's blog, last year I couldn't document my MMM because I was working two jobs - for a few months I was a vet's assistant in addition to giving my usual lessons after office hours and at the weekend. It was a wonderful experience, I LOVE animals so I'd literally fly to work because I knew I'd be with them and the vet and I would do our best to help them!
Unfortunately the doctor is quite old and he has almost retired since the beginning of the year except for emergencies so for now I'm back to teaching only, sigh :(
Anyway, this year I swore I'd wear at least two me-made things everyday, garments and accessories, which shouldn't be too difficult because now my wardrobe is almost completely handmade except for bras and jeans!
So let's start with day 01:

Me-made knit top and cotton skirt from Burda mag patterns, self-drafted handbag and the super cute star earrings were made by my friend Vanessa!

 Day 02:

Self-drafted poplin top, denim shorts from a Japanese pattern, earrings and bracelet made by me :)

Day 03:

Me-made knit tee-shirt copied from an RTW top and cotton shorts from a Japanese pattern.

White and black

I'm happy I have pics of my black jersey crop top because seeing how often I wear it and wash it I'm afraid it's going to disintegrate soon^^

It's the same design from Female magazine but the fabric is much lighter and softer than the grey knit I used for the other one so it's super super comfortable. The only drawback was that my little Singer machine had a tendency to eat the fabric so I had to put strips of tracing paper under the foot and it worked! Also I couldn't finish the hem and neckline with my usual wide zigzag stitch because the fabric stretched too much so I folded it twice and used a narrow zigzag stitch instead.

As for the shorts they're already from last year! I found them in a Tendances Couture magazine which offers Simplicity patterns to French readers, I thought they looked quite retro with their high waist and flared legs and they didn't require much fabric so it was perfect to finish my beautiful broderie de Calais coupon :)

I lined the broderie pieces with white poplin, basted the two layers together and sewed everything as usual. There's an almost invisible zipper on the side and the waist is finished with a remnant of lilac bias.

I think the two garments work quite well together, the shorts are high enough that my belly won't show and the back curve of the top looks really cool IMO:

Black shorts of sobriety

Well there's not much to say regarding the style of my latest garment: it's a pair of basic black shorts but I'm so happy I made them because I know I'm going to wear them all the time! The denim version got worn to death, I actually had to handsew it back together the last time I travelled so obviously I needed new ones.
But the thing is there's a fly zipper and that's something I realllly dislike installing so I just pushed that project aside until a recent bout of sewing mojo where everything seemed possible^^. Also I had the perfect heavy twill in my stash and so voilà, my shorts:

 Worn with my favourite Uniqlo shirt, I WISH I could sew something that cool.

The instructions didn't say to sew the pleats down but I did on 2cm because the design is quite bouffant and I think this helped reduce the volume a little. Same thing with the loops, I added them because I love wearing belts:

And yes I'm living like a millionaire, using Liberty fabric for the pockets:

I think I may push my luck and sew another pair in striped or flowery cotton so that these ones get a little rest :)

Silly shorts I love thee

I finally cut into the adorably creepy fabric I had been hoarding since last year and I'm super happy I did because now I have awesome shorts! First let's have a closer look at said fabric:

 These ones remind me of some of my students^^

 If Dora underwent a little makeover...

 That guy on the left totally looks like my brother!

 Hey this is me!

It is some off-white medium-weight cotton sprinkled with cute and bizarre -but aren't we all- black and red characters that I found at Nomura and my only regret is that I didn't take the mint green version too, so as a meagre consolation I used bias tape in this colour to finish the legs :(
The pattern is this one except I used wide black elastic in lieu of a fabric belt so that I could skip the button and zipper on the side -I'm a little ashamed because I'm totally getting lazy with my sewing these days!

And of course how could I live without lilac hair all this time?!

Tropical outfit

I've just finished two garments which I'm very happy with, they're colourful, comfortable and cute!

I made another raglan sweatshirt, this time in coral knit fabric, it's the same Female pattern as the tiger one except I made a size M and it's still a little baggy because the fabric is so thin it stretches a lot. I'll take care of that by slightly reducing the hip band next time, I think it'll work!

Now for the bottom, I adapted a pattern from the Sweet Dress Book to get a pair of very gathered, almost skirt-like shorts. They close at the side with two buttons and a zipper and they're made with some fluo print cotton fabric.

I'm super sensitive to cold weather and it's still winter here but the day was so sunny I was able to wear the shorts without tights and the sweatshirt kept me warm enough :)

Me-Made-May 2013 week four recap

Well after seeing last week's blue fest I did try to wear other colours which led me to a little stash-busting, so thank you MMM^^
On 22nd I wore a dress that I made using a mix of the T and Y patterns from the first Stylish Dress Book and printed cotton bought at Nomura tailors in Kyoto with plain black cotton for the front yoke and side ties:

On 23rd a new dress from a Japanese pattern with a sweet 60's flair found in an NHK book using yellow cotton with tiny white dots from my stash:

On 24th the chartreuse green Burda skirt with a blah purchased tee:

On 25th the same design as on 23rd this time using lilac polycotton from my stash:

On 26th my first sweat shirt OMG!! I found the pattern in a Female magazine and used grey jersey knit, it was so easy and quick to make and the result is so nice to wear that I immediately made another one in kelly green that I wore on 27th with my old navy Pochée shorts:

On 28th I wore the lilac dress from the 25th -I washed it before!-with a grey blended denim jacket adapted from a Burda easy pattern:

So 3 more days to go and I'm already sad that MMM is almost finished :(

Me-Made-May 2013 week two recap

Another week of having fun with me-made things, this time I wore rather old stuff but I felt soooo good in it :)
On 08th I wore a 70's dress, the same as the broderie anglaise one except I used red Japanese cotton for it, I love the print which features traditional children's summer staples such as uchiwa fans, kitsune masks, iced desserts etc... and a refashioned denim jacket from my teenage years^^:

On 09th I felt tired and I obviously wanted to bring my bed outside with me since I wore pajama-esque shorts in white dots on navy crepe and the oldest tee I could find:

On 10th I was in a much better mood since 1) I had washed my hair 2) I wore my cute Burda peplum top with beaded daisy triiiiim:

That outfit was totally inspired by Dora. 

On 11th a blast from the past with this Japanese top I had almost forgotten about, I changed the sleeves from gathered to straight and it became much more wearable:

On 12th I had ZERO inspiration for my outfit so dragged an old black gingham shirt (with daisy trim naturally) that I copied from an RTW garment out of the drawer and my trusted denim shorts from Fait Main and somehow it worked:

On 13th it was mah birthday, my mom gave me an awesome malachite necklace so I paired it with my old navy blended linen Japanese dress -bonus for the sack design because I went to an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch:

Finally on 14th another "Please don't make me leave my bed" day with the denim shorts from Sunday and a self-drafted bag in Japanese linen:

Summer shorts

A quick, gratifying project to fight the heat, some simple Pochée shorts made with textured cotton fabric bought at Nomura Tailor. The print is awesome of course, with black, navy, pink and red flowers on an off white background, the waist is elasticized and I used red bias tape for the hem.

Pic edited -ie my feet have disappeared- because my cat was eating some poor lizard right in the middle of my photoshoot, the nerve!

Me-Made-May 2012: week 1 recap

Hey there! Here are the garments I wore for the first week of MMM:
- on 01st, 06th and 08th I stayed at home in my old coral linen Burda shorts. I love this pattern (from the May 2010 mag) because you need very little fabric to make them and it's a great way of busting remnants!

- on 02nd I wore my new Burda shorts made using the wrong side of some light weight denim, it's a great pattern, easy to make and comfortable yet quite classy with the front pleats. The tunic is from Pochée, I used some repro fabric of a civil war wallpaper for it -I'm always amazed at what cool origins this top has :)

- on 03rd I wore the same shorts with a Burda top made from strange synthetic fabric whose red and blue ume flowers print I love!

- on 04th the weather turned super cold and rainy so I could wear my favourite jacket frankesteined from a Pochée pattern and made of mustard linen and polyester blend. I added a simple V-neck, kimono sleeved black and white top from Female and navy cotton shorts adapted from a Pochée pattern again.

- on 05th I wore a pull-over dress made from a 70's Simplicity pattern, I love the pintuck pleats on the bodice and butterfly sleeves and the fabric has cute tiny orangey flowers so this dress is really a favourite!

- on 07th I finally decided to wear an oversized shirt made from a Female pattern, you can tie the front (which I did) or let it loose. I love this garment because the design is quite original IMO and I used striped cotton that my boyfriend gave me for my birthday last year and pretty red buttons bought in a small haberdashery in Asakusa so it's really dear to me. The denim shorts are a bit small but I wear them a lot anyway, they're from the French crafts magazine Fait Main.

Now for my mum's outfits:
- on 02nd she wore a low waist dress adapted from a Japanese pattern and made with Ikea fabric.

- and on 07th she wore an A-line skirt, another Japanese pattern with polycotton bought in a local shop.

See you soon with more me-made garments :)

A typical bi-day outfit or why I love sewing

So today as is often the case, I've had the morning free and I'm working later which means I'll wear two variations of the same outfit, one to go walking and shopping and the other for more professional purposes. Here's the freetime version:


My eternal me-made denim shorts paired with a new top, the I've-almost-tamed-that-damn-fit version of New Look 6808 that I managed to squeeze in a yard of quilting cotton bought on sale. Even though I forget to take pics of them I've actually made a few of these tops and I like to add little changes from one to the other. For instance here I've bound the neckline and sleeves with navy bias topstitched in white and I've put a little bow on the side. I'm glad I found this fabric because it's super cute with its pink and blue confetti print and also because it was a real bargain since it went from 19€ to 6€ a yard -yes, that shop has crazy prices but fortunately there are plenty others which are much more affordable where I live :)

Close-up of the fabric and details and maybe a hint of the side handpicked zipper

Back to the outfit, as you can see it's pretty laid back and nice to wear in the current summer. Now for the teaching version, well I'll put on some jeans, pumps and I'll bring a pale yellow cardigan and that's it:

I LOVE my dazed face on this one, you can tell my baby cat was acting the fool behind the window^^

I don't think I have to ramble on and on about why I love sewing so much, obviously it's just too excellent to spend the entire day in stuff you've made yourself! Have a nice week and see you soon!