#Me Made May 16 - Week 4

It is that time of year when I swap my clothes over and have a really good sort out. I pack my winter clothes in the spare room drawers and become reawakened by my summer clothes which have been out of my minds eye for a few months, it feels like having a whole new wardrobe of outfits.

Out with the wool skirts, sheepskin gilet, velvet skirt, tartan kilts, cordouroy, boiled wool cardigan, miette in wool aran, Noro chunky layering jumper plus my long sleeved t-shirts - they wont be worn now until October so they are all hibernating.

What this activity does for me is to assess what have I actually been wearing during Autumn and Winter as well as what has fell to the bottom of the drawers unworn? I found this Me Made item which I knew had not been worn since I made it never mind all winter - shame.

It is a beautifully made(though I say so myself)pencil skirt in a sort of ribbed navy velour kind of fabric. The problem was it was too long. It was the sort of mad man length that looked really chic and feminine if you could manage to wear a pair of heels all day which it turns out I can't. So I unpicked that beautiful bias trimmed hem and made it shorter. This sort of hem is great for bulky fabrics that would look too chunky turned over twice.

Now I can wear this with thick tights and boots or flat shoes but sadly it is going straight into the drawer upstairs because it is too thick for summer - but all fixed and ready to be worn.The other problem I have found is that I do not put hanging ribbons in my clothes so this skirt was out of sight by being in a drawer and not hanging in my wardrobe where I could see it. Here is my before (July 2015) and after (May 2016):

 

In return, as I pull out the summer things I have flashbacks of items that were uncomfortable or malfunctioning, they are of my own making so I am trying to knuckle down and sort some out as my pledge for Me Made May 16. I can't pretend I didn't know about this zip finish!

I was so busy getting the waist band seam to match that the top of the zip was out and I just wore it which is silly because you would not believe the care I took on pattern matching the plaid on the front pleats. It made a little red mark under my arm every time I wore it (I mean the three times I suffered it) and for such a small bit of fabric, it was surprisingly pointy.

I was going to take the whole zip out but as the waist seam was well matched I decided to take a curve from the armsyce to blend down to the other side which was a great decision. Oh! the relief when I tried it on. There are no armpit photos, obviously, but trust me by checking out the relaxed smile on my face.

Well another year of Me Made May with a slightly different angle. Here is what I have learnt so far:

Me Made May 2015  

• All my handmade clothes are patterned so nothing goes with anything else!I need to make some solid colour items.

Me Made May 2016  

• You can revisit your homemade stuff and learn from your mistakes. 
• If you make hanging ribbons in your clothes you can see them all. 
• I didn't know I needed a mustard cardigan this badly, it goes with so many of my clothes, it was a great buy in April.

Have you got bought or homemade things you could alter? Go on give it a go. The worst that can happen is you learn something new and that really is rather wonderful.

Jo xxx