Me-Made-May 2015

May again!!
So nice month because of MMM too! I can wear all my dresses, skirts and make pictures of myself, a lot of fun! Also I would like to see what other participants will wear and post on Flickr or Instagram.

'I, Sewing Sveta (sewingsveta.blogspot.com), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear me-made or me-refashioned garment each day for the duration of May 2015. Also I will finish 3 new garments'

Let's the fun begin!

March Burda Challenge. Simple cowl knit top.

My Burda Challenge is not going very well. I still have some issues in my January garment. February I missed because of my trip but I made March one. This is pretty simple knit top from Burda 03/2013 128.

I didn't read a description careful before cutting so the loose fit was big surprise for me. I imagined fitted top so I took almost 6cm from both sides. Next time I will cut it narrower and also will make narrower back. But this top could be pretty nice in its original version from some drape fabric, even not knit one, maybe only you need to make armholes higher. It could be nice idea for summer.

I made top pretty long and like how I can drape it on the waistline. The top is pretty cute so I think I would make more in different colors. I cut it from remnant bought in Dressew store, they often have nice knit pieces so now I know how to use them.

Facts:

• Fabric: 0.9m of cotton knit fabric
• Pattern: Burda 03/2013 128
• Fabric was bought without any ideas.
  
• Notions: thread, twin needle 
• Time to complete: 3.7 hours. The bias bindings took too long.
• First worn: one week ago.
• Wear again: yesterday.
• Total cost:2C$ per fabric, 1C$ per tread, 2C$ per magazine = 5C$.

Beige sweatshirt

I like to buy remnants at fabric stores, especially when you need to search in big boxes%) This is like hunting for me. So I made my new sweatshirt from such remnants which I bought in Dressew shop last year. I was looking for some pattern with raglan sleeves and found one in La Mia Boutique magazine, 01/2009 (Russian version Шитье и крой, 12/2009)

I saw my sweatshirt with wide hem band and long sleeve bands and with pretty loose fit. Finally I got little bit different sweatshirt. I think I had to cut one size up for more loose look and make bands not so wide, also I like my sweatshirt this way too. It is pretty comfy and goes well with a lot of my wardrobe.

Back view

I used a friend's serger for sewing and this was first time I use this kind of machine. But I like outcome, now I want my own serger too.

Maybe I should make narrow hem band

The neckline was made not perfect, with some puckering on the back because I cut too short stripe for finishing neckline. Hope next one will be much better.  

Not perfect neckline

Facts:

• Fabric: 0.5m of rib knit, 0.8m of terry cloth
• Pattern: la mia boutique 01/2009
• Fabric was bought first because of good price and knit cotton can be used always%)
  
• Notions: thread
• Time to complete: 4
• First worn: last week
• Wear again: this week
• Total cost:  2C$ for fabrics, 2C$ for magazine = 4C$

Bamboo orange skirt

Let me continue my skirtlog. Yes, I should admit that I like to sew and to wear skirts a lot! So this post is about pretty simple skirt which I made in October, just before the flight to China, I was sure that this would be pretty warm there and I could walk in my new skirt.

I have home yoga skirt(from recycle.org) and I found that it was very comfortable to wear so I decided to make my version of yoga skirt. It was very easy to make pattern for it - just two trapezia and two rectangles for waistband(the height of rectangle was two times more then height of waistband). Waistband should be pretty wide so the skirt would stay at place.



Sewing was very simple - side seams on the skirt, side seams on the waistband, then fold one in two and attached to the skirt. But even with such simple skirt I made a lot of problem for myself. First mistake was adding pockets. The second one was cutting one pocket from the waistband's detail! So I made one more trip to a fabric store which doubled the price of my skirt. Also this accident postponed my sewing for long time because I started the skirt in August but finished in October.

Finally I made the pockets and they looked pretty bad on such knit skirt. It was not good idea from the beginning but now I learned the lesson. The skirt is pretty comfy and the bamboo fabric is so smooth and soft, I don't mind to have more garments from bamboo.

Facts:

• Fabric:  0.6m (width 1.55m) of bamboo knit. And additional 0.4m because of my bad cutting.
• Pattern: self drafted
• Fabric was bought specially for this skirt
• Notions: thread, twin needle 
• Time to complete: 3.5 hours(1 hour for removing pockets)
• First worn: October 2014 for walking in Suzhou, China.
• Wear again: waiting for warm weather or Me-Made-May.
• Total cost:  15C$, 5.5$ I paid for additional fabric%(

January Burda Challenge. Cushions.

My Burda Challenge, January edition is still in work. I need 4 more hours to finish it and also I need to find buttons but hope there is something in my stash. I am making a blouse 105 from Burda 01/2002.

Burda Challenge, January

But this was not the only one project on my sewing table, of course. I finished second cushion for a couch, the first one was done in the end of December. I saw once in IKEA or maybe in web cushions which look like sweaters so I decided to buy some XXL second-hand sweaters and make these cushions myself. I had some big pillows which I got for free on freecycle.org(very nice site indeed! I recommend it, I also got a box with some sewing stuff  there).

During sale in Value Village I bought 2 big cotton sweaters for 5$. The sewing was pretty simple%) Only the buttonholes troubled me a little bit. And now we have nice cushions!

Buttons from freecycle

Facts:

• Fabric: sweaters from thrift-store
• Pattern: none
• I saw cushions somewhere and decided to make them.
  
• Notions: thread, buttons
• Time to complete: 3h10m  (the most time I spend for buttonholes)
• First worn: December 2014.
• Total cost: 5 Canadian $ for sweaters, buttons were free  = 5C$ per both. I checked in IKEA, they cost there 20C$ each.

I still have sleeves from these sweaters and I am looking for ideas what to make from them%)

Plans 2015

I made huge plans for 2015 as usually. I am not sure how I will manage to achieve them all but I will try. The main goal is that I should enjoy my sewing.

The next goal is to win our bet with Semeon that I can make 50 items in 2 years so 15 items should be finished till end of June. I hope the victory will be mine !%)

Also I want to control my fabric stash(this is most difficult) and budget, last year my sewing expenses were too big. I plan to sew not only from Burda, to sew to other persons, to sew some man's clothes, lingerie, a dress per season(at least), finish some old UFOs, use some vintage patterns, learn how to make welt pocket, stop to fear garments with buttons (I don't like buttonholes), make a leather jacket and a wool jacket. I want to knit a hat or maybe two and try to start sweater. Uhh, big plans! And I want to blog regularly%)

Hope I will make again Me Made May and two more challenges - Burda Challenge(I will sew from January issue in January and so one) and Vintage Pledge(I plan to make 2 vintage items). Happy sewing!

Summary of 2014

Before making some plans for 2015 I would like to summarize last year's sewing. 2014 was not too sewing year because of different reasons. The main one was overseas moving, I got my sewing space only in May. Also on the new place you had to do a lot of stuff instead of sewing.

Totally I finished 13 items ( and started some more%). 4 items were not for me. I made 2 kid's skirts, friend's skirt and cushion for our couch. 2 items were half-made in 2013 and I finished them. 2 items were refashioned.

I made 7 skirts (3 - not for me), 1 t-shirt, 1 dress, 1 turtleneck. 2 refashioned items were skirts too%)
I used 3 Burda patterns, 1 Ottobre, 1 KwikSew, 5 self-drafted or without pattern.

I bought a lot of beautiful fabrics, failed in Summer Stashbust 2014, participated in Spring Sewing Swap 2014.

My favorite made is summer dress, I should blog it%) And I should make more sack dresses, they are so comfortable!

Dress from SWAP fabric

Also my favorite is the turtleneck because it is very useful and I can wear it with skirts, jeans and even my blue dress.

The next - ideas for 2015!%)