Diary of a Chain Stitcher

Today I've got a little post for you about one of my favourite things on the internet, Pinterest ! They've just launched in the UK but I've been using the original version for a while. I'm sure many of you already use it (in fact I'm pretty sure I follow a fair few of you on there!) but for anyone who doesn't know what I'm on about Pinterest is basically an online tool for visually collating and organising inspiration and things you love. People use Pinterest for all sorts of things; planning weddings or holidays, pulling together ideas for redecorating or cataloguing recipes. My favourite thing to use it for is planning sewing projects of course! When you sign up you can set up different 'boards' to pin to. One of mine is a ' Sewing Ideas ' board. On there I pin anything that inspires me for future projects. New patterns I like the look of, lovely versions of patterns that I see on your blogs, tutorials I want to refer to later, as w...

So I completely failed in my attempt to wear jeans less, well at least when wearing me-made. I did wear ready to wear dresses a few times this week, I have a lot of comfy jersey dresses in my wardrobe that are fairly practical but still make me feel a bit pulled together (mainly the same style of French Connection one over and over again in different print, even the same print and different colours!). When we actually get nice weather they become a bit of a summer staple, especially the maxi dresses which I am loving even more this year. I think I need to get making pronto before Me-Made-May is over and get the hang of knits, I know I wear jersey dresses a lot so why haven't I made any?! Anyway, on to the me-mades: Thursday May 16th:  Costume shopping, budgeting and a little bit of home sewing Top: Me-Made Black Lace Grainline Scout Tee Trousers: Levi Skinny Jeans - Macy's Coat: Lightweight Mac - Dorothy Perkins Shoes: Leopard Print Pumps - H&M (other...

This is the third time I've made up Grainline's Scout Tee pattern and I can see many more in the future! It's a great basic pattern which looks lovely made up as is (as I did for my first version in some lovely Liberty Tana Lawn) but also provides a great base for getting a little bit creative and adding your own twist (as I did for my second silk version , adding a dip hem detail). This time I decided to try out a style which I've been looking for in the shops for ages but couldn't find anything quite right; a slightly 60's style lace top with an underlined bodice and sheer three quarter length sleeves. Before I get into the details let me just apologise for the sparse amount of modelled photos, and the bad quality of the one's you do see; man, black is hard to photograph! As tempting as it is to buy amazing looking fabric to make up pretty dresses I'm really trying at the minute to make things I can actually wear a lot and am therefore taki...

I'm still going and I'm still enjoying it! I was super excited about Me-Made-May this week as I was going to get to wear my very special Elisalex dress to my boyfriend's brother's wedding! This in fact was one of the reason's I ended up signing up this year, because I knew I had one day sorted already! Friday May 10th:  My boyfriend's brother's wedding! Dress: Me-Made Cotton Sateen Elisalex with Circle Skirt Shoes: Teal Court Shoes - Marks & Spencer Bag: Hot Pink Satin Clutch - T K Maxx Accessories: Hot Pink Petal Earrings - V&A Museum Shop Saturday May 11th:  Relaxing and recovering(!) at the hotel wedding venue Top: Me-Made Papercut Patterns La Sylphide Blouse Trousers: Levi Jeans - Macy's Sale Shoes: Cream and Turquoise Ballet Pumps - Primark Tuesday May 14th:  A morning of costume shopping and an afternoon of fittings Top: Me-Made Liberty Tana Lawn Grainline Scout Tee Trousers: Levi Jeans (again!) - Mac...

This dress is special for three reasons: 1. It was made to be worn to my boyfriend's brother's wedding last Friday, 2. It was made using fabric from Mood NYC purchased on my recent trip of a lifetime, 3. It's AWESOME! I've been mega excited about sharing this make on the blog but had such a good time on the day I completely forgot to get any photos of me in it (and this was not top of my fella's priorities either being a best man and all!) and it's taken me a while to get my act together this week and recreate my outfit for you. Shoes: M&S (years ago!) Bag: TK Maxx Earrings: V&A Museum Shop I knew right away that I wanted to make my dress to wear on Richard and Nicola's big day, and I worked out quite quickly that I wanted it to be an Elisalex dress from By Hand London. I made up a muslin (which I haven't had chance to blog yet) in a bargain fairly heavyweight fabric from A1 on Goldhawk Road. I was fairly happy with it but wasn't ...

So I'm a little behind on recording my Me-Made-May - well a lot considering we have just passed the end of week two! It's not the wearing handmade garments aspect of it that I'm finding challenging but the photographing. I don't know how you ladies who are doing handmade every day of May and are putting up gorgeous photos are doing it! I completely missed taking photos on the first two days so decided to go about it a different way! I've been taking photos of my outfits laid out on the floor. I know it's not as exciting as seeing it worn and it totally doesn't prove that I actually wore it but I (and my boyfriend the photographer!) can't cope with remembering to take a photo each day while I still look respectable! I've pledged to wear 3 me-made garments each week of May and am so far really enjoying myself!.I think usually when I'm groggily pulling an outfit together in the morning I tend to reach for easy ready to wear garments as I tend t...

The big moment has arrived and it's time to announce the winners of my little giveaway to celebrate passing 50 followers! I've used the random number generator to pick the lucky winners so without further ado... The winner of the Lisette pattern is... Entrant No. 3 - Shelley from Cuckoo Chanel  who made a beautiful Anise jacket in honour of her recent blog-iversary! And the winner of the Cynthia Rowley pattern is... Entrant No. 6 - Vicki Kate from Vicki Kate Makes ! Vicki makes some seriously gorgeous dresses and was the brains behind the wonderful Sew Very Merry Christmas Swap! Congratulations to both you lovely ladies, I'll send you an email to get your addresses and then get these patterns in the post and on their way to being turned into lovely creations! UPDATE - Shelley I couldn't see your email anywhere on your profile so would you please be able to send me an email with your address? Thanks!