Made by Me May

Occasional readers of this blog will have noticed that I sew...a bit...okay, a lot. 

It has been alleged that I have a problem:

Busted!! Caught in the act at Fabric Land.

Not true!  Sewing presents a challenge and it is a nice change of pace in my busy life.

Made by  Me May has become an annual tradition in blog land.  Bloggers take a pledge to wear things that they have sewn themselves.  It can be once a week, a few times a week or if you are that good, every day.

Zoe, of So Zo What Do You Know, blog has hosted a "Made by Me May" for a few years now.  Readers of her blog take a pledge to wear more of the items that they have made for the month of May.  Most people document what they have made and link up to the site for the month. 



The skirt I debuted at an event last summer.

I have never taken part in this event before.  This year I am!  Typically, most of my sewing, crocheting focuses on summer wear - skirts are easy to make, tops that slip over the head, no darts, no buttons.  I have been working on summer clothes for a while (probably why spring was so late! Blame me!)  I have made a pledge on Zoe's blog to wear something made by me at least twice a week during the month of May.  I think I have enough items in my closet to make it. 

As part of the Made by Me pledge, bloggers are encouraged to post their outfits regularly to their blog.  This event is the brain child of Zoe, a UK based blogger and sewist extrodinaire.  Click on her name to visit her site.

Expect more frequent posts and please cross your fingers that the weather here in southern Ontario gets warmer as most of my made by me clothes are for warmer temperatures.

Until then,

Live High,

Heather

Crocodile Stitches

In the waning days of winter, I wanted some colour in my wardrobe.  Everyone in southern Ontario seems to be dressed in black.  It serves the purpose, black holds the dirt and you look at least decent on the way to meetings.  But after a while the dreary days and lack of colour just makes you a little depressed.

Here is what is left of the wool

I got some wool for my birthday recently and one ball of it was a beautiful royal blue.  Last year, I made a cool crocodile neck warmer from a pattern I purchased from Zoomyummy.  It was a challenge, it looked so difficult that I did not thing that I would be able to make it.  Like all things, a read of the instructions showed that it was some simple double crochet.  I made the original with left over wool I had kicking around.

The original was colourful, but not too professional.  I wore it once on a casual day but mostly I wear it  for walking the dog.

When I got the royal blue wool, I thought that this was the perfect wool to revisit the neck warmer and make it in a more professional colour.  (Not to mention that I happen to have a coat that happens to match the wool perfectly!)

I made this one a bit tighter so you can get the feel for the crocodile stitch, it looks more like a ruffle.

Here is the completed neck warmer.  And yes, that is me in my basement in my jammies.  Don't judge....

Dressed, my neck warmer and the coat.

So what do you think?  As I purchased the pattern, I cannot share it with you, but here is the link to Petra, tell her I sent you and make one or two for yourself.  Hopefully, we will not need neck warmers for too long.



I'm linking here.




Live High,


Heather

Heather in Pleather

The awesome people I work with got me a fabric land gift card for an unspecified birthday recently. It was burning a hole in my pocket.  

 

The second I had a moment alone, I wandered into Fabricland alone to stock up on some new stuff for my stash and new projects.  I had it in my head I wanted some pleather for a purse pattern I found here.  Lucky me, I found some kick ass pleather on sale and got enough for mistakes and a skirt.  Unfortunately in my fabric-crazed state, I did not notice that a piece of the pleather in the middle of the cut had a nice huge permanent purple marker swipe on it.  I am lucky to have enough still for the purse and the skirt.  Here is the fabric.  Nice right?! 

This is some killer pleather - no animals were harmed in the sewing of this skirt!

I have cut out both the skirt and the purse but have been waylaid by the purse becasue I cannot find the right handles to complete it.  I am heading to Toronto for a few days next week and will take a brief detour to the garment district to try to locate the right handles.  I have been able to find them on Ebay and will pick them up on line if I have too.  I am itchy to get the purse completed - like right now - so fingers crossed that I find those handles next week.

 

I was able to pick up a bunch of fabrics with my gift card (thanks guys!!) and here are some of the other fabrics I purchased, some grey wool for another purse, navy blue wool for a skirt and some pink fabric that may not be in the photo but will be in a future blog and will be a basic top for wearing under suit jackets at work.

I found working with the pleather to be much easier than I had imagined.  I am not sure that I will wear the skirt too often.  It is fun to make it and it brightened up a cold dark winter.

 

 

I will keep you posted on the future sewing projects.  I have recently located some new sewing blogs that have been around the web for a while.  I am, ahem, slightly over 40 and finding blogs that speak to this confusing fashion time is a huge relief!  Today I'm linking here.

 

Until then,

 

Live High,

Heather