Make like Maria

I am a great believer in thrifty sewing!  That might be by necessity rather than by choice, but I can never pass up free fabric.  After years now of being wife to first a theology student, then curate, then vicar (all the same person in case that wasn't obvious!) I have learnt a lot about frugal living.   Even now, whilst I love sewing, I couldn't allocate myself a big budget for it.  Afterall, it's not as if I'd be out buying myself clothes all the time if I wasn't making them myself.

So, on to a bit of fabric repurposing Sound of Music style, and of course, it's another Moss skirt.  The fabric is from an IKEA curtain.   I bought these curtains about 6 years ago and, being super long as is always the case with IKEA curtains, I had a fair bit of yardage left over as offcuts.  I've used this material for all sorts of things, including William's bed tidy.  Since then I've shortened the curtain (more offcuts) and now have retired them completely (yet more surplus fabric) so I still have lots left for other projects.  I think the fabric is possibly cotton twill, although I'm just guessing really.  It's medium weight with a diagonal weave on the right side.  The colour is an odd slightly greenish blue, almost petrol blue but not quite.  This means it doesn't go with everything like my denim Moss, and I have to be careful what I wear it with or I end up looking like a clown!

Construction was straight forward again, except for a couple of stupid errors on my part!  I managed to sew the waistband facing on upside down and didn't realise until after I had graded all the seams and trimmed and turned the corners, etc!  Doh!  However, rather than unpick it all and cut a new facing I decided to just force it and iron it into submission!  There are just some points in a sewing project when unpicking would break the spirit!  Anyway, it seemed to do the trick and now the error isn't noticeable at all - phew!

I used a lovely floral cotton for the hem band facing and pockets.  This is doubly special as it came from an unfinished sewing project that my mum passed on to me.  I briefly considered finishing the skirt she had started, but decided I probably wouldn't wear it as was and would get more pleasure out of it by using it to make the inside of my Moss skirt beautiful instead.

I bound all the seams again with bias binding.  I'm working my way through a stash of vintage bindings bought on ebay.  I love the way this looks, and the skirt will last longer without any raw edges to fray.

I altered the sizing a little from my last version.  I now have a complex mix of sizes that seems to work for me.  I graded the front pieces from a 14 waist to a 12 hip, with a 16 length.  The back pieces I cut as a 15 (!) with a 16 length.  In the end I did unpick the side seams up to the hip and sew them with a smaller seam allowance as, due to the lack of stretch in the fabric, I felt I needed a little more width in the skirt.  I think next time I may cut a 12 or 14 length when adding a hem band just to reduce the length slightly.

So, all in all this one will be another workhorse in my everyday wardrobe.  Hooray for the mummy uniform!

Oh, and as a little blog bonus here are some photos of my husband mocking me for my blog photo posing...

I think he just wanted to get onto the blog!

On my sewing table...

I have projects to share but photography is holding me up at the moment, so in the meantime I thought I'd give a taste of what's on my sewing table.

The Easter holidays were great - I loved having the kids at home, and we had a fantastic week away at Spring Harvest too - but school holidays do not lend themselves to productive sewing!  Consequently I sent the children back to school this week and promptly set to with all the plans that have been stewing in my mind over the last few weeks.   I have had a big PDF sticking and fabric cutting session (not to mentioning seam ripping for my refashion) and now have the following projects on the go...

1)  Brindille & Twig free hoodie pattern.  I saw this on pattern on 'So Zo....What do you know?' and immediately headed to the Brindille & Twig blog to download it.  Zoe has made an adorable version for her daughter, and I could immediate envisage a whole range of hoodies I could make for Jacob.  For my first attempt I am reclaiming some double-sided microfleece from a huge Uniqlo zip up jacket that I wore whilst pregnant but am never likely to wear again.  I haven't yet decided whether to go with the beige or the dark brown, or even to mix the two.  It took some creative cutting to get all the pieces out of the available material, and I've had to do a bit of redesigning of the hood.

2)  Another Moss skirt!  I really can't get enough of these.  I have been wearing the two that I have made (one of which is yet to be blogged) almost back to back and I just love them.  This will be another denim version, but I plan to leave off the hem band, lengthen the main skirt pieces and, if I'm brave enough, topstitch in tan thread to mimic RTW denim skirts.

3)  Kelly skirt refashion.  A long while ago I made a Kelly skirt out of navy corduroy but never got around to blogging it.  I love the look of the Kelly skirt and all of the many versions I have seen around the net, and I was determined to get the pattern and make it up.   However.... I've had to admit that it just doesn't work for me. :-(  After making my version I wore it for a while, but although I loved the shape of it, the fabric and the button up front, my feeling about it overall was almost inexplicably just '...meh'.  I'm coming to the conclusion that skirts with a high, straight waistband are just not for me.  So, I have ripped it all apart and hope to use the panels to make up a new skirt using - you guessed it - the Moss skirt pattern as a guide.   This will mean cutting a new (curved) waistband and a yoke.  I'm still undecided over whether to leave in any of pleats.  It will probably be a case of trial and error with plenty of basting and seam ripping involved!

So, that should give me a fair bit to be getting on with.  What are your sewing plans?

Me Made May '15

For those not yet in the know, Me Made May is an event hosted by Zoe at 'So Zo...What do you know?' encouraging home sewists and knitters to wear their garments with pride.  Challenges are set by partcipants themselves and vary depending on the experience and wardrobe of the sewist/knitter, but generally participants are pledging to wear more of their me made items throughout May than they would normally do.

For the last two years I have watched from the sidelines as Me Made May took place in blogland, but without taking part.  It must be a milestone that I now feel I have enough clothes to make it through a month!  I actually wear my own makes a lot of the time now, so I'm aiming to wear at least 2 garments a day to make sure it's a bit of a challenge.  I'm sure there will be a lot of repeats, but I'm hoping to make a couple more things between now and May to keep me going.  I'm also hoping that if I aim to wear as many of the things I've made as possible I'll be able to identify those items that really haven't worked that need to be recycled into something new.

So, here's the pledge!

I, Su of http://whosewssusews.blogspot.co.uk, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavour to wear at least two me made garments each day for the duration of May 2015, wearing as many of my me made clothes as possible through the month.

Roll on May!