Me made man

Ok so today I'm not going to post a round up of the week. My instagram photos are all taken in my bedroom mirror which is too dark and not the world's best photos. Until I up this game I'm gonna leave the daily photo. Still wearing daily me made though.

So instead I bring you the fella. He had his birthday last week so I decided to make him some shirts for his birthday. We go on honeymoon later in the year so he asked for some nice cool shirts to take away with him. I have now perfected the Colette Negroni pattern so I made him a few in delicious liberty print tana lawn which fortunately comes reduced from Abakhans.

I also made him model; though frankly the fella is a diva. Not content just to star but also he provided art direction along the lines of: 'I should really be wearing my hat for this look' or 'no I can't pretend to be potting plants, this is a fancy shirt and it won't look right'. What can I say, you can't argue with the talent.

One thing I fail to get my head around is that men's shirts button on the opposite side to women's. Yes this is because women's are designed for someone else to do up for you and therefore not as easy to do up yourself. Yes it means he struggles to do his shirts himself. No it probably isn't necessary to make a statement on feminine oppression in your husband's birthday present...

He picked the fabric prints himself. This one I don't think he expected the pears to be as large when he picked it but I think he's pretty happy with the finished result.

Took the photos a bit late in the day so they're a little shadow heavy.

Especially this shadow. That one follows him around everywhere.

As standard I only decided I was going to do this the week before his birthday. Sadly I was two days late delivering but I figure it was worth the wait.

This one is really similar to the shirt that I made him last year. He's a man who knows what he likes. It didn't occur to me to use my edge stitching foot until after I'd put the first set of pockets on so one has a double line of stitching. I am calling this a design feature.

My handsome man who is in no way awkward being made to pose for photos. Not awkward at all.... no siree bob.

I batch stitched all three shirts which is a much quicker way to work. Pity he didn't pick three patterns that I could use the same thread for. I just switched over to the green at each point that felt like a sensible stopping point.

I love this relaxed style of collar and he always looks like he's on his hols when he's wearing one.

 This one is my favourite fabric choice and button combination. The buttons all came from a mahooosive bag of buttons I got at an Abakhan sale. The fabric has a slight fade to the print so it's really hard to work out which is the right side. I fully expect I've right and wrong side facing throughout this shirt.

Sat amongst his pride and joy. At some point I'll talk about the garden because he does work so hard on it and it is a beautiful space.

I think this is my favourite photo. Man of mystery. What is he thinking? 'World peace;? 'The fortune 500'? 'Will this silly woman stop taking photos so I can get back to my plants'? Possibly.

 Co-starring

Queen of Sheba

Bombay too hot for TV

Musings on Me Made May week 1

Hi all.

So that's the first week of May done. I've worn me made every single day and only been late to post once. Two things that jump out at me looking at my round up is A. Fit and B. Crappy photography. I will work on the photography, probably not this year but it's something to think about for next.

I love the coco pattern. I like the random assortment of buttons I stitched on. Sometimes I wonder if it's a little bit children's TV presenter but then I realise I don't care. It was an early days make and it's still going strong. Fits nicely and even though it was made pre-overlocker has not needed any repairs.

This was not a good look let's face it. I've got the tie in a weird place and the top is less fitted so really only goes with more fitted bottoms. My drawstring trousers with it just makes me look utterly shapeless. They're both very simple patterns so look at me grinning like it's my first make. It isn't so no excuse.

The bruyere shirt is also a favourite. Deer and doe really don't go up to my size so I had to hack the living daylights out of this pattern. Also due to my ongoing issues of obliviousness about the size of my waist I sized it up too much. It's comfy and good for work though. 

I don't know why but a sleeved t-shirt under this make me think I look like Billy Joel in uptown girl. I don't know why I have this in my head as I just looked up the video and he is very obviously wearing a long sleeve shirt. Anyway the t-shirt is on because my next Rosa will definitely need a full bust adjustment. As a fix for this one I'll try adding a couple of buttons on the inside.

This is defintely an example of awful photography. You only know what I've got on cause I tell you. I'm fairly sure photographs shouldn't work that way. *sigh*

I'm not sure the bettine is a shape that really works on me. I'm beginning to think more structured items are much better. It's comfy and has big pockets though so I kind of think of it as my house coat. 

Now this is just lazy photography. Couldn't even be bothered to stand up so just took a photo of my lap. You deserve better. You really do. 

A Rosa by any other name...

Evening all. 

May I present to you my wearable muslin for the Rosa shirt dress. I can be a bit hit and miss with Tilly and the Buttons patterns. Patterns such as the Coco and the Rosa grab me right away. The Martha was a slow burn, I wasn't keen on the sample but I've seen other versions which have really appealed. That just goes to show the versatility of a sewing pattern. 

Then there's Marigold pattern which reminds me of the Spaced episode Dissolution:

Tim: I know. I look like a (naughty swear for lady parts) in a jumpsuit.

Daisy: Don't say that, Tim. That's a word that hates women.

Tim: What? (naughty swear for lady parts)?

Daisy: No, "jumpsuit" 

Just a joke as obviously there's nothing wrong with the pattern it's just not my taste as I categorise it in the 'trendy'. Yep I used the word trendy. I went there. 

The Rosa however is exactly to my taste and I was really excited when it was realised. Especially when I saw the purple cord shirt dress version Tilly made herself. I wanted one just like it but first off needed to make a muslin because as a busty lass the button down can be a tricksy beast. It's sleeveless because maybe the muslin idea came to be me at the last minute and then just maybe I only had enough fabric to make it sleeveless. The colour scheme came from googling paint matches cause frankly I'm winging this most of the time.

I love the piping in the princess seams and yoke. I did debate whether adding it to the pockets was too much but then though sod it why not. I did draw the line at the collar. As we all know you pipe collars or pocket, never both...

The armholes are bound with bias binding. It's a technique I've had difficulties with in the past but I'm quite pleased with how smooth this one looks. Initially there was a bit of wrinkling but that calmed down with enough steam.

My only stumbling point was the back yoke. I cut a little too far in when turning at the point so had to stitch again further across to prevent an exposed edge which makes it unbalanced. Though as with all questions of errors in my work I ask myself would anyone who I didn't tell about the problem notice it?....then I tell people about it.