Tuesday 28 April 2015

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Monday 27 April 2015

Maxi Dress - New Look 6096


So, you know the drill, cut out your project, run out of time, bag it up to sew another day. All fine and dandy. Until that is, you come to sew it and find you have completely and totally 'misplaced' the instructions. Are you still with me? No? Oh just me then....

Which is precisely what happened with this dress! I searched high and low and have a terrible feeling that I accidentally collected them up in my rubbish, but I'm not going to dwell on that....!

Anyway, so I sat down to try and figure it out. Not sure if I did it right, but it actually looks like the picture!  The fit is lovely although I am intending to shorten the straps slightly as I am in danger of exposing myself inadvertently at the current length!

Daisy (my Adjustoform) is happy to model this for me though, I had a little word with her and she has no sense of modesty ;)

The Fabric a lovely Viscose I picked up at Barry's in Birmingham, it's so light and drapey, Viscose is fast becoming my favourite thing to sew with! 

So that's one maxi dress done for the summer! 


Sunday 26 April 2015

My Me Made May 2015 pledge! #mmmay15

I, Gem of Gem's Hems, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May 2015! I endeavour to wear ONLY Me-Made items (excluding underwear) for the duration of May 2015!

This will be a challenge for me because, despite having an extensive handmade wardrobe to choose from, still readily pick out RTW items from my wardobe. I had a bit of a think about why I do this and it essentially falls down to two things - comfort and not wanting to 'ruin' my painstakingly hand sewn clothes! Have you ever heard anything so ridiclous! 

So my focus on sewing for the near future will be - concentrating on comfortable things I'm happy to wear if I'm staying home all day - there's no reason I can't still look reasonably put-together whilst being comfortable enough to do housework and such like. In the past few years since having my daughter I have fallen into the trap of dressing 'comfortably' which - in my case - has seemed to translate into sloppily and I need to snap out of it!

In preparation for this I have had a huge clearout of my clothes (in partial thanks to recently reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo) - and sorted out things that need mending which I aim to tackle this coming week! 

As a side-note challenge for myself, I also aim to complete at least one item of clothing per week during May 2015. For our upcoming holiday this summer I am aiming to take only handmade clothes and time is running out, I've only got a couple of months left so I really need to get cracking with that!

Are you signing up for Me Made May 2015? #mmmay15






Clemence Skirt

Presenting,.. The Clemence Skirt - Pattern from Tilly Walnes book - Love at First Stitch

Ever so slightly big on me at the waist, I think because the fabric I used has ZERO give I was a bit worried it would be too tight and erred on the side of caution... hence it being a bit large. Not much I can do about it now as the waistband is attached as a single piece, so I will just have to treat this as a wearable toile and wear it on the days I'm feeling fat - or about to have a large meal!

Clemence Skirt - Gem's Hems

The Fabric is really lovely to wear though and I do have a small amount left....! 

Watch this space :)

Archer Shirt


This was a challenging make!

My first proper shirt, collar and cuffs and all the bells and whistles! 
The Pattern is the Grainline Studios Archer Shirt, which is drafted as loose fitting but I took it in slightly at the side seams as I like things a bit more fitted.

There is a lot of material pooling at my lower back too, so in future I think I would need a swayback adjustment to stop it looking 'really' baggy.

The fabric is sort of a brushed cotton, and I was slightly worried that I would look like I'm wearing my jimjams, but making it a bit more fitted and with careful selection of bottom half wear I'm managing to avoid that trap so far!

First time I've sewn a collar, stand and cuff plackets but I found the sew-along instructions so easy to follow, it's great to have a visual reference to look at as well as the pattern guidelines :)

Grainline Studios Archer Shirt - Gem's Hems
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Zsalya Top


This top is made with a lovely drapey Viscose that I got from the Birmingham Rag Market! 

The Pattern I used is called the Zsalya Top and Dress (no idea how it's pronounced) by Kate and Rose on Etsy 

To be honest I don't love how it looks on me, the pattern is drafted with a lot more ease than I like on myself as I like my clothes quite fitted and I just feel baggy in it. Nothing against the pattern and it's a nice casual top which I do get some wear out of but I'm not convinced I'd make it again for myself!

Zsalya Top - Gem's Hems

Coco Top

My first Coco Top by Tilly - I used a knit fabric that I got from the market, no idea of the fibre but it's nice and soft :) I love the print too, makes me feel very springtimey!

Coco Top - Gem's Hems

Coco Top - Gem's HemsCoco Top - Gem's Hems


Lady Skater Dress


This was my first Lady Skater dress by KitschyCoo - a pattern I have now made several times and love it! It's just the style of dress I like to wear and I find them so comfy!

The fabric is a cotton knit that I got from my local market fabric dealer :) 
KitschyCoo Lady Skater



KitschyCoo Lady Skater

KitschyCoo Lady Skater

New Look 6191


I made this skirt using New Look 6191 Pattern. The Fabric is Cotton Poplin - it's lovely without tights but it tends to stick if I wear tights with it, if I used this fabric again I'd probably line it!
new look skirt pattern 6191

Very pleased with the fit - excuse my moody face! It's just my natural 'resting' face - I get told to cheer up a lot by random strangers in the street! Sorry but it's just my face!! Will make more effort to smile in future! :) 


Not much more to say about it really, it was a very simple non-incidental make!