Not Me Made May

Rather than committing to Me Made May this year, I did a clothes sort and have either completed or gathered materials for small repairs or stain treatments. 

I still have about the right number of clothes for my environment and lifestyle (about 50 items) in styles and colours that work for me. However, some of them are wearing thin (mostly the plain ones). Also last year's wearable toiles were deliberately in less favoured fabrics.

I would like to buy more clothes ready made, since I'm a slow sewer. It's difficult, though, when you're petite with a pronounced curve to the spine. For example I have more bone at high hip than the standard mannequin has - definitely not a flat front. 

Ready mades

Unusually this year, I found three Rtw garments which are loose enough for comfort. All three look OK from the front. 

The cream cardigan was a good style for me, the large collar balances the big turn ups I have to fold on cuffs. However the soft yarn kept felting with loose fibres from adjoining garments. So it made it to the office only once and is now demoted to everyday.  

The brushed poly top is warm and comfortable. It's had a couple of dozen wears under a jumper, but I fear the soft fabric will probably only look good for another dozen or so wears. The horizontal stripes emphasise the poor fit at upper back - it was probably intended for someone with squarer shoulders. 

Most upset about the blue corderoy tiered dress, which is a nice style and fabric weight for Spring and Autumn. Since the side seams pulled forward at the lower ribs, the back looked awful. I tried to rescue by pinning darts at underarms, didn't work because my ribs flare not taper at underbust. Then tried pinning darts just above the waist. Actually I needed to raise the whole waistline above the swayback to avoid stress lines from back neck to front hip. It was a pain to unpick all those lines of stitches. However I will now choose the modified dress more often. 

Remodelling 

I made one major change to an existing me-made, a brown raglan jacket made some years ago when first learning about fitting. The fabric was leftover from a friend's craft project, but a useful weight for summer. The ancestor pattern was Successful Sewing 8, mine turned out as a sort of long bomber jacket. Unfortunately the jacket felt meh in its proportions on me, and I had to regularly replace the lowest popper which strained when sitting. I removed the hem band and the lower darts to give a straighter somewhat cropped jacket. Would have taken it even shorter if it were not for the pockets. It's still not a great fit, but is better on my petite frame, and is likely to be chosen more often after not a great deal of work. 

Recent me-mades 

February teal cords are a firm favourite. First choice off the clean washing pile for warmth, shape and comfort.

March chocolate brown trousers are a good office choice, or for any semi-formal day with only the odd half-hour walking. The thick fabric is a little stiff at the seams and hence a bit scratchy for a city walks. I think this version needs tiny changes to deal with increasing stretch throughout the day. 

April Morris-esque print jacket, not yet blogged, was very comfortable for travelling and city walks. I also felt suitably dressed for a classical concert and dinner. This version of the pattern is definitely worth tracing and making again in different fabric types.

Summer wardrobe gaps 

I have more brown-toned tops for the summer than bottoms. And more grey-blue trousers than tops. Both pairs of previous sand-coloured trousers are worn out. Despite poor Rtw fit on me, maybe I can find temporary light-weight trousers to take in at low hip or let out at high hip? Edit, end April, found some outdoor trousers size 14 which fit well in leg width and at low hip, but need waist expanding ie back darts reducing in length and width, and using side seam allowance to do the same to the 'waist darts' there. Of course they'll need shortening, and I'll either use what I cut off the length to add to the waistband, or maybe use the belt loop fabric. Not trivial, but a little quicker and cheaper than cutting and sewing a new pair. 

Ongoing

Continue working on a well-fitting tee. The last version, with ancestor pattern Freya from Tilly and the Buttons, was deliberately looser than the previous version, but ended up too wide on my neck, shoulders and biceps. Can I learn anything from the April jacket?

The last woven top, chicken print, feels fine but looks meh near my face. I now wonder if the V-neck was unsuccessful because of my asymmetric shoulders. Can I replace the front neck/yoke area with a round neckline?

What fabric do I have to make trial tops to look nice with any of the blue trousers? Or bottoms to go with favourite brown tops? 

Next year

The plain tops really do need replacing. Buy fabric once patterns are established.