Studio Diary: Finishing Some Me-Mades in May

Another week and another to-do list of projects that need to be completed. I’m going to be away in June to ‘finalise’ some wedding bits – meeting with the vicar for the special license, a fitting for two bridesmaids, making the wedding cake and collecting the fabrics for my wedding ‘gown’…

I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone for, so there may be just one or two Studio Diary entries this month, unless you’re happy to have ‘Studio Goes Awol‘ type updates? Let me know in the comments!

That reminds me, if you want to follow along with wedding related posts, I have a DIY wedding category here you can catch up on!

This Week’s 5 Main Goals

Okay, onto the goals for this week. You know the drill – these are the top five, but I’m sure others will sneak in as the week progresses and I feel inspired!

Goal No.1: Finish recording the Me Made Garment online course!

Goal No.2: Next up I would love to finish the shirt I made for the first Creative Dressmaking project.

Goal No.3: A wearable toile for Cheeky Shorts

Goal No.4: Complete the project I’m making for Me Made Garment example.

Goal No.5: Start the next Reese Wrap top sample

Me Made Garment Course

While this doesn’t ‘sound’ studio related, it is, because I am making a project up to show students my design and making process. It feels sensible to work on something alongside them, and as I would like to finish up recording the Design & Make Your First Me Made Garment course this week, I need to put this top!

So far the feedback has been great, and I want to make this the best I possibly can!

Update: I did manage to get two more weeks recorded, and just need to edit those lessons up and upload them ready.

Creative Dressmaking: Shirt Project

I adored working on this first project inside my membership, and I did wear it on Christmas Day albeit pinned together down the button stand.

I made it in a gorgeous red linen and I need to add buttons so I can wear it properly. I’m not the biggest fan of making button holes by machine, but I do seem to have a nice relationship with my current sewing machine – and I’m hopeful. Let’s see how it goes!

Update: I did not get the button holes sewn as I didn’t have daylight time to go through my button stash for a matching set. Will attempt this again next week.

Cheeky Shorts Wearable Toile

Isn’t it funny how we can have an idea during one season… not get to completing it and then the moment warmer weather comes around the following year it goes straight to the top of the pile?

The ‘cheeky’ shorts are short and cheeky, and I loved the wearable toile with the ruffle from last year. My plan is to use a hand-me-down cotton shirt to test the fit changes I made to the pattern.

Update: I finished the wearable toile this afternoon and think they’re fun. I did not have enough fabric in the shirt to make a ruffle, so they have a simple single fold hem for now. And yes, they are super short without the ruffle, but these will work well as a sleep short, so it’s cool.

My ‘Me Made Garment’ Project

I’m working on a wrap style top as my project for this online course. I started with the Magnolia pattern from Deer & Doe, which is what I planned to use for my bridesmaids’ and maid of honour’s dresses, so it made sense to me to put the pattern to the test on something else.

The initial basic toile was cut and sewn over the weekend so now I need to make the changes and see if a second toile will work, or whether I go back to the drawing board. The issue I have is I am so used to drafting and working with my own patterns that using someone else’s does sometimes take me longer to hack than one of my own…

Update: I did sew a second toile and I again did not like it on me. I think next week I will take my basic block and develop that into the pattern for my project.

Reese Wrap Sample

I made a sample in December which was wearable for the holiday season. I need another sample to check the fit adjustments I made to the pattern. I’m hoping to get this made up this week in a cream/off white knit fabric I got especially, but we’ll see.

If I do, I’ll be opening this up for testing in late June!

Update: I did not get the sample sewn but I did get it cut out and ready to sew next week!

Other Possible Workroom Projects

You know I like a good list of projects on the go, so of course there are a few more I’d like to tackle if time allows.

Trigg Shorts

My man loves a good pair of summer shorts, and although he does have a couple pairs of shorts that I made in previous years, he could use another pair now the weather is warmer.

I’m planning on making him a pair in the same linen-esque fabric that I made his Solberg jacket from two Christmases back… I don’t seem to have a photo of it on the blog so will pop the technical drawing in of the pattern now until I take a new photo this week!

Brown Linen Trousers

I made a gorgeous pair of trousers for the second Creative dressmaking membership project and I adore them.. but they’re a tad too voluminous for me. I want to take out the excess volume in the outer leg and perhaps a smidgeon from the inseams too.

They’re made from a lovely dark brown linen and I do love them.. I just need them to be a bit closer in fit than I originally designed them to be!

Update: I did get these modified! I took in the side seams and the inseam, and modified the CB and CF crotch curve too and now the fit is significantly better.

White Cheeky Shorts

I keep teasing the man that I’m going to make a pair of cheeky shorts in white to take back to the UK… I’m a little cheeky and want to tease his mom that the shorts will be my ‘post-ceremony’ look for the wedding breakfast! He says I’ve terribly mean, but I do like a giggle!

This is not a priority project though, and as the cheeky short pattern has too much volume (at present) to work with a corseted bodice, I should probably not attempt this… Probably.

Update #1: Next week perhaps. I did not even bother with this. We had far too much heat in the workroom this week so I pushed this to one side and focused on activities that did not require me to be sat in front

Update #2: I ended up using this fabric for some new GWEN&SYD products.

End of Week Recap

It has been a busy week, and by the end of Friday I knew that I’d done too much. Juggling editing the new course materials, working on the wedding, trying to get ahead by doing twice the work so I can take August off for the wedding. It’s been a long hard week.

That said, I am very chuffed with all the itty bitty bits I got ticked off in the studio. My hanging rail is looking a bit sparse now and I have space for new projects – but I’ll hold off on adding any for now, still much to get done before I go to the UK!

Let me know what you’re working at the moment in the comments! And if you’re new here, you can catch up on all the previous Studio Diary entries here or jump ahead to the next one here!