(Stretch) Pattern School back online!

GREAT NEWS! Mr Anderson is back from retirement with his (Stretch) Pattern School 2.0!

I haven’t explored it in details yet (pandemic panic & all), but he says the info has been updated to reflect latest developments in swim / dancewear fabric technology & patternmaking approaches. Unfortunately the free auto-generated custom block feature is gone because the company that host the new website doesn’t offer such sophisticated programming options. But there is now a Pattern & Block Shop for RTW designers & interested home-sewers. Presumably this will be standardised sizing rather than custom based on your measurements, but certainly better than nothing!

There’s also a Pattern School Online Facebook group & he’s also on Instagram (pattern.school.online) if you want to get latest updates from him.

Have fun!

Me Made Maldives of March in May

…hope that’s enough Mmmmm for you, as my brain’s a bit too fried to manage Me Made May this year!

Ok I’m ready!

So, as I was saying, panic holiday sewing… One of the things that the millenials I worked with inspired me to do was to travel more. Or at least focus more on expansive experiences rather than burdensome accumulation of stuff. With that in mind, we decided to treat ourselves to another Maldivian holiday. This time for me it wasn’t just to relax properly, but also to overcome my fear & resistence to try new things. One of these was swimming. I never had a chance to learn as a kid, & as an adult, psychological barriers had put me off learning before. So this was not only to acqure a practical physical skill but also self-psychotherapy. It took up a lot of time & energy. Despite quitting my job a couple of months early, I didn’t start sewing for this holiday until a few weeks before. I could have just taken old me-mades, but a gorgeous exotic location like the Maldives that may disappear with rising sea level deserves better. Plus I can finally put my Stretch Pattern School Block to good use & motivate myself with custom swimwear.

I managed to make 9 quite different items in the end. That’s a record for me, especially since some required muslins as well & others I just had to roll with the punches when new approaches didn’t go according to plan. They don’t quite work as a travel capsule wardorbe – I was churning out whatever that came to mind when I think of beach. But I’m not sweating it. As I said, trying to get looser with my sewing as well. I’ll go into a bit more details about the new makes in future posts, but for now please indulge me in re-living those Mmmm glory days! It’s so rare to have such a beautiful background to parade my me-mades in…

New makes for MMM 2019

  1. Burda 2013-07-125 Mult-style Beach Cover-up Wrap Dress
  2. Self-drafted Dries Van Noten Wannabe Bandeau Tunic Top
  3. Self-drafted Dries Van Noten Wannabe Slim Elasticated Trousers
  4. Franken V1390 Gigli Wannabe Wrap Top
  5. Self-drafted Cover-up Panel Skirt
  6. Self-drafted Halter-tie-neck Bias Dress
  7. Self-drafted VS replacement Bandeau Bikini Top
  8. Self-drafted Asymmetrical 1-piece Swimsuit
  9. Closet Case Ginger Jeans Shorts – Mid Rise

Old makes that also made it to Maldives…

  1. Burda 2012-04-128a Snake Print Cowl Neck Flounce Dress
  2. V1159 Donna Karan Twist Front Dress
  3. Self-drafted Favorite Oops Tent Dress
  4. Burda 2016-08-125 Stripy T with front neckline ties
  5. Altered RTW HiLo Skirt

… & scenery eye-candies …

 

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Changing tack

Is it March already? Blogging mojo obviously hasn’t returned. Life’s been too overwhelming – I’ve given in to the middle age slump. The only way to get things going is to take my perfectionism down a notch.

It’s a bit silly I know – this self-imposed blogging perfectionism. But I don’t think I’m the only one who finds it hard to let down the readers – however few or many there are – once the initial blogging enthusiasm fades. I tried to include in my posts details that I would find useful and inspiring if I were the reader. The hardest bits are the illustrations. I’m not brilliant with the camera. I can never get clear photos of patterns and alterations without resorting to drawing programs. My day job requires a lot of mouse work as well, so I’m beginning to get RSI wrist pains. This makes it harder to keep up the pattern & alteration illustrations. The mug shots and style shots also take a bit of effort and I haven’t mustered the enthusiasm to dress up lately. Perhaps they’re not as useful to other people as they are to me. Still, once you set up a standard it can be hard to let go.

But lowering the standard I must if I’m to get anything done. I may go back & update project posts when the enthusiasm returns. And if there are any particular projects you’d like more details of, please leave a request via the post comments & I’ll prioritise updating those posts.

Finally, thanks for stopping by & reading my blog. I’m not very social by nature, so haven’t been expressive of my gratitude. But I do really appreciate your continuing readership!

Me Made May ’15 – the finishing line

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Yes! I’ve made it! Phew.

It was a bit of a struggle towards the end. May is a long month! I should have read the small prints of my MMM’15 Pledge! Wearing at least one a day wouldn’t have been difficult. But it’s always the paragraphs buried deep in the T&Cs that get you, even if its only self-imposed. Can’t possibly give up half way right?

  • Small print 1: Photo evidence every day please.
    This turned out harder than I expected. I got bored with bog standard selfies quite quickly. And unless it’s a useful mugshot it has to have entertainment value for me. Something interesting. Or beautiful. Or tells a story.
  • Small print 2: Drag every wearable MMs out of the closet. Spread the love a bit more evenly. No playing favorite.
    I’ve been a bad mother neglecting some of the MMs. Do you do that? I mean not just special occasion stuff that we knew from the start we weren’t going to wear much if at all. But also perfectly practical makes that just got forgotten going from one big stash (of the fabrics kind) into another big stash (of the Me-Made kind)? Fast Fashion of the Me-Made kind?

Now if you’ll excuse me I have a big pile of MMs to launder.

Me-Made last 15-sec of fame:

25 May: Top: McCall 6078, Skirt: Burda 2011-08-121, Cardi: self-drafted Dolce & Gabbana Wannabe;
26 May: Top: altered RTW, Skirt: self-drafted;
27 May: Top: Vogue Donna Karan 1282, Skirt: self-drafted pencil skirt;
28 May: Top: self-draped altered RTW, Dress: Burda 2012-04-128a;
29 May: Top: self-drafted wearble muslin, Skirt: self-drafted petticoat skirt;
30 May: Dress: self-draped Fortuny Delphos Wannabe, Cardi: modified Burda 2011-06-139;
31 May: Top: Vogue Genny 1390a Gigli Wannabe, Dress: Vogue Donna Karan 1159;

| More about Me Made May | #mmmay15 on Flickr | #mmmay15 on Pinterest |

 

Me Made May ’15 – week 4

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After the high comes the low. This week was a bit of a slug. Not least because trying to sort out missed US tax returns after emigrating to the UK is sucking all the life force (and mulla) out of me. Did you know that if you’re foreign, but happened to have been born while your parents were visiting America, then the good o’ US of A consider you a citizen and will come after you for back taxes and returns decades later?  Never mind that you have no other ties to the USA and never lived in America…No, not my situation, but happened to someone I know. (He now has to pay Uncle Sam $2k+ to renounce his never asked for citizenship.) Imagine if all countries do that. Imagine if high tax Sweden claim you as their own and want you to file decades of tax returns and pay the taxes + interests + penalties you owe them. Crazy innit. OK, rant over. Back to MMM…

Me-Made Week 4:

18 May: Top: modified McCall 6078c , Skirt: altered RTW;
19 May: T-Shirt: self-drafted, Skirt: self-drafted straight skirt;
20 May: T-Shirt: Vogue 2980, Skirt: self-drafted pencil skirt;
21 May: T-Shirt: Burda 2010-02-122, Skirt: self-drafted pencil skirt;
22 May: Dress: self-drafted best Oops ever!;
23 May: Tunic: self-drafted;
24 May: Bolero Jacket: self-drafted, Camisole: modified Burda 2012-04-128;

| More about Me Made May | #mmmay15 on Flickr | #mmmay15 on Pinterest |