Me Made May 13: Warming Up

With less than 10 days to go and only a few hours of child free sewing time to spare this week, my Me Made May 13 pledge is hanging over my head like Damacles’ Janome 1560. Having duly signed up on So Zo’s blog and discussed my options in my own, I then had to give serious thought to what I could actually make. Vague notions of a lovely dress to swan about in were swiftly abandoned when I considered the fact that a) I’m not really much of a dress person, unless I’m going to a wedding, a funeral or a ball, and b) I spend most of my time at home, crawling around on the floor, pretending to be a monster, a baddie, a dragon and/or clutching a seven month old under one arm like a rugby ball, whilst trying to hoover, cook lunch and load and unload the washing machine a gazillion times a day.

One man’s duvet cover is another man’s fabric haul

So I have plumped instead to make a pair of pyjama bottoms, which, given the amount of time I spend in my PJs, makes perfect sense. If this goes to plan, I will then attempt a top of some sort, probably sleeveless, or a long swishy skirt, of the kind that my mum used to make for me when I was a teenager. But before I even got to the stage of starting of thinking about fabric and feeling like these slightly daunting projects were going to be achievable, a shocking thing happened. Zoe, of So Zo and Me Made May fame, mentioned me in her blog …

Well, actually just before that, she graced these very pages with her presence, declaring me to be “awesome” (blushing now) and taking time to direct me towards a dress pattern she thought would be good for a first timer. I was extremely touched and replied (gushingly) as soon as I saw the comment. Saturday morning saw the shining of the sun round these parts, for the first time in what seems like at least a decade, and to celebrate we headed off for a local boot fair, with the intention of looking for some fabric for turning into my MMM PJ botts. Checking my WordPress reader before I left, I leapt with joy to see that Zoe had mentioned me in her post and gleefully showed my husband, before skipping off to rummage through other people’s random possessions. On my return I saw that my blog had suddenly become a whole lot more popular than it was before, with hits coming literally from all around the globe – all thanks to Zoe. So now I have the eyes of the sewing world upon me as I contemplate my Me Made May challenges, (welcome aboard Luxembourg, Sweden, Lithuania, Israel, Latvia, Iraq and Norway!), it feels even more daunting. And somewhat like I am taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Big, bright florals just perfect for summer

To ease myself into the grownup sewing more gently I spent much of the weekend doing the equivalent of running mini marathons before the big event itself. Doing some warm up sessions on the sewing machine, I made some bunting for my little girl’s room, re-fashioned two maternity tops, and attempted to transcribe a pattern for a dress from a 23 year old Burda magazine which I gave up on almost instantly due to the hideously complicated nature of the spaghetti squiggle red and blue lines, and the fact that my knees were starting to complain vigorously (thank you Jillian Michaels). This casual sewing is all taking place to distract me from the fact that I now have to get on with the real deal: I have to start sewing properly.

A little piece of vintage Liberty

I know its only a pair of pyjama bottoms, but I can feel the fear of failure creeping up on me now I near the starting line. Also as  I have banged on about this challenge to anyone who will listen, there will be several people waiting to see how my sewn creations turn out. So for those very reasons I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on the fabric for any of the MMM items, as I can feel in my bones that I am bound to bugger it up at some point. But a scout through my mother’s fabric stash and several hours at no less than two boot fairs have resulted in a what I think is a pretty good haul: a double duvet cover in cream with a satin band of embroidered flowers around the bottom, a very large Indian blue and red printed sheet, pink and yellow floral cotton, and a piece of silky Liberty print in blue and pink.

So now I just need to get cutting, pinning, sewing and sweating, as I create my very first garment for me. Eeek – wish me luck!

Winning!

STOP PRESS! More excitement from the world of grownup sewing, patterns and whatnot. I have just won my very first giveaway! Purls and Pleats from over the pond picked my name out of a hat and is sending me the delightful Butterick Gertie B5882 Misses Dress. Despite not being a Miss, and in fact not having the skill or courage to make such a dress as yet, I am thrilled to bits to have won it. Big thanks to Marrie for hosting the comp.