I have looked into ticket prices to move to the north pole for the rest of the Me Made May challenge and decided it might be cheaper (and healthier for the baby) if I stayed here and actually made a few items to wear for the rest of the challenge.

I think I mentioned a while ago that I am experimenting on the perfect breastfeeding top. I am thinking of a loose double layer top where the bottom one has two slashes for easy access. This is still in progress, I struggled with neatening the edges of the slashes properly and threw it in a corner. In the meantime I decided to order a schnittreif pattern that I had seen on a blog somewhere. When browsing their shop, I bought other patterns too. Some of them are extremely unsuitable for breastfeeding but I guess I will stop at some point.

Anyway, I decided to make first a Frau Emma to see how it goes before I will make the much cooler Usedom. I think, whilst those two might not be the perfect breastfeeding tops, they are at least breastfeeding friendly as they are loose and can just be pulled up. Which is why I made my trial Emma even with a loose hem rather than a ribbing. I started with it last weekend. First, I took my measurements to see which size I’ll need. Let me just say that my measurements have changed slightly over the years, pregnancies and children….

The good news is that all of a sudden, my chest measurements are about the same as my hips. That sounds a lot like an hourglass figure. Which is the ideal female bodyshape in my opinion. So, I am two thirds there. Hurray! Lets have a look at my waist then just to confirm! Oh, the same number! Is the measuring tape broken? No? Hmm. So, what does that make me? A stick? (sounds slightly more flattering than barrel or drum).

Anyway, I made a Frau Emma, size L, using a cheap viscose jersey from Shepherds Bush. It is just a trial but if if works well, it will actually be a nice top.

Hmm.

It is not flattering, that’s for sure. I think I should have made it a size smaller. But the hem is not cool. Easy to pull up the shirt but not cool.

I used contrasting pink for the sleeves and for the hem line seam. The orange of the 80’s skirt looks much cooler. Great, now my 6 years old is cooler than me.

I am also not sure of the neckline.

Actually, I am sure about it. I am sure I don’t like it. It is not the patterns fault. It is me. Maybe I liked it better when made with an even thinner material, possibly woven fabric. The ruffle is too bulky for my liking. But lets move on.

I am usually quite a fan of those loose tops with a stretchy and tight hem. Which seems to be called “bubble hem”. Right. So I quite like bubble hem tops. Except that they are always a bit short and keep coming up. Which is bad in combination with those low waist trousers. I don’t like them. They expose my kidneys to cold draft. I am an old, uncool woman. I don’t like that. I want warm and cosy kidneys. (I have recently invested in two Japanese belly warmers. They are nice. But I would just prefer long enough shirts and high enough waistlines. )

Anyway, I thought, I might give it a go and just cut a hole into the existing hemline to insert an elastic.

Not too bad from the front.

But still too much material at the back. Which I take as a definite sign for a size too big.

As I was experimenting and the shirt was now in a rather unexciting state, I wanted to take it a step further and replaced the existing hemline with a wide-ish stretch jersey to make it more jumperlike. This would have been one of the initial options of the pattern anyway. Except that there would have been a cutting line about 6cm higher than my hemline. I decided to just cut off those two cm where I had stitched the hem to make it longer.

I measured the needed width by putting it actually around my hips. I needed to really stretch it when I stitched it to the grey fabric.

Which doesn’t look great as you can see.  Another sign that large was actually  a size too big for me. Thankfully.

Normally I wouldn’t wear it like this. It is not meant to look like a mini dress. So: The back still looks wrong. And actually it is too long now. Ha, who would have thought. I’ll leave it as it is for now. But it will probably still only be something I want to wear at home or to exercise.

If I used the pattern again, then definitely size M and with a waistband. But to be honest, I am not sure if the ruffled neckline and I will ever be friends.

Next step will rather be the Usedom. And I guess I will go for size M this time.

For now, I will just quickly put this online. Wow, two posts in one day.

But there is not only Me Made May – in the German blogging world there is RUMS on Thursday, where female bloggers show off what they made for themselves. So I guess, I should always do my MMM posts on a Thursday and link it with RUMS to then see what others have made. Off we go.