Spring brings new life…. into my wardrobe

Posted on 12/05/2016 by atelieroursonne

A week has passed since the last Me Made May post and lets see where we are pledgewise…

Wardrobe is still unsorted, but I still have 2 weeks to do that.

I have been wearing me made things 4 times already, but only two different items.

One of them is a new make, so lets have a look:

As you might remember I bought a couple of schnittreif patterns, started with a Frau Emma size L which turned out too big so I made the batwing shirt Usedom, my preferred pattern anyway in size M. Which was a good decision.

I had bought quite a lot of cheap viscose jersey for my breastfeeding top project and intended to use a bit of the teal one as I thought that might look classy.

But then I realised that the left overs of the plum-magenta (not sure how you would call this colour), bought at least two years ago, might just be enough. I would need some stretch jersey for neck, hemline and cuffs though and found a bit of orange and a bit of teal. What a coincidence. If not a sign. Could we say that this is my all time favourite colour combination?

I had even considered it for the fashion course dress which in the end I kept simple 😉 with teal-orange and shiny anthracite for a more glamorous evening look. I wanted a good mark and I am happy with the final dress but just imagine those trims would have been in bright magenta!

But back to the actual topic of this post. The signs or the destiny of my fabric boxes. I swear there was only this one small piece of teal stretch jersey left to make those two cuffs and a slightly bigger and especially longer piece of orange to cut two stripes for neck and hem. If that is not a sign than I don’t know. Plus I would not have had enough of the magenta jersey to make the whole thing (nor would it have been stretchy enough)

After all that excitement I am slightlly disappointed colourwise. It is not horrible but it doesn’t really work. I am not sure why. Is it unbalanced? The orange is much lighter than the teal and the magenta. So it should be the one in the middle. It’s actually the cuffs that I don’t like. So maybe they just shouldn’t be in a different colour? I am kind of considering to chop them off. And put orange ones instead. It would at least be more balanced. But maybe too pyjama-y. And I could use the teal ones to make an all teal Usedom. I think that could work well.

All this talking about the colour combination sounds a bit out of proportion negative, I do still like that particular combination. But lets have a look at the shape and fit. I really like it. It is loose without being unflattering. And it is totally different from the rest of my wardrobe. Plus, even if it is not a breastfeeding top, it is still bf friendly.

So there will be defintily more Usedoms joining the family, maybe even cuffless ones. I think that might be nice and airy for summer.

Enough talking, time to sleep and only ten minutes left for the RUMS deadline, so I better hurry and link it there. And then I can see what others have made for themselves.

More Oh dear, oh dear

Posted on 05/05/2016 by atelieroursonne

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.

Me Made May or Oh dear, oh dear

Posted on 05/05/2016 by atelieroursonne

Yesterday, I read a blog post about Me Made May, a challenge just perfect for me as I often make things for others but not for me. Initially I wanted to participate next year but then I thought, better now and half hearted than forgetting about it (which is what would happen in the deep darkness of my brain, lets face it). It just made me pick up a few things (and thoughts) that I had lost in the piles of work.

So I pledged to sort out my wardrobe (which is still blocked by pregnancy clothes), to continue certain projects and to actually wear my me made stuff three times a week. So lets have a look at some of the things that I have actually made for myself (as part of the sorting out the wardrobe pledge)

This is actually one of the first items I have sewn for myself (not counting some experiments as a teenager, for example the christmas tree outfit for carnival). I had used a Burda pattern, following my measurements and it turned out to be about three sizes too big. I wanted to donate it to a charity shop and make a new one but my lovely sewing teacher showed me a few tricks, most importantly making that little pleat in the neckline to bring the front in.

at the back, we made the darts longer, basically up to the neckline which was far too wide for my narrow shoulders.

I am pleased I had altered the initial one rather than making a new one and I would definitely still wear it but breastfeedingwise it is not quite ideal 🙂

I would also love to wear the next one, but again, not exactly ideal for breastfeeding. This is the same pattern but modified to fit me (still needed to add that little pleat though).

A couple of skirts which definitely don’t interfere with the feeding:

A super comfy one, using a pattydoo pattern:

Recognise the fabric? Great idea but never really fitted.

Another pattydoo skirt. Might make another one.

A pleated skirt made for my nieces baptism, when I was a little bit pregnant.

The aim is to turn it into a non-maternity skirt…. it actually still fits as I made it to be worn under the bump. But there was a pleat mistake on the side so I will have to redo it definitely. Or maybe turn it into a dress. I liked the fabric so much that I had bought the remnant piece when I saw it. It might be enough for a bodice.

And one pregnancy top. That one might actually still fit, it is just a bit long.

And then there is the fashion course dress. Not technically for me but also not for anybody else. But anyway, wool and too hot for now.

And the coat, lets not forget the coat:

Obviously too warm for now.

Let’s not forget about the knits:

3-in-1 by alfa design, still amazing, a bit tight these days but too hot anyway.

A summer top. This could actually work. Just not suitable for baby vomit as difficult to wash.

And then a handful of accessories:

Oh dear, oh dear, what have I been thinking. How will I be able to wear a me made item three times a week? I actually own more than I thought I would. I just didn’t realise how unsuitable they are (one of the big points of me made items… usually). I guess, I’ll have to move to the north pole for the rest of the month and start bottle feeding.

Scrap Sunday: 80s pop queen

Posted on 01/05/2016 by atelieroursonne

In my surprise bag by Michas Stoffecke I got a piece of grey jersey with kind of sparkly stars. Not my thing but extremely cool for a 6 year old. 6 is not little anymore as we have recently discovered. 6 is the new 13.

Anyway, in the Klimperklein book there is this pattern for a simple skirt with ribbing at the waist and I thought this would actually give a great 80s ~~trash~~ pop look.

It is far from being my favourite piece of work but I think the fabrics and the pattern are a perfect match. And in combination with a sparkly Hello Kitty top definitely a perfect 80s look. Not that I would know what 80s are supposed to look like. I was obviously not there 😉

Atelier Oursonne

handmade for you

Tag Archives: sewing

Spring brings new life…. into my wardrobe

More Oh dear, oh dear

Me Made May or Oh dear, oh dear

Scrap Sunday: 80s pop queen