Skirts

 So here we are again, another May of Me Mades’s. Head on over to Zoe’s blog to find out more. Honestly this year I’ve started out without a pledge or plan, just chucking on my me mades as usual, but today I think I have decided on my focus for this #mmmay17 Yes that is a giant pile of clean laundry on my sofa! #mmm17 day 3 and I have been feeling guilty for not giving myself an actual challenge this year. I wear me mades most days, but I have gained a lot of weight recently….gotta love the peri menopause and a knackered thyroid 🙄 Trying hard to focus on body positivity instead of diets which make me sad….anyway this all means that lots of my clothes just don’t fit well anymore, so this month I am weeding those out and starting afresh! Today I am wearing a #maudeskirt Which co incidentally I am talking about on my You Tube Channel; this week it is part 2, just search Lazy Seamstress on You Tube to find me 😊 ...

It’s been a while since I made myself a Maude Skirt. I do love this pattern so much; I can squeeze it out of a metre of fabric usually, it stitches together super quick, even with the pockets, and it’s a flattering easy style. I had made one up recently for a future issue of Love Sewing Magazine (you’ll have to wait to see photos of that one.), and I was reminded how much I love making up this skirt, and also how I have wanted to make a denim one ever since the very talented Jayne had made a denim one when the pattern was still being tested. ...

Tuesday was the day of my yearly mammogram so Woody had the day off to take me to the hospital. This year’s appointment was in the morning, so we went for lunch in Stockport’s Old Town afterwards, and did a little bit of vintage shopping at the same time. Stockport is well known for it’s Vintage Village and over the past few years a few vintage shops have also sprung up around the market place. I found this piece of vintage fabric in one of the shops for £5, probably a bit more than I’d usually pay in a charity shop, but still reasonable, and so bright and cheery I couldn’t really resist! It is a home dec fabric, the kind I think we had bathroom curtains made from when I was young. Of course it’s intended purpose never bothers me, I knew I wanted a simple A line skirt in it. The Delphine skirt by Tilly Walnes is a fab A line pattern, a nice high waist and the kind of exagerated A line I love. I do think that this is my current favourite A line pattern, taken over from my own draft! I’m calling it my Crystal Tips skirt because the bright colours remind me of a childhood cartoon Crystal Tips and Alistair. ...

I spotted this gorgeous orange plaid/tartan* wool fabric in Abakhan quite some time ago, I stroked it and admired it, but at £10 a metre it was a teeny bit pricey for me, so I left green with envy at the lady buying several metres of it to make herself a coat. Fast forward and on a recent shopping trip, I spotted the very last metre left on the roll and figured £10 was actually not at all too much to pay for enough fabric to make a skirt and I snapped it up. I’d had an urge to make an asymetric wrap skirt for a while after spotting one in TKMaxx and several in Marks and Spencers. I used my skirt block to draft the pattern. The back is one piece with waist darts and the front under wrap is one piece, while the overwrap is yoked. The skirt fastens at the right waist with a hidden button and at the front with an exposed open ended zip. I cut the front wrap with the straight grain going vertically from the waist, but in retrospect that was a mistake, as the edge of the front wrap doesn’t hang as nicely as I’d hoped. Still a great skirt though, and has a kind of “post punk” vibe with the exposed zip. I wore it with my pleather biker jacket and my vegan dm’s which I think works. The offcuts of fabric made a cute beret too, but I’m not sure I can really get away with being so matchy matchy, so haven’t braved wearing the two together yet, despite encouragement from India. ...

I had this notion that now I’m childfree during school hours I would have so much time to complete all the projects I seem to constantly have on the go, but somehow that hasn’t happened! I’ve been working every weekend at Ministry of Craft , the only weekend I haven’t worked I was hosting the La Leche League Great Britian National Workshop along with my co leaders from LLL Manchester. Add to that general Mumming and it’s all been a bit hectic! So no, Nora, Nell and Nancy my newest pattern is not yet available to buy, but soon, soon, I promise. I’m currently looking into alternative printing options for my paper patterns, but I’ll update here as soon as they are ready. Of course, no time to sew for myself means I have to plan and planning means shopping…I think? My sewing friend and neighbour offered to let me tag along next time she went up to Burnley to Immanuels, and all I can say is WOW!!! I may have won the competition to see who spent the most out of those of us who went. I only spent £38, but I got a huge amount of scrummy fabrics for that price. Including this odd, yet somehow divine quited yumminess! ...

I don’t look too happy do I? I spent today making this plaid circle skirt to distract myself from the thought of a dentist appointment at the end of the day, and because yesterday I saw a deeply unflattering photo of myself, so the need for something pretty to cheer me up was very needed. A simple mid length circle skirt with large patch pockets, high waistband and belt loops. Fabric from Abakhan, thanks to my lovely friend Mary who keeps an eye out for fabric she knows I’ll love. I already have a dress in this same fabric, in the yellow colourway, and I love that! ...

I sew a lot, a heck of a lot and for lots of reasons; I love clothes, I don’t often like clothes available on the high street and if I do I can’t afford them or they don’t fit. I have a compulsion to create and make, sewing is my preferred method. Sewing eases my heart and my soul. I can’t explain it, but something about the process brings peace. It’s my job! I love designing patterns, and I love teaching at Ministry of Craft or one to one classes in my home. Although I sew lots, not everything works out. I rarely am 100% satisfied with anything I make, I am always striving for a better finish, but sometimes things just really don’t work, like this skirt. The beautiful fabric was picked for me by my fabric dealer friend, Mary. She knows my taste so well and often picks things she knows I’ll love. ...

A few weeks ago I had an email inviting me to take part in a craft competition run by Hilary’s Blinds. I was given a choice of four of the fab prints they have in their very extensive range, and I chose Rayna Apple. I was sent one square metre of fabric very promptly and began planning. (And double checking that I could use a co ordinating fabric alongside the Rayna Apple.) So, with an idea of what I wanted to do I started work drafting a pattern. Initially I wanted to make a dress, using my co ordinating fabric as the bodice. So using my personal bodice block I drafted a scoop slightly gathered neck bodice with button front fastening…I was clearly feeling brave because button fronts on my boobs rarely works well! ...