Making my winter wardrobe

Now that the weather is starting to cool down, I'm realising how few me-made winter clothes I have - although I've been doing lots of sewing, it's mostly been summer dresses and tops. It seems it's now time to focus on some warmer options, so I have sketched a few basic items that I think will be good to start with:

As you can see, my winter sewing will begin with a coat, a Colette Laurel top, a black knit swing top (similar to the one featured here), jeans (dark purple velvet??), a cross-over knit top, a hand-embellished knit skirt (in the style of Alabama Chanin), a basic knit dress and a hoodie with track pants. I'm also planning to make a hat and perhaps some new boots too. This list is going to keep me pretty busy in the coming weeks, but it will be great to have some new me-made items to choose from on these cool autumn/winter mornings. I look forward to sharing my progress with you here on the blog. 

And what about you - has the changing weather made you think about new sewing projects?

Me-Made-May'13 Week 2

I'm really enjoying seeing all the self-made clothing that people are wearing for the Me-Made-May'13 challenge. If you'd like to have a look, check out the flickr page - so many talented and creative people!

Here are my three me-made outfits for the week:

On what looks like the last warm sunny day for a while, I wore my green floral (slightly modified) Cambie dress and my handmade sandals and ring to the farmer's market. With both the floral print fabric and the lining being cotton voile, this dress is so light and comfortable to wear in the warmer weather, and was probably one of my most worn items all summer.

This is a close-up of the me-made ring in the previous photo. I simply threaded a small bead onto a piece of sterling silver wire and wrapped it around my ring mandrel - a bit of an experiment really.

As the weather started to cool down on Mother's Day, I wore my me-made jersey dress and shoes with a pair of full-length leggings and long sleeve top. For a hint of colour (and extra warmth) I also wore this super-soft scarf (can you tell yet that I love the colour purple??)

My third me-made outfit for the week included a purple knit top, similar to the first top I wore as part of the Me-Made-May'13 challenge. I wore it with a refashioned black velvet skirt and full-length leggings. As I've worn these me-made shoes previously in the challenge (and because it was cold!), I added the black scarf I knitted last winter.

Me-Made-May'13 Week 1

It's fun challenging myself to wear at least one item of handmade clothing and one handmade accessory three days per week as part of Me-Made-May'13. Here's how I've gone this week:

I had to start with my favourite top, made and lived in last winter. I haven't had much of a chance to wear it yet this year, but the cooler weather last week meant it could finally come out of my wardrobe. I wore it with a skirt I made several years ago, layered over leggings, and my handmade purple court shoes - these were the second pair of court shoes I made when studying shoemaking. 

The cool autumn weather didn't last too long, and it's been back to lovely sunny days over the weekend - perfect for walking on the beach. I wore my self-made blue cotton voile top with 3/4 length cargos, along with a pair of earrings and a bracelet that I made over summer. The earrings and bracelet are pretty hard to see in the photo above, so here's a close up below:

And finally, I finished the weekend in a self-made dress (a modified Cambie). I wore it with my handmade sandals - I made them for an assignment when I was studying shoemaking and as you can probably tell from the photo, they got a lot of wear over summer. I'll have to make a new pair for next year!

Thanks Zoe!

After enjoying reading and being inspired by other creative people's blogs for the past couple of years, I have finally decided to take the plunge and start my own. It's something I've been thinking of doing for quite a while, and Zoe's Me-Made-May '13 Challenge seems the perfect opportunity to start - thanks for the motivation Zoe!! So here goes...

I, Peta of A Handmade World, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear at least one self-made item of clothing and one self-made accessory (hat/shoes/jewellery/scarf) three days per week during the month of May 2013.

I look forward to sharing how I go in the Me-Made challenge here on the blog, as well as posting about some of my other creative pursuits and sources of inspiration. If you'd like to see how other participants in the Me-Made challenge are going, you can check out the flickr page.

By the way, if you're wondering about the shoes at the top of this post - they're the first pair of derby ankle boots I made (and in my favourite colour too!!)