black + white

a bit of weekend sewing,
I'd had this pillow on my mind for a while.

how was your weekend?

a few thoughts on wearing things

Over the last year or so I've been thinking a lot about the things I wear, where they come from
and where they go when I stop loving them or when they fall apart. I've been trying to make more and more
of the clothes I wear, to not impulse-buy things, and to invest into fewer but better quality pieces.
But sometimes I find it difficult to stick to my good resolutions.

I'm a big fan of Zoe's blog, she has my greatest respect for having joined the wardrobe-refashion pledge for life (!)
and writes a lot about purchasing less new things and mending things you have.
Inspired by the Makeshift Project Zoe invented her own little project in march wearing only clothes she has made
(with the exception of shoes, tights and socks I think), and now another one this month: Me-Made-May.
She asked for readers to join her (in a light version if one doesn't have a full self-made wardrobe), and that's what I'll be doing.

So for all of May all the tops, dresses, skirts and leggings I will be wearing will be made by me.
That will necessarily lead to me wearing at least one hand made item per day, but also lets me wear items
that I don't really see myself making any time soon (cardigans, jeans, underwear).

I won't be posting too much about this on my blog, but if you're interested hop on over to the
Me-Made-May group on flickr and have a look at what everyone is doing.

I hope you're having a great weekend!
Today it's summer here in NYC.

sewing: stripey dress

a simple jersey dress I made last week.
I've wanted to have a stripey dress for so long!

sewing: grey jersey top

I have been sewing a lot these last days and finally got round to taking the first pictures.

I made this top this morning, it was incredibly quick to make.
It has kimono sleeves and consists of only three pattern pieces.
I made it of a very soft and stretchy grey jersey and it's very comfortable.
The pattern is Vogue 8534. I'd definitely recommend it.

dress rehearsal

The dress I am making for a special occasion next week is almost finished.

It's made of black and white cross-weave linen, the yoke is my granddad's old lace tablecloth on top of the cross-weave.

I'm very excited.