Me Made May round-up: Week 1

Hello and happy May Day bank holiday to everyone who has a bank holiday today (I was going to say to everyone in the UK but I think perhaps Scotland does not have this day off...or did I make that up?!). It's a beautiful sunny day which is glorious, although I was not feeling so pleased about it when I went for a long and very hot run in it this morning (10K if you're interested, in preperation for the Bupa Women's 10K in Glasgow next Sunday, eep!). But now the running is over and I have no plans but BBQing and chilling for the rest of the day, I am ready to embrace the weather! I hope it's lovley where you are too.

Right, so, Me Made May! This year I have pledged to wear me-made garments at least 3 times a week. I will be doing a weekly round up each weekend (yes I missed the ball this time but hey ho, since it is a bank holiday today counts as a weekend!). I have decided to used calender weeks (Monday to Sunday) rather than counting each 7 day week from 1st May as my brain is easily confused and it's easier to keep track of things this way. So without further ado:

Day 1

 

 



 

Apologies for the overly bright photo, it was impossible to get anything better in the morning sun! Here I am wearing my Sewaholic Minoru jacket and (also Sewaholic) Renfrew top. Slightly boring outfit, but I struggle with work wear! I wear these two garments all the time, they are comfortable and practical, what more could I ask for.

 

Day 3

 

 

Casual Friday today - sporting a Colette patterns Sorbetto top. I haven't worn this top much recently, but I enjoyed wearing it and I think it will be brought out more often in future, especially during the remainder of Me Made May!

 

Day 4

 

 

Wearing my Sewaholic patterns Crescent skirt. This was one of the first garments I made, and still remains one of my most loved and most worn. I am plotting another crescent skirt or two in plain fabrics as I think it would make a great wardrobe staple. Oh and yes - that is the world famous Birmingham rag market in the background!

 

On Saturday Marie and I went on a reconasance mission to Birmingham in preperation for the meet up we are hosting along with Claire on 15th June (not long now - are you getting excited!?). What were we doing you may well ask - well, we mapped the rag market - quite literally!

 

 



Yep we've compiled a visual representation of all the best fabric and notions stalls to help you out on the day. Can you tell we're excited? I had to get a picture of Marie and I with the results of all our hard work so we asked a young Chinese couple to take a picture of us...

 

 

 

I think perhaps in retrospect I should have explained to them that we would be posing with a peice of paper and making silly faces because they looked extreamly confused and kept asking "Are you ok?" "Is that your pose??". Much hilarity was had. There were sillier pictures but my camera has a habit of randomly deleting pictures and so we have been left with the sensible one - probably for the best!

 

Oh and in case you were wondering, I didn't buy a single piece of fabric during my trip to Birmingham - I was so proud of myself. I am committed to my stash busting challenge and this weekend I have started work on the first of the three garments I muct complete before the meet-up. I am determined to succeed!

 

What are you up to this long weekend - do you have any sewing plans or will you be out enjoying the sunshine? Or are you at work (boo!)? 

 

K xx

 



Yorkshire dales and British yarn

Hello everyone, and happy May! It's been a beautiful day here today and I'm feeling rather cheerful! This could also be partly due to how much I have enjoyed looking at everyone's day one Me-Made-May outfits on Flickr. I am amazed by the variety of outfits as well as all the great backdrops that everyone has used for their photographs. There will be a round up post from me coming at the weekend, but it's clear already that I am going to have to up my game!

Last weekend me and Mr.KK went away for a long weekend in the Yorkshire Dales. It was great to get away and although the weather was mixed (sunshine, rain and hail all within an hour!) we still had a lovely time. I do love the countryside. We spent our time walking in the dales through fields and field of lambs of various ages and daffodils a-plenty - it all felt very springlike!

We stayed in a small town called Hawes and on a wander through I was delighted to spy a knitting shop - so of course we had to pay a visit. The shop is called the Knitting Basket and it stocks a great selection of yarns, including a number of locally spun and British yarns. Having spent the weekend surrounded by sheep, I felt it was only right to purchase some local yarn!

I came away with two skeins of blue faced Leicester yarn in the 'owl' colourway (of course!). This yarn is so beautifully soft, and was spun locally in Yorkshire at the mill of the West Yorkshire Spinners. I love the fact that I can show you a picture of the breed of sheep it came from - take that cheap acrylic "wool"! I can't wait to use it - I think it would make a lovely scarf.

For a while now I have been thinking more about the yarn I use in my knitting, what it is made of and where it come from, as a result of reading the blogs of wonderful people such as Roobeedoo, who is an advocate of independent British yarn companies, as well as going to a workshop run by the designer Erika Knight who has her own collection of 100% British yarn. I think the main thing that put me off is the cost - I thought it was so much more expensive - however a bit of research tells me that this is not necessarily the case. True, it may be a bit more pricey than your £1.50 ball of 100% acrylic, but you certainly get what you pay for (i.e. actual wool!). I am coming to realise that quality is so important. If I am going to spend time making something I truly love, then it is important to use good quality materials. That's half the joy of making your own garments - you know what goes into them and where it comes from.

A bit of googling has revealed that so many more yarn companies than I realised have British yarn ranges. For more information and an exhaustive list of smaller British yarn companies, check out The British Yarn Guide. I can't promise that I will only and forever more use British yarn from now on, but I will definitely be thinking a lot more about where my yarns come from and going for quality over quantity!

Do you try and use British or local yarns in your makes? Can you recommend any good companies or stockists?

K xx

Me Made May 2013

Every year I watch people take part in the me-made/self stitched months organised by Zoe of So, Zo... but I have never taken part before because I never thought I had enough me-made items to wear. Well...this year I still don't have enough me-made garments to wear but I have decided to take the plunge - just to see of I can.

 'I, Kat of KraftyKat , sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear a me-made garment at least three times a week for the duration of May 2013'

Gulp! It's definitely going to be a challenge...but that's the whole point. Hopefully my stash-busting challenge will help me out. If all else fails, Miss P has posted 10 super quick tops which may well come in handy! I'll be posting weekly round-ups of my outfits - hopefully it will get me wearing my me-made clothes more and give me the chance to experiment with some different combinations.

Wish me luck! Are you taking part in Me Made May? I can't wait to follow everyone's outfits. I'm excited!

In other news, I'm on the hunt for fabric with a Snoopy print which is suitable for making pyjamas with. Can anyone help? I've scoured the Internet but not managed to find anything suitable. There must be something out there somewhere, surely?!

K xx

Stash-busting challenge

It's no secret that there has been a bit of a lack of sewing around these parts recently. And by "a bit of a lack of" I mean pretty much none. Although, newsflash, I did make a little zipped bag as a gift last weekend...that counts right? So if you've read about the Birmingham meet-up that I am co-organising in June, you might be wondering how I can possibly even be thinking about buying any more fabric at all when I have hardly made a dent in my purchases from the meet-up last November such as these beautiful fabrics...

 

 

...and these....

 

 

 

The truth is I can't! I'm feeling the guilt of having an ever-expanding stash. So I've come up with a plan! I am setting myself a stash-busting challenge.

 

 

I, KraftyKat, will make at least three garments using fabric

from my stash before the Birmingham meet-up on

Saturday 15th June. If I do not complete this challenge,

I promise not to buy or acquire from the swap ANY more

fabric at this meet-up.

 

 

So there we go. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I have just under 2 months to make my three garments. Hopefully it will be a good way to kick-start my sewjo too. Wish me luck....!!

 

Have you ever set yourself any sewing challenges? Were you successful? Do you want to join me in a pre-swap challenge of your own? I'd love to hear from you!

 

K xx



 

Birmingham meet-up 15th June - Save the date!

Hello everyone and happy Sunday!

Remember these happy smiling faces from the Birmingham blogger meet-up last November?



Well, Marie and I had so much fun at the last meet-up that we've decided it's time to do it all again! We've planned another Birmingham meet-up for Saturday 15th June and this time we're joining forces with the very lovely and super-organised Claire from Sew Incidentally to bring you a day of fabric shopping, swapping and just generally hanging out with some lovely sewists.



Me and Marie at the last Birmingham Meet-Up

The details at a glance...

Birmingham Meet-Up

Place: Birmingham New Street Station

Date: Saturday 15th June 2013

Time: Meet-up from 10.30am till 11.00am
Rag Market Stalls: 11.00am - 12.30pm

Swap-a-thon + Lunch: 12.30pm - 2.00/2.30pm
More Market / Shopping: 2.30pm onwards!
Home Time: 4.00 - 4.30pm

.

The plan is to meet up from 10.30am at Birmingham New Street station (just on the other side of the ticket barriers) and then at 11am we'll head off for some fabric shopping! We'll aim to start off with a visit to the world famous rag market, before heading to a nearby cafe/bar for a spot of lunch (venue yet to be decided) at around 12.30pm (it won't take too long to walk there we promise!). There, we'll swap, de-stash, chat, eat lunch and make merry until 2.00-2.30pm. Afterwards there'll be plenty of time to visit the lovely market stalls again and then onto a couple of fabric shops including the Fancy Silk Store and Barry's Fabrics.

A few words about the swap...the idea is to pass-on any un-loved sewing/knitting/crochet bits and bobs for example fabric, patterns, notions, books, threads, buttons or magazines etc. etc. Please don't worry too much about what to bring with you to swap with other sewists...you are not obliged to bring anything at all if you don't want to, it's all about de-stashing and having fun! Nobody leaves empty handed and you always find something new, exciting and surprising in amongst the piles of yummy stuff on the tables :)

So if you fancy coming along on Saturday 15th June please pop me an email on kraftykatblog(at)gmail(dot)com. I hope lots of you can make it for what promises to be a really great day. If you are not already convinced, take a look at a couple more pictures from the Birmingham meet-up last November...

Last year's swapping fun inside Cafe Soya!

Fancy Silk Store

Barry's Fabrics

If Birmingham is tricky for you to get to, never fear...Claire is organising a whole host of meet-ups this year all around the country so there will hopefully be one that suits everyone. For details check out this blog post.

K xx

Blogiversary giveaway winners

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my last post where I asked for tips on using an overlocker. I now have a whole host of tricks of the trade from you lovely people which have already come in handy as I've been playing with my overlocker today.

Right, it's time to announce the winners of my blogiversary giveaway! The random number generator has spoken and the winners are...


Jersey fabric (lot 1): Sabs from tybalt: king of cats

Sew and Stitch Home book (lot 2): The Hojnackes

Simplicity 2444 pattern (lot 3): Ashley from Jellybean's Odds and Ends


Well done to all three winners! Please could you all email me your addresses and I will pop your prizes in the post!

I didn't want to do a blog post without a picture so I'll leave you with this....

This is a dosa, a big pancake made of rice flour, and sambar, a spicy soup. I love South Indian food and I am attempting to cook dosa tonight for the first time...wish me luck!!!

K xx

Overlockers: How do you use yours?

A few weeks ago I became the owner of a shiny new overlocker. It was something that I had been thinking about buying for some time - I'm a sucker for a neatly finished seam and I always admire how professional peoples makes look if they have used an overlocker. I did quite a bit of research beforehand and decided on the Janome 9200D as it has excellent reviews. (How did anyone ever decide to buy anything before the Internet?? Any big purchase and I always google the reviews!).

I had a bit of luck when I went into John Lewis to make my purchase - they had one on the shop floor that had been returned by an elderly lady who had bought it but found it was too complicated for her to work out, so they offered me this machine for 20% off - bonus! I did feel a bit sad for the lady who had returned it though. I like to think that she would have been able to work it out eventually.

I had a bit of a play with my new toy when I got home. Although the machine comes pre-threaded (whoop!), something was not quite right. I suspect that the lady who had it before me had had a bit of a fiddle, because it was not threaded properly. Using the very helpful instructions I managed to thread it properly and get it working. I was rather proud of myself!! The instructions recommend that when you come to change the thread, instead of starting all over again you simply tie the new thread onto the old thread and pull it through the machine. Genius. So in theory I should never have to thread the machine again. In theory...!!

So, people with overlockers! I have a question for you. I'm all set up and ready to go, but I must admit I am still a bit stumped about when to use my shiny new toy. I know that when sewing jersey you can do the whole thing with an overlocker, without touching the sewing machine at all. Right? But when it comes to non-stretch fabrics you sew with a sewing machine and finish the seams with the overlocker, as i understand it. Do you serge before or after sewing the hem? Also, where is the best place to buy the large spools of thread for a good price? Any tips gratefully received!!

Don't forget there is still time to enter my blogiversary giveaway...the deadline is tomorrow! I'll leave you with the results of my Easter crafting...twit twoo!

 

 

K xx