Me-Made-May13: Week Two

Pan Am Skirt

T-shirt - T.K Maxx

Shoes- H! by henry holland

The long awaited Trench Coat

Longsleeve top- primark

Spotted top just seen- Mango purchesed in a charity shop

Jeans- La redoute

Boots- south

Stripy sobetto

Cardi- H&M

Jeans-la Redoute

Boots- south

Watch- Redherring for Debenhams 

Stripy knitted top

Trench coat As before

leggings- Asda

Boots- south

How it went

For three days I didn't wear anything me-made but I pulled it together towards the end of this week, wearing four out of my target of five days, and a double whammy today of wearing two me made items!! I think it's fair to say I do ok.

What I learnt
 Most of my me-made's are summer items and with the turn in the weather mid week made it tricky deciding what to wear and weather I would be warm enough in work!
I also realised that I desperately need a pair of trousers and leggings in my me-made wardrobe as well as more knitted/jesey tops.

I really enjoyed wearing the pan am skirt and paring it with a t-shirt for a relaxed casual style. The downside was the stripy knit top, the inside of it is rough on my skin, it's too loose on my shoulders and the sleeves are out of shape- one for the recycle bin!
The stripy sobetto is another negative fit wise, it's definitely too small under the arms but despite my fears of looking like Andy Pandy in it I've come to like the top, but once I'd been it for five hours all I wanted to do was to get out of it, which is another task in it's self :/

How did your week go?

One That's worth a look:

I love things that are off beat and unique and this websiste also combines them with chic. Perfect combination.

Messy Nessy Chic is my newest fascination in the blog world. This blog completely fascinates me with it's unusual articles that satisfies my thirst and intrigue for knowledge of the off-beat. ( I love it when I find out about unusually situation or beings in the world! don't you?)

Articles that have had me hooked included:

• The unlimited life time first class travel pass with American airlines - Imagine being able to jump from one city to another to a third all in one day then a day later decided to fly half way across the world all on one pass? well you could and by all accounts some still can.

• Kawloon walled city- A lawless, ungoverned and unregulated city, where 50,000 people lived in a 7 acre plot. A network of passage ways and interconnected towers where inhabitants could live for as little as 6 US dollars a month!

• The remains of Paris' Kawloon walled city. If you thought that only a walled city could exists in the Asian continent think again, during the second half of the 19th century, Paris built it's own walled city to inhabit 10,000 working class people.

• The 80's hip hop tailor: Dapper Dan donning custom made clothes for hip hops elite all made using rolls of Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Fendi knock off prints, and was one of the first to bring designer clothes on to the street scene.

I hoped this has wetted your appetite as much as it has mine, there are even categories to refine your interests such as C'est Chic, don't be a tourist, nostalgia and fashion for dummies to name a few!

In other News

Unfortunately sewing is still slow :( I just have to much going on to to be able to fit things in, between working, decorating, moving stuff, furnishing the house and generally being a proper grown-up (i,e having a house to keep in order) everything is taking it's time. I want to do it all so I need to find a routine to settle into but obviously priority takes over and turning this house into a home is top of the list!
I have done some sewing this week, but it's boring stuff- shorting curtains and the like :/ Although I did cut a pattern for a basic loose fitting T-shirt.

Taking part in Me Made May isn't going well at all this week, again clothes/shoes I though I had brought with me have turned out to be still at my parents.

 Who ever said this moving house malarkey was hard was certainly right, especially when you have a hobby you despritly want to do!! #sewingproblems

Me-Made-May- To begin...

Day 1

Day 2

Me-Made-May has already become challenging for me! I think I set the bar too high especially as I'm still moving!
Day two was a bit of a disappointment, with this nice weather I though I'd make the most of my more summer self stitched clothes i.e a skirt or shorts. After going  on the hunt for a good half hour for said items I came up empty handed, turns out those items were still in my parents house! ( I swore I brought them down with me) So I made do with the t-shirt which was free in a magazine awhile back and I customised it by drawing feathers along the neck-line with a fabric marker.

Then with Fridays outfit I failed to photograph it :( so yeah it's a 'good start'!!

I did happen to learn some things though:

• The top that I wore the first day keeps riding up until the bloody thing nearly chokes me, I'm not sure why this is- Any ideas? 
• Friday's outfit was a stripy top made from poly-cotton which was stiff and made a ruffling sound every time I moved!! note to self - don't buy cheap poly-cotton 
• lot's of my me-made outfits don't go with anything I own :(

To read more out each me-made item click below

Day 1 -  Burda top

Day 2- customised t-shirt - not blogged about but for inspiration for customising T's  visit here at Miss P's Blog

Day 2 - not yet photographed- but it's the top from my Pan-Am outfit.

How are you getting along with the challenge?

The Easy Kaftan Blouse

The blurb:

After being with out my machines for what feels like forever, I wanted something simple and quick to make.

This kaftan style blouse featured in an old issue of sew magazine (sept 2012) was the ideal make! 

Essential a rectangle of fabric with a hole cut in the middle, two button holes and a piece of ribbon, has made this the most simplest yet effective make that I've ever done. It doesn't even use a pattern and is great for stash busting. 

The fabric:

I'm really not sure what fabric this is, the motif it is a burnout fabric though. I picked the fabric up on holiday a while back, it was around 1.5 meters for only two euros!! 

The pattern:

You can find the instructions here on the sew website. The pattern for the neckline is here (scroll to the last page, it's the pink outline (you may have to sign up to sew magazine to access the pattern). 

A quick note about the pattern is that it's a one size fits all type, however I would say that if you are UK size 14 and up you may want to consider moving the button holes over as this pattern isn't as generous as maybe it should be!

Having been without my sewing machine for over three weeks has left my head in a right spin about what to sewing next. There is so much I want to sew that my head feels like it's gone into over-drive.  In the running is toss up between, a maxi dress, Gerties bomshell dress and a play suit, there's also now a small matter of 'do I don't I' regarding sew a prom dress - more about that in another post!!

What's on your sewing table?

Cooking Tortilla

I really can't get enough of tortilla!!

In Spain I buy it pre-packed from the supermarket and have a slice nearly every day whilst I'm there.

 I like mine warmed up served with salad and a handful of ruffles crisps ( I so wish they would sell them over here). It's a recent addiction of mine I wasn't a huge fan of tortilla/omelettes growing up, but my taste has certainly changed over the years!

 As you can't buy tortilla in the supermarkets here I thought I'd have a go at making my own. Surprisingly it turned out quite well for my first attempt. 

My frying pan was a bit on the large side really but it's good at being non-stick and worked a treat when turning the tortilla over. The only down side was that it could have done with a touch more salt and pepper!

 My boyfriend also approved, I made it while he was in work, but as he's finishing work, I was starting work so I left a note telling him to help himself, only he cut himself nearly half of the tortilla, guess who didn't want his dinner later on!!!

Tortilla is easy to make but there are a few variations on how it should be cooked, some recipes tell you to pat the potatoes dry before you start to cook them, others ask you to remove the potatoes and onions from the pan and mix in the eggs in a separate bowl before returning to the pan, I sort of winged the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion
• 2 medium potatoes
• 5 medium eggs
• 3 table spoons of olive oil
• salt and pepper

I cut the potatoes and onions in to small chunks, and heated three table spoons of olive oil in the pan. I then added the potatoes and onions to the pan and on a low heat cooked them for 25 mins stirring frequently until tender but not browned

whilst the potatoes and onions were cooking, I beat all the eggs together in a separate bowl and added black pepper and salt, you should add a good amount of each. 

once the potatoes and onions had softened I added the egg mixture to the pan on the lowest heat setting and left the tortilla cooking until it had began to set and was holding it's shape. then using a big plate, I slid this over the top over the frying pan and flipped the tortilla, then retuned it to the frying pan for another 5 or so minutes, until done! 

I then flipped it back on to a clean plate, left it cool for a few minutes, enjoy!