Hello friends! My goodness, I have been absent. What with the move from Northland to the Wairarapa, not having internet for 3+ weeks, and starting work back at the hospital, I haven’t been doing any blogging. In fact, when we (finally) got the internet hooked up yesterday I had 320 blog posts to read on feedly, so I’ve been down on all fronts. . Suffice to say despite trying, I couldn’t handle it so just emptied my feed and started fresh.

I also have to admit that I just stopped documenting Me Made May – having to leave for work before the sun rises and only getting home after it sets plus being too embarrassed to take selfies at work (particularly in the tiny bathrooms) meant the few photos we got were dark/grainy. So while I did wear almost completely me-made for all of May, I don’t have much to show for it – and I’m really sorry to those who were looking forward to seeing more. I feel like this: somewhat over committed.

But most sad of all, is how little sewing I’ve been doing – my sewjo has almost completely disappeared. I knew my Northland Bubble had to collapse at some point, but really – even though I’ve largely got my sewing room up and running (with a new toy – an Elna Press, which is amazing), all I do is walk in there and unpack some fabric, only to stare at it and put it away again, thinking “I’ll only ruin it”. I think it’s largely a dissatisfaction with my fitting rather than construction, and is probably largely to do with the lack of storage in the sewing room meaning everything is piled on top of itself. Plus, in my mind my fabric is separated into two catagories “I totally don’t want to sew with that maybe I should give it away” and “I don’t want to make a failed garment from that” (bonus third catagory: “I need to pre-wash that”).

In the last few weeks, I’ve made a total of four things. Which is still pretty good, except I don’t like two of them (the other two are worn constantly) and I had plans for so many more – especially considering it’s Indie Pattern Month!

But enough of all that – may I present my Johanna Skirt.

I call it my Johanna Skirt because the fabric was bought on my behalf from Jo from Making It Well, and because I chose this pattern after admiring her version for months. In case you didn’t recognise it, it’s the La Sylphide Skirt from Papercut Patterns, making it the fourth item I’ve made from the pattern (dress, top and top).

And yes, this is one of the garments I dislike. The fact that I don’t want to keep it has NOTHING to do with Jo, and in fact I’m trying to channel her a bit more to improve my satisfaction with my sewing. The fabric (the same as my last pencil skirt) didn’t pose as much of a problem this time around (although there is some weird pulling on the waistband facing) and so it’s made relatively well – it just don’t look good on me! I guess I’ve discovered that circle skirts and almost-circle skirts don’t look good on me, even though I always thought they would – they just widen me out everywhere. It’s also a bit shorter than I would like, which doesn’t help. YAY FOR LEARNING, RIGHT?

My body confidence has actually been a bit low recently, and this kind of skirt (and choice of cardi, I guess) just widens me out everywhere. I need to show off my WAIST, and can’t walk around like this all day:

The skirt itself is a ~3/4 circle skirt with button up front and fold-over button placket, and an awesome shaped waistband – I stitched up the waistband as is and it fits me perfectly (high on my waist compared to Jo’s version which sat low), and is cleverly designed to be longer at the back than the front, so your skirt hem is more likely to be even all around, even after covering your behind. I finished the skirt with a narrow hem and some sweet golden anchor buttons (no close-up, sorry) that I bought for 10c each at my First Ever Visit To An Emporium (in Whangarei, if anyone’s wondering).

I actually love the skirt and so wish it looked good, but it doesn’t. And that’s a Mum-Confirmed fact rather than me just being hard on myself. The skirt is currently hanging in my wardrobe feeling sad, until I can give her a new home (friend or op shop) – it feels hard giving away something that cost so much to make but hey, at least it’ll make someone else happy.

Details

Pattern: La Sylphide from Papercut Patterns

Fabric: Wool/Lycra from The Fabric Store, ~$50 and waistband facing from stash

Notions: Thread and interfacing, stash; buttons 10c each = 80c

Total: $50.80

In other news, in case you didn’t know, Craftsy is having a sale until 9th June with “up to 50% off all classes”. If you click on the following link then buy a class, I get a small commission (it doesn’t cost you anything extra).

Also, do you follow The Monthly Stitch? It’s the annual Indie Pattern Month and Mel, Kat and Juliet have organised a crazy month with competitions and heaps of prizes – this weeks competition is “Dresses” so nice and easy to start off with! Next week is “New To Me” – sewing a pattern from an Indie company you’ve never used before – I’m thinking of making the new skirt from Blue Ginger Doll. Week 3 is “Frankenindie” (considering my options) and Week 4 is “Indie Fan Girl” for which I have an outfit planned. So hopefully all goes to plan and I have some successful garments to show for the month!