When No Inspiration Strikes

I've spent so long trying to write a post about this outfit. 

I've been trying to be witty, or profound or informative. But I'm uninspired.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been in this little rut. There’s a dip in my moods and depression has been riding on my back to remind me it’s there all the time. It's been a bit difficult. I'm tired, irritated, unhappy and completely uninspired.

Motivation to do everyday things has run thin, I can't bring myself to get out of bed or complete simple enough tasks. It sucks.

The good news is that I'm working on it. Accepting help has been quite terrifying for me, as though I was giving into my mental illness. But it's not that at all, it's helping me live with something that affects my daily life.

I've become so aware of myself in recent weeks that I'm torn in two ways - in one, I'm learning on how to better myself. In the other, understanding myself has meant I'm too overwhelmed to actually do anything about it. But slowly I'm changing my thought processes, challenging myself daily and finding small pockets of motivation to carry out tasks.

I'm pushing on through, trying to refocus and work out my long term goals and ambitions. Starting to take a little better care of myself and my appearance and dressing nicer. And most importantly for my state of mind - I'm managing to get my mojo back with creativity and am drawing and sewing a bit more!

Progress is progress, right?

• Cardigan; Collectif
• Earrings; Bow and Crossbones
• Brooch; Luxulite
• Dress & Necklace; Handmade
• Belt & Sunglasses; Primark
• Bag; Sunjellies
• Shoes; Melissa 

Me Made May - Week Three!

Moody British Picnics Dress | When Life Gives You Lemons Skirt | Last of the Summer Gingham Dress | Check-ah-Check-ow Dress | When Life Gives you Lemons Skirt

Okay. So. I promise I do have a few non-MMM-round up posts in the pipeline, but I've been a busy bee and my photographer/best friend has been otherwise engaged so there has been less time to take proper photos of some things I've made/worn, and I'm putting actual effort into dressing at the moment!

I think it's safe to say that the red gingham Butterick B5880 is my most worn dress so far - and I'm honestly thinking of making a few more of them in different colours because they're so easy to wear and get a lot of attention.
Of course, I managed to wear exactly the same outfit on Tuesday and Saturday, but I went to three gigs this week (Girugamesh's last London show before they disband and two Funeral For A Friend gigs - the last. ever. shows. I cried a lot) and I really like the harness and striped skirt combo. It's like a slightly 'edgier' look than my usual style, which is something new for me.

How is everyone else getting on with their challenges? I'm finding it surprisingly easy, but then again I'm outfit repeating constantly! Clearly I need to get back on my machine soon!

Me Made May - Week Two!

Check-Ah-Check-Ow Dress | How on Earth do you Pronounce 'Dirndl' Anyway? Skirt | Platform Closed Swirl | Last of the Summer Gingham Dress

Another week, another challenge completed! I managed to wear handmade 4/7 days which I'm pretty proud of.

We're only on week two and I've already worn two dresses twice, but I'm coming closer to the realisation I just love easy to wear dresses like the black and the red gingham ones here. Clearly I need to make more in summery colours! 

So far all I'm learning from this challenge is that I clearly need to make some more clothes I wear a lot, because what I really want to do is wear gingham 24/7.

How is #MeMadeMay going for you guys?

As always you can follow my #MMMay16 progress daily on Instagram here, and I'm also Snapping my outfits each day on Snapchat (search for melodyxmae), if you're so inclined!

Twilight Tartan

On the first official day of spring (AKA, it was actually nice outside) I tried to rope my best friend into taking some photos of a dress for me. Unfortunately shopping and eating ridiculous burgers took up the day and we kind of forgot to take pictures until the evening. Oops.

So today I wanted to show off yet another - and my latest version of my modified B5880 dress (previous versions can be seen here), this time in a gorgeous tartan! 

As with all the other B5880's, this dress has undergone some real changes from the original pattern - namely, that there's no neckline notches, and I've done away with the sarong skirt in favour of my favourite skirt style - the pleated dirndl!.

This version also has bias-bound neckline and arms, a concealed side zip and possibly the biggest pockets on a dress to date - it fits an A4 magazine with a bit of room.

 

If you've been reading the blog for a while, you might know that in summer I get a little... gingham mad - and in the winter I switch straight to tartans - I'm a big fan of grid-based patterns, it seems! This dress in particular was made for the Christmas Mid-Century Market run by Bettina Scarlett back in December the night before the event, and went together like a dream! 

The fabric itself is a lovely mid-weight wool blend Stewart tartan with a great texture, snuggly warmth and is light enough to hang well, but stiff enough to keep shape, which is my perfect sort of fabric!

Earrings; Bow and Crossbones

Necklace; Vintage

Brooch; Luxulite

Belt; Vintage

Bangles; Vintage and Splendette

 Bag;  Sun Jellies

Shoes; Primark

So this dress is currently still in heavy rotation, regardless of the fact that the sun has been shining brightly over London recently - I'm wondering, though, does anyone else have a small obsession with certain patterns?

Have a lovely weekend, dolls!

Melody x

Planten Un Blomen

Do you ever make something that in your mind is perfect, and when you make it is also perfect - but actually you can't stand the damn thing after a week?

Just before we went to Germany, I decided I had absolutely nothing to wear for the wedding we were going to - which we all know is certainly not the case - but I decided to make something the day before our flight anyway. Just call me Last-Minute-Melody!

The fabric is a lovely mid-weight cotton with a Japanese-styled fan design in gorgeous autumn colours that I thought would really work with the time of the year - and as you've probably already guessed, the pattern used is my favourite B5880.

As always (you can check out my other B5880's here.), my B5880 is now very different to the original, without the neckline notches, an altered neckline and this version has a circle skirt instead of the original sarong-style.
This dress has a centre-back zip, faced neckline and bias-bound hem and arm holes. And - get this - NO POCKETS. I ran out of time (Shame on me!)

As I mentioned before, in my head this was a winner. Once it came off the machine, it was a winner. Three hours into wearing it? Yeah, I wasn't that fond of it all of a sudden.
I can't even pinpoint what it is, but unfortunately I don't think this dress will really be loved as much as I once thought!

Hair Flower; Lady Luck's Boutique

Earrings; Bow and Crossbones

Brooch: Luxulite

Necklace; Vintage

Bangles; Vintage

Shoes; Miss L Fire (second-hand)

So I'm wondering - does this ever happen to you?

The Last of the Summer... Gingham

Alternative title; MORE BLOODY GINGHAM. MORE BLOODY B5880.

Hi guys! How are we all doing? I accidentally missed a week there because I was too busy getting drunk dressed up as The Little Mermaid...  Hopefully you guys have had a week quite as awesome as that?

Yes, that is what you think it is!

I made another B5880 in gingham. I'm approaching this post with general nonchalance because really? There's nothing I can tell you about this dress that you haven't already heard from the ONE TWO THREE FOUR versions of this dress I've made (there's also one I haven't blogged about AND another one in the making - it's B5880 mania here!)

Soon enough I will patent this sort of tit-shot.

The main difference between this dress and the Check-Ah Check-Ow is the ric rac trim on the neckline and the pockets - and I have out-done myself pocket-wise, since these behemoths can actually hold an A4 magazine.

Other than that, this dress is practically identical. Still has the boatneck-styled neckline, the back zip and pleated dirndl. And frankly? It works for me. The blue gingham dress is still in heavy rotation now, even though it's getting colder, so why not exactly the same thing in another colour?

The construction for this dress has become so easy that even someone quite as slow at sewing as I am managed to get this done in about a day and one morning. Although that morning was 7am after drinking and I may or may not have sewn the ric rac skew-iff because of that. I have cleverly hidden that from view in these photos though, of course, because no one should have to see bad ric rac placement.

What are your thoughts? And how do you feel about making/buying the same thing in different colours?

Brooch: Luxulite

Bangles: Vintage and Splendette

Shoes: Miss L Fire

Bag: Vintage

A Check-ah Check-ah, Check-ah Check-ow

I have a thing for Gingham.
I don't know exactly why I love it so much, but there's something about gingham that draws me into it. This cotton gingham in particular is a dream to work with - large woven check, behaves itself and although it can fray easily (as with most cotton) pinking is no problem for seam finishes.

Hair Flowers; Lady Luck's Boutique
Brooch; Luxulite
Belt; Collectif
Stockings; What Katie Did
Shoes; Irregular Choice

Whatever Floats Your Boat, Sinks Your Battleship

It's Sew Dolly Clackett time!!!

It's like university all over again; the deadline is steadily approaching, I'm sewing like a sewing madman, I can't do simple maths to work out pleating, everything has gone wrong and I've even cried, BUT I HAVE DONE IT. Pulled it out of the bag with little room to breathe before the deadline, but it's here.

If you've been living under a sewing rock, you might not know what Sew Dolly Clackett is, (Shame on you.) but the lovely Sarah from Rhinestones and Telephones made a sewalong-come-wedding-present for the gorgeous Roisin of Dolly Clackett's upcoming nuptials. You make a dress inspired by her frankly substantial self-made wardrobe, and enter it on the Flickr for prizes and notoriety!

Fang Rock Dress | Green Ginger Dress

 I used the inspiration of Roisin's Fang Rock dress for the bodice and sailor theme, and her Green Ginger dress' pleats. Using the Butterick B5880 bodice (YES AGAIN) I tried to re-create the BHL Anna bodice (badly) she used, and the skirt is a 'self drafted' pleated dirndl.

This gets me points, right? Door, pose, shoes, print fabric, shoes...?

Lace Be Honest, You Love A Bad Pun, Too, Right?

Bloody hell, it's been eight months since I last posted a dress I'd made? 

Time for me to pull my finger out!

In my Sewlutions round-up post I introduced the "Lace Be Honest" dress, which is a dress I wear at least twice a week. Since that post, she's had pockets added to her, and a whole three months after actually constructing the garment - I finally got Gareth to take some pictures!

An "Homage To A Mad Old Lady" Dress

NOTE: This was supposed to post on Saturday but something went wrong, so here it is now! 

Years ago, when fabric shopping, a kind yet mad woman wrapped me up in a makeshift sari, telling me that I would look make a "beautiful bride" for her son. I laughed the whole thing off, insisting that I was involved, unwrapped myself from the fabric and bought what I needed.
What I hadn't seen is she'd thrown in a length of the fabric she'd wrapped around me, and told me "not to tell her husband." I was confused at the time, but once I'd got home and seen the fabric, I promised to make something pretty out of it and fondly remember the crazy woman.

Approximately four years later - I've finally used the fabric in a dress!

This dress uses the bodice from Butterick B5880, omitting the neckline notches, and has a pleated dirndl instead of the sarong skirt - and pockets!

All photos are taken by my boyfriend in his parent's house in Onchan, Isle of Man.

I'm going to assume the fabric is a voile of some kind, and it's frankly slippy as f-. Trying to get the checks to line up was a time consuming and ultimately fruitless labour of love.
But the fabric itself was nice to work with - it presses really quite crisp, isn't so bad for fraying and my favourite part - you can shove it in a washing machine with no problem!

The dress itself, I love. This is my favourite make so far, if I'm honest. The bodice is roomy without making me look frumpy - and it surprised me by being a high neckline and not looking horrible on. And the pleated skirt I'm impressed by, I'd never made a pleated skirt before this, and it went by with only one problem - I had to take out pleats in the front for not having enough fabric! But it worked out nicely, I like the flatter front as it doesn't make me look pregnant, which is always a bonus.

This is one of those dresses that works nicely on a night out, but also for day activities if you fancy a little luxury in your day! The only problem is that this fabric completely absorbs sunlight, and whilst I was standing directly under the sun whilst on the Isle of Man, I was certain I was going to end up catching fire.

• Fabric:
  Black and silver check voile [stash]
  Black cotton [stash]
• Pattern:
  Butterick B5880
• Pattern Alterations:
  Omitted neckline notches, Replaced sarong skirt with pleated dirndl and patch pockets.
• Notions:Invisible zip
  
• Make again?:
  Definitely! The whole dress is so comfortable, hangs beautifully and feels like a dream to wear! The bodice is roomy without being unflattering, which is so nice.
• Total price: £0!

FINALLY, I've managed to tick off one of my Sewlutions - A patterned dress for once!

Melody ♪