How to make garments a little more interesting

It's close to the end of April, which means Me May May is just around the corner. Are you taking part?

I am and this year along with pledging to wear me-made clothes every day I decided to embrace my creativity and wear what the heck I like - expressing my inner artist.

So how do you do that?

Well for me it goes back to my days as an art student in the 1990's when I would take items I found at the local Flea Market and adapt them. I remember having rainbow dyed dungarees (which were at least 3 sizes too beg, but I didn't care), purple jeans, Dunlop Greenflash trainers, DM's, I pinched a floral shirt from my hubby (then boyfriend) and also wore his leather jacket loads - I loved the smell of Patchouli. I also wore long skirts, baggy crepe de chine trousers, short skirts or shorts with black tights and a range of different t shirt and tops, some of these things I made (badly), some were second hand. One of the items I bought from the flea market was a green army jacket which I embroidered with flowers and wore with everything.

 25 years later and I'm back to embroidering jackets. A couple of years ago I chose this jacket at a clothes swap. I quite liked the style, with its 3/4 sleeve and felt it would be perfect for spring/ summer wear - but it was just too Brown and Boring. So a few weeks ago I began to embroider it with patterns and textures - making it up as I went along.

I haven't done any embroidery for years, so it's not the neatest or most exact work I've ever done and although I know how to do many stitches I'm not actually very good at them, especially the filling stitches - something to work on.

Even though it's not perfect, I'm now looking forward to wearing this and embracing my art student style again.

So it's back to the Long skirts, patterns that don't match, Layers and lots of colour and as much as I can get away with at work - hey I'm an art teacher - I can get away with lots of things. the only thing I'll be shying away from are my high heels. After my recent hip op I cant spend a whole day in heels - a couple of hours is fine, but it's flats all the way for work.
So are you doing Me Made May?

Sewinspiration - I need your help.

I've just had a delivery of the most gorgeous cornflower blue poly slinky jersey from Minerva Crafts.
I have 3m of it.
I was going to make a Kielo wrap dress, but now I'm not so sure.

Damsel in a Dress from John Lewis

The fabric is of a similar drape and look to this dress. I LOVE THIS DRESS, but something like this would just show off every lump and bump.  So I want something that shows the lovely drape of the fabric, but is not too form fitting as it's polyester and I sweat!

Here is where I need your help. I just can't make a decision would you help me make it? I've narrowed it down to a short list of options - many are from Burdastyle as I have loads of magazines. I'm also a fan of Vivienne Westwood's draped dresses and this could be a fantastic fabric for one of these.

Are you ready? Here we go?
(Don't forget to vote for the one you think I should do in my poll - It's in the sidebar!).

1. (the original idea) Kielo wrap dress  - Named Patterns

Named Patterns

2. The bowfront dress from Pattern Magic

3. Long Sleeve flounce Dress Burdastyle #112 01/2017

4. Gathered Blouse Burdastyle #123 09/2016

5. Gathered Tube dress Burdastyle #101 06/2013

My other options require me to do a bit of drafting.

6. My asymmetric dress. I made this in a woven and it will need a bit of work to make it succeed as a knit dress.

The rest of my options are based on pattern puzzles from Studio Faro - these really do lend themselves to a drapey dress.

7. The Drape shift  dress from Studio Faro

Studio Faro

8. The Wrap Drape Tunic from Studio Faro

Studio Faro

9. Cowl Tee from Studio Faro

Studio Faro

Which would you make - don't forget to vote!

3 ways to develop your own personal style.

Style is something we are sold. High fashion trickles down to the high street and eventually into our wardrobes. We are told what's hot and what's not and in a few weeks, it's all changed again - welcome to the world of fast fashion. So what can we do to develop our own style? I have 3 ways that I'm exploring to do just that.


1. Make your own clothes? 
Why?
Well for starters you choose the style and fabric of the garment you want. you invest time and money into it and therefore it tends to spend longer in your wardrobe and with a bit of practise, you can get the fit spot on. There is nothing better than making clothes that fit you when you can't buy them in the shops.

Me made and designed dress

Isn't it expensive?
Yes, and No. - Patterns and fabric can be expensive. However, you can sew your own garments very cheaply. I don't spend a lot of money on sewing and I look to use fabric as economically as possible by trying to use up every last bit. I also upcycle and remake some clothing items to get more wear out of them and personalise them. There are plenty of free sewing patterns out there and I even have a couple too - you can find them here. I use a local market for some of my fabric or buy during the sales to keep the cost down. for example last year I bought 2.5m of stretch denim from the market. It made me a pair of jeans and a pinafore dress. The fabric cost £15. Another cost-saving way to make your own clothes is to learn to draft patterns. There are plenty of classes out there, but also some good books. I recommend Metric Matern Cutting for Women's Wear by Winifred Aldrich.

Making my own clothes helps me develop my style, especially if I commit to wearing my me-made items every day. So I've signed up for Me Made May again this year - with a challenge to be more creative in my clothing choices. You can sign up at So Zo's blog.

'I, Claire from Ragbagsandgladrags.blogspot.co.uk @artcoopsville, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '18. I endeavour to wear me-made every day and to explore the more creative side of my clothing choices and really express myself through each outfit during May 2018.'

2. Don't be afraid to express yourself.

So how do I explore my creative side? I was thinking about Hila's (Saturday night stitch) pledge to embrace the eccentric during her MMMay challenge. I think it's great that Hila has eccentric items to wear. this got me started on my own style ideas - its something that's been bubbling away for some time and I'm starting to formulate some ideas about how to express my personal style a little more creatively.

When I was an art student back in the 90's I really did wear some eccentric items, but I wasn't comfortable in my own skin, I was often trying to be someone else. I didn't really have a sense of who I was. Now I do, but I'm often wary of wearing exactly what I'd like as I need to be professional at work and I can tend towards the jeans, t-shirt and hoody at the weekends. MMMay gives me the opportunity to mix it up a bit.

A.  Be yourself - It's all too easy to fit into what society expects you to look and be like. I love colour, quirky patterns, amazing shoes, doc marten boots, jewellery etc, but often I'm fearful of overdoing it and end up playing it safe, wearing just one of my lovely garments or accessories.  Well, it's time to say I don't care what you think -  This is me!.

Yes, it was fancy dress - but I love it!

 B. Work with what you have - Don't go out and buy new unless you are replacing a worn out item. Look at the items you have in your wardrobe and decide what will work together. You might notice you have a lot of the same style of trousers/ skirts or a particular palette of colours might become apparent. (I have lots of dresses - but in lots of different styles and colours). don't be afraid to try some unusual combinations- you might be pleasantly surprised.

C. Personalise - much easier if you make your own clothes, but add something to your garment that signifies you - it could be a statement brooch. a scarf worn as a belt. upcycle and embroider garments to make them unique. change the buttons for some that stand out or contrast.

D. Be bold - don't be afraid of colour. If this is something new to you choose a statement piece that is you, Sunglasses, shoes, hat, and pair it with something more neutral. throw out the style guides that say you can only wear this with that, or never wear this with that. it's your style - wear what you want!

  
3. Finally - create a mood board of the things that you see as your style. Pinterest is great for this, or actually collage images together it will help you identify the styles of clothes, colours, patterns and textures that you are drawn to. So when you purchase or make your next item of clothing you know what you want and need. below are some of the styles and colours that I'm drawn to.

May is Coming and it's Time to be Brave!

Come take a look at my Pinterest style board - can you work out my style?

Dior RTW collection 2018

Spring plans.

So I've been thinking quite a bit about what's next creatively. I've got quite a few things in the pipeline from an artistic point of view, but on the sewing front, I haven't got much planned.


So  - what do I want to achieve?

Art
I have art work to create for my scar tissue project - you can read more about this here. I'm sewing and printing and painting and embroidering all as part of this project. I'm certain the direction will change to reflect the stories people tell me about their scars. This is a long-term project and the first stage will culminate in a "work in progress" exhibition in October.

I want to explore Gelli plate printing. as an artist who uses monotypes a lot in my work. Id love to see how the Gelli plate compares to traditional techniques. I have a plate and am keen to get started. I'd like to do some more work like my black and red pieces.

Sewing wise - 
Ginger Jeans. these have been on my to make list for a while and I've had the pattern since Christmas. just looking for the right denim.

Kalle shirt? I see a lot of love around the blogosphere for this. I'd initially passed it by, but I'm seeing the need for a couple of shirts in my wardrobe and love the styling. Both of these are Closet Case Patterns

I've also got a bit of Selfless sewing planned - I've got a couple of dresses to make for friends. not 100% sure which patterns I'll be using yet.

Exploring new things - 
I've been inspired by the subtraction cutting technique of Julian Roberts, who teaches at the Royal College of Art,  and I'm going to try and have a go - I wonder what I can create? - you can see more of his work on IG @julianrobertsnow

I've also been following the work of Zero Waste Daniel. Love the way he creates fashionable pieces from a patchwork of fashion industry offcuts. I'm determined to try to reduce the amount of waste from sewing by using up as much as I possibly can. I've already started piecing bits together to create fabric yardage. I now need to decide what to make with these pieces - probably something simple like a t-shirt or tank. follow him on IG @zerowastedaniel