Sew For Victory!

Well I thought I would have to miss out on this but as the lovely Rochelle kicked back the deadline by a week I had enough time to get my project photographed. I made it at the beginning of April so it is just laziness that meant it didn't get photographed before....oh well!

First up my inspiration. I pinned a few different patterns on Pinterest HERE.

If you know me well, you will know I am all about the shirt-dress! I L-O-V-E them! So it seemed at first that this would be a no brainer. But then I decided that it wouldn't be anything special to crank out a TNT pattern for a sew-along. As I am not a frivolous sewer, I had to make something I would wear, and preferably that I need. One of my pins answered that, I needed a blouse!

So my inspiration is this -

(source)

And from the four on here I went for a version of the bottom right hand one.

I didn't have a pattern, so I kind of maybe just bodged one....and by bodged, I mean really bodged!
However, it did work! I wanted to have some kind of bust dart for a bit of shaping, and some darts in the back of the blouse too. As I am a lazy SOB, I didn't want to change up my overlocker threads and french seamed it. Which was okay until I realised I could do with taking the sides in a bit (read as quite a bit). As a result my back darts are too deep but a belt/ my hair disguises this nicely ;)

I would also like to note that I do not have a suitable looking skirt so have opted to make this a contemporary look, Rochelle had mentioned about doing so and I think it is a good idea, especially for separates. It shows that a vintagey pattern is not a one trick pony, and allows you infinitely more choice when wearing it.

So eek! Here it is! I don't like pics of myself, they remind me about how fat I am that I try to forget ;)

Well I guess I should have ironed it! But never mind. White on white is hard to see in pictures but I decided to only have the frilly trim round the neckline, it would have been a bit much round the arms too I think. I trimmed either side of the button placket with lace and sewed a 3mm white ribbon on top to give it a little something extra. The buttons were in my stash having bought them for my doomed Mad Men Challenge dress (I'm not ready to talk about that yet haha!) and in true make do and mend style, the fabric used to be a flat bed sheet. It is unlikely to have been used much before it ended up in the charity shop, the fabric hasn't gone "old bed sheet soft"  yet and it is still very bright white.

Well, I'm glad to have joined in on Sew for Victory, big thanks to Rochelle for doing it again :)

Any one else joined in this time?

The Seamless Pledge 1 Year On

Well, I can't believe it has been (ok... just over!)  a whole year since I made this statement -

I, Lucy Lovell, take the Seamless Pledge, and vow not to buy any new clothes (except bras) and stick to the rules laid out below, until I sort myself out and am wearing a UK size 12 clothes. Once I have dropped the 2 dress sizes necessary I will re-assess my pledge and set another target. I would like to be free from the tyranny of corporation and this pledge is one facet of a multi-sided endeavour to become self sufficient and stick it to the man.

Sounds a bit cringe worthy now!

So, I'm not a size twelve, but I would like to re-pledge now, and this time, it's FOR LIFE!!

If you know me, you might know that for the past year, I have made all my own clothes, apart from a coat from a charity shop, two new bras, and a three pack of tights. As I said in my original post HERE, I don't buy a great deal of clothes anyway, but I was amazed at how few items I picked up in charity shops too! I am definitely not a shopper. My other half even laughed at me because not only was I not buying clothes, I was being super mindful of my fabric use too!

Off the top of my head I have made 2 shirt dresses, 1 kimono sleeved jersey dress, 1 mystery jersey fabric fitted dress, 1 pencil skirt with the remains of the mystery jersey, 1 cotton pj bottoms, 1 jersey pj top, 3 black tshirts, 1 pair of trousers, 1 smart skirt, 1 sew for victory blouse, and 1 unfinished pair of shorts. Oh and a few pairs of knickers :D I also upcycled a dress into a skirt. Seeing all this written down feels like a lot, but it makes up over half my wardrobe!

The tshirts are to replace 6 year old tshirts that all have holes in now (one is really shocking!) and the only other pair of trousers I have are in a state (chub rub thigh holes, so not classy!) and should be de-zipped and turned to rags.
I also used old curtains for one shirt dress, and old bed sheets for the pj bottoms and the blouse.

Looking at my previous pledge you can see I omitted bras, and I also was not considering shoes in this either. Bra making for hefty bosoms is something I am very cautious about as I don't want to suffer any back pain or lasting damage, so for now I will continue to purchase bras from M&S, but I will only do so when it is absolutely necessary. Not that I'm a frivolous bra buyer anyway!
As for shoes, well I hope to be able to save my pennies/beg father Christmas to be able to go on a shoe making workshop like Daniela from Ela Sews and Doesn't Sleep did a while ago. I will also make sure that I get maximum use out of my shoes by having them re-heeled when they wear out, and taking any other steps to prolong their lifespan.

I feel so strongly about not making a contribution to the evils of fast fashion and aiding (by consumption) in the poor quality of life that comes as standard for garment workers producing all the RTW out there. I missed out on the "who made it" event on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy, but I would have shouted loud and proud that it is ME!! who made my outfit. They might not be perfect, but I am happy to say I didn't exploit slave labour for cheap clothing. In a very sweet moment my other half told me that it was inspiring to him that I "go to all this effort", whilst I don't see it as effort, it did make me think that a) he is very lovely, and b) in "real life" I do not know anyone who sews all their own clothes, and even amongst the sewers there are none who regularly make things which is just crazy to me!

Any way, here are a couple of links I think are helpful and relevant here -
War on Want
Slow Fashion Forward
The Ethical Fashion Forum

I would love for you to tell me your thoughts on this issue.