Spring Sewing Swap 2013 - the content of my parcel

First of all I have to say "Thank You" to Kestrel for organizing the Spring Sewing Swap 2013. It is such a cool idea and definitely some work to match the partners and organize verything, so I really want to say "Thank You" from the bottom of my heart.
I already took part in the swap last year and had a really great experience then swapping with Inge, so I was very curious about this year and it was amazing again.
Kestrel partnered me with Jane from No More Twist, an even though she was fairly new to blogging, it was a pleasure browsing through her makes and guessing what she likes and doesn't like.
Jane received my parcel in the last days and was just waiting until her parcel arrived in Germany, so I'm sure she'll soon reveal what I got her.

So, here you can see what lovely presents I got.

Evey item was wrapped in paper and it was just like christmas ripping open every little present one after the other. Here you can see some of the haberdashery Jane got me. Buttons, bodkins (which I had to google to find out what they are for :-), a very cute bias tape from Austria with pretty flowers, two lovely lace and crocheted collars (THE trend in the UK apparently) for which I need to find the percet blouse or T-Shirt to wear them with, a tape measure with inch and cm units and

a magazine as well as 3 m of a pretty jersey printed with flowers and some newspaper freebies containing patterns from the Great British Sewing Bee.

Every item was tagged with a lovely explanation where it came from and what it is about. Such a clever idea!

Thank you very much dear Jane! I hope that my small parcel is liked as much as I'm enjoying your little presents. I feel that I've sent much less, then what I received, but I hope it's okay.

Lessons I learned during Me Made May 2013

This is what I learned during Me Made May: It's not a good year for sewalongs or any other event that requires continual blogging and most of all picture taking. The month started very well with me taking pictures regularly before heading off to work.
Then I travelled for a week and instead of taking the opportunity to take great pictures while I was away, I stopped taking pictures and returned from the week without any picture. I managed to wear me-made every day in the holiday, it is just not documented.
But then in the last week of May I got uninspired with my me-made things and on the last two days I got uninspired with my me-made garments and so I got lazy and didn't wear me-made till the end of the month. So, I have to say "Challenge failed!".

I should've known better that I'm very bad with these continual events in the blogosphere. Remember the UFO-Angriff 2013? Same story there. I was highly motivated in the beginning but then lost it somewhere along the way.

One thing I manage to do though is the Spring Sewing Swap. Yesterday I posted my little parcel and I'm excited about Jane's reaction. I hope she'll like what I picked.

Yesterday I also managed to get back in the swing of sewing and finished a skirt. Maybe I'll get around to taking pictures of it in the next days. It's a simple skirt similar to the Grainline Moss skirt.

Me Made May 2013 Day Thirteen to Eighteen

Okay, so the most difficult thing about Me-made May 2013 is definitely not finding me-made items to wear, but finding the time to take a decent picture and blog about the outfit. So I'm really behind, and didn't get around to post last week, but here are the outfits from last week.

Day Thirteen was a new top made of an often sewn Burda pattern. It was the first thing that I sewed after my injury and I'm quite pleased with the outcome. The pants are also me-made. I think the colours are more fall-like but with the strange weather changes that we experienced in Germany, it was quite suitable. Of course other shoes would be great with this outfit, but my leg hurts sometimes and so I rely on my comfortable kicks.

Day Fourteen was a me-made blouse, which is really old. It has little pleats in the front, though you can't see them because of the scraf that I once bought in Boston. I don't really like the length of the blouse anymore and think that it's a bit short, but it's okay with the right pair of pants. Here I wear it with black jeans, that I once got at Oxfam. They are originally H&M.

Day Fifteen was a me-made skirt, which is really old, probably six to seven years, but strangely it still fits and the tie-dyed style with its neon accent is really fashionable again. The fabric is a cotton with a little bit of elasthane, so it was really easy to work with. I paired it with my favourite grey sweater, which I also found at Oxfam two years ago, it's United Colours of Benetton.

Day Sixteen was my street-style-look as one of my colleagues noted. I was wearing a me-made top, which I made about two years ago from a fabric that I got in a small fabric shop in Essex. The jeans are thrifted from a shop in Hamburg. I really like the boyfriend look.

Day Seventeen was a me-made skirt and a thrifted knitted top.

Day Eighteen and actually Nineteen was comfortable weekend wear. The shirt was me made and the jeans were bought in San Francisco.

Me Made May 2013 Day Six to Twelve

Of course I was too busy to post on Wednesday, so instead of a small round-up, this is gonna be a long post with out fits from Day Six to Twelve. Me-made May is going really well so far!

Day Six: Me-made shirt and a pair of white jeans that I bought in Santa Barabara. Paired with my new kicks, some sneakers that look like Nike Air but were only 1/5 of the price of Nike shoes. Of course I spilled some tomato sauce on my jeans during lunch break, but it will hopefully wash out.

Day Seven: Such a Hamburg-style outfit. Complete me-made outfit. The blouse is made from a vintage pattern from the 70s and the skirt is a simple A-line silhouette. Love the mustard yellow. To define the waist, I'm wearing a pink belt.

Day Eight: Weather forecast predicted rainy weather, so I prepared mayself with some cosy knit sweater (made-by-mom) and jeans, which are me-made. Weather turned out to be good, so I was sweating like hell on my way home from a grocery store.

Day Nine: Bank holiday in Germany, so just a comfortable dress for lounging. It's really soft and cosy, so perfect for easy days.

Day Ten: Skirt is me-made from a cool digital print jersey that I once bought for a very good price at Karstadt. The green shirt in emerald green was a great find at a flea market some days ago.

Day Eleven: Weekend wear! For a sightseeing tour in Hamburg with some guests I wore an old me-made top ( yoke is from the same fabric like the blouse from Day Seven).

Day Twelve: Chilling in another me-made jersey dress, which is a bit short, so I wear it as a top together with a me-made black skirt.

Me-made May 2013 Day One to Five

I'll post a round-up of the me-made outfits every five days, because that fits best into my busy schedule this month.

 Day 1 consisted of the me-made outfit, which I want to wear every Wednesday (challenge!). This outfit consists of me-made pants made with my trusted pattern from Burda, a simple top made of a Burda pattern and a self-drafted cardigan in a lovely mustard yellow. Fabrics are all from stoffe.de, but unfortunately sold out right now. I have some remnants from the pants, and I hope that it will be enough for a skirt.

 Day 2 was a comfortable outfit for work, where the me-made item ist the top. It's a simple raglan sleeve top from a magazine called Sabrina. The jeans were bought second-hand in Redwood City and are actually Target. The fabric of the shirt is actually a fabric which was once used by H&M in a spring collection.

 Day 3 is a simple and comfrortable outfit for working at home. Later I changed into shorts, because the weather was so nice. The shirt is from a self-drafted pattern and has a wide back and small cap sleeves.

 Day 4 was a dress and cardigan. Here in Hamburg one really raises eyebrows if you are dressed too summery in May!, so I wore the cardigan to tone things down a little bit. The dress is actually self-drafted from the same pattern as the shirt from day 3. Fabric is from Karstadt, about two years ago. I made the dress for my California road trip.

Day 5 was a simple woven top, which looks like a tee and some cut off jeans. The fabric is silk and cotton and feels great on the skin, perfect for a warm spring day.

Break a leg!

Since two weeks I'm allowed to walk on two legs again, without crutches just using my legs. It's a great feeling and the day after I got the news from the doctor, I happily walked around in my flat without any reason. You don't notice how cool it is to be able to walk and carry around stuff at the same time. With the crutches I always had to carry a bag around my neck or carry a messenger bag, but I wasn't able to transport drinks from the kitchen to the living room. Now I can and it is great!

I haven't done any sewing in a while, but yesterday I sat in front of my machine again and I was a bit nervous. I made a top from a trusted pattern, just to get into the groove again. I'm not 100% happy with it yet, but maybe I'll show it during Me-made-May!
I couldn't participate last year, because of all the changes that happened in my life, but this year I feel that it is possible to participate again and so I declare herewith:

'I, Tine from sewontrend.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2013. Furthermore I will wear a complete handmade outfit once a week. Since I'll attend my graduation ceremony in the last week of the challenge, I will make a me-made-outfit for that occasion.'

The outfit that I was wearing today would already count as a Me-made-May outfit. I made the socks, cardigan and shirt. The shirt actually has a really cool princess seam and is very slimming. You'll definitely get to see it again in May.

Für meine deutschen Leser: Ich erinnere mich noch gut an meinen ersten Post im Januar, in dem ich furchtlos ankündigte meine UFos zu bekämpfen. Tatsächlich haben sich die UFOs anscheinend selber bekämpft, denn als ich neulich das Top fertigstellen wollte, konnte ich die zugeschnittenen Teile einfach nicht wieder finden. Ich habe meine Stoffe vor einiger Zeit neu sortiert und anscheinend sind die Teile dabei abhanden gekommen. Vielleicht finde ich sie aber auch irgendwann zufällig wieder unter den Stoffrestenn, wer weiß? Fürs Erste habe ich die Suche aufgegeben.
Das graue Kleid erwies sich doch als zu klein im Brustbereich und der Stoff wartet nun darauf in ein Top umgewandelt zu werden. Dafür benötige ich allerdings den Sorbetto Schnitt. Eigentlich existiert er auch schon ausgedruckt und zusammengeklebt, doch auch diesen kann ich nicht finden. Manchmal macht Aufräumen einfach alles schlimmer, als es schon ist, oder nicht? Zum Glück kann man den Schnitt einfach erneut Ausdrucken und Zusammenkleben. Das ist der große Vorteil an digitalen Schnitten, nicht wahr?

Bye bye crutches!

I'm back on track. After my last doctor's appointment I got the permission to walk again. So, now I'm back in the game again. Many ideas for projects have formed in my head and finally I'll be able to make them.
My right foot is still a bit swollen, but that will get better in the next days I hope.

More important is that I can walk around again and carry things in my hands, which is basically what I did the whole afternoon after the appointment.

This weekend I'll rearrange some furniture and soon I'll also start to work again. Work from home was fun, and it definitely has some advantages, but I miss the daily opportunity to dress up.
Spring has arrived in the north of Germany, so it's time to wear the light blouses and dresses again.