Oh okay, the real reason is that I just sewed a fancy new dress to wear to a wedding tomorrow, and I think it deserves a post of its own.

So here’s the last 5 days. They aren’t particularly inspiring so I’ve made a handy collage instead of individual pics.

From top to bottom, left to right we have:

Day 13: Moss skirt, unblogged Maudella shirt, baggy Gap sweatshirt, awful photo. I have cropped my face for your own protection.

Day 14: Birthday dress, Uniqlo jumper, sparkly heart brooch from Tatty Devine.

Day 15: McCalls dress, cardigan from COS.

Day 16: McCalls skirt, unblogged kimono sleeve top, thrifted red cardigan.

Day 17: Burda jeans, Burda leopard print top, cardigan from COS (again), knitted cowl.

I’m getting slightly better at taking my own photo in the mirror, mainly because the alternative involves getting up early enough for my boyfriend to take a picture before he leaves for work. And extra sleep normally wins out.

Here’s a baffling question that Me-Made-May has made me ponder:

I love wearing colour. I really like pinning pictures of other people wearing colour. I gravitate to colourful fabrics in fabric shops.

So WHY ON EARTH do I sew so many black, navy, white, grey, and beige clothes? Is there a deep psychological issue here I need to address? Answers on the back of a postcard, please.

Day 6 – Bank holiday! Oh yeah! I’d just finished this skirt when this picture was taken, and I totally love it. Will blog about it later this week. Rest of my outfit is shop-bought.

Day 7 - Still sunny enough to wear sandals! Hooray! Me-made jeans and a very old, pre-blog shirt made from the first Built By Wendy book. It has an extremely wonky, self-drafted Peter Pan collar and doesn’t see much wear.

Day 8 – Went to work and ballet class. There was a teacher substitution and it turned into a ridiculously hard aerobics session. That’s why I’m propping myself up on the railing. Me-made jeans again, my double-collar shirt, and a jumper from Uniqlo. These jeans are extremely comfortable.

Day 9 - Off to see Star Trek: Into Darkness and eat a big cheeseburger at Byron. Wearing my brown jeans, my white shirt, and brogues from Clarks. Jacket is from Whistles, I got it on Ebay and it’s amazing for this weird spring weather.

Day 10 - You’ve already seen this. MMM has made me re-evaluate this dress. I really love it now! That’s what I like about this challenge. Still in intense muscle pain from ballet class. I am bravely soldiering on.

Day 11 - I met C-3P0 on a trip to John Lewis. He wasn’t very chatty. I am wearing my Beignet skirt, an unblogged kimono sleeve top, and a jacket from the Whistles sale. Plus me-knitted-cowl. I reshaped the side seams in this skirt so I wear it a bit more, but it’s not my favourite. I don’t like the shape of the pattern as drafted, it’s like a weird cross between an A-line and a pencil which doesn’t really suit me.

Day 12 - Eating quesadillas at home and frantically sewing a dress to wear to a wedding next weekend, then going out for a lovely pizza with friends. Wearing my brown jeans again, my Burda stripey top (you can just see it), and more shop-bought stuff.

This was a great week! I’m really pleased with how much more stuff I’ve made than this time last year.

p.s. In unrelated news, I am getting married exactly two months from today! Eek!

So I got my boyfriend to take some quick photos of me in our spare room, which doubles up as my sewing area (as well as a bike storage shed/workshop).

And readers, I’m ashamed. Ashamed at the state of my sewing space.

Okay so this was before work, so I didn’t have time to tidy up.  But I can’t even pretend this is an exceptional circumstance – no, it pretty much always looks like this.

Here’s a breakdown.

Those scrumpled up pieces of tissue paper in front of my sewing machine? They’re vintage pattern pieces for the next project I’m working on. I hurriedly shoved them there while attempting to clear up a bit the other night.

What you can’t really see is that I always sew on a desk covered with random pattern pieces, fabric scraps, used sewing needles, spools of thread, old cups of tea, and various other detritus.

The two worst bits are:

• The amazingly shoddy, £15 ironing board I bought from the discount store. The legs wobble, it has a hole burnt in the cover, it leaves marks on anything you try and iron, and it gives you static shocks to boot.
• The shelf of fabric on top which is where I crumple in all the pieces I can’t fit in my clear plastic boxes. (The boxes themselves are from IKEA and are great, and my boyfriend put up all these shelves for me when we moved in which has made life a lot easier.)

I see these gorgeous craft spaces on blogs, with neat rows of ribbons on reels, and fabric all stacked in colour-coded squares. Am I the only one with a less-than-beautiful sewing area? Is it even possible to sew without trailing thread throughout the house and creating an almighty mess?

p.s. I made this dress last year but have never worn it, I just didn’t like it when finished. It’s based on the Burdastyle kimono jersey t-shirt pattern I always use. Me-made-May seemed like the perfect opportunity to try and give it some love.

The Met Ball is an annual event, this time in honour of the ‘Punk: Chaos to Couture’ exhibition in New York.

Punk? No. Fugly? Yes.

The theme of ‘punk chaos’ was tricky for the attendees. Rich people don’t want to look like Nancy Spungen, according to the New York Times (although who does want to look like Nancy Spungen nowadays? Apart from Italian punks hanging around in Camden).

Most people went for tried-and-tested punk shorthand, ie:

• Safety pins. So many safety pins.
• Mohawks/spiky hair.
• Ripped fishnets.
• John Lydon sneer.

It’s inevitable that nobody would really get it right. I don’t think punk was ever a red carpet thing. But punk definitely was a fashion thing. It all started in a clothes shop, didn’t it? Punk was the definition of style over substance.

There’s an amazing history of punk by Jon Savage called ‘England’s Dreaming’, which is one of my favourite books ever. It’s all about how fashion created and defined punk, from an arty, threatening, exclusive London clique, to the dumbed down mainstream of spiky mohawks and Sham 69 gigs.

Read the book and you’ll get a picture of punk as being all about DIY and dissatisfaction (as well as a nasty undercurrent of teenage stupidity, fascist chic, and random violence).

And if you’re interested in fashion and subculture, you should read this book. Jon Savage’s writing is highly evocative about clothes. Here are some choice quotes on sewing and style:

Vintage Sex Pistols t-shirt from 1976

‘After two years of intermittent tailoring, Vivienne found her own style, suddenly turning her inexperience to her advantage. One day, she was tinkering with two simple squares of cloth, attempting to make a sleeved T-shirt. Then she thought, ‘Why bother with the sleeves?’, and made the simplest possible T-shirt instead, sewing the two squares roughly together, the seams highlighted as much as possible, with holes for the head and the arms. Beautifully androgynous, they fitted the torso like a glove. The heavy, pinkish, felt-like cloth made a suitable backdrop for printing slogans.’
Vivienne Westwood’s first attempts at tailoring

Poly Styrene (RIP)

‘Take a cheap plastic bag,’ she says, ‘stick a lot of plastic flowers on it and things that nobody would be bothered to buy, then all of a sudden they become very very trendy and people want them. I had little lattice plastic bags and see-through Mary Quant shoes from the sixties: I used to buy up old stock. Anything different. Some of the things were vile but they were so vile they were cute. That was the whole thing: it was meant to be an extreme version of tack.’
Poly Styrene (of X Ray Spex) talking about her market stall on the King’s Road

Vivienne Westwood looks well ‘ard. You wouldn’t mess.

‘The first person I saw who looked totally brilliant,’ says Simon Withers, who worked with Vivienne Westwood in the early 1980s, ‘was in late ’74 at a bus stop in Kentish Town. He was called Matt Scottley and he had blue two-pleat pegs, plastic sandals, and a blue mohair jumper, with a blonde wedge.’ This was what would later be called the ‘Soul boy’ look: at the time the term denoted not only a musical preference but also some sartorial extravagance’.
The emergence of soul boy fashion – there’s a good overview of the ‘The British soul boy’ here.

The original bondage suit, designed by McLaren + Westwood.

‘We found a fabric called Black Italian: it was polished black satin cotton which British Rail used for their waistcoats. That fabric became the basis for the designed based on those trousers. I wanted to put the fetish elements in. The sense of making a trouser become tighter even though it’s wide was good: it had that energy, that ability to contract itself. So we got the zips….the straps between the legs…buckles on the calves…Dye it black: make everything black, black, black’.
Malcolm McLaren on the invention of bondage trousers

There’s also some great bits about how the band Subway Sect dyed all their clothes grey in a bath, and how Holly Johnson (later of Frankie Goes to Hollywood) used to go out in Liverpool wearing tampons as earrings and a kettle for a handbag.

So if you want to know more about punk fashion, ignore The Met Ball and get this book instead.

Man, I am bad at taking photos of myself in the mirror. How do other people manage one-handed phone selfies? It’s so hard! I was complaining about this to my boyfriend but he just laughed at me for using the word ‘selfie’, which is basically a fair comment.

Anyway, you might be able to spot my black and white dress, my brown jeans, my Moss denim skirt, and this blue floral dress which I’ve since shortened into a top.

I’m pleased that I’ve managed to wear 90% me-made clothes, except for knitwear (can’t give up my knitwear). There’s a few new things I haven’t blogged yet. One is a denim skirt from a 70s pattern, which I also wore today:

It doesn’t look so great with tights so it’s been languishing in a drawer until this week, but I think it’ll be a summer staple.

The pattern is a Maudella classic, very kindly sent to me by Kestrel Makes. The fabric is £1 a metre denim from the Peter Jensen sample sale. Yes, I’m still working my way through my massive PJ haul.

I added slash pockets from a Burda pattern, ripped off from inspired by the Hollyburn from Sewaholic. Pockets are an essential in a denim skirt, don’t you think? I also added lots of jeans-style topstitching, and a lapped zipper using this tutorial.

Here’s a top tip – don’t try and hem a heavy denim skirt by turning it up twice and stitching. The hem will keep flipping up no matter how much you iron it. You’ll have to undo the whole stupid thing, then re-sew it using some yellow bias-binding you have lying around. At least that’s my experience.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the month! My sewing has been super-productive lately, the May challenge is really getting me inspired. I’ve got lots of new things to show you as soon as I’ve got some decent photos.

OH YEAH!!!!

I wouldn’t normally stretch to four exclamation marks, but I’m very excited about this year’s challenge. Huge thanks go out to Zoe for organising this again.

So far I’ve taken part in Self-Stitched September 11 (went on holiday halfway through and gave up) and Me-Made-May 12 (left my camera on the train so had many outfits undocumented). This year I’m going to see it through the end. Fingers crossed.

Here’s why I love the Me-Made-May concept:

• It forces me to think creatively about what I put on every day.
• Photographing my outfits is a great way to find out what I actually wear.
• It helps me figure out where the gaps in my me-made wardrobe are and plan to fill them.
• The community of people taking part is amazing. It’s inspiring to see what others around the world make and wear.

I have a lot more home-sewn stuff than last year, so I’m hoping to wear mainly me-made outfits, combined with RTW stuff that I really love. I’ve been thinking a lot about the issues in my last post - if you didn’t see the comments, Franca of Oranges and Apples made a great point about buying less clothing (and make sure you read her comprehensive post about untangling ethical fashion).

My major piece of sewing will be a dress for a wedding on 18th May. I have the fabric – gorgeous polka dot crepe I won in a giveaway from the lovely Rehanon – but still need to decide on a pattern.

If you’re taking part, I have a question – where are you going to document your progress? I’ve joined the Flickr group, which is always a great place to find everyone’s outfits. But I’ll also probably post some via Instagram (you can find my feed here), and do a weekly blog round-up. Let me know what you’re doing so I can follow you!

Good luck to everyone taking part! Ready….steady….

And the search footage they’ve been showing on the news is harrowing. It makes you feel powerless.

Plus, this Bangladesh news comes right on the heels of the story about Zara using slave labour, which came 2 years after a story…accusing Zara of using slave labour. They obviously don’t care.

And why should they? They’re heaped with admiring comments, not just from fashion blogs, but from journalists in the NYTimes.

I know consumers can exert pressure on companies, but could brands like Zara and Primark even operate without cut-price labour? Their whole business model is built on it.

My wardrobe is never going to be entirely hand-made. I buy high street clothes. And even if I didn’t, I’d be involved. I have no idea where most of my fabric came from. The cotton could have been picked by forced labour in Uzbekistan. It’s so hard to keep track of everything.

As home-sewers, we know how much work goes into a garment. However complicated a clothing supply chain gets, we know that at the end of it there are people, not just machines.

And that $1.14, divided between seven of those people, is not enough pay for making a pair of jeans.

Zara jeans

The only ray of hope (if you can call it that) is that the Bangladesh tragedy is getting a lot of press attention. And the press is linking the disaster with the clothing industry in a way I’ve not seen before.

The BBC even recorded this video asking people if they knew where their clothes were made (non-spoiler: nobody did).

The tangible things I can think of doing are:

• Donate to Anti-Slavery International. They are the only UK charity campaigning to stop slave labour. Their magazine is how I found out about the forced labour in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan.
• Talking about the issue and try and keep it in the news (hence this post).

I don’t know what I can do apart from that and I feel pretty helpless.

Some resources I found:

- The author of Overdressed, a book about the rise of cheap clothing, has a list of actions you can take here.

- Labour Behind The Label support garment workers. They grade high street companies on how ethical they are.

- The Guardian have an ethical fashion directory here

Watching the Great British Sewing Bee has started me thinking. Specifically, about what the most challenging part of dressmaking is.

My conclusion? I think it’s matching the right pattern to the right fabric. Everything else is a skill you can learn, but this is more like a dark art.

I still struggle with it, but it’s even harder when you’re just starting out and have no idea how to tell good fabric from bad, and where to buy it.

So I’ve been having a think about where I usually buy fabric and haberdashery, and this is what I came up with. I’d love to know where you get yours!

Where I buy Haberdashery

My first port of call for zips, thread, and elastic is always Ultimate Craft. It’s 5 minutes from my house and next to a newsagent that sells Burda magazines, what’s not to like?

Their haberdashery selection is immense, but I steer clear of the fabric after some bad experiences, although the jersey ribbing is okay (I still haven’t found out what the hell American D-Kripp is).

If Ultimate Craft don’t have it, or I can’t get there in time, I order online from Jaycotts. They have everything and the delivery is super-fast.

Where I Buy Fabric

I am terrible shopper. I’m a cheapskate and bad at making buying decisions (seriously never go shopping with me, it’s horrible). This applies to fabric too. So I mainly stock up when I spy a bargain on the horizon, like the Peter Jensen Sample sale or the semi-mythical Tottenham knit warehouse.

Otherwise, I would head to Dalston Mill Fabrics. Again, the ‘near my house’ factor is key, but they do have a big selection of fabrics, and a haberdashery cave at the back which has LOADS of buttons. Seriously, this is an A+++ button destination.

The people who run the shop are a little eccentric, and lots of the bolts are stored up on high shelves – they literally pull the fabric down on top of you with a massive stick. So it’s an interesting shopping experience. You don’t get that online.

For vintage fabric, I can’t resist The Shop on Cheshire Street.

It’s a vintage clothes shop that just happens to sell lots of  textiles. This photo is misleading – these shelves are normally full to bursting with amazing fabric. Not just little scraps either, I’ve bought 3 metres there before in one piece. And it’s cheap – about £5-£20 for each length. There’s also an old cabinet chock-full of vintage ribbons, lace and trims.  It’s tiny though, so don’t all head there at once.

Online fabric shopping destinations

You may think I’m crazy for saying this, but Fabricland has become one of my favourite online fabric websites. Yes, it’s a hell-hole of animated gifs, but it’s updated all the time, and they have SO MUCH STUFF.

I’ve regularly found the exact same fabric cheaper here than in other online and off-line shops. You just need patience and a strong stomach. Ordering is done over the phone but they’re very helpful.

The Fabricland website. Not suitable for epileptics or UX designers.

Tissu Fabrics This is the motherlode of stretch fabrics. Delivery is fast, it’s cheap, and the quality is good. My Elisalex skater dress is made from ponte knit I got from here.

Honourable mentions

Goldhawk Road is objectively the best place to buy fabric in London, but I find it overwhelming. There’s too much choice! I hardly bought anything at the recent sewing meet-up for this reason. It’s also really far from Hackney, so I only make it out there about once a year.

Raystitch is lovely and sells gorgeous, organic fabric (I reviewed it here), I pop in whenever I’m in Islington.

Our Patterned Hand (review here) has beautiful fabrics you won’t find anywhere else, but it’s pricey.

Fabrics Galore I believe this is where a lot of the Great British Sewing Bee fabric came from. It’s a lovely shop, but again a huge pain to get to from Hackney so it’s a once a year sort of thing.

Have I missed anywhere out? Where do you buy fabric?

Photo by http://www.digpalsingh.com/

Actully, meet-up is too small a word to accurately encapsulate the day. It was a stitching summit, a meeting of minds, the SXSW of sewing blogs. It was epic. The sun came out just for us.

Rachel is an amazing force of nature. I have put together work conferences this size and I know what an immense pain it is trying to wrangle everyone. She made it seem easy, bringing along a photographer (who took most of these great photos), getting goodie bags for everyone, herding us onto the tube, and shepherding us all along for a absolutely delicious Lebanese meal.

I spent the whole day chatting, meeting new people, and laughing my head off, as you can see in this photo.

Photo by http://www.digpalsingh.com/

I did have a small crisis about what to wear. I couldn’t decide how cold it was going to be, so in the end I wore my blue pencil skirt (I’ve removed the pockets from this and it hangs a lot better) and my trusty old leopard print top.

My boyfriend told me not to wear heels as I’d be ‘the tallest person there’ but he was totally WRONG. Ha! It was awesome to catch up with fellow tall ladies like Shivani and Rachel, and meet new ones too.

Photo by http://www.digpalsingh.com/

I reckon if you’re tall you basically have to learn to sew, or resign yourself to shopping at Long Tall Sally and/or never wearing skirts that finish below the knee.

Chatting to everyone was impossible with nearly 50 bloggers there, but I gave it a good go anyway. It was awesome meeting the incredibly glamorous Nicole Needles, Katy of Sleek Silhouette in her McCalls 6503 dress (twinsies), super-talented Sally from Charity Shop Chic, and so many more lovely women. It doesn’t seem statistically likely that out of 50 people, everyone was nice, but somehow we beat the odds.

I was pretty good in the shopping stakes, only spending £6 on some emerald green cotton for a skirt. For some reason I took a picture of this joker fabric, I think because it was hideous, although now I’m looking at it I can see it as a tastelessly brilliant jacket lining…

This is what we all looked like at lunch. Truly you haven’t lived until you’ve heard the sound of 50 sewing bloggers all talking simultaneously in a Lebanese restaurant.

I got home exhausted, hoarse, inspired to sew more, and totally exhilarated. It was the best day I’ve had in ages. I have a nagging fear that even my nuptials in July won’t live up to it (there will definitely be less sewing chat on my wedding day).

Huge thanks to Rachel for co-ordinating, Janene for organising the delicious food, and everyone else for being awesome and ridiculously well-dressed.