Hi there, it’s been awhile!

Well there’s nothing like throwing your hat over the wall to bring you back down to earth! I’ve just signed up for Me-Made-May’14! Here’s what I’ve pledged…

I, Helene from 25reasons.net, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’14. I endeavour to wear at least two me-made items each week for the duration of May 2014. I also endeavour to create a proper plan for my winter wardrobe sewing, and make 2 new items to completion from that list.

You may have noticed a couple of things about this blog. A couple changes? Yes! I completely changed the look of the blog. I hadn’t been happy with the theme I was using for some time, and then the fabulous Heather Lou from Closet Case Files posted about her experiences with changing her blog. I was instantly in love with her colour scheme. I mean that yellow! That haunted me for weeks! Now I know they say that mimickry is the best form of flattery, but I reckoned I couldn’t really get away with copying her beautiful new look. So I set out on a search of my own.

Although I’ve learned heaps about using WordPress, even some code si now no longer beyond me, but if I could find the perfect solution with great support, that was going to be it for me. And I did. I signed up with StudioPress, and bought a theme from PrettyDarnCuteDesign, and worked at it a bit, with excellent support from PDCD and Brad Dalton from WP Sites, and ta-dah! It’s ready. I hope you like it. I’d really love to hear what you think, so please leave me a comment.

So what else did you notice? The fact that I haven’t posted since December last year? Yep. It had all gotten too big to tackle. Every time I thought about blogging my makes – and there have been several in that time – I had to confront the makeover, and it just ended up in the too-hard basket, and never came out. Well, until Heather came along. Thank you so much Heather! If it weren’t for you and your yellow that I still covet, this task would have stayed underground!

And then, along comes May, complete with everyone’s “I’m doing ‘Me-Made-May’14!!!” posts, and I decided it was time to get back in the game. So here I am. Nervous about fulfilling my pledge, but taking on board the whole “this is not supposed to be stressful” thing.

Before I get into sharing my plan for Me-Made-May’14, here’s a list of what’s in the image above, things I’ve made since The Craft Sessions last year. From left to right…

• Wiksten Tank Dress – I made this dress from a linen I picked up on sale from Tessuti‘s in Melbourne a couple years ago. I added a little 2-button tab at the neckline, a pocket with buttoned tab, and I made it in a smaller size than the first one I made.
• Here’s the first Wiksten Tank Dress I made after my class with Sophie at TCS last September. It’s in a gorgeous Nani Iro double-gauze cotton. I love wearing it because it’s so soft.
• My second Sorbetto top by Colette Patterns. I used a beautiful shade of pale blue linen for the top, and embellished it with shell buttons and an appliqué flower in a Liberty Tana Lawn. The pants are in a medium-weight linen with a lovely texture. I used Tessuti’s Laura Pant pattern.
• Next is my first Sorbetto top in a very light woven rayon front, and an Alexander Henry Fulham Road lawn back. I adore wearing this top. I love how it looks on me, and I really love the fabrics. The skirt is a cheap denim from Darn Cheap Fabrics Grainline Studio Moss Skirt. Great pattern! Unfortunately, the skirt became too big for me about a month after I made it, and I had to do a very fast, last-minute, right-before-going-out alteration to take the back seam in about 2-3 inches, and I really messed it up. I can’t wear it any more, and have the Moss skirt pattern on my list for Me-Made-May’14.
• This is my best-made garment to date. It’s the Colette Patterns Hawthorn dress in Liberty Tana Lawn Strike. Tons of hand-stitching, I added a lining, and I really should write up a separate post about this one.

So… phew! My first ice-breaker post done! I’ll be back in the next day or two with my MMM-14 plan.