Some cute pyjamas and my Me Made May pledge

I've been busy with a couple of projects that I can't tell you about yet (all will be revealed very soon), but I'm the meantime, I sewed up some super cute pyjamas for Thomas and Polly to wear on a recent weekend away.  I started by making a pair for Thomas after he moaned that I don't make things for him (untrue by the way!). As soon as Polly saw them, she asked where hers were, so I made a pair for her. For both of them, I used the Made by Jack's Mum harem pants pattern for the bottoms and the explorer raglan pattern for the top. I extended the sleeves to make them full length at Thomas's request. Both fabrics are from my Girl Charlee stash. 

Here they are looking lovely despite very little sleep 

It's that time of year again, and I need to make my Me Made May pledge. I really want to challenge myself this year and also use this as an opportunity to think about what I actually wear and sew more of these wardrobe staples (I'm always getting sidetracked by party dresses!!).  I usually wear me made clothes so to push myself, my pledge this year is that between myself, Gareth and the kids, our family will wear at least 3 me made items between us each day during May, with as few repeat wears as possible. I also pledge to finish at least 4 projects for myself that are wardrobe staples, not party dresses. Phew! It's going to be an interesting month!

60s style - I finally made a Coco

I've been seeing so many fabulous versions of the Coco Dress by Tilly and the Buttons recently. The pattern is a few years old and I wasn't too bothered by it when it first came out. My Mum bought the pattern last year and made herself a fabulous houndstooth print dress, which I loved. I traced off the pattern, and aside from making the top version for Mum for her birthday, forgot about it. 

Recently, everyone in the FB sewing groups I'm in seems to be making this. I was so inspired by all these fab makes, I went rooting through my stash to make a version. I had some gorgeous geometric print ponte that I bought in the sale from Girl Charlee a while ago. The pattern is very retro and I thought it would make a perfect Coco. I decided to make the dress version with rollneck, 3/4 sleeves and sleeve cuffs. I decided to leave out the pockets. I can't resist pockets usually, but I felt they would be a bit lost with this fabric choice. 

I cut the size 3, and found I used a lot less fabric than expected (more for another project yay!). This ponte is really thick and stable, absolutely brilliant to cut and sew with. I was a bit concerned that the dress would be too tight across my tummy, so took a smaller seam allowance there. In retrospect, I think I should have taken the standard seam allowance, as it is quite a loose fit. I added some hand stitches to the cuffs and collar to keep them in place and hide the topstitching, which is really visible due to being in black when against the white parts of the fabric design. This is a quick and satisfying sew, and really versatile - I can see this working well as a casual Summer dress without the rollneck. 

My only concern was that my fabric choice was so 60s, that when combined with the style of the Coco, it looked like I was going to a fancy dress party!  However, I felt less like this when actually wearing it. I can't believe I left it so long to make a Coco.