I have made the shirt Pattern M from Basic Black recently and I wanted to make Pattern N which is a shirt dress, using pattern M as the basis.

Apologies for the poor quality photos but I carefully took my camera off to the river only to find that I had inadvertently left the memory card behind. Doh! These are taken by Mark using my phone.

What can I say about this dress? I adore the fabric, which was donated to my stash by the oft-mentioned friend, Thelma (who also gave me the pattern book). The fabric is actually reversible, with the other side being white on black, rather than black on white. I tried using the black side as a feature, but it looked odd. It is a cotton/poly blend with a lovely hand, soft but stable.

The shirt fitted me perfectly but I feel as though the dress is a little large. It’s also a bit shapeless and I’ve had to pull it in with a belt. When I look at the photo in the pattern book, the dress looks vaguely shapely and I am tempted to take mine apart and cinch it in a bit.

Of course, it could be the model making the difference 🙂 My dress is also shorter as I didn’t have sufficient fabric, but I would love a long version. Another time…

Today is the beginning of Me-Made-May’15 and I was pleased to wear something new for the first day. However, I have already broken my pledge, which was to wear only me-made clothes, as I attended the investiture of our new Vice-Chancellor, which is a very ceremonial occasion requiring academic regalia from processing academics. I am obliged to report that I did not make my own gown, hood, and trencher cap!

Our lovely colleague (and Fadanista follower) Ann took this photo and I thought I would share it, for the benefit of my family. How is Mark’s hat (embarrassingly called a bonnet)? It is at least 2 sizes too small. I do note that he is wearing the trousers and shirt that I made him and I also knitted the socks that he’s wearing. I think this should cancel out my transgression!

In a nutshell: Japanese pattern book, pattern N, shirt dress made from lovely cotton blend fabric donated to my stash. Shoes are Paul Carroll.