Me Made May Day 1. Sculthorpe Pants

Oh my God, the world’s a very different place to the one I last blogged from, isn’t it? I hope everyone is doing OK, and staying well (and staying home!).

I’m back at work now, and it’s been absurdly busy considering we’re in the middle of a shut-down. Life as the parent of a nearly one-year-old is exhausting and rewarding and tedious and wonderful and so time-consuming the idea of throwing blogging into the mix seems insane, but here we are.

Traditionally during the month of May, blogger-sewists and craftspeople take part in the Me Made May challenge to showcase their own makes. This year I thought I’d participate myself.

So, every day this month I’m going to endeavor to wear at least one thing that I’ve sewn or crafted. I’ll be sharing my outfits here and on my Instagram. It’s been a while (a decade?) since I last attempted a blog-a-day, so the wordy waffle is probably going to be fairly limited, but hopefully that means I might actually pull off 31 days straight of blogging!

Today I’m wearing my new Sculthorpe pants from terrific plus-size pattern geniuses, Muna and Broad. I couldn’t resist this pattern after seeing the clever side pockets, and hearing about how Jess and Leila had specifically designed the pattern for plus-size bodies (tummies and butts included). I’d never made trousers before, so sewed a wearable muslin from a cheap mystery wool blend that I bought from Rathdowne Fabrics, but they fit so beautifully that I’ve got a second pair already already cut out from a much more expensive linen-tencel blend.

For today’s outfit I teamed the pants with a striped tee from Boden and a slouchy blazer from Uniqlo for a casual-cool look.

Cut and Paste

Top: Boden

Skirt: Doops Designs

Shoes: Comfortview

Welp, here it is. The new Wall. Possibly the Final Wall. Very definitely the Forever For Now Wall. Can you believe it?

2018 actually marks ten years of Frocks and Frou Frou, which seems just totally insane. I know some of you have been with me since the beginning – thank you so much for sticking with me through all the ups and downs. What a crazy ride, huh?

It’s been a stinker in Melbourne over the past few days. Absolutely scorching hot. And as much as I totally adore our new pad, it doesn’t have air-conditioning. My lovely Mister has managed to borrow a portable air-conditioner that we’ve had cranking all weekend, and it’s the only thing that’s kept me from melting into a disgruntled puddle of sweat.

It’s on the list of Things We’re Going To Do To The Apartment That We Now Own, Because We Can, Because We Own It. After this past weekend it’s near the top of the list. It’s probably even above saving money to get married, to be honest. It’s been pretty hot.

I’ve been sitting on this brightly-patterned “Cut Play” skirt from Doops Designs for a while now. It’s the second skirt that I’ve bought from the Independent Australian designer (the first is here), and it’s taken me a while to wear it. Unlike my Protea skirt I bought this one in the cotton fabric, rather than the silk and it’s… okay. The boxy shape is a lot less forgiving with the stiffer fabric, and though I love that the colours are more vibrant it’s just A Lot, you know? And I’m wearing less and less of this kind of bold, bright clothing these days.

The skirt used to be a few inches longer, and I just couldn’t figure out how to wear it successfully. I had some grand plans about lopping the elasticised waistband off, and using the fabric to make a top, or a less frouffy skirt, but in the end I realised that just lopping a bit of length off the hem transformed it from Too Much to Just Enough. It’s fun, and bold, and bright, and perfect for summer with a stripy t-shirt.

I hemmed it myself. Now that we’ve moved, and I have a dining table again I finally got my sewing machine back out. I’ve already made one new dress (it was semi-sucessful. I’ll write about in next week maybe) and I’m looking forward to getting back into sewing and dressmaking again.