Bracken Crafts- 100 garments

Monday, 18 June 2018

9th to 18th June

Quick round up:

Saturday 9th

Original bugs dress - this pattern was a freebie with a magazine.I got tempted to buy it and rediscovered the hobby of my youth - sewing!

I really like wearing this with the same mesh top which is based on my blue tops. They seem to belong together somehow.I have also recently remade a white version of the blue tops and I like it almost as much even though it is white.

Sunday
My mesh-frump dress which I rarely wear but seemed to fit the weather:

Monday
Wide leg work trousers ( my workhorse it seems) with african block print top.

Tuesday

Dotty top and a new white Lindy Petal skirt ( made for The Monthly Stitch June Secret PJ challenge).

I have made this skirt before :http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/lindy-petal-skirt-white-lace-trimmed.html

I like the original version. Not so sure about this but maybe its the colour. I never usually wear white but bought this fabric very cheap so needed a use for it and a work skirt seemed viable.

Wednesday:
Lace trimmed top and flora and fauna skirt:

Thursday
Black wrap top and with black wide leg trousers:

Very pyjama-rey!

Friday and a day off to set up at Leamington Peace festival. In fact we forgot this photo. I usually love to do leamington but this year was simply a long series of disasters to the point I am seriously wondering about bothering ever again. We did rubbish but that was cos they sent us to the end of the back of beyond. The entire festival has totally changed. Too many stalls. Rubbish set up and locations. The organisers have changed and I think it is just not as good as it usually is. I am not just talking about making money here but the entire setup. It was good cos I saw some old friends but most of them had difficulty finding us because we were the opposite end to usual. It was disappointing to say the least.
My red trousers and top. Looking at this picture much too bright. I was very hapy that morning to be doing a market again. The excitement!
I do not usually feel this bright these days sadly.

Saturday

Goldfish dress, leggings and new Asymetric poncho.
I got complaints I was too black for festival:)😀😀

I went looking for black roses for my hair but no one sold them!

Sunday
I was so tired after Sunday I forgot to take the picture so had to get a catchup one here:
My fluffy jumper finally fitted in somewhere. I will keep it for festivals from now on. I nearly chicked this cos despite its exactly how I designed it and I like it it just never fitted in anywhere. then I was cold enough not tp care and I found it in the van. I forgot it was there but a really good find it seemed and actually it really works! A few people said it did btut until I saw the picturesI would never have believed it. Proves nothing you make is a disaster. You just have to find the right time and place to wear it. I wore it with my original upcycled festival dress.

Finally its Monday and I
so tired I am so glad I took today off to recover!

Friday, 8 June 2018

5,6,7, 8th June and my dog died!

All this clothing stuff seems somewhat unimportant right now. Sadly I take hundreds of photos but have taken for granted my beautiful dog and not found any recent photos! This photo above is possibly the best way to remember my boy tho because here he was young and healthy and very happy and destructive. He did love a cardboard tube of any size!

This is the only glimpse that seems to be on my blog of Ronnie and you cannot really see him:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/05/mmm17-days-7-8-and-9.html

Ronnie dog has been ill for a while. He was diagnosed with a tumour a few months ago now. He kept coughing and we suspected heart problems but when they looked the vets found the tumour in his lung and possible tumours all over. But being already 14 we decided it was cruel and inappropriate to go giving him chemo anyway since he is already older than most dogs regardless of breed. Ron was my Silky-Paws. A complete and total cross breed / mongrel if you please. I loved him very much. Ron was 14 years old back in January so not a young dog. His brother the same age and litter. Ron has escaped euthanasia a few times so was doing well. He cost us about £1000 when he was on a drip in February. In August 2017 he fell downstairs and hurt his back. My fault for allowing him the freedom of the house when he was already very old. The thing is until then he never really seemed that old. After that incident yes he was. He had a leg problem ever since. Last weekend I was worried but could not see what was wrong. After his falling downstairs the vets said not to walk him but we did but not far and not every day. He had a good sized garden. But he did like to see the outside world so we still took him out mostly for drives which he loved. He stayed in bed Monday and did not join us when we watched TV which both dogs usually do. I booked him into the vets on Friday afternoon to see if they can give him more painkillers since it seemed he was ok for 12 hours but needed more after that and metacham is one dose in 24 hours. Overdosing can cause Kidney failure so we don't want to risk that.Then Tuesday was similar and he was having lots of problems getting up so we started to help him. He could do it on his own but why make him hurt. Wednesday he did come to watch TV. Thursday he was paralysed and had to be held up to drink. Friday first thing ( today) he went to the vets as an emergency and they cannot do anything. We expected it would be that way. He was euthanased.

In his later years he mostly slept so what photos I do have he seems to be on his bed. The earlier years he was a mad crazy lunatic:

This is Ron with his brother Reg at New Years Eve 2006:

By the way they are named this because they were "strays" and we had just seen the Krays. Not the best names I could have given them!

Reg regularly photo-bombs my pictures but I think Ron has rarely appeared on this blog if ever at all.

His brother seems to know something is wrong. He obviously knows Ron is not here but they have both separately gone to the vets over the years and come back a day later so its probably that he has yet to work it out. They were siblings and very connected so I am really worried about this now. He is a howler too and we do need to work. Petsitters can let him out etc but they will still need to leave him alone. Its very worrying and upsetting. Well heart-breaking actually.

5th I wore White jumper made the same way as my blue tops http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2016/05/mmmay16-06052016-day-6.html
and my white lace trimmed 2-layer top:http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/lindy-petal-skirt-white-lace-trimmed.html

6th I wore my Navy trousers http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/06/final-day-of-mmm-and-i-am-continuing.html

with ladybird top http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/mmm18-new-ladybird-top-from-burda-style.html

and got photo-bombed by Reg:

7th my red ikea fabric top http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/another-red-topburdastyle-022014117.html with black trousers:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/08/navy-blue-work-trousers-from-burda-7122.html

Today (8th June) ancient Jeffrey Rogers trousers ( bought 1996)with my black top:

http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2016/05/mmmay16-day-14.html

Thanks for visiting

Bracken

Monday, 4 June 2018

2nd 3rd and 4th June #MM

Well I missed a few items I wore to be honest because I forgot to take the photos so you can only see the me mades from when I was relaxig in the garden over the weekend. I wore a few other things when I went out shopping but whatever:

2nd June
Pink lace top: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/mmm18-day-30-new-pink-lace-burda-style.html
over River Island RTW T shirt from about 2006 ( mens). Interesting Tshirt because its meant to have the skull print on the inside not outside. A fleeting fashion! and with my favourite shorts which came from a festival back in 1997 and I still love them. They are what looks like hand screen printed yellow camo.

I do love gardening on hot sunny days!

3rd June

Please ignore the mess I was clearing stuff out to throw away. The pumpkin is from last winter and I was about to sow the seeds because I reckon they will be more likely to grow stored like this then dried. I will let you know later this year if it works.

Blue top: 7: Dark navy top with a step by step tutorial guide to making

Its worn over a playsuit I bought in a sale back in the early 2000s.

4th June - work day

Navy trousers : http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/mmm-days-22-and-23-and-new-navy-trousers.html
with white paisley top: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/mmm-days-20-and-21.html

Thanks for visiting

Bracken

Saturday, 2 June 2018

Final day of #MMM and I am continuing into June

31st May

I originally pledgedto wear two items every day in May for the #MMM18 challenge. I found this difficult if I am honest. The two items idea is easy until you want to wear a dress. I should have said two items or a dress to make it a more realistic challenge. Anyway I also pledged to try as far as possible to wear #MM into June so here is the last day of May and the 1st June. I will not necessarilly be wearing 2 items daily from now on but willtry to continue to wear one because as it happens I am also currently job hunting and when wearing #MM for an interview I think could work to stop me getting the job so on days I have interviews ( I am being hopeful here😀) I will not be wearing me made and since it maybe an entire day I will have to opt out for this.

Otherwise though its been fun so I am carrying on indefinitely. I have been wearing a lot of #MM for ages now anyway so maybe its time to measure just how much and see if I can incorporate even more into my working life as well as play life.
I may have to do round ups at the end of each week because trying to post daily has been difficult. My Mum was very ill the last few days. I spent quite a bit of time chasing doctors ( literally - I had to go to the surgery to demand a home visit!). It does not sound like much but took far more time than you will expect when reading this. This made it impossible to have time to do my normal living stuff ( making dinner, cleaning etc) and still have time to post so round-ups may be the way forward during June.

On the last day of #MMM18 I wore my african block print fabric top which was so simple it is really a square with a neck hole and shaped hems. No pattern for this one but I really should make more because I really like it, have always found it easy to wear, and really I need to get away from "complicated is better" which tends to be my mindset, because sometimes the simplest tops are really nice to wear. This one is.
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2016/06/54-self-drafted-floral-yellow-top.html

With my yellow top I wore my new navy trousers. I like these. They are comfortable and I left the hems to fray which I can just about get away with at work in summer. It feels more "me" if you know what I mean. Being a linen type of fabric they seem to be fraying very nicely tho I have needed to cut the straggly bits off every now and then. I think that should stop now tho because I did sew a row to hold the frays in place and limit how much they fray. It also makes for a more professional RTW look so is acceptable in an office.

I am probably going to make a second pair of these because they are very "pyjama-ish" so will fit in well with this months The Monthly Stitch challenge which is "secret pyjamas".

I may have to add pockets to the next pair tho because not having any is bugging me.

I wore my navy trousers again on Friday 1st June with a dotty top. This was another new top I got round to in desperation for something different to wear in May!

Thanks for visiting

Bracken

Thursday, 31 May 2018

#MMM18 day 30 new pink lace burda style top

Day 30 (Wednesday) and I wore my imperfect pink lace top made from the same Burda style magazine pattern as my recent ladybirds top and my red Ikea fabric top: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/another-red-topburdastyle-022014117.html
and my ladybird top:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/mmm18-new-ladybird-top-from-burda-style.html

I love this pattern. This version is imperfect in that I did not have enough fabric really. It was a small remnant left over from my lindy petal lace skirt.
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/05/lindy-petal-skirt-white-lace-trimmed.html

To make it work each sleeve has an extra panel down the centre of the sleeve and even worse one centre sleeve panel is slightly wider than the other. I suspect no one but me will ever notice tho! It was the only way to squeeze it out of my minute bit of fabric. Works tho.

I wore this as a light weight jumper or over top with my black mixed media top and my turquoise waterproof faux suede coat. I forgot to get a photo of my coat today but you can see it here: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2018/04/turquoise-faux-suede-waterproof.html

For a self drafted very basic coat I find I am wearing this loads in the rainy english spring we are having this year. Tho its probably summer really now.

thanks for visiting,

Bracken

Wednesday, 30 May 2018

#MMM18 days 27, 28 and 29

Life seems to have gone mad this last few days hence slightly delayed postings an when I posted originally I got all the days wrong so here is my revised version:

Sunday: gingham along leggings with black peplum top