I’ll confess, I’m struggling a bit to know what to wear these days. Last weekend I was so proactive as to pack away a few of my summer clothes, pulled out a few lightweight sweaters, and I’ve been scrimping my pennies all year to splash out on a pair of ankle boots that I hoped would solve all my autumn footwear dilemmas. But August lulled me into anticipation with cold and now September betrays me with muggy warmth. Meanwhile most of my self-stitched clothes are suited either to very warm days or to cooler weather, not in between. I had even made notes about all the clothes I was planning to wear in anticipation of blogging for Self-stitched September, so I’m also feeling like I had so many things to say about all the clothes I’m still not wearing! While very few prepared thoughts about the ones I am.

That said, do I get double points for wearing two handmade items today? Both the top and the sweater! Don’t mind the slippers. I couldn’t decide what shoes to wear and I wasn’t leaving the house right away anyhow.

This blouse is one I made from a self-drafted pattern back in the early summer. I actually never took a picture, but it was similar in style to the Mathilde Blouse by Tilly (whom you might have seen on the first Sewing Bee), although mine was less blousy. But in fact I think it should have been more blousy, because it was a little uncomfortable to move in: tight in the armpits, sleeves weren’t long enough, overall length was midriff-risking. The armpit issue was my biggest peeve, so I recently just took the sleeves off and finished the armholes to make a sleeveless version. That doesn’t fix the length issue, but it makes it more comfortable, and lets me salvage my hard work putting all those buttons down the back.

Besides which, I really do like the yoke and little gathers in the front.

And, bonus! I knitted the cardigan. The pattern is called Miette, and was free. The yarn is super old: I believe it belongs to my pre-university knitting attempts, at which point it was a boxy cardigan with rolling edges that wouldn’t lie flat. I finally unravelled it this spring and put it to this better purpose. Although it looks chunky, it’s surprisingly not-warm (a cotton acrylic blend), so I’ve worn it all summer. I even think it looks kind of tatty, because the acrylic/cotton blend tends to frizz and pill and it’s lost some colour from age, but of the things I’ve knitted it’s Mike’s favourite.