I've been using a lot of prints in my sewing for me and recently even pushing my comfort zone to using prints for trousers as well.  It's been great for my wardrobe in livening and brightening it all up but it created a problem I'd never had before when on several occasions now I realised I was pretty bad at print matching and didn't have many plain coloured or simple styled tops to pair with them and give me multiple ways of wearing each.  

So I'm working on a bit of a 'basics' project to fill the gaps whilst keeping a capsule idea in mind.  Looking at my wardrobe, most of my clothes are in the pink to purple colour range so I need to look at co-ordinating and contrasting colours which fit with those so that each 'basic' I make can be teamed with as many things I've already made as possible.  

With that in mind, I went looking for patterns full of options, patterns which I could make lots from but all be different and very quickly came across the Dublin Dolman pattern by New Horizons. Literally PACKED with options, it was the perfect start!

Some of you may have already seen these, especially if you read my Suit up for Summer blogpost from last week but I wanted to take a closer look at them and tell you a bit more about them.  So here is an entire post dedicated to these fab  patterns from New Horizons! PS.  Did you see there is a code for 30% off sitewide until the end of the day?! quickkk! 

I've been lusting after this pattern for quite a while, putting it in and out of my cart on the New Horizons website but never truly looking at the details to see just how many options it included and never quite knowing what fabric it was asking to be made in {more on this in tomorrow's blogpost!}  So when the combination of fabric, timing and pattern options fell into place I just had to try it out!  If, like me, you have only been looking at the listing photo of the Telluride with the beautiful faux Henley scooped hood and not checked out all the other options, I urge you to go take a quick look, I bet you'll be as surprised as I was!

I settled on the Henley version with puff short sleeves and bottom hem with this beautiful organic 'Bling Bling' print cotton jersey from Jersey Jollies, it's a 95/5% cotton lycra mix and at 220gsm, just a little lighter than the custom jersey fabrics I've been sewing recently but equally as lovely to sew with.  I washed it at 40 degrees and even tumble dried it and it had so little shrinkage I was very surprised, just 2cm in width and 3cm in length! 

Double brushed poly, or DBP, as it's often abbreviated to, is a relatively new fabric base available to the UK market, so when I was offered the chance to sew it up and review it I was very excited! I sewed up a sample from a lovely custom fabric company, Lulus Fabrics UK, and as usual, I like to test to the max! I washed it, tumble dried it, checked for colour running, fading and shrinkage and sewed it up into various different garments to test how it sews, stretches, wears and looks! Here are my projects, thoughts and findings....

The Tami* is another fab pattern by one of my favourite designers, New Horizons*. And it is absolutely crammed with options {which I haven't even been able to scratch the surface of during this test and blog} but I definitely aim to! It also introduced me to the concept of double hoods and I can't believe how amazing they look! It really could be the only ladies hoodie pattern you ever need with the added bonus of being a great scrap buster if you make versions like mine! I made 2 in testing and would have made more if I wasn't on holiday and had been able to get the fabric delivered to where we were staying.

My little men have recently had a bit of a growth spurt and one of the things they are majorly lacking in is PJ's that fit and they picked some fabric they wanted for some several weeks ago, so when the tester call for this lounge set came out I really had no excuse not to make some for them! They like to match quite a lot so I decided to make them from the same fabric and colours and use slightly different versions so they matched but weren't exactly the same!

I feel the cold {a lot!} and live in the not so sunny UK, so I wear jumpers and cardigans practically all year round! I don't often wear hoodie style sweatshirts as they aren't really my style so was very excited to see the sketch of this pattern release from New Horizons*, which includes 3 different cardigan styles and lengths with multiple neck options, pockets and a hood option!? It's perfect for so many outfits and situations! I'm looking forward to filling my wardrobe with LOTS of Vermont Cardigans this winter but here's my first two...

My boys are all about the pockets, so these shorts with their kangaroo style pocket really appealed to them both! I had a quick rummage through my fabric stash and soon found something suitable.  I only had time during testing to make a pair for one, not both but luckily, there is only half an inch difference in their waist measurements and because they have an elasticated waistband, they can both wear the same ones until I can sew some more up! I teamed the shorts up with a digger 'On Your Marks' t-shirt for these photos.

It's exactly a year since I started this blog ready for Me-Made-May'15! Now it's that time again!!  my pledge this year is

I plan to wear a completely MeMade outfit on as many days as possible and definitely on the 31st May to mark the end of this years challenge!  I'll blog about what I have been wearing every few days so you aren't inundated with posts!

Last month I made a Lisse* (please click here or on the photo to see the original review and photos for this) and I really wanted to enter at least one upcycled version of each of the new horizons patterns I owned into the contest, so I went hunting around the house for something I could use to make one from.

For the full Lisse pattern review please see my post HERE

When I saw the upcycle challenge listed, I wanted to make something from each of the 4 new horizons patterns I owned.  I quickly got searching around the house and found this lovely green knitted half waterfall cardigan which had sadly been shrunken in the tumble drier.  I loved the colour but could no longer wear it, so I was quite excited to be able to reuse the fabric for the lisse*.