Me-Made-May-Lite Composite Photos

Me-Made-May-Lite is officially over. While I had lapses in my commitment to this project, overall I think it was successful. MMM resulted in 4 new, wearable garments and 1 wadder.

Before, from top to bottom; Black McCall's 6070 maxi dress, purple headscarf, purple swiss-dot cotton New Look 6873 skirt, green Amy Butler cotton A-line skirt, pillowcase skirt, mod green dirndl skirt. 

Of these garments, the pillowcase skirt got the most wear, by far. I have grown to loathe the maxi dress, entirely because of my fabric choice, and I think it's due for a refashion. I did not wear the mod green drindl skirt once, because it is so short (due to fabric constraints). 

After, top to bottom; black McCall's 6070 maxi dress, grey McCall's 6070 top, striped McCall's 5853 tank, semi-transparent McCall's 6121 swimsuit cover-up tunic (to be blogged about soon), purple New 6873 Look swiss dot cotton skirt, ethnic border print New Look 6178 wrap skirt, green Amy Butler A-line skirt, pillowcase skirt, mod green drindl skirt. 

Whew! I don't even remember sewing all that much this month. I feel like most of my efforts were sewing for my mom's birthday and the aforementioned wadder, the Ruby Shorts. I'm proud to have made 4 wearable, albeit simple, garments in May. 

As you can see, Auggie stubbornly proudly sat right in the middle of everything whilst I was taking these photos. He has quickly gotten used to hanging out in my sewing room over the past few days, as I have uncharacteristically been leaving projects strewn about. More on that latter. 

My next project? I have two tops I MUST make before I leave for Zurich next Thursday, but I'd also like to copy this top:

I found this Ella Moss tank at a thrift store last spring, and its one of my favorite summer tops. ShopStyle has her tanks listed roughly between $75-120 each. I got mine new, with tags, for $3. Can you say score?

I love the swishy cut and the direction of the stripes. I'm pretty sure I've figured out how to cut the skirt, and I have a black, white & purple stripey cotton knit in about the same weight that I think would look quite nice made up like this. First though, I'll probably work on redrafting McCall's 5853 to work with the floral chiffon I found at SAS a while back. If anyone has ideas or comments about knocking off the Ella Moss top, let me know! 

Happy Sewing,

Jana

Update; Me-Made-May-Lite, Ruby Shorts & Trench coats

Me-Made-May is ending soon, thank goodness. I have been keeping up with the Lite pledge, even after my slip up last week. My outfits are dreadfully the same, so I'm not even going to bother posting about them anymore. Suffice it to say that the McCall's striped tank and my pillowcase skirt get the most wear, by far.

My Ruby Shorts are suppose to be done today, it I don't think I'm going to make that deadline. I spent a day making a muslin and fitting them. Nothing too bad, I just took in a tad at the waist and made the booty-darts more severe to fit my rear. My polysomething is slowing the process down, too, as it does NOT press and is impossible to pin accurately. If I get my way, I'll have the back pockets sewn on and all of the machine-sewing done by tonight. Hopefully I can do some of the hand sewing (buttonholes & buttons) while I babysit tomorrow morning. Thats the plan, at least.

I joined another sew-along! The Trench Sew-Along is hosted by Elizabeth of Sew A Beginner. We are not limited to trenches - she has opened up the blogroll for anyone who wants to sew a jacket/coat/outerwear type of garment. I'm thinking Vogue 8623 for my peacoat, but I will of course look at other patterns and read some reviews before I decide.

After my ruby shorts I'll finish McCall's 6121. I cut it out earlier this week and it's really only a few stitches, a nice evening project. I purchased a "few" patterns today at JoAnn's memorial day sale (Simplicity patterns 5 for $5 - uh, yeah, I was so there!) and have fabric for most of them, so I'll post about those later and let you guys pick my next project!

Cheater!

Me-Made-May-Lite update: I'm a cheater! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I'm going to come clean. I had to take advantage of my cheater backup plan from this post that said if I wore 2 Me-Made accessories it would count as 1 me-made garment.

Vanity came crawling in and I got tired of wearing the same 3 or 4 outfits. Plus, this is the last week of school and I didn't want people remembering me as boring when in fact I usually have a very diverse range of outfits. I'm not proud of it, but I did resort to my backup plan.

May 21st - The McCall's 6070 top with jeans and a cropped, lightweight black jacket over it

May 22nd - McCall's 5853 striped tank with a gray denim miniskirt and red converse

May 23rd - Sunday Sweats! McCall's 6070 dress. The fabric has faded really quickly with only a few washings, and in addition to being all crazy baggy after an hour or two of wear, I'm really just not in love with this dress anymore. I really wanted to be because the fabric is organic cotton, a little pricey too, but this fabric and I just weren't meant to be friends.

May 24th - McCall's 5853 striped tank again. Originally I tried tucking it into a black high waisted skirt, but it looked a little awkward, so I wore it with jeans and red pumps instead.

May 25th - I cheated. I'm bad. My outfit was entirely RTW. The only me-made items were my purple hair scarf and me-made undies...

The pattern is free "Cheeky Panties" by ParaNoire/Emily Kate on BurdaStyle. The original size 38 pattern was by Emily Kate, but I downloaded the graded version by ParaNoire, even though I ended up making a 38 anyway.

I actually took the time to trace the pattern in my size onto new paper, to preserve the other sizes. I figure cute booty short underwear is an easy, silly gift for friends and whatnot and I'll probably want a nice version of this pattern.

The underroos are really only one main pattern piece with 2 seams, then a gusset for comfort/cleanliness and a waistband that I left off. The waistband is suppose to be stretched into the top part to keep them up, but I didn't need this because my fabric was very stretchy. It's a cheapy polyester from the red-tag area at Joanns that I bought for muslining. These were intended to be a muslin, hence why the legholes aren't finished, but I put them on the next morning in attempt to salvage my Me-Made pledge. 

They were super easy and I'm totally going to buy some lingerie elastic and keep this pattern ready for any leftover knit fabrics I have. They are a nice, classic booty short shape and perfect to wear under skirts and dresses for a little bit more modesty than briefs or thongs. 

...And if you're wondering about the photo from the top of this post, that is Auggie (named after Augusten Burroughs) and the as of yet unnamed Singer Genie that arrived late last week. The genie got a thorough cleaning this weekend. For some strange reason, Auggie really likes the Genie. He's been napping next to it ever since I set it up. Weird, right? I just thought that picture was kinda funny. 

Ruby shorts pattern is printed and still needs to be assembled, which I guess means I'm a day behind, but I don't have the kahones to attempt a welt pocket, so I have a free day there to make up for it, yay!

Me-Made-May 15, 16 & 17

May 15th - black maxi dress from McCall's 6070, quickly my new version of sweats. It's sacklike and huge now, I'm not a fan of walking out of the house in it. It is suitable when paired with wedges and attention-grabbing earings though.

May 16th - My Mom's Birthday! I didn't have any inspiring ideas and not much time to work with either, so I took her out to lunch instead. I wore my New Look 6873 purple skirt with a black T-shirt and black wedge heels. I felt cute.

May 17th - My new McCall's 6070 top and jeans. I know, I've been a bad blogger, I didn't tell the Internet about this project. It was a spur of the moment thing, I assure you. Blog post about it to come soon. I want to take decent photos this time.

Me-Made-May-Lite days 11, 12, 13 & 14 + McCall's 5853 tank

May 11th - Me-Made pillowcase skirt, Urban outfitters yoked front tank, BP heels

May 12th - Me-Made black McCall's 6070 maxi dress

May 13th - Border Print New Look 6178 skirt, white tank

May 14th - Me-Made McCall's 5853 tank, Ripped black jeans (thrifted a long time ago, rips were my fault), classic red converse

I finished the McCall's 5853 tank on Wednesday. I didn't use the applique pattern given, instead I cut strips of ruffles and just gathered those. I played with the positioning, but decided on 3 little strips on the right shoulder, together forming a single round.

It was an easy top, and I like it considering how little effort it took, but the fit could be better. The shoulders are very, very wide and the armholes gape a bit. I'm a very broad shouldered girl, I could imagine this problem being more pronounced on a more petite build. I took 1'' off the straps as well.  The hip/waist shaping is cut in, but not at all near where my waist and hips hit. It's very bagging all over and makes me look wide.

I can see myself trying this pattern again, but next time I'd take an inch off the center fold of the two main pattern pieces and altering the armholes so that they are smaller. Neither adjustment would take much time.

Me-Made-May-Lite Days 8, 9, & 10

May 8th - Me-Made purple New Look 6873 worn with an Old Navy gray wifebeater, purple head scarf and flip flops, and displayed in a terrible photobooth photo.

May 9th - Me-Made black McCall's 6070 Maxi dress, then later I changed into the purple New Look skirt (photo above, kinda) with a crisp white top and heels for Mother's Day Dinner.

May 10th -New! Me-Made McCall's 5853 top in blue and white stripe cotton/lycra jersey knit, with jeans and a lightweight black jacket. This top isn't finished, I was only able to get the neck and one armhole's binding on, so the jacket served to hide the unfinished armhole. I will post a review when I finish it, but so far I can say it was very quick and easy, but I think it's too roomy for my taste. I shortened the straps quite a lot, and the armholes just seem so weirdly big. I cut the smallest size.



My biggest reason for joining Me-Made-May was to motivate myself to sew more, more often. I knew that with APs finishing and school ending, I would (hopefully) have more free time than usual this month. After this week, my classes are basically over and it's 2 weeks of watching Simpson's reruns and graduation parties. I will probably show a few graduation cake photos, as I've promised 2 so far and will probably end up making a few more. For those of you that haven't seen my other blog, though I no longer post on it, I am a self-taught cake decorator and absolutely adore fondant.

Gosh, I can really go on a tangent. No wonder no one reads my blog.

My point somewhere in there was, I'm excited to see how many pieces I can sew during the month of May. So far I'm at like 1.8; the NL wrap skirt and now the McCall's tank. I want to sew another top before I move on to dresses or, god forbid, another skirt.

Regarding the mother's day lunch pail - I drafted the pattern, used a ton of stiff interfacing, and sewed everything up as planned. Nothing went awry! I still have a little bit of hand sewing to finish the very very last seam, but it's done for the most part so I gave it to my mom as is, and she liked it well enough. I'll post photos of that when it's done.

Me-Made-May-Lite days 6 & 7 AND Mothers Day Sewing

May 6th - Black and white border print wrap skirt from New Look 6178 and a sky blue Tshirt.

May 7th - McCall's 6070 black maxi dress, with giant earrings and yucky hair.

I didn't bother taking pictures because I didn't wear either outfit in a way you haven't seen before. My outfit today, the 8th, is pretty cute though, so I'll take pictures later.

Mother's Day completely crept up on me. For Christmas, I made my mom a purse, so that avenue was out. My mom wouldn't be happy with anything I made for her to wear, mostly because she's not happy with her weight and hates clothes right now, even though she's beautiful. Another thing to consider is that her birthday is the weekend after Mother's Day, so I'd like to be able to make a two part gift.

I went through my sewing books and decided that a very stylish lunch pail would be a nice mother's day present, and for her birthday I can make her a makeup bag and/or wallet that matches. (She doesn't read my blog, so I'm not too worried about the secret leaking). I'm using a light blue and white damask print canvas from fabric.com that I never actually ordered. It came with a sticker saying "rayon jersey jute," which is what I had ordered, lol. They have awesome customer service though, and credited me for the cut I didn't receive and let me keep the canvas. It's actually really cute, so I'm happy to get to use it.

I'm drafting my own pattern, half from my brain and half from the book Quilted Bags and Purses by Mary Jo Hiney. The book was a present from my Grandma. I'm not really into quilting bags right now, but I like the shape of a lot of the projects.

Anywho, right now I'm trying to figure out how to give the pail short handles but also a fold over closure. I'm using a shape similar to the bag on the cover, with the width tapering towards the top. My bag is going to have side panels as well though. One option would be to sew the handles directly into the front and back top of the bag, but I don't think thats the best option stylistically. Does anyone else have suggestions?

Here is a very messy and confusing sketch, though I doubt anyone but me can understand my scribbles.

Me-Made-May-Lite, days 4 & 5

May 4th - Me-Made vintage pillow skirt, organic cotton Tshirt and earrings of unknown origin. The Tshirt is not quite as black as in the photo, but it's much darker than your traditional heather grey. I love this Tshirt, it's not tight fitting but not billowy either. I'd love to trace it one day to make a pattern...

May 5th - Me-Made A-line skirt in some Amy Butler print, mass-produced and environmentally unfriendly black Tshirt, giant grey cardigan from Goodwill. This was one of my first sewing projects, I didn't even know who Amy Butler was at the time. I made it in a class at The Fancy Tiger in Denver, CO while visiting my grandma last summer. The seams aren't finished, just zigzagged, yuck. The shoes are Nordstrom B.P. brand, and I wear them almost every day. They are about 4'' tall but only have a 2'' heel, and I love love love them. My hair was wet and icky, hence the headless shot. 

New Look Wrap Skirt & Me-Made-May-Lite days 2&3

I finished up New Look 6178 view E on Saturday and wore it May 3rd.

This is view E from a rayon challis border print from fabric.com. It went together really quickly, at least by my standards, and I'm very proud of how it turned out. This is probably my most RTW-like garmet, easy as it may be. The waistband is finished with black bias tape and I used a narrow hem all around, stiched very closely. This was also my first time sewing darts. I got one side without a "bubble," and one side with a slight one, but it's not noticeable at all and I'm happy.

I chose this pattern because it was suitable for border prints. I can't see myself making anything else from NL 6178, the square necklines are too 90s for my taste. But another wrap skirt is always a possibility. After making it once I'm sure the second would be a two hour project.

Overall, I wish the ties were longer. They are sufficient to tie the skirt snugly, but I think longer ties would add a nicer touch. On pattern review many said this skirt was way too big. I disagree, I cut a 14 and it fits my hips just about perfectly. I would take 2'' off the front overlap if I made it again though, because I don't like that the skirt ties exactly on the side. I'd prefer it to be more center front side, if that makes sense. This would not effect the fit, however.
The pattern review is here.

So this was my outfit for May 3rd of Me-Made-May-Lite. May 2nd was McCall's 6070 maxi dress. It felt strange to be wearing a dress on a Sunday, usually I bum around the library in sweats, but the dress is plenty comfy.

First day of Me-Made-May-Lite!

As always, my pictures are terrible. I'm wearing Simplicity 2863 with a pair of jeans from G by Guess and earrings of unknown origin. In the spirit of Me-Made-ness, I'd really like to purchase a pair of handmade earrings from Etsy. For the life of me I can't decide on anything. Look how cute these are.   Or these. Or these. 

In other news, the New Look 6178 wrap skirt is complete and I plan to wear it to school on Monday. Review and post about it will follow. 

15 Minuets to May 1st

I wanted to post my self-imposed Me-Made-May-Lite rules before the month of May actually begins. I will be wearing 1 article of clothing produced by my own hand each day, excluding pajamas and gym clothes. I will include refashioned items, simply because I don't have very many me-made items right now. If, for any reason, I cannot wear either a Me-Made top, bottom or dress, I will allow myself an emergency exception if I wear 2 me made accessories - such as a bag and a hair scarf, for example. This option will only be utilized in an absolute laundry emergency, which I certainly hope to avoid.

I am taking the SAT tomorrow morning and have my green Simplicity 2863 set out with a pair of jeans. The top is comfy and that is exactly what I need for a long standardized test like this. I've taken the SAT once before, in December, but am taking it again just to maximize my scores. Wish me luck!

I also cut and sewed up New Look 6178 view E in the border print rayon Challis. I absolutely love it so far. It was really quick, which I needed, and I used bias tape to finish the waist. I just need to take 5 minuets to attach the ties and put up photos.

My next project will need to be a top, because I only have 1 Me-Made top right now. Possibly the HotPatterns Riviera Once, Twice, Three Times a Tshirt pattern, although I've read a lot about people needing to redraft the funky neckline on that and I'd really like a quick fix so I have something new to wear for Me Made May by the end of the weekend. Kwik Sew 3395 (pictured) is also an option, but I don't know how gung-ho on gathers I am right now. I also like McCall's 5853 view A, but I don't have any fabrics that seem appropriate for this top. Any thoughts?

McCall's 6070

I finished McCall's 6070 last night and wore it to school today.

I lightened the pictures quite a bit so you can see the dress a bit better. I used a 100% organic cotton jersey knit from Fabric.com. The dress was really great at first, but after a day of wear had stretched out in the most unfortunate way...

Now, I'm a fairly curvy girl, but uh, thats not all me. The sagging and bagging from where the fabric stretched is really pronounced. Before I started sitting down, it looked awesome though. Since it's 100% cotton, I'm hoping that a quick ride in the dryer will help restore its shape. If not, I might try deliberately stretching the bottom to even it out and prevent bagging.

 I love the shape of the bodice. I had to use tighter elastic than called for to get it to fit my waist, however, and the bust is certainly a bit loose. I cut and made a 12 straight from the envelope, but I'm thinking I could have gone a size smaller. 

I do plan to make this again, maybe cut short as a top. If I do I'll take about 1'' of length from the bodice and maybe a bit from the sides to help fit my small bust better and hopefully give a more empire line. 

Overall, it's comfy and easy to throw on, which is exactly what I wanted. I wore it with cute blueish earrings and sandals. 

The pattern review is here. I was the first to review it!

Me-Made-May-Lite

I'm a terrible blogger. Really. This blog was intended to be a journal of my progress and whatnot, and instead it's been tossed and forgotten for lousy reasons such as:
a) Camera was lost
b) Cell phone was broken
c) The shirt was ugly, anyway
d) I feel like taking a nap.

There! I've come clean. I've been lazy. But, I have been sewing, and I do have several more garments to show. So, my plan is to take photos of them this weekend and blog the backlog of projects over the next 2 weeks while my exchange student, Alissia, is here. She'll be staying in my sewing room so I won't be sewing.

On another note, I've been religiously reading all of So-Zo's Me-Made-March experiment. She successfully wore only things created by her own hand for 1 month. I absolutely admire that. So, when she announced that she plans to do a Me-Made-May, and was looking for others to join her team, I decided that this was absolutely doable for me as she is offering a "Lite" version. Essentially I will wear at least 1 item made by myself every day. I just don't have enough me-made clothes to participate fully, and the Arizona heat will limit a few of what I have already sewn.
Hopefully Me-Made-May will encourage me to sew more often, increase my productivity, and give me insight into how realistic making my own clothing on a long term basis is. I have high hopes.
With only 1 week of April to work with at the very end, I'm going to need to do some serious sewing. Before I begin I figure I'm going to need to make
-1 bag, preferably large and big for school and purse useage. HotPatterns "Nomad Hobo" free download from fabric.com, maybe, but I'm open to other suggestions
-at least 2 simple knit tops. I have the HotPatterns Riviera Once, Twice, Three times a T-shirt pattern and I think this will go great with a blue and white stripe cotton/poly knit I found at SAS a few weeks ago.
-1 more skirt, preferably in a neutral color like black or dark green. (I'm not a fan of navy)
-1 girly but casual sundress

So, those are my sewing goals for the next 6 weeks or so. If anyone else is interested in joining Me-Made-May[Lite], go to Zo's blog. She has excellent information and you can read about her experience with Me-Made-March.