MMML Days 18, 19 & 20 AND a sew-along!

No photos for the past few days. My outfits have just been repeats.

May 18th - White tank, New Look 6178 border print wrap skirt, gross hair and stinky old flip flops

May 19th - Plain black T shirt, pillow case skirt, gross hair and fancy earrings. Gotta try to compensate, you know?

May 20th - Ok, I was out of clean clothes. After some quick dryer-fluffing and an iron, I threw on McCall's 5853 tank and some jeans...

Unfortunately, I had to break my Me-Made pledge for about 2 hours this afternoon. The Scottsdale Sister Cities Jr. Board's last meeting of the year was this afternoon and it didn't occur to me to sew something specifically for it. I couldn't find anything that would fit into business attire. I'm so sorry, I had to do it, but I wore a RTW blue collared button up and black slacks.

This slip up is going to be referred to as a "learning experience" because I've come to realize that I need to sew a more diverse range of garments, and/or more versatile ones. Then again, I haven't been sewing long so maybe it's just natural that I haven't made my way to more structured garments yet.

In other news, I'm participating in a Sew-Along! Lisette of Vintage or Bust! is hosting a sew-along of the BurdaStyle Ruby shorts. We're to cut Tuesday and start sewing Wednesday. I haven't even decided on fabric!

BurdaStyle member nuiwida23's recycled version. So retro and cute!

I have an orange corduroy that would be really cool with colorful buttons, but I'm thinking the fabric is too heavy for shorts.  Maybe I'll use some lightweight quilting cotton a friend's mom gave me, in tannish tones? I want to sew shorts I'll wear. I absolutely hate shorts as is and basically never wear or buy them, mostly because I think they're unflattering on my legs. That is a huge reason why I'm participating, however, because hopefully I'll be able to alter them to fit in whatever ways I need and end up with shorts that I'm more comfortable in than RTW.

Earlier today I printed, cut and tapped the new fabric.com free pattern - Hot Patterns Peachy Beachy Coverup. I went to cut into a lightweight purple cotton, and discovered that I had significantly less of the fabric than I thought.

I really need to develop a bit of a stash. I'm reluctant to buy much online though, because I'm sure I'll come home from Europe with some treasures. I mean, there is bound to be a fabric store somewhere in London, right?

Prom & new projects

Prom was last weekend and I just wanted to share a quick picture. The dress is Adian Mattox. The theme was arabian nights, and this prompted me to get mehndi done on my hand. I've wanted it for a while and haven't had a reason. I met a wonderful Indian woman at my favorite Indian food restaurant in Tempe who mentioned that she does henna. Her English is limited, which made the experience exciting because I honestly had no idea what I was getting.

This was the final result. I loved it. It's been on for over a week now and still looks fresh. The boyfriend and I had a really great time, and you could really tell that StuGo went over their ridiculous 23,000 budget. 

For now, I'm trying to decide on my next project. Either the striped version of the HP Riviera T shirt, or New Look 6178 view E, a short wrap skirt suitable for my border print rayon challis from fabric.com.

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.