Me Made May 29/Simplicity 2473

Here's my new dress, which I wore to church on Saturday night. The pattern is Simplicity 2473.

I forgot to do the spiffy method of lining a sleeveless dress, so I had to hand sew the lining to the armholes. Oh well.

Can I tell you how proud I am of my invisible zipper?? How awesome are those horizontal seams matched up?? :-D


The fabric is from Moda. Yep, I used quilting cotton to make a dress. What of it? I got it on fabric.com, but you can find it lots of places. It seems to be really popular. I used a contrasting Moda fabric to make bias strips (basically piping with no filler) to accent the armholes, neckline, and midriff band area. I think it adds a nice pop. The only alterations I did were to take up the shoulder seems an extra half inch (the bodice was a bit droopy) and also take the side seams above the midriff band a half inch. These aren't usual adjustments for me, and I made my usual size 10.

Me Made May... I lost count

Wow, I've been so bad at documenting the second half of Me-Made May. Anyway, here are some outfits from last week:

Me-Made knit top and knitted sweater


Me-Made tunic


Me-Made maxi dress


Me- Made cotton dress


I finished a dress this week that still need to photograph!

Me Made May 16

I made another quick little project - this easy skirt. You may remember the fabric from this post.


At the end of that post are two coordinating cotton fabrics I cut into for a dress tonight.



I hemmed and hawed awhile about what pattern to use. I was all settled on the left view of this OOP Simplicity, but after laying out the pieces (but before cutting, luckily), I decided it would be just too sweet and cute in that fabric.


So I decided on this Simplicity pattern instead. I'm making the fuller skirt, sleeveless, with the contrasting fabric peeking out around the midriff band and used as bindings. I hope the more sophisticated cut of the dress will counteract the cutesy fabric (which I really adore). I cut it out and sewed up the skirt portion tonight, so no turning back. What do you think...?

Bible Bag

I've been on a crafty sewing craze this past week. I made three of these little pouches to hold a small Bible and rosary. This first one was a gift for a friend's birthday.



I made up the pattern to be the correct size to hold my Bible and then bought two more of the same size Bibles for gifts.


I got the idea after seeing this adorable clutch. I used a lot of her assembly method.


These are the others I made and are identical to the first one. The one on the left is another gift, and the one on the right is MINE! :-) Now I won't forget my Bible or lose my rosary on the way to prayer group.

Me Made May 12 & 15

So I just have not been doing a very good job lately remembering to take and post my photos! I've been wanting to spend all my free time sewing, not on the computer. Since I usually find myself spending my free time the other way around, though, I'm not complaining.

Here was my outfit Wednesday, but it didn't make it all day. It was just too cold out. This was what I'd originally planned to wear to kick things off on May 1st, but it's just been crummy, rainy, chilly weather...


Here I am ready for church tonight. That's right, wool dress, sweater, and boots... in the middle of May... At least I had a new dress to wear!

Me Made May 11

I've been absent for a few days. It was a pretty crazy weekend, but I still played along with wearing me-made stuff. I even gave myself a DIY haircut and highlights, so that has to count for something, too! I tried something a little different this time with wispy bangs and big layering in back.

Ok, I couldn't help but share these photos in all their uncropped glory. My 3-year-old is making his photographer debut on this blog. I think he did an awesome job! He had only minimal coaching... "Can you see Mommy?" "Move your finger, sweetie." "Are you sure you can see Mommy?"

Anywho... I whipped up this top last night to basically copy someone else doing me-made-may. :-D I really like how she used the stripes in the contrasting direction at the hem, sleeves, and collar. I'm sure it's not exactly groundbreaking, but I'd never thought to do it.


The fabric is from Chez Ami. It's a children's clothing boutique that also sells some of their fabrics. This was in the clearance section - $7 for 2 yards - and it's really nice.


Oh my. How did that one get in here? I'm sure he was just trying to show the hem.


My only complaint about this top (gotta love anything you can cut and sew in an evening!) is that the bottom band is a bit snug. I couldn't figure out why last night at 10pm, but this morning, it was crystal clear - the fabric is interlock and doesn't really stretch on the crossgrain. Oh wait, I made my hem band on the crossgrain! Oh well. I have no problems getting the neckline over my head but would have preferred to be able to stretch it a bit more as I attached it so it would lay flatter against my body.


The pattern is my TNT shirt pattern, an OOP Butterick.

Me Made May 6

Here's my Me Made May 6. This is a top I just finished last night and made specifically to wear with this belt :-) I still need to do a review and everything, so consider this a sneak peak. My friend, Sylvana, wanted to make an appearance on my blog. If I'm successful at copying her favorite shirt, she'll be back to model that. ;-)

McCalls 5818

Here is my version of Mccalls 5818.

The fabric is wool from Sawyer Brook, now sold out.

I made a 10, and it fits perfectly, no alterations at all.

I added some beading at the neckline for funsies.


My pattern review is here.

Me Made May 5

Here's May 5! These pants, Gap sweater, and cute scarf I got for Euro 3 a few months ago.

Me Made May 4 and a finished top

Finished this silk top! I don't have time to do a proper write up now (have to get ready to take a big 3-year-old to the doctor!) but couldn't wait to post a pic.


and here's my Me Made May 4 outfit. Purchased jeans (again, agh) and this top.

May 3

Here's Me Made May 3, kind of - I actually wore jeans most of the day because it was rainy as well as chilly. Yuck!

May 2

It's chilly on this second day of Me Made May, so I wore this striped top with purchased jeans today!

A few things...

Today kicks off Me Made May.
But, um, I forgot about it while getting dressed this morning and was reminded while reading blogs later this morning. No worries! I wore this pink jacket quite a bit today while out and about.


Last night, I finished a dress and top to finish up the SWAP I've been working on (I don't think I ever mentioned it here, though...) so expect more on that in the next week when I photograph everything together.

Here's two shots of the dress I finished.
Beaded neckline, a requirement of the SWAP

Here's some side seam plaid matching: