Me Made may 12-14

So here around the middle of the month is where I start to get lazy with the photography.  Some photos are missing...

 

Here is Sunday, May 12th.  I wore this dress for church and received lots of compliments.  I was my own mothers' day bouquet!

After church, I wore these shorts.  Um. they are a bit snugger these days.  I'll blame the dryer.

Monday, the 13th, I cannot for the life of me remember what I wore, but I know it was in keeping with me-made May.  It's somewhere in the laundry now, I'm sure.

Yesterday, I wore this dress.  Hmm, I think it works better with the skinnier belt in the original (linked) pic. 

Butterick 6739 (OOP)

Good morning!  First off, an annonymous commenter asked if I dry clean these new pants.  Actually, I hardly dry clean anything.  These pants (and most of my dry cleanables) go in my washing machine on the hand wash cycle and I hang them to dry.  No problems so far.

I have my Me-Made update from yesterday, including a dress pattern review.  I actually made this dress almost 9 months ago, last fall.  I was fawning over the fabric but couldn't decide on a pattern, so I asked my hubs to pick from a few.  He chose this well-aged pattern, and I think the result is fun and youthful, but hopefully not tooooo youthful.  :-)

 The patterin is Butterick 6739, which is long out of print, but here's a pic of the envelope.

I think I swiped this pattern from my mom since I distinctly remember my little sister having a cute party dress made from it in high school.

 This pattern takes a little while to put together since you have an overlay to deal with and a full underlining, but it's really cute.  I didn't add boning since hubs specified straps, but it is stiff enough with the interfacing and underlining that I could tuck in the straps and wear it strapless anyway.  I did cut the skirt a little fuller and gathered it to balance out the volume on top.  The straps are about 1/2 inch too long and want to slide off my shoulders - an easy fix.

 The fabric is a nice cotton voile that I think I purchased from Gorgeous Fabrics a few years ago.

Here it is as I wore it to a church event yesterday with a little sweater.  It turns out to be a versatile dress as it looks like a  party with no sweater or if I tuck in the straps, but with a little sweater, it's demure enough for church.

 And for the rest of Me-Made-May day 11, I wore this tee and purchased shorts.

 

McCall's 6568

First, here is Me Made May day 9's outfit, another oldie.  (don't click on that link if you can't stand to see super adorable tiny babies who are now almost 4 years old.)

Next, Me Made may day 10, my new top and some brand new pants, which I will now review...
(by the way, I find it hilarious that my dog photo bombed almost every pic from here on out)

The pattern is McCall's 6568, some super lazy elastic waist pants with a decorative tie.  I didn't even put on the patch pockets, such is my laziness.  It doesn't change the fact that I love these pants for spring and will definitely use the pattern again.  The only altering I did was to finesse the leg shape after trying them on.

The fabric is Genoa from Sawyer Brook, which is almost out of stock.  It is a wool/silk/linen blend that works great for these trousers with no lining.

These pants aren't setting the world on fire stylistically, but they get the job done and are very versatile due to the fabric.

 

 

Me Made May - days 4-8

Whoops!  Time to catch up on the Me Made May documentation!

Day 4 was Saturday, and I'll admit I just went with the me-made earrings. We spent the morning at the pool, and then made lunch, followed by a nap for several hours.  When I woke up (still in my swimsuit), I jumped in the shower and just threw something on to go over to a friend's house.  Luckily, I did remember my earrings.

Day 5, Sunday, I wore this dress from quite a while back to church. 

After church, I didn't go with MMM, just throwing on shorts and a tee for a lazy afternoon.

Day 6 - Monday.  I wore this sundress, and did take photos but deleted them in the photo editor.  Doh.  Oh those 2009 photos, they slay me.

Day 7 - yesterday, I wore my new black cotton pants, which I meticulously photographed to do my review.  Another FAIL since those photos have gone the way of day 6's.  No worries - I'll wear them again soon and give it another go.

Day 8 - today!  I wore this oldie but goodie top with some purchased white jeans.

 

Oscar de la Renta inspiration

I LOVE this dress from the fall Oscar de la Renta show.  I honestly woke up thinking about it and how I could make something similar.  It doesn't look too complicated.  Getting the perfectly-draping fabric would be key.

 

I think silk chiffon for the sheer part and some type of light-mid weight wool for the dress?  What do you think?

Me Made May - day 3

Wow!  Thanks so much for the nice comments on my Vogue draped top.  I hope to see some more of them now.  :-) 

Here is my outfit today.  I blogged about the top here.  I still haven't hemmed it shorter, which I do want to do, but it's amazing what a mini-skirt will do to un-frump something!

On an unrelated note: pretty gladiolas.  :-)  We've had some torrential rain the last couple of days, and quite a few of mine outside got blown over, so I just brought them inside.

Happy spring!

Vogue 1259

Woohoo!  Second day of Me-Made-May!  :-)

Today, I wore a fairly new top that I am quite proud of.  The pattern is Vogue 1259 with some alterations.  I bought this pattern some time ago because I love the look of the top and the top and skirt together.  However, I just don't need any slinky looks like this at the moment.  I figured I could just make the top, but the high neck isn't practical or comfortable for Florida springtime.  I decided to cut it off at a crew-neck but waited until the rest of the top was complete before hacking off the turtleneck.  The pattern pieces are pretty crazy looking, and I was scared of cutting off too much neckline.

Here is my version:

 I started off with the pattern one size smaller than I would take based on my measurements after reading the finished measurements and reading the experiences of others with this pattern being a bit large.  You can see the front drape piece is still less form-fitting than the model's, but that's ok with me since this is basically a jazzed-up tee shirt now.

The one part of my top that I'm not 100% thrilled with is the keyhole opening in the back.  It is a bit wavy, which could have easily been remedied with some strips of interfacing if I had thought of it.  With the lower neckline I made, I dont even really need the opening to get the top on and off, but I think it is still a nice detail on the back.

 Here are a couple more views since every angle is different with this top.  :-) 

 The fabric is a knit from Joann's.  I can't find it online, but I saw some in the store just a couple of days ago.  It is perfect for this top - very lightweight.  I think it is a cotton/poly blend jersey.

To sum up, I really like this top.  I get compliments when I wear it, and it is comfy without looking sloppy at all.  I had to pay close attention during the construction, and there were definitely some moments of confusion, but in the end, I didn't have to rip out any seams, so kuddos to Vogue for making this complicated pattern achievable. :-)

Me Made May 1

After some deliberation, I decided to participate in Me-Made-May, a creation of Zo from So, Zo...  I've pledged (to myself) to wear at least one handmade thing every day for the month.  I didn't participate last year because, well, I would miss my store-bought stuff!  I've remedied that this year by allowing handmade jewelry as my one thing (I don't have much, but just a bit in case I really want to wear a store-bought dress one day).

To start things off right, here is my outfit today.  Nothing earth-shattering, but it gets the job done.  :-)

The top is my very populer (as in, I wear it more than anything else I've sewn, I'm quite sure) striped tee.

Now, I have to tell you I am totally backlogged on blogging things I've made.  I somehow kept my sewing mojo while losing my blogging mojo.  Anyway, my plan is to blog about unblogged things as I wear them during Me-Made-May.  That doesn't sound so daunting. 

Anyone else participating in Me-Made-May?  I dream of one year going all in with the commitment to wear only me-made clothes.

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