What’s next?

Me-Made-May ’12, a set on Flickr.

With Me Made May behind me, I’m sitting at home (almost recovered from the WORST case of jetlag ever) wondering, “What’s next?” Not unlike a lot of other MMM participants, I realized I have a lot of gaps in my wardrobe.

My dream wardrobe consists of flirty, simple dresses and sleek trousers so I plan on making those. I also love comfy shirts so those are getting added to the must-sew list as well.

Before I left for Virginia I had a strong desire to start a project that would take me some extra time and not be banged out in a day. I’m not sure what that is but I’ll be looking through my patterns and deciding soon. But I have to admit, I can’t get the idea of making jeans out of my head.

Many, many thanks to the lovely comments everyone left for me while I was away. I so appreciated them

Me-Made-May Day 28 and 29

Day 28. I wore my Colette Jasmine blouse with some jeans.

Day 29. I wore my new circle skirt for the third time in a week! I love that thing.

Vintage Simplicity 4212: A grading success story

My newest blouse is easily by far my best sewing achievement. I almost cried with happiness when I finished the last stitches without any big hiccup. I really worked hard to get this blouse right. During some past attempts at grading I would miss a step and without any proper notes written I usually started again from scratch. Not with this blouse. Oh no…I took notes in a sewing designated notebook.

For my muslin I did the following changes to the pattern, a bust size 40:

1. Added 1 inch to each seam to the back and front bodice pieces (4 inches in total added)
2. Added 1/4 inch to sleeve cap and 1 inch to sleeve width

For my final version I changed the following:

1. Moved the shoulder seam back by 2 inches
2. Shaved off 2 inches from the bodice armscye
3. Lengthened the bodice by 2 inches
4. Left out the lace.

I am quite the happy bunny with this blouse. I love the fit and would love to give myself a medal for proving to myself that I really can make a well-fitting blouse. I had doubts, y’all!

The fabric is a cotton-silk blend purchased on Goldhawk Road during the Fabric Fandango meetup. I first wore my blouse on Me-Made-May Day 27, also my handsome husband’s birthday.

Maybe I lucked out with my calculations and construction but I think I am sold on vintage patterns. The blouse is so feminine and complimentary. And the construction wasn’t as complicated as I imagined it being. I’ve since added a couple to my pattern collection.

Me-Made-May Day 26

This post is brought to you by the power of Past Me who scheduled a future post for right now. A bit mind-numbing, huh? Well, I am currently here…

Photo Credit: YesRoanoke.com

…celebrating my 10th college (aka university) reunion! A full week of shenanigans and debauchery. Oh, who am I kidding. I bet I will be in bed sound asleep every night after 2 cocktails. But I can dream.

Anyhow…On MMM Day 26 I wore my first Sorbetto. A sheer one that I don’t wear too often because, well, I forgot about it.

I wore it to bake and cook all day in the kitchen, prepping for my husband’s birthday get-together the following day.

Past Me will be back here tomorrow to bring you the latest MMM outfits. And please, please forgive me if I haven’t been commenting on blogs. I’ve been reading them on my phone, which makes it hard to comment. I’ll be back to replying and commenting when I get back in a week.

Sewist Meetup at Sissinghurst Castle (Me-Made-May Day 25)

No one can argue that the sewing community is a wonderful one to belong to. I find myself very fortunate to be part of such a welcoming and opening group of people. I love meeting up with fellow sewists and chatting about projects and just life in general. So it’s to no surprise that I jumped at the opportunity to meet up with Claire. We met at the OWOP cocktail meetup.  She casually mentioned she lived at a castle and I basically invited myself over. I can be a bit shy at times but not enough to miss out hanging with a lovely sewist at her castle!

Okay. So Claire doesn’t live in the castle. As a gardener for the Sissinghurt Castle grounds she lives in the most adorable cottage ever.

Here we are looking adorable in our me-made outfits. She’s wearing a sweet swiss dot Sorbetto and an awesome Ginger skirt. I’m wearing my new self-drafted circle skirt.

But before I go on about the skirt. Check out the grounds she calls work and home.

Can you imagine this place being at your  front door?

After a lovely guided tour around the famous gardens, Claire took my friend and I back to her cottage for some tea and delicious carrot cake. She even gave us some cake for the train ride home. It was just as tasty the second time around. Thanks so much for the awesome hospitality, Claire!

Now for the skirt. I drafted a full circle skirt using two tutorials: Patty Snug Bug’s Circle Skirt calculator and Casey’s Circle Skirt Sew-along posts. For the waistband I just used the one I drafted for my gathered skirt. For a full skirt I used about 2 meters of cotton twill fabric. It was 60 inches wide. Any less and I would have had to sacrifice length and I wasn’t too sure if I wanted to do that. In hindsight I’ll make a shorter one next time.

I do love how the skirt swishes about as you move. I can easily imagine myself swing dancing with Greg while wearing it (with shorts of course!).  I definitely think this skirt will get a lot of wear.

My favorite part of the skirt is the slashed open zipper. The skirt has no seams so I was quite curious about how I was going to insert a zipper. Casey’s tutorial helped with that immensely.

Another Me-Made day completed! Five more to go!

MMM Days 17-23

Y’all. I am running out of steam but that’s okay because we only have a few more days. MMM participants, we can do this. I can do this.

But I have been working on a few new things. I finished my Hazel, which I’m wearing today. I am working on the final version of the 1960s pattern I successfully graded up.  All I have to do is add the buttonholes, sew the buttons on and hem it. All I have to do? Making the buttonholes will be the scariest part! I used a gorgeous cotton-silk (if I remember correctly) blend that worked so well for this pattern. I will pout in a corner if I eff it up this late in the game. The last thing I am working on is a simple navy circle skirt. That needs a zip, hemming and a waistband. Yeah, it needs everything

Okay, enough chit-chat. Let’s get to the outfits. I stayed home most of the week and worked on my sewing projects. I know, I know…the glamorous life of the unemployed. I didn’t mind staying home so much this week because from Day 18-22 I was MISERABLE with bad allergies. I walked a long run and skipped on a few others. So miserable. But I’m feeling better thankfully. The last couple of sunny days helped.

Day 17. All dressed up and nowhere to go. Sad panda. I wore my Colette Ginger skirt with crochet trim. What I love about this outfit is that I re-discovered a blouse I bought at Charlotte Ruse many moons ago. The crochet in the shirt compliments the one on the skirt so well.

Day 18. I stayed home and finished my Hazel dress. Oh! And I got a haircut (so long rabbit-tail!) I wore the first garment I’ve ever made: an Amy Butler Barcelona skirt.

Day 19. I met up with fellow sewing buddies Dibs and Rachel at the V&A Museum. I wore my Colette Japanese Fans Ginger.

The V&A is by far one of my favorite places in London. I cannot tell you how often I’ve visited since moving here. I love getting lost in it, eating in the glamorous cafeteria and just taking all the art in. Check out the new ballgowns exhibit if you can. It was killer. Sorry I can’t share photos from the exhibit. No photography allowed. But I did manage to sneak one in.

Or check out the new fashion exhibit. It’s free!

Day 20. I woke up feeling horrible. After a long walk I changed into my new comfy Renfrew maxi. I’m smiling on the outside but I felt like crud.

Day 21. Another day home sewing. I wore my vintage blouse all day and didn’t take the photo until late that evening. I couldn’t be bothered to iron it pre-photo.

Day 22. More at home sewing. I wore my spotty Colette Meringue.

Day 23. I went to Islington to pick up some things and to have a catch-up with the people at my old job at Ray-Stitch. It was so hard just to walk away with some buttons!

So that’s Me-Made-May for the last week. I am truly happily surprised that I have so many wearable garments. They are not perfect, by far, but they fit well and look good. When I signed up for Me-Made-May I honestly thought I would have issues with lots of repeats. I wasn’t aware that my me-made wardrobe was as big (for a beginner!) as it is. This week I will have to wear some repeats, re-mix styled. And for that to occur during the last week of MMM’12…well…holy cow. That’s not too damn shabby. I’ll take it. *Pats self on back*

MMM-Days 9-16. Yowsa!

I am quite surprised as to how well Me-Made-May is going for me so far. Only one garment was worn twice (out of pure laziness). Not too shabby. I’m sure garments will make a re-appearance soon enough. My me-made wardrobe isn’t that big…yet!

On Day 9, I wore my Colette Jasmine blouse. I still need to take it in on the sides but it’s still wearable.

I had a little visitor on Day 10 so I took the opportunity to pose with him for my daily photo. I’m wearing my Sew Liberated Schoolhouse Tunic top, looking quite proud that I haven’t made Noah cry.

Feeling springy on Day 11, I wore my Madeleine skirt, enjoyed the sun and met up with Rachel for some delicious cocktails.

On Day 12 I finally got to walk around Little Venice . It’s been on my London bucket list for quite some time. Sadly I didn’t remember to take a photo by the boats! But I managed to remember while we were by a cool looking blue tunnel.

After a 7 mile run/walk, on Day 13, pajamas and coffee were in order. G and I slobbed about the flat for the rest of the day. We had fallen off our training right before Crete so this run took the life out of us for the rest of the day…

…and the next one. I was well sore and the rainy weather didn’t help me feel better. So on Day 14 I stayed in my jammies and worked on a Colette Hazel dress until G got home. Then it was pizza time! We make homemade pizza far too much.

And now back to wearing proper clothes. On Day 15 I met a friend for afternoon tea at the Lancaster Hotel. They serve a special Peter Pan menu. What was Peter Pan about the food I can’t say but it was hella delicious. They even gave us bread to go feed the ducks by the Peter Pan statue in Kensington park. You can’t tell from the photo below but it was super cold and wet all afternoon so we skipped out on feeding the ducks. I was hesitant about wearing my corduroy Colette Meringue skirt because I thought I would get too warm. But nope. It was perfect for the day’s weather.

And today I am wearing the first top I ever made. Don’t even think about looking at the stitches! I’m wearing it with a headband I made using the remnants from my Madeleine skirt.

Wow, I am quite the independent sewing company fangirl.

Hoping everyone participating in MMM’12 is having a good one so far! I am off to finish my Hazel dress. I have facings to fight with!

Me-Made-May, Days 1-8*, Greek-style

I’m back! And boy was Crete glorious!

I have to admit, I am missing the sun already. I need to go out in this wretched weather but all I want to do is wrap myself up in a duvet and re-live last week, cocktail in hand. Oh well. Life in London must go on. I missed my sewing machine and cannot wait to get started on making tops and dresses. I wasn’t able to sew everything that was on my island-spired sewing list but I do still plan to make them soon.

So let’s begin.

Day 1 of MMM’12 is brought to you by the a Colette Sorbetto I never blogged about. It’s a buttery floral top that I love wearing with my mint green cardi. It was the perfect travel outfit; nice and comfy.

Warning: I apologize if my eyes look shifty or cartoonish. They like to disappear as soon as the sun comes out. And that sun was BLAZING in Crete. It was wonderful.

On Day 2 I wore my Simplicity 2451 Lobster Skirt. That cardi didn’t last long. It was super warm by the time 10AM rolled around.

I wore my new linen paisley Darling Ranges Dress on Day 3. It was very see-through so I had to wear it with a light slip. It was so light and airy, like wearing my own personal air conditioner. I’m having a love affair with linen and linen/cotton at the moment. I wore it quite a bit on this trip.

The sun was killing my eyes. So not used to it anymore.

Day 4

Another Darling Ranges Dress. Not a perfect make but I’ll take it. I griped about the darts on this garment but I still wear it ALL.THE.TIME. I love the blue color with the contrasting buttons. It’s uber comfy and makes me feel like skipping.

On Day 5 We headed to Knossos Palace, where the land the palace is built on was first settled in 8000 B.C. WHOAH.

Day 6 I wore a linen/cotton mix maxi dress (New Look 6230).

Day 7 was spent pool-side so I wore my linen Darling dress as a bathing suit cover-up.

Day 8 was our last day in the sun. Boo. I wore another not-blogged Colette Sorbetto, made with a linen/cotton paisley fabric.

So my first MMM’12 week went great! I definitely did more than the 3 days a week that I set out to do but that was my plan. I know it’ll get more complicated as the days go by so I might fall back to 3 days at some point. Although, I am hoping not to.

Can someone please work on getting the sun to visit England? This weather is bleak!

*UPDATE: I thought I wore my maxi dress and my linen Darling dress on the same day (Day 6) but realized it was in fact two separate days. Helps that my hair was styled differently in both photos. Ha!