Me Made May Days 1 and 2 (The School Ties Outfit)

Hello, gentle readers, and welcome to Me Made May, 2013 edition! I for one am more then a little excited. I hadn’t actually thought too much about it, but then I was explaining it to friends of mine and all of a sudden I thought, man, I love Me Made May, I really do! I love seeing other people’s outfits, I love planning my own, I love being inspired by new combinations of clothing, the only thing I don’t love so much is the daily photo session, sigh. Oh, well, the sad consequences of having a sewing blog, poor me, boohoo.

So without futher ado, because I have an outfit AND two new garments to display, Day 1!

Here I am in my Indiophile Tunic and my Too Practical for Words jeans. I easily wear these jeans once a week, they were a clutch move. I forced my friend Rohan (thanks, Rohan!) to take this photo of me yesterday. I forsee a lot of my friends getting over Me Made May REAL quick, but I don’t even care, they shall take my photo and do my bidding! Bahahaha!

Oh, and I figured, if I have to do a photo a day, at least, so does Cadfael:

He made zero things.

And then Day 2, a brand new outfit!

I’m calling this my School Ties outfit for several reasons. Number one, unintentionally, I made this shirt and skirt to go together and didn’t think about the fact that grey and blue are my high school’s colors. Weird. We even had this game day, blue and grey day. It must have sunk itself into my consciousness somewhere along the line…

The shirt is a Renfrew, made from Jersey from the Pennsylvania Fabric outlet, the same as I used for this dress. I still have some left, not enough for another shirt, but maybe for some underwear and color blocking? We shall see…

I cut the back in two pieces, as you can see here.

The skirt is self-drafted, just a simple pleated affair, and I made it from fabric my lovely roommate Emily had given me for Hanukkah. Thanks, Emily!

The OTHER reason I’m calling this the School Ties outfit, is because my friend Andrew (thanks, Andrew!) took these photos. Andrew just moved to New York and as we met in college, this outfit is just a conflation of my educational experiences up to this point. OH, and we took them two blocks from my building at NYU! It’s all coming together…

This fits all my requirements for a spring/summer skirt, and by that I mean it’s good for twirling and jumping. That’s the big one for me, right there.

And obviously I did not let the fact that I was in a public place stop me from doing either of those two things for the camera. To be fair, this was Washington Square Park, so I was probably the most normal person around…

Another day, another outfit, and yet Cadfael is in the exact same position as before…He leads a really hard life, guys.

And there we have it, the first two days of the month are over, onward into outfits of the future!

The Oh Boy Dress

Oh boy. Ohhhhhh boy. I do not usually make dresses like this. I did not intend for THIS dress to be so much, um, like this. But a combination of rash pattern alteration and a tight-fitting jersey seems to have left me with something that is rather out of character.

I am, I will say, a fairly modest dresser. I don’t know why, really, I have no moral or religious stipulations on my dressing, I don’t feel negative about showing parts of my body, I just, I don’t know, seem to have adopted that way of being. But recently I felt the need for something a little, I don’t know, more close fitting? More curve hugging? More contemporary? More something. Less FABRIC, but more something. And thus this pattern hack was born:

I’m showing a touch of bra in this photo, so just be cool, okay? This is a Renfrew, sized down and lengthened. And I will say, I do like this dress, but boy oh boy did it turn out to be close-fitting…

Like, I have to be careful what UNDERWEAR I wear close-fitting. And I also, you know, lowered the neckline. As you can see.

Not too much, though.

I’m not the kind of woman who thinks that tight automatically means sexy. But I will say, damn, it kind of helps! This dress puts a lot of sway in my step, and no, my hips don’t lie. In this thing, they couldn’t possibly.

I really like the back seam, both for fabric efficiency purposes, and because I kind of like how it looks. Is that super weird?

I love that you can see a cat that seems to emerge from my posterior in this photo.

My only issue with homemade close-fitting knits is that it does that kind of weird flip thing at the hem. What is that? Does anyone know what that is?

My mom took these photos for me because I have a grand total of FIVE items I still need to document and I haven’t been able to and I’m home this weekend for Passover and I though, well, if I’m home I might as well be documenting clothing…like you do. She likes this dress, my mom, but she thinks it needs more color. Therefore the cat.

I actually finished this two weeks ago and wore it to an event. My lovely roommate Jenny took some photos of me, but I kind of look like I want to commit murder in them:

RIGHT? There is a real killing people turn there. Still, at least you can see it in action!

Okay, that’s one down, I’ve still got four to go…stay tuned!

The Back to Black Dress

There were SO many things I could have named this garment. The, I Promise I’m Still Alive Even Though My Life Has Been Eaten By Writing, Dress! The, Three Needles Down, Dress (this stretchy soft sweater knit broke three sewing machine needles. I don’t even know…). The, Miss Me?, Dress, because I’ve been out of commission for SO. LONG. But I’m going with the Back to Black Dress because I like alliteration and I like Amy Winehouse and I like black.

So, you might ask, where the hell have I BEEN all this time? Again, I refer you to “my life has been eaten by writing”. The end of my first semester of graduate school got a little crazy, guys. There was writing. There was whiskey. It did not help the writing, but I enjoyed it anyway. There were nights hunched over my laptop furiously typing. There were nights hunched over my laptop furiously NOT writing, and those nights are the WORST. My lovely and amazing roommate Emily (who, along with my equally lovely and amazing roommate Jenny who are both saints to put up with all on my nonsense and mishagas) is also a writer, and we were talking with my friend Emilie (it got confusing, I can tell you) about writing and how when it’s bad, it’s horrible, and when it’s good, it’s amazing, and you live for the times when the writing just comes because there is nothing like it, it’s what I imagine a runner’s high is like. Oh, I run, a couple of times a week these days, but I never get a high, I just sort of collapse at the end which is embarrassing, but hey, it’s New York.

But now I have emerged into a warm pillow of time, i.e. my vacation, which is six weeks long. As I write this I’m sitting in Philadelphia, typing away in my parent’s office, waiting to set up my new laptop (THANK YOU PAPI!). And I have to tell you, it’s not that I haven’t been sewing, or knitting (lots of knitting for lots of holiday gifts). I just haven’t had the time to DOCUMENT any of it! ‘Tis a hard life. Cue the violins. In three days I’m off to Holland for a family vacation, and then I’m back, and then going to San Juan, and then back in the New York, it’s crazy! And what will Brother Cadfael be doing this whole time?

Yep. Did you expect anything less?

Onto the dress. I made this thing in a feverish rush a week and a half ago because I had run out of homework. I was so used to having a lot to do, and then I had finished my screenplay and my play and all the essays and scenes and I was sitting at home on a Wednesday evening after Zumba and I thought, well, I have some time….

So I pulled out this fabric which came from the hoarder stash of which I have oft spoke, and grabbed my trusty Renfrew pattern, and did a bit of lengthening a la Andrea (p.s. I was trolling through her project gallery, she is so impressive, I want to make everything she’s made) and here I have a dress!

And wore it to the department holiday party that evening. And then out, for more whiskey. Which did not make my Friday morning an easy or a pleasant one, but the life of a writer is one of hardship and sadness, so I’m chalking that up to a good source of material. Sometimes you need to dominate on 99 problems in some random bar, it HAS to happen, the evening wants what it wants!

Contemplating the beauty and grace of Jay-Z’s poetry.

This fabric, which, as I said, came from that giant pile saved from the hoarder, is a really cool fuzzy sweater knit with these little speckles of color in it. I have no idea what it’s made of, probably something highly flammable, but it’s warm and cozy and I’ve been wearing this dress with alarming regularity since I made it.

My mother said the neckline is a little wonky. That might be because the first thing I made her do when I came home was take photos of me…

Or it might be because it’s a knit and stretchy and yes fine okay it’s a little wonky I’m a human sue me!

Side view!

Back view! With flash, it started getting dark. You can see the seam down the back, which is my new favorite thing for knits because A. its efficient, fabric-use-wise, and B. I kind of really like the way it looks.

So if you asked me how I felt about this stretchy comfy easy to wear warm and to my mind, quite cute, garment, I would show you this picture:

 

Now, I’m off to run errands and deal with my existence which is sad, because all I want to do is this:

I hope that you are all having a perfectly lovely holiday season! My hanukkah was excellent, and I will be celebrating what’s-its-name tomorrow with Asian food and a movie, but I promise to post again before I go to Holland, and I will do my very best to not fall off the face of the earth any time soon!

 

 

 

 

The I Must Confess Shirt

There are a lot of confessions to be had with this shirt.

First of all, I must say that given that my school was cancelled all week because of the hurricane and subsequent power outages and the shutdown of the subway, I’ve been going a bit crazy.

I am, by the way, extremely lucky and so grateful to have survived the hurricane with my power intact and my apartment and life untouched, and I’m so happy for that. And so I recognize that my problems are literally the pettiest ones possible in the face of this major event, I truly do, there are real things happening and if you want to donate your money or your time, please visit this website.

At any rate, while keeping in mind how privileged and lucky I am and was, I also went a little stir crazy hanging out in my apartment for a week. So one night, when I told myself I should start this project, I just straight up stitched it from start to finish, because sometimes it’s important to stay up until 2am sewing a shirt. It just is. I couldn’t tell you WHY in the cold light of day, but at 2am after some wine it just NEEDS. TO. BE. DONE.

So I made this:

I’m so ashamed, I can’t even look at the camera.

BUT, I really love this shirt. Really really really. It’s a sewaholic Renfrew (couldn’t you tell?), long-sleeved scoop-necked version. I still have yet to make a cowl-necked one….

The fabric is, sadly, some completely unnatural fiber I got at Paron Fabrics. I had bought a living social deal for the store over a year ago, and two days before it expired I thought, oh, better go! And I scored two yards of this amazing neon pink, and a bunch of another knit. And because I bought it so long ago, it’s almost like I didn’t spend any money at all, right? RIGHT?

So I have some of the pink left, so I might make a short-sleeved shirt, too. I love this shade of pink. It’s vaguely radioactive looking, but I love it! Oh, and I made those pants too.

Where on earth am I, is a question you might be asking yourself. Well, I’m in front of Manhattan Theatre Club, where my friend Victoria is acting in Enemy of the People, an Ibsen play, in which she is magnificent. Victoria, who is marvelous as a human as well, snapped these photos before her call for her Sunday show today. She’s a rockstar. Just see for yourself:

This is where she goes to work every day. Jealous? Yeah, you should be.

But I actually have another confession. And that is…I haven’t bought a piece of new ready-to-wear clothing (with the exception of underwear, two swimsuits and work-out pants) in just under a year. What? Yes. It’s a bit of a unoffical challenge I gave myself, sort of, can you do this? Well, it turns out, I could! I’ve bought a handful of second-hand things, most of which I re-fashioned, and the exceptions I listed above, but other than that I haven’t bought a new item in just under 12 months. Black Friday will be a year. And what makes me bring this up now? Well, actually, the back of this shirt:

See the seam down the back? That’s a change I made to be more efficient with the fabric, because it frees you from cutting both front and back on the fold. But also, the last piece of new ready-to-wear clothing I bought was a Gap knit top with a seam down the back, and I thought, I like that! So I have finally duplicated it, and you know what? I like this EVEN MORE.

That face does not adequately convey my joy. But this was in midtown Manhattan. I don’t honestly think anyone can be truly happy there.

So, yeah, that’s my big confession. And honestly, I haven’t missed buying new clothing at all. So I don’t know if I’m going to keep to this as strictly as I have this past year, but, honestly, most of me thinks I will. It really was not hard, which is an interesting revelation in and of itself. Making this bubblegum pink top, simple as it was, was so much more satisfying than just buying one from Forever 21 or Target. I’m sure I could have gotten something similar at a store. But I don’t really desire that, anymore. Curious.

What about you? And shocking confessions?

 

 

Fall 2012 Sewing Plans

I sorted through all my patterns recently. It was….scary. There are so many of them. SO. MANY. PATTERNS. I don’t even know what to do with all of them. I found about 30 to give away, so, look out for more giveaways, I guess….

And yet, somehow, in all of the many of them (I couldn’t even count, it was too many) there were gaps. For example, I don’t have all that many skirt patterns. Or suit patterns (though god knows when I will ever wear a suit in my chosen profession of playwright, so whatever on that score). There are very few knit patterns, or, for that matter, modern patterns. There are a lot of dresses, mostly of the summer variety. There are some blouses, mostly of the button-up variety. There are a handful of coats and a scant number of jackets, and one swimsuit, that is actually a burdastyle download so that doesn’t even really count (because I couldn’t bear to deal with my downloaded and carefully assembled patterns, they aren’t really a part of this discussion because I don’t want my brain to explode). And there were dresses. Lots of dresses. Did I mention there were dresses?

And yet, though all this mess of paper and wonderful daydreams (like, I’m going to make all these shift dresses! Tomorrow! It’s going to be great!), I have carved out a Fall 2012 Wardrobe/plan/back-to-school (oh my god, I’m going back to school!) wish-list. Inspired by the wonderful Cindy of Cation designs, I shall now share my plans with you.

1. Another Jiffy 4977 dress.

I know. I KNOW. I was so “whatever” about this one but now it’s one of my favorite dresses and every time I wear it people love it. So I’m going to make another one, with slightly longer sleeves, for fall. Maybe in this cheerful stripe?

2. Sewaholic Thurlow Trousers (one, or maybe even two pairs…)

I bought this pattern the day Tasia released it, even BEFORE she released it, because I’m on her mailing list. I’m not really a pear shape, it’s true, but I do have a sizable bottom half (which, hopefully, is balanced out by my not-unsizable bosom) so I thought these might be a good fit for me. I want to make one straight from the pattern in a blue denim, dark, of course, and then fiddle about with the legs to make a slim-fitting black pair, perhaps a thurlow-clover hybrid? We shall see…

3. A mock wrap dress, Simplicity 4074:

In this lovely knit fabric from GirlCharlee

4. A Cation Designs (FREE PATTERN!) Dolman Top:

I couldn’t tell you what fabric, though. I’ve got some rather plain navy in my stash, and I’m trying not to buy any new fabric, but it seems rather dull for such a lovely pattern…

5. A coat, specifically McCalls 2979 from the 1970′s:

This is going to be a doozy, in fact, I would say this is a fall/winter 2012 project. I’ve never made a coat before, but I pre-ordered Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing (and I can hardly contain myself waiting for it!) so I hope her padstitching and tailoring advice is helpful (like it would be anything BUT). I have no idea what fabric I’m going to use, I’m sure I will buy something, and, sorry, New York, but I’m equally sure I will be picking it up here in Philadelphia. When it comes to prices for wool, we can’t be beat…

6. A men’s shirt (for mi hermano!) Colette Patterns Negroni, of course:

Tailor-made for the 27 year old hipster in my life. I feel strongly that there will be many muslins because A. Fit is tricky and B. my brother is picky  discerning. He wants a long-sleeved version with both pockets intact, and I will be using the hell out of Peter’s Men’s Shirt Sewalong from all those moons ago, so look out for updates.

7. A Pencil Skirt! What pattern, do you ask? I. DON’T. KNOW. As mentioned above, I don’t have many skirt patterns, and I’ve never made a pencil skirt that I really loved. I’ve made a lot that were just okay, but nothing wonderful.  I would love for it to look just like this, please:

Can anyone find me something that would resemble that? I’ll send you a pattern, if you do!

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as it were. I also plan to make a Peony Dress, a 1970′s pattern with tie-neck (delicious) and all sorts of other things, as they come to my busy mind. I mean, this doesn’t even cover knitting or quilting, which I find myself liking more and more each day. But I like starting with a plan. What are your fall sewing plans? Any perfect pencil skirt patterns you swear by in your own lives?

Me Made May Day 1- Let’s Do This Thing

Happy May, everyone! In fact, happy Me Made May, for those who are participating in such a thing. And as for the rest of you, you be happy too. Not AS happy, but happy nonetheless.

I have to say, I’ve really been looking forward to this month of celebrating what I’ve made. I feel like I’ve really upped my sewing game since last May, and I’m excited to show the world exactly what I have been up to. Yes, much of what I’ve made has been documented here, but some things haven’t, and I have a suitcase full of brand new me-made items I’ve been stockpiling for my trip to Puerto Rico this Thursday for my cousin’s wedding (felicitaciones Jessie!). So prepare yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, for all that.

But for today, here is my Me Made Outfit!

Not only did I make the pants (my denim Clovers, of course!), but that shirt is my 4th renfrew! Oh, I’m making all 9 versions. It’s happening. Get on board, or get out of the way.

The v-neck is…not perfect. But if wishes were horses…Still, I adore the color, and I can live with the collar. In fact, I even got a compliment on it the other day, well, sort of. A friend was like, you didn’t make THAT, did you? But I think it was a “you couldn’t possibly have made that because it’s too stunning to have been made by human hands” not “you didn’t make that because even your taste isn’t that horrible”. I’m pretty sure it was the former not the latter. 98% sure. 87% sure. Give it an even 75 to 25, really.

And the vintage item? The scarf!

This came, as so many things have, from my grandmother. I have no information on this designer, has anyone else heard of her?

So that’s the outfit. But I want to add one more thing to my pledge, if everyone is cool with that (I’m just kidding, someone as caffinated as I doesn’t ask for permission she asks for forgiveness!). I think this month I’m vowing to try and make different projects with scraps. The scraps in my life, the spare lengths of fabric, all the things I’ve been given or found in attics and hoarder’s apartments, they are driving me CRAZY. And I’ve been working on a big scrap project I will now plan to unveil at the end of the month. But for today, let me show you what I made last night

Sachets! Lovely lovely sachets. They only use 4 inches square of two pieces of fabric and something sweet-smelling in between and there you go, sachet away.

I straight up made 9. Like you do. Mondays. I used pine instead of lavender, because it was literally what was on hand.

I got the idea from this post on The Purl Bee. Do you ever visit the Purl Bee? Let’s talk truth for a moment. I do adore the Purl Bee, it’s a great site full of ideas, and I know full well it’s supporting (and therefore selling stuff) for Purl Soho, an gorgeous and extremely bourgie boutique crafting store in, you guessed it, Soho (New York, not London). All that being said, and with all adoration and respect, I have to honestly say that I can’t imagine a point in my life when I’m going to go out and buy a fat bundle kit of Liberty of London fabrics to make, oh, I don’t know, a wall hanging or a children’s toy. Beyond the expense, which is of course exorbitant, I just have so much scrap, even when I cut carefully, I can’t imagine BUYING something just for a small scrap-appropriate project. Am I a crazy person? How do you feel about this subject?

(PS: Thank you all VERY much for your kind and lovely words about my recent sewing snafus. I so appreciate the support, you are very nice, internet people, thank you.)

OWOP 4: The New Kid (Finished The Wildcard Pants!)

I made another pair of clovers. A pair of bright blue clovers. Yeah I did. YEAH I did. And this is how they make me feel:

BOOM. Love them. LOVE THEM.

I made these from the mystery fabric from Chicago, which is just unbelievably stretchy. That makes these my loosest fitting and most comfortable Clovers to date. I gotta say, they are a joy to wear, even on days that are a touch too cold for them, like today.

Yeah, I wore socks with it. What are you going to do about it? (It was seriously, cold, I’m shivering in these photos but you don’t know! Acting.) They have pandas on them. That’s how I do.

They are rather wrinkled, but hey, man, that’s life in the real world. Aren’t they bright? I love them. They put quite a “spring” in my step. GET IT? subtlety. It’s my best thing.

I have to say, I never would have been so bold as to turn these into pants had my friend Becca not convinced me I could do so. Burgundy? I might leave that to the hipsters. But these I think give off a nice “Summer in Monaco” look, which is a shame, because I’m totally not going to Monaco this summer. Unless you know a millionaire who wants to TAKE me?

Just look what he could have on his arm. And the back view, you say? Don’t mind if I do.

Weak showing, you say, because it’s not a close up? My lovely photographer Dani had no qualms about zooming in:

Darts. How does anything happen without them? I owe all I am to darts.

And this is what it looks like when I’m laughing because I made my friend and co-worker take a bunch of booty shots. A little sheepish, but mostly cool with it.

Fun fact? I also made the shirt! It’s the third Renfrew I have made, though not that last. I’m making all nine variations, mark my words. Number 2 went to my lovely mother, and this is the scoop neck mid length sleeves I made up with a fabric I got at Mood the first time I visited that mecca of knit and silk (and everything else, let’s be honest here).

I love me a Renfrew. I also really adore this print:

Nice, right? I likes it.

Four days down, three to go. How is everyone else doing with this One Week One Pattern business?

The Thank You Tasia Top

Sew Grateful week may be over, but my gratitude goes on and on! And today I would like to thank a wonderful and amazing Tasia, of Sewaholic, for the pattern that has taken the interwebs by storm and set my heart a flutter, and that would be the deceptively simple Renfrew Top.

Tasia is amazing, number 1. First of all, she’s Canadian, and I will pretty much do anything a Canadian tells me to do at any time. (Sidenote: Go watch Slings and Arrows right now, if you haven’t already. Don’t question me, just do it.) Tasia’s blog, Sewaholic is fantastic as all hell, filled with awesome tutorials and tips and tricks and truly excellent question posts that generate smart and helpful discussions.  And, most importantly, she bikes to work! I also do this, so I love her.

Additionally,  Tasia designs patterns especially for pear-shaped ladies. I am not, in fact, a pear shaped lady, rather I am an hour-glass shaped lady, but still, I appreciate her making a range of patterns for lovely pear-shaped ladies. I like knowing that it’s out there, you see. So anyway, I’ve always admired Tasia’s designs, but never actually made one myself, despite the plethora of amazing makes out there (google Pendrell Blouse if you need something to do for the next, say, ten hours, because that’s how many amazing iterations of it exist). However, Tasia recently released a pattern in knit, the Renfrew Top. And people, my heart, it nearly exploded.

As you may or may not know, I’ve recently jumped into the world of sewing with knits head first. Dixie DIY has been hugely grateful, as has Made By Rae, who recently did a week of interviews with champion knit sewers. As someone who doesn’t own a serger, and isn’t planning on buying one anytime soon, not for lack of interest but for lack of funds, I have been on the lookout for ways to make knit stuff that doesn’t look hopelessly home-ec. Enter Tasia with the Renfrew, as if on cue. And so I bought the pattern in pre-sale, got it almost instantaneously, and, armed with this striped knit from the Hoarder Stash, came out with this:

In other interesting news, my hair is really big.

And I love it. I LOVE IT. It looks like a real, honest to god shirt! That’s what Ginger’s boyfriend said, and he is very wise. It looks so professional! Right? RIGHT?

It’s the bands, people, the glorious glorious bands. There are fabric bands around the hems of the sleeves and bottom of the shirt, and they just make it look so good!

Look how happy the bands make me!

So happy. My enormous face is aglow with happiness.

Now, onto the construction. As I said, Tasia designs for Pears, and I’m not one of those. So I had to do some resizing. I traced the pattern in a size 10, and graded to a size 8 in the waist and a size 6 in the hips, essentially ruining all Tasia’s hard work in scaling for pear-shapes. Sorry, Tasia! I kept a 10 in the shoulders and sleeves, which, in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have done, because the sleeves are a bit too long. Oh, well!

And this is the face I make when my sleeves are too long.

Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with this top. It came together in a ridiculously easy fashion, taking up maybe 4 hours of my life, all together.

I like the length of the body of the shirt a lot, it’s perfect for me. And I cannot wait to make more of these. I sewed up View A, but there are two other options, a short-sleeved v-neck, and a 3/4 length-sleeved cowl neck, which, if you mix and match, makes a total of 9 combinations, as Tasia reminds us on the envelope. Challenge? Accepted.

And the back, if you are interested.

I know it’s more typical to see horizontal stripes then vertical ones, but I swear, they are death to women with anything going on in the chest region. So I went vertical, because I think they look awesome. But I threw in the horizontal ones on the bands A. for variety and B. so I didn’t have to worry about matching! Two birds, one stone.

I didn’t mean to do this, but the neckline came out all white, even thought it was cut from the same cloth. Oh, well, it actually looks rather nice, I think:

You can just see the zig-zag used to keep the collar in place. Luckily, I don’t mind that kind of thing. In fact, I kind of like it.

A final photo of happy, stripy, me. And it should be noted that not only am I wearing Tasia’s pattern, BUT the cowl I’m wearing in this photo is one I made after I saw her version and was inspired! It’s the honey cowl, and after I selflessly made one for my friend Becca to help her through the cold Chicago winter, I made one for myself! A girl can only be so selfless….

So thank you, Tasia, for all that you do.