Me Made May 29, 30 and 31! Final Station Stop!

Wow. After 31 days of me made madness we have finally come to the end of the line! Goodness.

Really quickly, before the pontificating, let’s check in with the outfits:

May 29th!

My nautical bias skirt with a blouse I never bothered to document here, it’s a sorbetto with no pleat, just pintucks. I had some fabric leftover from my Flirting with the Forties blouse (which I made, goodness, how long ago?) so I used that. I love this blouse, I just never got around to photographing and making an homage to it.

Day 30!

My pro-petter pan blouse with a store-bought skirt. This is actually one of my favorite skirts and the waistband NEVER GETS MESSED UP. How does that work? Damn you, H and M!

Day 31!

My final outfit! My Wildcard pants with another sorbetto, also never really documented here. But check out what I managed to do:

Do you know how hard it is to take a photo of yourself in the mirror with a large camera and do a thumbs up ? But I did it. FOR ME MADE MAY!

The scarf is both new and vintage, and extra special. Why?:

Awesome. Got it on le etsy. Thanks, etsy!

It seems like only yesterday I was vowing to only wear stuff I made and look how the time has flown! I have to say, it’s been a challenge in a different way than last year. Last June when I did this challenge for the first time I had far less that I had made, and this year I had lots of options. and the challenge became about how to combine them in new ways. And I must say, I don’t think I repeated any one combination, which is nice! I also made some new stuff, including a baby quilt using old scraps for a co-worker, and I must say, I felt really special wearing all my me made stuff all month.

It also reminded me of a few things.

1. There are things I made that I don’t like or wear. And hey, that’s okay! Some of them I made when I was less experienced, some of them I thought would work but don’t, and some of them I don’t know what the hell I was doing when I made that crap, but for whatever reason, those items don’t work for me. I will be getting rid of them to make room for new things.

2. I wear separates a lot more than I wear dresses.

3. With that in mind, I need a good serviceable bikeable black skirt. Anyone have any pattern ideas or preferences? Many was the time this month that I saw that as a gap in my closet.

4. There are a lot of things I made that I really like! Including the new items in my Spring/Summer Palette challenge! So that’s nice.

5. I love this challenge. I love celebrating what I’ve made and seeing how other people style what they’ve created. I find it inspirational and excellent. So thank you, everyone who participated, I really loved all the posts I read, and a HUGE thanks to Zoe for organizing this yearly shin-dig! Thank you, Zoe! I salute you!

The What’s Up Buttercup Shorts (Me Made May Day 28!)

These really should be called the “What’s Up Iris” Shorts, but that doesn’t rhyme, so it’s dead to me. I normally have more photos for a introducing the world to the garment post, but given how many times I’ve made this pattern (Simplicity 7688, but of course) I feel like maybe that’s not really necessary. And I’m not even going to pretend I’m not going to make more pairs because hell, these shorts are awesome, and they use less then a yard of bottom weight fabric, which is great, because I’m not really sure what to do with that otherwise. See, lighterweight stuff can always become a sorbetto blouse, but what do you do with mid-weight linen? You make shorts!

The fabric is leftover from a project I made for my Mamala. Check it out:

It’s a touch wrinkly because, hello, linen, but it’s the BurdaStyle Shari dress and I think it’s pretty excellent. My mamala thinks so too.

And that’s our house in Puerto Rico! Which my mamala renovated! See, she’s with something she made with something I made! What????!!!!! I know. Minds are blown.

Enough of that, to the shorts!

See, I thought I would have to content myself with mirror shots, but then I sweet talked my mamala into shooting me in the garden, amoung the irises. (Yes, I just said my mother shot me.)

Wow, my hair is the worst. Sigh. It was hot, what can I say. The blouse is my Parque de Palomas Blouse.

I flat felled all the seams because linen frays like whoa, and I hand stitched the hem. Like I do.

My very best Vanna White to show you the wonders of our garden.

In other news, Poirot, who has gotten very little face time here, decided to be all adorable yesterday. It was too much.

Look at that guy. Does he care about my linen shorts? No he does not. And yet I love him. Curious. No human in my life could get away with such a thing.

Me Made May Day 27 (Meeting Milkshake!)

On Sunday I went to Greensgrow, a farm/nursery in Fishtown where my parents and I typically buy all of our plants. Did I ever mention I enjoy gardening? I do, very much so, it’s one of things that saddens me about moving to New York. I guess I could join some hipster community garden in Brooklyn but then I’d have to make small talk about vegan desserts and small batch beers, and I’m not a vegan nor do I drink beer, so, yeah….I’ll probably do it anyway, but whatever, for now, I love me some Greensgrow. Greensgrow is amazing. They are helpful and informative and give you so much more than “here are the tomatoes”. It’s more like, “here are the heirloom varieties that grow best in your soil and here are several options so you can have tomatoes all summer long because they have different maturation periods la la la gardening la”. I love it there.

And recently we found out they have a PIG! And chickens! To be honest I think chickens are mean, but I love pigs. I don’t eat pigs much if at all because, yeah, pedestrian of the red sea, so I don’t feel like a hypocrite cooing over their big piggy heads. This particular pig’s name is Milkshake. How cute is that?

But is it as cute as this day’s outfit? You  be the judge.

This is my Mirror Image blouse with the How Many Of These Are You Going To Make shorts. And a vintage scarf, from my Mamala. Thanks, Mamala!

How cute is my mamala? Yes, she is very cute. Also, the best.

I don’t normally include tons of non-sewing photos but I really love Greensgrow, so….

I DO grow my own food! How fun is that?

Anyway, sorry if you’re not into gardening, but I clearly am. Happy Me Made May! And if you are in the area, check out Greensgrow! It’s amazing!

Me Made May Days 22-26 (I really need to make photographer friends)

These photos are going to be strugglesome. Seriously, I need to make some photographer friends, this is getting pathetic. Sigh. The last week has been busy and unexpectedly filled with nightlife (I’m usually a complete homebody when the sun sets, what’s up, universe?) and somehow that has translated to crappy photographs hurriedly shot in mirrors, and with the case of the 24th of May, no photograph at all.

But I can assure you that I did wear me-made-things on the 24th. Or did I? You would never know, now, would you? In fact, NONE of the stuff on this blog could have been made by me, I could be buying it and passing it off as my own and you’d NEVER KNOW. If this was a comic book that would totally be what I, as the evil villain, did. But here in real life, I totally made all this. (….or did I? See, the seed has been planted….)

Day 22!

My Faded Photograph Blouse with Wild Card Pants! I wore this to work, and I even wore a DIFFERENT Me-Made outfit out to dinner with my friend Laura! Doubling Down!

Day 23!

My Blank Canvas T with my I Was Made For Sunny Days Skirt! Wednesday I worked showing apartments and then actually once again changed post-gym into another me-made outfit to go see a musical with my friend Shamus. It was atrocious. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

Day 24!

I got nothing. This day I attended Night Market (a big food market that is run by the Food Trust and mimics the famous night food markets of Taiwan and Hong Kong). The Food Trust has been running these for the past two years and they are fantastic and absurdly crowded, but I went early in a brand new me-made-skirt (post to follow!) and FINALLY got to try Pitruco’s Pizza, a pizza truck with a wood burning oven inside it (WHAT? YES.) and it was UNREAL. It’s probably better I was too exhausted to take photos even of myself in the mirror, I was all pizza-full and blissful.

 

Day 25!

A bought t-shirt and my Too Hot For Tzaft skirt. Cadfael had to check me out and be a part of it. Cats, man. Work, work, work, then dinner with my mom were we enjoyed margaritas and tacos. Yum.

Day 26!

And my Truffle Muslin, which fits me a bit better these days, and stood me well as I went from showing to showing to cleaning my apartment to going to a play.

And that’s me all caught up. Homestretch, people, and here in the states it’s a holiday weekend! So I promise to try to get some better photos (or at least better FRIENDS, seriously) in between barbeques and gardening. Any plans?

The Mirror Image Blouse (Me Made May Day 21!)

It should surprise no one to hear that I’m hardly the most exacting or exact sewer in the world. It’s not that details don’t matter to me, it’s just that I’m more of a “just do it” kind of crafter. And besides, making things for yourself as a non-professional is all about deciding what you can and can’t live with, i.e., just how much is that zipper which is SLIGHTLY off going to affect your life/sense of self? Can you deal with a dart that doesn’t QUITE match up to another dart? Can a project be good enough without being perfect? For me, yes, it can, and almost always is. I use my seam ripper as much as the next person, and I do follow instructions and try to do things right the first time, but honestly, I’m not all that interested in perfection, really, just wearability. Maybe it’s because I’m still such a new sewer and I’m still just amazed I can make things that will actually cover my body and not fall apart halfway through my commute, and maybe an obsession with precision will emerge as I sew more, but for now, I’m more about the big picture than anything else.

Additionally, I think marking is the worst. My least favorite part of sewing is, surprise surprise, cutting and marking fabric. I mark the bare minimum, and sometimes not even that. Notches? I don’t even want to talk about notches. And most of the time that’s completely fine, honestly. I mean, I’m sure some advanced sewers are just clutching their pearls but if I hadn’t told you, would you have really known? I mean, really?

Well, with this blouse you would, because I totally put the bow on the opposite side. Yeah. Yeah I did.

But, hey, don’t I look happy? (Sidenote: I have no idea what this blouse is SO. WRINKLED. I look like I slept in it. I did not. Promise.)

The pattern is my new BFF, New Look 6808. This time I did the variation with a collar and bow, but because I don’t mark fabric when I trace it against the pattern piece, I just kind of haphazardly picked a spot on the collar for the bow and followed the instructions using my free-hand placement. I’m 100% happy with it, but I’m also 100% sure the bow is supposed to be on the other side of the collar. Oh, well.

S0ooooo wrinkly. Sigh. The fabric comes as a leftover from my I Don’t Believe in UFOs Blouse. The pants, again, my trusty denim Clovers. I really need to stop wearing these pants…

Ha, photo-self, you can look for the bow over there all you want, it’s never going to happen!

Because this fabric has stretch , like the last time I made this pattern (fun fact, I got 3 yards of 3 types of insanely cheap stretch poplin back in the fall to make clover muslins, and I’m still using them! How neat is that?), I omitted the zipper. I also cut the back in two pieces and sewed them together with a 1/4th inch seam allowance. Fits like a glove.

Well, the BODY fit, and I like the collar, but let’s talk about the sleeves. The last time I made this blouse the sleeve cap was too big for the armsyce, so I pleated it (free form again, I told you, I’m a rebel!) and it worked. THIS time, the sleeve cap fit the armsyce perfectly (…why?) but the sleeves looked like little wings, ready to fly me away to the land of wrinkles and sewing rebels. So I sewed a deep dart into the sleeves, and that sort of solved the problem….which I don’t know why I have. Sigh. Sewing, it’s a crapshoot (it’s really not, just for me, it seems…)

The stern face of a sewing rebel.

I thought you might like to see the bow close up, as it’s the cutest damn thing about this blouse. But as you can see, I take bows very seriously. There is no laughing in bows.

And as a final photo to celebrate this, the 21st day of Me Made May (this was taken yesterday) and this blouse, which is another installment of the Spring/Summer 2012 Palette Challenge, a nice photo of flowers from my parent’s garden!

So, are you a rebel like me, or do you mark the hell out of everything? It should be noted that I’m totally a slave to instructions, which is rather ironic, one might say. Well, we humans are so fickle, aren’t we?

The Adventurez Skirt (Me Made May Day 20)

Ah, cloud nine fabrics. Why you gotta be so damn seductive? Every time I think, okay, Leah, yhou’re a grown up person now, no more skirts made of quilters cotton and covered with whimsical design, it’s time for navy twill and sensible styles, like a real person, well, there you are, cloud nine, reeling me back in again. And what did you come up with this year? A far too adorable line called Monsterz featuring little creatures running all over lengths of sweetly colored organic cotton. Sure, maybe you out there might have resisted but I’M NOT MADE OF STONE.

So I managed to acquire a yard an a half of this fabric called Adventurez, a double border print with two delightful scenes of little monsters doing whatever it is they happen to do. So I divided the fabric in half and made a skirt out of one length of the border. The other skirt will be forthcoming, but for now, please content yourself with this:

Cute, no? Not my face, no, that looks likes I’m about to cut someone, but the skirt! How cute is the skirt?

So, I don’t know why this is, but the waistband keeps wrinkling. The hell? I interfaced it, like you do, I pressed it, I did all the right things, and yet, it wrinkles. Sigh.

I can’t even look at you, I’m so upset about this wrinkling business. It was a self drafted pattern, if you can even call it that. It’s  just a bunch of pleats, like you do and a waistband to match. I am against gathering these days, honestly, because it never makes me look like anything but a milkmaid.

Of course, this is the kind of pose you make when you need to get out of the street because a car is coming. Adorable, no?

A little back view for those of you in viewing audience who like that sort of thing. See? Pleats. They look good even over the hips. PS: I also made the shirt, of course, it’s my Define Basic Blouse.

And just in case you don’t get the appeal of these little monsters:

How cute is THAT?

Also,  I simply had to share this with you, my mamala modeled the Renfrew I made for her today and here is how amazing she looks in this top:

How gorgeous is my mamala? She’s the best.

Anyway. that’s me and my new skirt. Is it practical? No. No it is not. And yet somehow, life goes on…

Me Made May Days 15-19 (All Over The Place)

Boy have the past 5 days been busy! I’m transitioning between jobs, I’ve been showing apartments (Yeah, I’m a real estate agent. It’s fun.) working for the theater company, running all over town, pretending to be a nice friendly person when really I’m fairly evil and dead inside, it’s been crazytown! But don’t worry, I’ve made the time to catch up on Revenge and Community, finish a project (more on that in the days to come), made catnip mice for all four cats in my life, and, of course, watch Law and Order C.I. streaming. Can we talk about Law and Order C.I? It’s 100% my favorite law and order. Mostly because there is almost no court time, just crimes, getting solved, but also because the crime doesn’t ever stop, it keeps going all through the episode, up until the end! It’s amazing. ALSO, all the best people have been on it. Liza Minnelli, Whoppi Goldberg (oh, she was EVIL!), Steven Colbert (also the villain), my friend Krista Apple (she was awesome), everyone! It’s the best. I’m not a huge fan of Chris Noth (though DAMN does he rock on The Good Wife) but Vince D’Onofiro? Yes. Solve all the crimes with eccentric methods and weird stares. I will watch that every day of the week.

ANYway, on to the outfits!

Day 15!

My Wildcard Clovers with a tunic I bought years ago in San Juan. Why am I barefoot? It POURED this day, and I padded about the office in my bare feet as my whole self dried. Biking in the rain. It’s a fun struggle.

Day 16!

Ah, yes. I failed a coerce someone  into taking my photo so I did it myself in the mirror. This skirt is a new one I made, but I haven’t had a chance to do a dedicated post to it. All in due time….

Day 17!

My denim clovers with a never-blogged Men’s shirt refashion! I used Colette Patterns Sorbetto pattern as the base. I actually really adore this blouse. I gots to make more of these. Thanks, Papi, for the shirt!
Day 18!

This was a great day! I had showings all day on Friday, but in the afternoon my showings took me near Spool, so of COURSE I had to go in. The owner,  Amy, graciously took my photo. Look how happy I am! Spool is the best. The dress is my dumb luck dress.

Day 19!

Ah, Saturday. I have other photos of this outfit from this day, but I decided to use this one because of the guy in the back. Thank you, stranger, for your incredibly creepy expression. Stay weird, Philadelphia! This is, of course, my Completely Uncreative Blouse with my Nautical Bias skirt, along with a vintage German souvenir scarf. I wore this showing apartments all day, and then into the afternoon when my mom and I biked to Fishtown and wandered around the Trenton Arts Festival. And what an event it was. From scores of hipsters to craft booths to the firetruck our friend Jeff bought to a mud pit to these organic local strawberries I’m holding, it was a blast. Oh, Fishtown, never change.

So that’s my last couple of days. Oh, and as a bonus, you should know that my pajamas have been me made this WHOLE TIME. I know, blowing your mind.

The Completely Uncreative Blouse (Me Made May 14!)

I don’t normally do this, but I totally made a blouse that closely and deeply resembles the cover art of the pattern.

Everything on the left side of this pattern art is bizarre. Why would you ever wear such things, let alone make them? That being said, this is an adorable blouse. It’s really a very nice pattern, I can certainly see why it’s so popular. I have been thinking a lot about size recently so I cut out at 16 rather then my normal 14 because I have heard you should take the desired final bust measurement (if the pattern provides that) rather then the recommended measurement. I like to have some ease in the bust, and I really wanted to get out of doing a Full Bust Adjustment, so, yeah. Cheaters never prosper, unless they DO:

Yeah, baby! And because I cut a larger size, this blouse aced the Mena test (the stretch in the poplin I used, remnents of my Peppermint Pastille, also helped) and I didn’t have to put in the side zipper indicated in the instructions. Life win.

As I typically do the first time I make anything, I followed the instructions. When I make other versions of this blouse (which I’m totally doing, this thing is adorable) I will omit the neck facing, because I hate facings with a passion I usually reserve for exact change and chocolate, and use bias tape to finish the neckline instead. Otherwise, I wouldn’t change a thing. Thought I am curious to see what happens when I make this pattern in a non-stretch woven. Ah, a future adventure.

The pants are my denim clovers. If Me Made May was a sports team, those would be called my MVPs.

A little side view for you.

It’s a bit wrinkled, and it could probably use a swayback adjustment, but what are you going to do? Oh, you can tell here that I didn’t cut the back on the fold, I cut two pieces and added some seam allowance. Really, not cutting things on the fold opens you up to a hell of a lot, fabric efficiency-wise.

Thumbs up for fabric efficiency! Yeah.

This blouse might seam rather simple, but I have to say, I adore the diamond darts and careful drafting, it’s great for curvy women like myself. One shirt, 6 darts. Worth it.

Me Made May 11, 12 and 13 (skirting the issue)

After a long stretch of pants, the skirts are back!

In my mind, my closet is totally the site of gang warfare. When I close the door the pants and the skirts throw down against each other. They don’t really fight, though, they dance fight. The pants are the Jets and the Skirts are the Sharks and the blouses are like the Cowboys and the dresses are like the Farmers (that’s Oklahoma!, for those who got the obvious West Side Story thing but aren’t as into Rodgers and Hammerstein. Amateurs.)

ANYway, without further whimsical ado, my Me Made May outfits over the weekend:

Day 10!

The blouse is my Fecund by Thrifty Blouse, and I still get more compliments on this then almost anything else I’ve made. The skirt is my Nautical Bias skirt. Man, I have to make more of these, it’s simple and comfortable and goes with everything. And the earrings, which you can barely see, are vintage.  On this day I worked and then met my parents at synogogue and it was randomly a service honoring grandparents and grandchildren which was adorable, if odd to be attending. Then we went out to dinner, and you can see my leftovers in my hand and the glow of wine on my face. I loves wine.

Day 11!

Heh. The skirt is my My Lips Your Lips Tulips Skirt, which looks a little crazyface in this photo, but in real life is actually cute. The shirt is my Blank Canvas Top with the modified neckline. The guy wearing nothing I made is my friend Aubie. I went out to Malvern (and when I say out I mean OUT, it’s very far away) to see Aubie and my friend Emilie (who was also the photographer!) in a production of A Wrinkle In Time. I can honestly say I never really liked the book as a kid, but I did like the play, so maybe the character of Meg Murry gets more tolerable with age.

Day 12!

And for Mother’s Day I dressed up in my Too Hot for Tzaft skirt and made my mom dinner. Seared scallops and grilled fennel and asparagus, if you must know. I also made her a Fenfrew and a tote bag! With houses on it! Because she’s an architect! It was adorable! But I had to share with you another cat-centric shot because for the time being that’s the only mothering I’m prepared to do.

Goodness, we are almost at the halfway point for this month of me-made-moments. How is everyone doing? Anyone need a breather, or some water, or maybe a stiff drink? We’re going to make it, people. I know it.

Me Made May 7 through 10 (playing catch up)

I realized today that because of my trip to Puerto Rico and my insistance on posting long diatribes for every new garment I make, I’m a bit behind! And I didn’t even get to do a dedicated post for my newest creation, which happens to be the fourth installment in my Spring Palette Challenge! So you are about to see a whirlwind of outfits, and don’t worry about that blouse in there, it’s going to make it’s debut soon, just consider this a preview. Okay, without further ado, Me Made May:

Day 7!

The blouse is a surprise which you shall see sometime in the future, but rest assured, I made it. The pants are my denim clovers. My smile is totally fake, I’m sad to have returned from paradise. Ah, well, all things must pass.

Day 8!

My Wildcard Clovers with an unblogged me-made knit top. My first, in fact, and a rather error ridden thing it is, too, but I still wear it all the time, so whatever. Morse may LOOK like he’s desperate to escape me but REALLY he’s thrilled to be a part of Me Made May.

Day 9!

My Sewing Is Not An Exact Science Clovers with Renfrew #2! I had to work that evening, so I made a co-worker snap a photo before the show.

Day 9!

This day was great because while I had to work and ended up at the gym at 10pm as Parks and Recreation concluded for the season, my new friend Shamus took these photos, and I couldn’t help including two because A. my legs look AMAZING and B. The second one is hilarious.

I made the top, it’s my “Happy Trails by Two Friends” blouse. The rest is purchased, sigh.

Am I growling? You bet I am. At this point Shamus was like “give me your best Melrose!”. Melrose was a character on America’s Next Top Model. Yeah. Kindred spirits, people.