The Thrice as Nice Shirt

Sometimes titles completely elude me. For example, every play I’ve ever written has had its title tacked on at the end as a complete after thought. As a result, the titles are not very good. For the screenplay I wrote this semester, it got to the point where my teacher just looked at me and said, really, Leah? Untitled Screenplay? I tried to pass it off like a Duchamp “Fountain” thing but I don’t think he was buying it…

So sometimes I have a hard time finding names for the pieces I make, and nevertheless I like having names for the pieces I make because I like thinking of my wardrobe as something filled with chatty vibrant personalities to rival my own, so when I get dressed in the morning I can say, hello, such-and-such-blouse, hello, such-and-such-pants, who wants to hang out with who today? Am I anthropomorphizing my closet? Mayhap. You should see the chats I have with my cat. Seriously, you should, my roommates could use more people with whom to watch and judge.

So this blouse is New Look 6808, my third version of this all-too-cute pattern. This time I did the collar, but without the little bow in the middle because I’ve really been working on this “dressing like a grown up” thing. And I did long sleeves, because it’s cold out here for a pimp. And I did stretch poplin because it’s seriously comfortable and I had some in my stash from over a year ago when I got a bunch of stretchy fabric for clover muslins. Ancient history.

I adore this color. One has to admit, though, this poplin is a tad wrinkly…

Eh, what are you gonna do….I also made the pants! My first clovers, in fact, which makes this outfit weirdly perfect and fated, come to think of it…

Side view! I had to add two pleats to force the sleeve to fit into the shoulder. I’ve had to do that every time with this pattern, but instead of altering it I just go with it because I kind of love the pleat!

I also noticed that the sleeve cuff detail is flipped up in all of these photos, sigh…

A little back view for you. You can’t see it in these photos, nor can you really see it much in real life, but there is a seam down the back which I have because I pieced together the back. If I was a super-villan, that would be my trademark, back seams. I just some fabric efficiency!

A little wink, terrifyingly caught on camera. You can see the cuff here, sort of, it’s cute.

Annnnnnnnnd there I am talking to my cat again. Of course. Duh.

We are actually having a tearful goodbye moment. Sniff. I love vacations but I loathe leaving him. It’s a constant dilemma for me, travel or Cadfael? Wow, my twenties are just WILD.

I know this is some rapid fire posting over here, but I wanted to throw this up online before I leave tomorrow morning for San Juan. My internet access is sort of limited there, and I can only use my computer in one of the two Starbucks in town. So my blogging shall be curtailed for a while whilst I swan about the island with my friends and then alone, and then with my family. Of course, that alone time is reserved for writing, writing, and then more writing. Because that’s why people go to tropical paradises, to sit inside and write…

I hope everyone’s New Year is treating them gorgeously! And before you call me out on it, I’m aware this blouse doesn’t fulfill my plans to make new patterns. I’ll get there, okay? At least I tried a variation. Counts, right?

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?

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.