Me Made May 2014: Week 2

I'm pretty excited to have made it through 11 days of May with little difficulty--and 10 days without any me-made repeats!  This week was a full work week for me, so there are more work looks than in my last post. There are a few unflattering cell phone selfies, but if I'm okay posting them to the internet, hopefully you'll be okay looking at them.

Monday, May 5: Work

Dress: McCall's 5972 (pre-blog)
Shirt: Express
Belt: Banana Republic
Shoes: Nine West

Tuesday, May 6: Work

Shirt: McCall's6604 (pre-blog)
Pants: Cynthia Rowley c/o Marshall's
Belt: Banana Republic

Wednesday, May 7: Work

Dress: McCall's 5972 (again, pre-blog)
Cardigan: Old Navy
Belt: Banana Republic
Shoes: Nine West

Thursday, May 8: Work

Shirt: Express
Skirt: NewLook 0116 (pre-blog)
Belt: Banana Republic
Bag: Vera Bradley
Shoes: Kenneth Cole Reaction

Friday, May 9: Work and shopping

Shirt: H&M
Cardigan: Bought in Paris
Skirt: Simplicity 2226 (pre-blog)

Saturday, May 10: Embassy open-house and lunch

Dress: Purple knit McCall's M6347 (pre-blog and the first knit garment I ever made)

Sweater: Maxx Studio

Belt: Target

Sunday, May 11: Mother's Day spent with my mom

Headband: Gap

Shirt: Blue striped Plantain by Doe and Deer

Shorts: American Eagle

Sandles: Kenneth Cole Reaction

What I'm learning is that I have a few wardrobe staples that I like to wear over and over.  They include my skinny black leather belt, orange cardigan, and white button-down shirt.

I've now worn all of my knit garments. I think that means I should make some more, since clearly they are what gets worn. It appears that I tend to wear dresses and skirts to work, and pants more on the weekends.  I think that pattern holds true whether or not it's Me Made May.  I own quite a few pairs of dress pants, but hardly ever wear them.  Most of them are hemmed to wear with heels, which I've been trying to avoid due to a running injury.  I could shorten them, though. Hm...

Me Made May 2014: Week 1

I've made it through the first week of Me Made May!  The first week was just four days, so it was nice and easy.  I went to work on Thursday and then took a long weekend trip to North Carolina, so you'll see one work outfit and three casual outfits.  Here they are. I'll apologize in advance for some cell phone pics. 

Thursday, May 1: Work

Dress: Houndstooth Coco by Tilly and the Buttons

Jacket (in my arms): Blue tweed Sewaholic Cordova (pre-blog)

Cardigan: Old Navy

Scarf: Gift

Shoes: Nine West

Friday, May 2: Road trip to North Carolina

Shirt: Blue striped Plantain by Doe and Deer

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Keds

Saturday, May 3: Apartment hunting and botanical gardens in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Shirt: Gap

Skirt: Blue Simplicity 2226 (pre-blog)

Sunday, May 4: Driving home and grocery shopping

Shirt: Floral teal Plantain by Doe and Deer

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Keds

So far, so good. This week I've worn more casual wear than in a typical week.  Interestingly, I wore mostly knit pieces this week, whereas most of my makes are from woven fabrics.  I'm curious to see if that trend continues in the coming weeks. I also seemed to wear my most recent makes, seeing that on 3 of the 4 days I wore things that I've made this year.  I'll keep on eye on that too.

Purple Printemps Dress

I finished the purple dress that I wrote about on my last what I'm working on Wednesday post. The pattern is McCall's M6507. It features a cowl neckline with the front cut on the bias, low back with a horizontal bar across the upper back, and tucks on a front skirt overlay. I made the dress from a thrifted sheet, bought with this pattern in mind.

Making this dress was a great learning experience. I tried out a number of new techniques.  One was making my own bias tape, which was used to enclose the zipper tape on the inside and the armcycles. Making bias tape is actually super easy.  It does eat up a lot of fabric, though, as it is cut on the bias. 

I also used French seams for the first time and did my first tiny hem. I'm excited to be able to apply these new techniques on my future makes. 

One great thing about the back of this dress is that the zipper ends low enough that I can easily take it on and off by myself.  Speaking of zippers, I used my invisible zipper foot for the first time on this dress, which resulted in a nice invisible finish.  Sorry, no pictures of that. This was also my first time enclosing the edges of the zipper tape with bias tape.  It looks super clean on the inside. 

Overall, I like this dress, but if I make it again it will need some tweaks. The top of the bodice is pretty right, especially around the shoulders. It would be much more comfortable if I could move my arms more easily. It's also not the most versatile dress.  It's a pretty distinctive style, that's only really appropriate for spring (printemps en Francais) and summer.

I'll leave you with a picture of me wearing this dress in real life.  Here is a picture from Easter Sunday with my brothers and my brother's girlfriend Becky. 

Abstract

Pattern: McCall's M6507

Fabric: Purple and white patterned thrifted sheet

Cost: $6 fabric + $2 zipper = $8

Time: 20 hours?

Plantain #3

Today I have another Plantain. I've made this pattern three times now. That's tied for my most-made pattern. My other Plantains, here and here, both have 3/4 length sleeves. This version has blue and white stripes and short sleeves.  It's made from a knit fabric from Joann's. 

Now that I've had some more practice with knits, and this pattern in particular, I can pull a shirt together in just a few hours. 

I've gotten better at the neckband, too. It lays nice and flat on this version. I can see myself wearing this shirt all summer.  Light and breezy.  

Abstract

Pattern: Plantain by Deer and Doe

Fabric: Blue and white striped knit blend

Cost: 1.5 yards x $6.99/yard = $10.49

Time: 3 hours.  I'm getting faster!

Me Made May 2014

Me Made May is an annual challenge for sewers.  Across the world, sewers challenge themselves to wear their handmade makes  Each individual can create their own challenge, whether it's as simple as wearing one me-made item a week or as intense as wearing only handmade items for the month.

Last year I really enjoyed watching other people's experiences with Me Made May.  I love reading the blog posts about how the challenge forces people to be more creative with their wardrobes.  This year, I'm going to participate myself, and will blog about my experience.

Here's my pledge:

I, Renee, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavor to wear at least one me-made item each day for the duration of May 2014.

I plan on taking pictures of my daily outfits and posting round-ups each week.  Check this space in May!  Don't worry, I'll post other new projects in the meantime.

Coral Cambie

This is Sewaholic's very popular Cambie dress.  After admiring other renditions for months (years?), I decided to make one of my own.  It features pockets, a sweet-heart neckline and gathers where the cap sleeves meet the bodice.  I chose to make the version with the straight skirt.

The fabric is a printed cotton of some sort from Etsy. It turns out that the shop that I bought from is in the same neighborhood as my office, so I was able to pick up the fabric in person and meet the nice sellers.

This is the first dress that I made with a full lining. I used a champagne-colored Bemberg rayon fabric. The lining fabric didn't come from Etsy.  I'm not quite sure where I picked it up. Here you can see the back, including the zipper.  The zipper is supposed to be invisible, and is in fact an invisible zipper, but I was not completely successful at installing it invisibly.  My little brother got me an invisible zipper foot, though, so hopefully my next attempt at an invisible zipper is more successful.

This dress seems a little too formal for my office, so I haven't worn it in real life yet. I think it would be great for a wedding or a garden party.  I'm hoping for some garden party invites in my near future. For now, here are pictures in a garden. 

Abstract

Pattern: Cambie by Sewaholic Patterns

Fabric: Coral cotton print from Fabrics and Trimmings on Etsy (appears to no longer be available)

Materials: 2 yards of outer fabric, 2 yards of lining, and one invisible zipper

Time: One long weekend

What I'm Working on Wednesday April 9

For the past week or so i've been working on a flirty purple spring dress. The pattern is McCall's M6507.  This is my first time making it.  The bodice has a cowl neck and low cut back with a horizontal strap, and is paired with a flared out skirt. Here's the line drawing from the pattern.

No one else will have a dress like this. The fabric I'm using used to be a sheet.  I bought it for $6 at Goodwill, specifically for this dress.  I love the lilac color and petal stripes. The dress also features tucks on the skirt, as you can see in the picture below.

So far I've prepped all of the pieces, including stitching the tucks and hem.  Next I need to put it all together.  I hope to finish up this weekend, so that I'll have a new spring dress to wear in the 80 degree weather next week!