Finally finished - Simplicity 2250

Aaaages in the making, but it's finally done!

[Yay for another cool backdrop!]

It's a crazy-bright, ridiculously floral border print quilting cotton, from God knows where. I feel like this somehow made its way into my stash from something my mom picked up, because it doesn't look like anything I'd choose, but who knows? I probably had just over a yard of this to start with, which is not a lot to try to squeeze a dress out of. I ended up juuuust squeaking by - at first I thought I'd have to do the back in plain white, but ended up being able to barely fit all of the pieces I needed.

[Check out my super 90s styling, guys!]

I made view "A," but let me tell you, this bodice is super fiddly, and by the time I finished the front there was no way I was going to do all of that nonsense with the elastic in the back. (It's a shame you can't even see all of the detailing in the front, really.) I also realized I kind of screwed up the straps, so I decided to just make it into a halter - at least that way the straps won't be constantly falling off of my oh-so-sloped shoulders.

I know I look really happy here, but honestly, this isn't my favorite dress. I just don't think it's super flattering, I guess. At least I got some practice, and it IS wearable, but...yeah, not going to attempt this pattern again.

In addition to the changes I made to the bodice, I obviously couldn't make the skirt as-instructed because of A) the border print and B) the limited amount of fabric I had. I went with my standard lazy-girl pleats in the front and back, but they were sitting so weirdly in the back that I ended up just taking them out.

Yes, that zipper is embarrassing. I was having so many issues with it - I think this was my third attempt, and I didn't realize it was too low until it was way too late for me to want to fix it again. I'll have to go back and add a hook and eye or something to keep it a bit more closed at the top.

Like I said, not too flattering to my tummy or butt, but...oh well! Live and learn (and practice, practice, practice!). Woohoo for some great stashbusting on this one, though!

Me-made May, Week 4

We're nearing the end, guys! As much as I've enjoyed this month, I'm also getting a LITTLE tired of my me-mades and am ready to break out some other wardrobe favorites for June. We'll see what happens this week/weekend, but I just might have one or two more me-mades to add to the rotation for the final week (if I can figure out that silly Cynthia Rowley 2250)!

Day 19: My New Summer Dress
Day 20: Tania culottes part 2, altered RTW shirt, RTW denim jacket
Day 21: More denim jacket love, self-drafted maxi (I cannot get enough of this dress, despite a couple of issues I've realized that I need to fix after so many wears)

Day 22: Tania culottes part 1, RTW jacket and cardigan
Day 23: Self-drafted dress (which I'm still wearing despite the issues because I LOVE it with that mint cardigan). Switched up the belt for a better look, I think.

Day 24: Repeat of day 21, but I forgot to take pictures because I was visiting friends out of town. :)

Day 25: Tania culottes part 2, but shortened! After seeing the pictures from Monday, and realizing that the back wasn't even at all, I decided to chop off quite a bit of this skirt. I just felt that it was looking far too dowdy, and who wants that? Had a moment of panic that I'd cut it too short in some places, but I think I finally got it right, and I like it a lot more now!

Day 26: Did not leave the house nor bother to get dressed, oops. Still way ahead of my 5 days out of 7, though!

What about you guys - if you've been participating this month, are you ready for it to be over?

Me-Made May week 1, plus quiet weekend projects

Well, week 1 was a short one, but I managed to wear 3 different me-mades in 2 days (I definitely didn't leave the house this weekend, so nothing to show for Saturday or Sunday): 

Thursday: Unblogged turquoise necklace and earrings.
Thursday (after a quick change for a cocktail party): Floral maxi dress
Friday (because I was feeling lazy and it was cold and rainy): Refashioned polo shirt with a go-to winter sweater and jeans.

My plan for the weekend was to stay in and have another super-productive few days of sewing again. Well, I DID stay in, and I DID sew, but it was not super-productive. I finished the second hem on my second pair of culottes (full post to come soon), and my first from-scratch project was another bow clutch with this beautiful floral fabric:

It's a simple quilting cotton, but I can't tell you how in love with this print I am. Does it look like old-lady fabric? Not that it matters, I still think it's beautiful. For some stupid reason, I only bought 1/4 yard of this (2 years ago?)...probably because that was my epic fabric-buying summer and I'd already spent SO much money, but still, stupid. For the lining, I used this leftover piece from a dress a friend made me (I was supposed to make it WITH her, but that never happened) 5 years ago. Wow. Combined time in stash for these 2 fabrics: 7 years. 

When I went to check out the tutorial for that clutch again, I saw that she'd temporarily taken it down because it's being published in the inaugural issue of Love Sewing Magazine...exciting for her, not-so-exciting for me! However, I figured that since I'd already made 2 of these, I could figure it out pretty easily. 

Well, I was right and wrong. I ended up making some stupid mistakes and needing to rip out a few things, and I had to guess on the measurements based on my previous makes, so it turned out a little smaller than before. 

Here it is with my second version, finished last summer (whose fabric I also love, but which I've never used, of course). Hopefully both of these make it into my summer staples this year! I also have enough of the blue left to make a pillow cover, so I'll get to stare at this pretty print every day!

I also started working on Simplicity 2250 with a bright pink floral and butterfly printed cotton: 

 

Don't ask me why I thought it would be a good idea to use THIS as my first foray into dressmaking with a commercial pattern. There is SO much pleating and darting, and I ended up not having enough fabric to make all of the pattern pieces as-listed. I think I'll have to do some creative piecing. The bodice is almost all done now, but I'm afraid I cut it too small. Oh well. If it doesn't work out, it wasn't fabric that I loved, anyway.

Did you guys do anything fun this weekend? Were you less hermit-y than I was?