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 2 (late!)

Wow, week 2 has already come and gone, and I was much more successful than anticipated!

Day 5:

Bottom: Tania culottes, part 2
Top and sweater: RTW

Monday was a lot colder than it should have been, but since I'd JUST finished up my second pair of Tanias, I was dying to wear them. I was definitely a bit chilly, but it was worth it. :) I made this pair quite a bit longer, as I feel almost indecent in my first pair, but ended up making them TOO long. I chopped a bit off the hem and then sewed up with a generous hem allowance. I still think they're a bit too long, especially in the front - I might need to work on that.

Day 6:

Skirt: Refashioned maxi
Top and sweater: RTW

This simple skirt sure has a saga behind it. I wore it quite a bit during the fall right after I made it (2 years ago), but by the next summer, I'd lost some weight and it kept falling down. I wore it a couple of times but it was driving me nuts. I finally sat down a few months ago to take in the side seams using my serger, but without a proper walking foot, the seams were incredibly wonky. I threw it into a corner and FINALLY picked it back up again after I got my walking foot. Miracle of miracles, it now fits wonderfully! This thing is SO comfortable, and the knit is SO soft, that I never want to take it off.

Day 7: 

Skirt: Tania culottes, part 1
Shirt: altered to fit
Sweater: RTW

Silly me, I only took one picture on Wednesday, and it was blurry, so you get this re-used one. :) It was the exact same outfit, though, minus the shoes, and I love it just as much as ever.

Day 8: 

Maxi: Self-drafted from a remnant

I maybe should have planned my outfits a bit better. Monday-Wednesday were pretty chilly, but I wore bare-legged outfits, and Thursday was HOT (Wednesday: 50 degrees. Thursday: 90 degrees), and my legs were covered. I did get several compliments on this outfit, though. :) Much cooler without the sweater, ha. You'll notice I still haven't added those straps...oops.

Day 9:

Skirt: Refashioned maxi
Tank: Self-drafted (as-yet unblogged)
Jacket: RTW

I like to call this look "garage sale chic." It was quite comfy for helping with my mom's MASSIVE garage sale, although the lack of pockets made getting change for people a bit difficult. The morning started off cold and humid, but by 9:00, the gorgeous weather had come around and was here to stay, so I ditched the jacket.

Day 10:

Shorts: RTW (since my attempts to sew shorts have all been epic failures)
Shirt: Refashioned polo
Jacket: RTW

Garage sale chic, part 2. :) The pockets definitely came in handy, as did the layering.

Day 11:

Bottom: Tania culottes, part 2
Shirt: Altered
Sweater: RTW

My second pair of Tania culottes make a second appearance for the week. I got quite a few compliments on these, and the bigger waistband is a bit more comfortable than the first pair. They sit quite a bit lower, which does change the silhouette, but I think they'll definitely be a summer staple with various bright tops.

I also made much more of an effort to wear me-made jewelry, although my efforts to photograph said jewelry have been severely lacking.

Stay tuned this week for more pictures of my self-drafted racerback tank!

Unseasonable

When I bought this fabric remnant (1.25 yards), I initially intended to make a tank top or maybe a cardigan - florals are all the rage, right? However, after I washed it and saw how much yardage I really had to work with, I knew a maxi dress was in order.

 

[More weirdly pissed-off looks, sorry!]

Never mind that the temperature is stubbornly staying in the 50s, and that it's been drizzling all week - I've already worn it twice! I refuse to accept that it's not summer, even while everyone else is still walking around in winter coats and scarves.

I self-drafted this - it's really just a couple of tubes, since I didn't have enough to make a fuller skirt. I lined the bodice with a super-comfy knit fabric I cut from an old babydoll dress I no longer wear:

 So pretty and comfy, I think I'm in love! 

Although, after wearing it all night, I think I'll go ahead and add the straps I was debating adding to begin with. It fell down quite a bit more than I realized in these pictures - nothing too showy, but I think it's more flattering when it's pulled up higher. It'll also help keep it from getting twisted around.

[Left: Being ridiculous. Right: Laughing at being ridiculous.]

This was project #1 of 3 of my sewing insanity weekend. Stay tuned for the other projects (assuming it actually ever gets warm and sunny enough to photograph them!). Here's hoping the weather where you are is better than here!

Two dresses from 1, part 1

With the warm summer weather we've been having lately, I've been seeing a lot of cute maxi dresses and skirts. They're adorable and comfy and make such easy outfits. I discovered Leanne's blog through Pinterest, and fell in love with the dress she made for this tutorial: 

[Image from: Elle Apparel]

I liked the "yoga" band, the comfort factor, and definitely the color, but didn't want to go out and buy new fabric when I already have so much to get rid of. Then it dawned on me - I bought a grey knit maxi dress on clearance at Wal-Mart over a year ago for only $3 - it would be perfect!

For good measure, I tried the dress on first (which I'd never done before) to make sure it wasn't fine as-is. 

Needless to say, I do not quite have the body that that dress required, so....I got to cutting! This was a lot more difficult in practice than it was in my head...mostly because my serger and I aren't quite seeing eye to eye yet. The fact that the knit kept rolling didn't help either, but I was glad I got to keep two original seams and the hem. 

Since I finished it, I've been wearing the heck out of it - and it is super comfortable! Although with temperatures skyrocketing, I might have to retire it until the fall. But wouldn't this make a cute teaching outfit? I do need to figure out what other shirts I could wear it with. I kind of hate most of my clothes right now, so I might just have to make something else to wear this with. Any suggestions? 

Stash busted:

• Grey maxi dress

Bought new:

• nothing! Success! 

Stay tuned to see what I did with the top of this dress - I couldn't let it go to waste!