Last Day of Me-Made May 12

Today is the last day of Me-Made May. I can’t believe that happened. I actually was able to participate and keep my goal for MMM12. I started off with only having 2 completed me-made garments in my wardrobe and now I have 5 garments. I also have another garment on the way. How exciting!!

Here is the round-up of my Me-Made May 2012

Week 1:  Pants – New Look 6510
Week 2:  Skirt – Burda 8176
Week 3: Circle Skirt – Dana Made It tutorial & T-shirt Scarf – Hello Giggle tutorial
Week 4: Striped Tee – Sewaholic Renfrew Top
Week 5:  Batwing Top – McCall’s M6510

One of the reasons why I do not have a lot of me-made garments in my wardrobe is because I actually tend to make things for other people. For me it’s just seems much easier to complete projects for others than myself. Deadlines help. I don’t generally have a deadline for myself.

So… I asked some of my friends to wear something me-made during the month of May and photograph it for me.

Cute Baby Liam rocked this dotted bib that I made for him on May 4.  I made this, with a set of other baby items back in January. We didn’t even know he was going to be a cute little boy, so I picked something I thought was gender neutral. To see more of the set, click here.

My best friend, Cass is wearing a skirt that I made her during the Month of September for the BurdaStyle Sew Along. It is the Skirt with Front Pleat pattern from Burdastyle. Cass wore her skirt on May 16.

On May 16th as well, my good friend Jen wore a bracelet that I made her a couple of years ago for x-mas. This came with a purse I made for her with interchangeable wrist straps. This one is the bracelet strap. You can see the whole set here.

Now, I need to work on my Colette Spring/Summer Palette. I am very much behind. I have the top finished, the skirt being fitted and the cape cut out. It looks like the summer semester is not very long so, I should be able to get some of the garments in my palette completed. SHOULD!!!

This weekend, I won’t be able to get much sewing done because I have to be social. Tomorrow is the fashion show at my school and then birthday gatherings. This kind of makes me sad.

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Me-Made May 2012: Week 5

Top: Batwing – McCall’s M6510
Tank: Black Old Navy
Skirt: Mossimo Juniors Maxi Skirt – Target
Shoes: Black Mary Jane – random shop in LA Fashion District

5 Weeks, 5 different Me-made items. It was so very tempting to repeat but I pushed through and finished. I am very proud of myself.

I am not going to do a separate blog for the McCall M6510, because it came out so bad, in my opinion.

It went bad as soon as I started cutting the fabric. I believe it is some kind of rayon and boy did it shift. The fabric was difficult for me to work with and the top is not really even, but I made it work, since the neck was huge. This neck is ridiculous in it largeness. I think the next time I make this I will, make some serious alterations, mainly adjust the neckline. It’s fairly simple to put together, when the stars want to align.

Stay tune for tomorrow’s Me-made review post.

Me-Made May 2012: Week 4

Can you believe it? It’s Week 4 already.

Top: Sewaholic Renfrew Top in purple & gray jersey knit
Pants: Lee’s Jeans from Ross
Shoes: Purple Chucks, that I can’t remember where I got it from.

I just love my outfit today. My Renfrew came out better than I thought it would. My coworkers are super shocked that it was handmade. This makes me grin from ear to ear. 🙂

I am so happy I found these jeans yesterday at Ross. I did not have anything clean to wear with my top, so OF COURSE, I bought new jeans. Two pairs in fact. This pair is pretty near perfect. Fits great, covers my crack sitting and standing and does not require being hemmed. Which means no ripped hems. I don’t mind the wrinkles, I actually like the relaxed look. Jeans can get too tight in the thighs and in months the inseam will start splitting.

I finally get to wear my purple chucks again. I bought these to cosplay for a friend’s comic several years ago and I rarely wore them since. Yes, I really like my look today despite what my face might read. I swore I took a picture with me smiling but it turned out I was actually snarling.

Now, I need to tackle my next top for the last week of MMM12. On the last day of May, I will have a nice surprise for you, so stay tuned.

Me-Made May 2012 – Week 3

Top: The Closet
Skirt: Me-made Circle Skirt (tutorial from Dana Made It)
Me-made T-shirt Scarf (tutorial from Hello Giggles)

I made it to week 3, yay!!!

I whipped this circle skirt up real fast for this weeks MMM. I love that it is simple to make. I did not even trace out a pattern for it, just used my measurement and marked the fabric. However, somewhere along the line, I took the wrong measurements and the skirt doesn’t actually fit. I have a binder clip to hold it tight. Binder clips rock!

The fabric that I am using, I think, is a seersucker. It is very light weight. I had to hold my skirt down while walking around outside, just to keep from flashing people. Can you tell I did not hem it? I really didn’t want to be bothered, especially since it is too big for me.

I don’t even know if I’ll wear this again. In order for me to make this skirt more wearable, I will have to create a seam, there is no seams in this skirt currently. Take it in and most likely add an enclosure. Probably a zipper. I don’t think I can get away with using the elastic band with a non-stretch woven because there is a 8 inch difference between my hips and my waist. On top of the waist fit, I will have to fix the length. My booty has a bit of shelf action going on, so the front hem is much longer than the back. I might make a knit version of this and use my natural waist measurement. That way it might hopefully fit and go over my hips.

Has anyone made a seamless woven circle skirt with a large difference from waist and hip measurement, that worked out?

I also made another t-shirt scarf, but this time in yellow. I normally don’t wear such bright colors but thought with all the gray, I would add a pop element to my outfit.

My plan for next week is to finish my Renfrew top or my batwing top. I only need to hem the batwing top and then stitch the side seams. My Renfrew, I have several more steps to finish before it is  completed. *Le Sigh*

Last week, I went up to LA and happened to go on the WB Studio Tour. I have to say that my favorite part of the tour was going into the museum and looking at the costumes. I was very sad to find out that we could not take  pictures in the museum, but it was very cool to see. The highlight of the costumes was seeing that they use Melton for the under collar of  Heath Ledgers’ Joker Costume. It is really nice to know how much attention to detail that costume designers take in making these garments. The above suit is from a costume exhibit (don’t recall) that was at the Paley Center. I went there on Saturday instead of going to the Getty museum. At the Paley Center we were allowed to take pictures. I just adored the suits they had on exhibit.

Just look at that hem.

There is a lot of tiny thin people in the movie industry. Either that or they took in the costumes to fit the mannequins.

Anyway, how is everyone else’s Me-made May going? I just realized I have two more weeks left. I thought I had only one. Eck!

Me-Made May 2012 – Week 2

Top: Charlotte Rouse
Skirt:  Burda 1876 (me-made)
Shoes: Payless

This week’s me made item was a skirt that I made several years ago. I rarely ever wear it because despite liking skirts, I don’t like wearing them. I always feel so exposed. I was tugging and pulling all day, even with a slip on underneath. However, the slip I was wearing had a mind of its own, hiked up like I was getting ready to work on El Cajon Blvd. And oh dear, wearing high heel shoes, my feet wanted to kick me by the end of the day. My day that starts around 5:30am ended around 9pm. Let’s just say I walked around the front area of my office barefoot.  Lucky for me no one was up there except me, but let’s be serious, that would not have stop me if I wasn’t alone (unless we had visitors). I must admit, I did look cute despite the annoyance of it all. Classmates, coworkers, friends and even the cute guy on the train thought I looked nice on Wednesday. SCORE!!

I always feel awkward posing for pictures. I feel like a big dork. However, give me a runway and I’ll own it. Isn’t that weird/funny?

Does this scarf make my boobs look big? Oh! My boobs make my boobs look big!  Silly Strips

This week in search of things I can make real quick for this month, I came across a tutorial on how to make a T-shirt scarf at HelloGiggles. The site also has a video tutorial. It’s so simple, I made 3 in like 30 mins. It’s been a big hit. I stopped by Joann’s to purchase additional tees and embellishments. Might add to this scarf next week.

For next week, since I have no more finished garments, I plan to showcase a finished Sewaholic Renfrew top or a simple circle skirt that I have cut out that just needs the elastic band attached and the skirt hemmed. Sounds simple enough, right? Let’s hope. 🙂

In a few hours I will be skipping out of work and heading up to LA. The plan is to head straight to my favorite eating and drinking spot in Burbank, then probably crash. Friday, I’ll be going on a Warner Brothers studio tour, followed by heading downtown to go fabric shopping and hopefully catching up with some fellow sewing bloggers. Saturday, I will visit the Getty and do a movie picnic. Finally Sunday, head home but visit Portos (drooling here) before I leave the city of angels. I am super excited as well as tired. I’ll be taking the train up to LA, so I might be able to get a nap squeezed in.

I hope everyone has a good weekend.

Me-Made May 2012 – Week 1

Me-Made May 2012 – Week 1, a photo by sewtell on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I am only a partial participant of Me-Made May. I am doing at least one garment or accessory a week.
My Me-Made item is my pin-striped pants/capris. I made this several years ago, my first attempted a making pants. I don’t wear these often but they are definitely comfy.
Pants/Capris: New Look 6510
Jacket: Thifted
Blouse: Unknown
Boots: Shoe 19

My Me-Made May Pledge

‘I, Trice of SewTell (https://sewtell.wordpress.com), sign up as a partial participant of Me-Made-May ’12. I endeavour to wear at least (1) one me-made garment or accessories (1) one day a week for the duration of May 2012’

Thanks everyone for talking me into this. I shall be wearing my first item tomorrow.

Thinking about it

Things I have been kind of crazy lately for me in my personal life.

One of the crazy things was I cut off all my hair. I am not fully bald but nearly. I have the lovely skin condition called eczema. The eczema traveled into my scrap and I already have dry skin, so it does not help that I chemically straighten my hair. Well, I started noticing breakage in the front and back of my head. I have been thinking about cutting it and two weekends ago, I did. Last weekend, I had my hair stylist clean it up. I don’t like it. Everyone that has seen it really likes it. Apparently I have the face for it. I still hate it, so I have been wearing wigs. It’s an interesting emotional journey, but I hope my hair grows back nice and healthy without the harsh chemical straighteners.

Have you ever rocked a look that you didn’t like but everyone else did?

Okay, skipping the other personal drama for now.

It’s really exciting to see everyone’s Me-Made May 2012 Pledges. I am actually kind of jealous. I don’t have enough me-made items to participate like most people. If anything, I might be able to get away with doing one me-made item per week. Do you think its worth me signing up?  Let me know what you think!