Me Made May 15 Week 1

Some of you have probably already seen these over on instagram, so I'll keep this short shortish APPARENTLY SUPER LONG. Pretty much all of these items are things I haven't blogged (though I'm thinking of easing back in with a post about the Southport dress if anyone is interested, since I've gotten some questions on fit for the largest size/curvy figures), so let me know if you have any questions or want details about anything. 

This dress is the "long fitted dress" (I think) from the Alabama Chanin Alabama Studio Sewing + Design book and you will definitely be seeing it at least once a week. In fact, I'm wearing it right now. I think the design is incredibly flattering and easy to wear. I made it out of a black ponte and just serged it up and used bands to finish the edges. Their website is shit at giving any relevant info that you might want if you were actually planning to sew something, so I'll go ahead and let you know that the largest size in that book is a very small XL that I had to grade up significantly. My understanding is that their most recent book includes all the patterns they have ever released, all graded up to an additional XXL size (46-40-44), though you may want to confirm that by calling or emailing if you are interested. I'm definitely considering it. Sorry, that was way longer than intended. 

The cardigan I hacked from the Colette Pattern's Moneta dress, which I am basically using as a knit block at this point. This design still needs some work, but its pretty close to achieving what I want in a drapey cardi. Unless stated otherwise, you can assume I am wearing one of my 5 Marlborough bras.

Pretty poor photos, pretty lame me made outfit. I had to attend a trail cleanup with my local co-operative market (for some reason, they put me on the board), so I managed to wear a me-made quick dry tank top that is a rub-off of a Comfy brand RTW top, which I thought maybe I had blogged about, but I just looked back through my archives and apparently I haven't blogged about much of anything. Later in the day I went out for drinks at our new co-operative brewery (!!!) and wore what you see below, because I also wore it on day 3. 

Another horrible photo, complete with wet hair. What can I say, it rained all day and then I had to run out the door to another meeting for the co-op. This is a Vogue 1234 dress and it took a LOT of work to make it fit right and look the way I wanted it to. I really like it now, though. The top is a Papercut Patterns Coppelia Cardi made out of an amazing french terry and I really love it and need to make like 10 more. I just love the combo of wrap top with raglan sleeves. 

The dress is a knit pattern I am working on, what I'm trying to achieve is basically maximum usage of a small yardage because that seems to be a problem I always have. It is just a lengthened big 4 tank top pattern with an elastic casing at the waist, hidden on the inside. 1 pattern piece for the front and 1 for the back, using the full width of a 60 inch piece of jersey. So basically, the amount of yardage I need will just be determined by how long I want the dress to be. It still needs some tweaks, the way I increased the width only at the side seams is making it hang really funny. The leggings (as always) are drafted from this tutorial on the Etsy blog. The cardigan is the same as day 1. Bra is Marlborough and undies are Seamwork Geneva (very modified, the fit was not good for me straight off the pattern and it ran really large).

Its getting boring! The dress is the same as day one, the cardi the same as day 3, the undies the same as day 4 (well, same pattern, different pairs!). The shirt is from the staple dress pattern , again very modified, made from a sheer poly chiffon. What can I say, I love repeats and part of the reason I sew is to make getting dressed in the morning easier. I always found it hard to find things in RTW that mixed and matched easily or could serve as basics without too much fuss. I'm so pleased to have two me-made gray cardis and this black dress in my closet for those days I can't be bothered with what I am wearing. 

Yes! My new True Bias Southport Dress, which I finished the night before. I really like it. Its exactly what I want to wear in the summer and layers well with leggings, too.  I need 10 more (and just ordered some fabric that I'm hoping will be perfect). Leggings are same as above and cardi is RTW. I could definitely stand to make a black cardigan, but ugh, so boring. 

Ugh, another horrible picture. I made the mistake of going out for drinks after work, which meant not only was I slightly tipsy, but the lighting in my yard was also crap. Oh well. This is a linen dress that I somehow hacked from the Washi dress pattern. Don't ask, it can't be explained, but it is somehow fairly wearable. Leggings as above and cardigan is RTW but primed for a rub-off. I love this thing. 

In other news, I learned how to make buttonholes this week! And it wasn't even that hard with my new machine. I love you, janome (I think it needs a better name). 

I also got my greens planted!

And, cleaned out my closet and both my dressers. And, yes, I still have too many clothes but this was a good start and now I have space to make more!

Phew, well I'm feeling pretty good about myself now, especially since its the weekend! How are your Mays going, me-made or not?