Finished: The Summer Concert Tee Duo

Look, y'all! A finished item post! I made two of these Dixie DIY Summer Concert Tees during Me-Made-May, and also three Colette Patterns' Monetas which will hopefully be coming to you in a post soon (as well as a wrap up of MMM). I wanted to get this post up now so that I could take part in the wonderfully inspirational Sewing Indie Month and, more specifically, the Everyday Casual Contest hosted by the fabulous Jenny of Cashmerette. But enough chit-chat, you came here for the photos, right?

I made my first version of this pattern from a fortuitous fabric find at a garage sale earlier in the month. Its an amazing vintage fan print, and I knew it would be perfect for this pattern! In fact, I had been waffling on buying this pattern for over a year, but when I found this fabric I went home and purchased it immediately! I'm glad to see that polyester is getting some slightly better press in the sewing blogosphere recently, as I have always been a fan (no pun intended). No sweat stains and it dries quickly (TMI?), what more could a girl ask for in a summer shirt?

For this first version, I graded the largest size (XL) up to what I would guess would be a 2XL. I was worried about the limited stretch in the vintage fabric and it worked out great, but I ended up just using the straight XL size for the second version because the fabric had much more stretch and drape. 

I also lengthened the pattern about 2 inches since I couldn't see myself rocking the crop top look! I think this length is just great with skirts. 

Pattern close-up! I also lengthened the whole thing about 2 inches, I couldn't really see myself rocking the crop top!

I finished the neckline by folding it over and using the double needle, a technique that I have practically mastered in the last month with all the knits I've been sewing! I just thought that the binding would look really busy with this fabric.

I also omitted the cuffs on the sleeves, I think they look super cute on the other versions I have seen (including Dixie's original), but I tried the top on after sewing it together but before adding the cuffs, and I liked it that way and thought the sleeves would be too long with cuffs.

On to the second version! This guy is made of a much more drapey rayon-blend knit. Like I mentioned above, I used the straight XL size on this (though I don't meet the size chart requirements). I feel like it is a really good balance of fitted though the bust and flowy at the bottom, just like I like it!

I didn't realize how similar these two prints look from afar until I took these photos! They are so different up close!

I had very limited yardage of the floral print (one 3/4 yard piece and one 3/8 yard piece, which both shrank in the wash a lot), so I had to get creative with the color blocking. Good thing I had some black left over from my favorite leggings. Its always wise to keep a black knit in stock in the stash!

 I also added about an inch to the front pattern piece so that I could wear it with jeans without having to layer it. I didn't hem because I wanted to maintain the length, I kinda like the look of a rayon knit that is un-hemmed (it rolls the best of all the knits), and I'm lazy!

I wore it the first time without the pocket, but I decided that the color blocking on the back looked kinda out of place and didn't tie in with the front well. So, I added a little black pocket! I think its pretty cute.

Well, thats my Concert Tee story, and trust me its just the beginning! I'm thinking of being rebellious and attempting this in a lightweight woven...like chiffon...mmm... 

Go forth and make one for yourself, its going to be PERFECT for the summer! I promise!

 

Me Made May 2014, 33.333% done!

 Well, I thought I would do a week 1 round up. Then I thought I would do a 7 days in round up. But here we are on the 13th, so I figured I would do a 1/3 of the way done, 33.3333% finished, or (in other words)10 day round up of Me Made May! We've already seen Day 1, so onwards........

Day 2

This is my very hacked dixie diy ballet dress and self drafted leggings (again). Scarf from recent trip to ecuador! The dress is made of a thrifted light-weight sweater knit. I modified the dixie diy ballet dress pattern to make a faux wrap bodice and added a band at the waist for extra length. Its a little too short (especially without leggings), but what are you going to do when you are working with a limited quantity of thrifted fabric?!?

Ughh, awful picture. Saturday was crazy and I only managed to squeeze in a photo between a maragarita party at my boss's house and loading up the car to go rafting the next day. This shirt is actually made from the same fabric as the moneta that I wore on Day 6 and I am so pleased that I was able to squeeze a tank top and a dress out of 3 yards. Once again, I'm wearing my favorite black self drafted skirt and leggings combo. Best substitute for jeans ever!

Rafting! Yay! I think one of the biggest wins of learning to sew was my ability to make some cute AND functional clothing for outdoor adventuring. I am out of the size range for a lot of the outdoors brands (which is a whole other rant that I won't subject you to), so it is SO liberating to be able to make what I want! The skort is Jalie 2796 with my self drafted knit skirt instead of the one that was included. The tank top is from a rub off of a Comfy brand shirt that I love, made out of a bathing suit material. This shirt is AWESOME for drying quickly and looking passably like I'm not wearing work-out clothing everywhere. I wore the crap out of it in Ecuador last month. 

Oh look, I'm an idiot! The photo says day 6 but it was actually day 5. Guys, this is one of a my favorite shits EVER. I wear it at least once a week. Expect to see more of it. Its a heavily modified version of the staple dress because the fit on the original version of the pattern was ATROCIOUS on me. I have major kimono sleeve pattern problems. 

Ok, actually day 6. My new Moneta. I seriously love this pattern. This is the dress pattern that I have been trying to find since I started sewing. As much as I love the lady skater/ dixie diy ballet dress, there was something I didn't quite like with each of them. THIS is the pattern I have been looking for. 

Day 7. My favorite Washi, one year later and still going strong. Actually, I don't know if this is my favorite Washi, I love them both equally and I can't choose a winner! Must make more Washis! Also, me-made leggings (again). 

Yes, this was the week of crazy dresses. I love crazy dresses! This was hacked from a basic tank top pattern from the big 4 (?) and my self drafted knit skirt pattern with darts added at the waist. Love this dress, but I seriously need to hem it before I wear it again. Yep, leggings (again). 

OMG! Another Moneta! And more leggings! Are you shocked? Don't worry, I wore the brown leggings this day for fear that you all think I'm super gross. Prepare to see this Moneta a LOT more. 

Is that a caulk gun or are you just happy to see me? Me made T-shirt from a big 4 pattern. I really like this tshirt and I need to make more! 

Well, thats it for now, folks! If you feel the need to see more gratuitous selfies, step on over to my flickr. 

Lessons learned? I like leggings and gray sweaters. Will wear black or white sweaters if I think someone is paying attention to the repetitiveness of my outfits. Must make more Monetas.

 

Me Made May 2014 Day1

Shirt: made by me, Anna's tank pattern (?? I'll have to look up the details)

Skirt: made by me, self drafted

Cardigan: made by me, SBCC 314 (love this pattern!)

Leggings: made by me, self drafted from etsy blog tutorial

I wanted to get started off on the right foot by posting a photo on the first day of MMMay 2014. I was HOPING to have a new-to-me item to wear, but I had to settle for a 100% made by me new-to-everyone-else (i.e. never blogged) outfit instead due to a disastrous combo of poor fabric choices/shitty grading/general laziness. I think I'll try to take daily photos and post them to instagram and flickr, with a summary post here every few days. 

How did everyone else's MMMay kick-off?

P.S. Susan and I have decided to finish our new Colette Monetas by Monday! Anyone else want to have a Moneta Monday?

 

Me-Made-May 2014

So... I realize I have hardly blogged since last Me-May-May, but I have decided to rally all my (blogging) strength,  draw from my best sources of inspiration (Susan @ Moonthirty and all the lovely ladies at the Curvy Sewing Collective), and jump in with both feet to Me-Made-May 2014.

I thought I would post a round up of some photos of me wear me-mades that have been taken in the last year, but it turns out I'm not that great at remembering to take photos (especially of myself). Here is a random assortment, stolen from my facebook friends. Hope they don't mind!

When we last left off, I had just returned from my rafting trip to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. Here is a photo of me wearing my me-made shorts as a refresher. 

 

After that, surprise surprise, I went rafting again. We were here:

And I wore my Jalie #2796 skort most of the time. And my PFD (even when on dry land)- safety first!

Then Halloween happened. I'm pretty sure I was wearing some me-made leggings on the bottom half, but even if I wasn't I had to share this photo since its so ridiculous. I was a Santa Fe Trophy Wife/ my future self (and I think you might have to live in New Mexico to get the joke). 

Also during the fall, some lovely college friends were in town. Obviously, we went wine tasting (in my me-made leggings, skirt, and probably a shirt though I can't tell what it is in the photo). 

Over the winter, I'm sure I did some stuff, I just neglected to take any photos. You know, skiing, major home improvement projects... the usual. The pictures start back up again from a couple weeks ago, when I met my sister in Ecuador for a little adventure. I haven't downloaded my photos yet, so I stole these that her boyfriend took. 

I wore red self-self drafted hiking skort and self-drafted quick dry leggings...

...while hiking at the Lagunas de Mojanda near Otavalo, Ecuador.

And here is my sister and me looking rather bedraggled at a waterfall. I had to include the photo (though I hope my sister never finds out) because I am wearing 100% me-made outfit (scarf excluded) and she is using the bag that I made her for christmas. 

So, with that pretty lame attempt at a year long review done, I suppose its time to make some sort of Me-Made-May promise.  I've done an OK job of getting some more lifestyle appropriate garments made in the past year, though I have to admit that home improvement projects took precedence since I bought my house last May 31st!. Lets just say it was a bit of a house wide overhaul, it was a ton of work but at least its a lot more aesthetically pleasing now. And trust me, I can get a lot more sewing done now that I don't have stained carpet, poor lighting, and bad paint jobs to bring me down. Of course, the yard is still a wreck, but I don't have to look at the while I am sewing...

Anyways, while I wear me-made items most days, its still not 100% and I am still lacking the more practical (i.e. boring) clothing that I need for work. As I think I've mentioned before, I am a geologist, so for about 50% of my work time I am out in the field and have to wear practical/boring clothes. Long pants, long sleeves (unless I want a major sunburn), hats, layers, etc. Since I have yet to master pants-making (which is partly because I hate wearing pants and only do so at work), I have maybe two tops that are acceptable for work and I still need to do some work in that area. I have the Grainline Archer all printed up and ready to go, but the mere thought of figuring out how to grade that up while also learning new techniques is giving me nightmares. 

The moral of the story is: non-work clothes? Mostly me-made. Work clothes? Not so much. But the point of Me-Made-May is to challenge ourselves, right? I mean, and obviously to also be inspired by all the other fun folks participating. So, without further ado (I think I've already have enough ado for one post):

'I, Megan @ TheGreenViolet.blogspot.com, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I endeavour to wear one Me-Made item each day for the duration of May 2014. Additionally, I will strive to create some more field-work-appropriate garments. '

Wish me luck? I hope to blog most days, since I think that's part of the fun of MMM, but don't count on it! 

 

 

I'm Back... with bonus Plus Size Pattern Pyramid Giveaway Winner!

Hey ladies (and gentlemen?), I'm back! I had a lovely time (wearing my me made shorts) on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River for a week in Idaho. Then I experienced some post-vacation fatigue.. you know, when you are wishing you were still on vacation while scrambling to catch up on all the stuff you got behind on while on vacation. Add getting my new house organized to that, and here we are at the end of July with little sewing or blogging to show! Hopefully you'll forgive me if I share a few vacation photos and announce the Plus Size Pattern Pyramid Giveaway Winner.

We started at Boundary Creek near (and by near I mean 2 hours on a dirt road) Stanley, Idaho. The views were amazing and the river was full of boats waiting to launch the next day for 100 miles of rapids and wilderness on the River of No Return. And yes, you do have to lower your fully loaded boat down that crazy wooden ramp with ropes. It was crazy.

I didn't get a lot of pictures the first few days because things mostly looked like this. Plus, the first day was full of big rapids and its hard to take photos while you are rowing a raft. Good thing my dad brought a water proof camera!

 

We camped in some awesome locations every night- though half of them were spent huddled under the tarps because of the rain!

Finally, things cleared up and it was beautiful and sunny! Then came the big rapids...

I didn't get a lot of good photos since I was busy rowing, but let me just say it was an exciting ride! HERE is a link to a video if you don't believe me. I'm not tech savvy enough to figure out how to upload it to ye olde blog. 

Bonus! Hot springs! As I think you can tell, hot springs make me ridiculously happy. So basically, best trip ever. Especially because I got a lot of use out of my me-made shorts and rafting skort (more on that later).

With that said, its time to announce the winner of the...

 I only had one eligible entry (since a requirement was having an active blog), so the (un)lucky winner is Susan of Moonthirty! She said she didn't need any more patterns, but she is about to have a few coming her way. Susan, this is the perfect opportunity to de-stash, just add them to the pile and send them on along to the next person! If you will email me your address, I'll get them in the mail to you ASAP. And by ASAP I obviously mean as soon as I am motivated enough to make it to the post office :)




P.S. How are your blog reader transitions going? I'm using bloglovin... but I'm not convinced. Especially because I first posted this yesterday and it took an entire day to come through in my bloglovin reader. Ugh. I've updated the photos in this post because they weren't showing up for everyone, so I'll go ahead and include the bloglovin link so that maybe I won't get the second class blog treatment anymore! I wonder what other blogs aren't getting posted in a timely fashion? I hope I'm not missing any of your lovely stuff, dear readers.

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Plus Sized Pattern Pyramid Giveaway

Guys... I am so bad. I've had this giveaway on my to-do list for SO long now. Can ya'll forgive me?? I won the plus size pattern pyramid on Dixie's blog (check her out!) way back on April 10th. Now, two months later, I'm finally getting around to posting the giveaway here! No excuses here, that's just embarrassing!

In case you didn't already know, the Plus Sized Pattern Pyramid was started by the awesome BeaJay of On the Road to Sew Wear. Pop over to her blog and meet her if you haven't already, her dedication to getting things just right is totally inspiring, not to mention the fact that she is so friendly and always leaves the nicest comments. So, without further ado, here are the rules:

THE RULES (as stated by BeaJay)

• Anyone, anywhere can enter the giveaway by posting a comment below by midnight June 30th, 2013 (in your time zone). BUT you must have an active blog. (Reasons to become obvious.)
• I will randomly select 1 winner.
• I will post a selection of approximately 5 - 6 patterns to the winner.The winner will pick one pattern to keep for themselves, then host their own giveaway. They will randomly select a winner, post the remaining patterns to that Person C. Person C will pick a pattern for themselves, host their own giveaway and post the remaining patterns to the winner, Person D. Person D will…
• All patterns are in the plus size category - ie - if the pattern comes in 2 sizing groups, then it will be the larger category. Patterns to go up to at least go up to a size 20 (most go higher). Patterns listed as "all sizes" will include plus sizes.
• If you wish to take more than one pattern you can replenish the stock with a pattern you no longer want - but please make sure it is in plus size range

You get the idea!

THE SMALL PRINT

• We are taking it on trust that all pattern pieces are there
• Your selection of patterns will be picked at random - please don’t contact me asking for specific patterns.
• If you’re a winner, I would love it if you could make a small contribution to The Brooke. This is a charity close to the heart of Catherine, who so generously provided the original patterns. These plus sized patterns have been contributed by me in the spirit of the generosity of the sewing community
• Please engage in a timely fashion, launching your own giveaways soon after receiving a parcel
• You must be be happy to post patterns worldwide.

Here is what I received in the mail, I haven't decided which pattern to keep yet! What do you guys think? I'm also eying my pattern stash with a critical eye to see if there is something I can bring myself to part with.

Alright, ladies. Jump in here and spread the word! Receiving free patterns is awesome, but I think the really hidden bonus to this giveaway is discovering a bunch of awesome and inspiring new blogs!

 

Me-Made-May Outfits 14 and 15- THE END!

Sorry to go all MIA there at the end of MMM, things have gotten a bit insane. I think you will see why shortly...

Dress: Washi Dress V2

Day 14 was just a regular old day at the office, nothing special. I'm fairly certain I could wear a Washi dress every day. In fact, I'm considering making quite a few more!

Dress: Washi Dress V1

Oh, and here I am wearing my Washi Dress while buying a house. NBD. Ahhh!! Prepare yourself for an onslaught of DIY related posts. This place has a long way to go.

In other news, I spend the entirety of last weekend doing this... by myself!

before...

not quite after...

Man, this homeowner stuff is turning out to be a lot of manual labor work. Up next... the big move in! 

Also, we've had a bit of this going on. 

 

Fire season :(

 

So yeah, its been busy! But I did manage to make my Jalie 2796 Skort for my upcoming river trip. Stay tuned!