Me-Made-May Week 3

Sunday
I grabbed this sweater out of the free box and it had already seen better days. Under my abuse care, its condition deteriorated so for its continued use in my wardrobe I needed to darn its holes. With it I also replaced all the buttons and ended up doing my first needle felting of a hare and some stars which is the red you can see there.

The skirt actually came to me ready made but whether the friend I got it from made it or it's even older than us is hard to say. For years it was far too big at the waist and got cinched with a safety pin (by both of us!) and the spotty ruffle has been torn off and certain panels got torn through. As it is, it's probably 70% original fabric as I've replaced panels (unfortunately with solid when I couldn't find a good weight spotty) when necessary. For the waist I decided to try out shirring for the first time, carefully stitching eight lines to get it to a slightly big but even waist. Which is great because now I can continue to wear what has become a signature skirt.

not me made is the knit top from H&M

Monday

I learned to sew primarily through a workshop focused on tshirt re-uses and reclaimed textiles and such. As a stress-buster throughout my horribly busy final year of undergraduate, I'd retreat to the studio and bang out, in less than 40 minutes, tshirt skirts. This is one of them. A simple panel skirt attached to a decoratively stitched waist band incorporated an XXXL Threadless shirt and an XXL white shirt. Instant gratification project really since I used all ready-made hem for the bottom.

not me made are the tights from Target, the top from H&M, and shoes from Camper

Tuesday

It's hard to date this dress as I've found hits for Kittelett labels from 60s-80s with no company registration (that I could find). The shop I bought it from has a tendency to alter its clothing and so I have no idea whether the polyester zipper I removed was original or what. Kittel means a working garment (“hoover-apron”?) and the fabric of this dress is certainly nice and sturdy. I snapped it up immediately because it was so cute, fit really well, and seemed constructed in a way that it'd never die. I was disappointed when the zipper broke a single wear later but I figured out that the bodice had enough fabric built in it (to make it sturdier?) that I could actually make the faux placket an actual one by adding a single facing. I actually have no idea why the front placket wasn't already functional since it already had working buttonholes and buttons but no matter-I'm not looking that gift horse in the mouth. I removed the zipper, sewed up the seam and boom-one of my favorite vintage/retro dresses.

not me made is the sweater from a charity shop.

Wednesday
I was back in rapper kit. This is a me-made repeat I really can't do anything about! At least these are a different set of ladies so you can see two different identical skirts in this photo compared to the last.

Thursday

Well my me-made items today involved primarily me-made underthings so obviously I was not going to model them for you. There're zig zag undies and a delicate beaded satin bralette that actually provides support due to its slightly too constrictive construction. (cute bralette that can double as a sports bra? Oh boy, talk about odd things to call a success but whatever.)

not me made is the Fat Face button up

Friday

This probably-80s-doing-peasant dress was originally a rather hideously unflattering, slightly too big sack that relied only on a sash for waist definition whose fabric was so lovely I took it home. I love the navy and brown narrow stripes, shirtwaist style, the slight sheen of the solid parts, and the buttery smoothness of it all. I cut it at the waist (leaving the placket intact) to discover a line of fairly useless elastic which I used as a waist-stay to anchor my pleating. A lot of cursing later, I attached it to the bodice and despaired. A couple of days later I redid it to include some more intelligent pocket placement and tapered the bodice side seams and felt much better about myself. I left the oversized sleeves as is mainly because it is soooooo comfortable. I didn't have matching buttons nor did I have enough buttons of any style that fit the buttonholes so I paired them off-two silver original, 2 shell, 2 silver original and a shell for the last. I still rely a lot on the sash to A. hide my pleating and B. keep the bodice flattering but I rather like it as is.

Certainly it's unlike what anyone else is wearing!

not me made are Primark tights and Camper shoes

Saturday

I found this All Saints skirt in a charity shop and I knew immediately why it had been donated. It was a most hideous shade of urine. Not only that but it was blotchy in a “I laid below a urinal style.” But the embroidery along the top was lovely as was the magenta strip along the bottom that I snatched it up in my greedy little fingers and immediately set upon figuring out the strongest coffee dye bath I could. Of course, I figured out it was a size too big so there was a little bit of tightening to do (created an inner buttoning bit to make sure it stayed on my waist). Now, unless I recount the story above, it shares very little with urinal floor chic and is one of the more gorgeous skirts I own. Thank you coffee! You get me through my day and rescue beautiful skirts!

not me made are the knit H&M top and Camper shoes