Me-Made-May Week Four!

Sunday

Behold me in my glory filled stay-at-home-all-day-b/c-it's-so-cold-and-rainy outfit. This retro (80s? 90s?) jumper/pinafore is perhaps the least flattering thing I own. It defied any effort to give it dramatic bodice shaping. With the drop basque waist tapering the side seams did not go smoothly and taking it in too much made it look maternity friendly. Darts take the plaid from over-the-top to just plain horrible. So this is how it ended up, side seams taken in, shoulders shortened and still looking just a little bit like a child's jumper made adult sized. I love it for its comfort and the bucket pockets that hold every.thing.

not me made: shawl was gotten at a natural clothing shop, the leggings might be from abercrombie&fitch, I found them in a drawer so maybe they were a gift? or someone left them at my house? whatever, they're useful for home.

 

Monday

This skirt was my first woven project after more than half a year of knit fabric and my math was a bit off. A panel later here is a lovely flowy skirt.

not me made: simple knit shirt H&M, grey tights from...a discount warehouse?

 

Tuesday

This dress was an impulsive clearance buy. It was missing half of its buttons so that was the first change and I thought I'd wear it all summer-after all it has some of my favorite sartorial things: pintucks and lace. A few years later I had to take a good look at why I was not wearing it and I came to the conclusion that I may have bought a maternity dress. The entire back bodice is shirred so it's completely comfortable, not necessarily a maternity detail but the strategic little gatherings that inevitable created a poof for a belly was fairly clear. So I first detached the front of the skirt to angle the side seams to get rid of all that extra fabric. That fabric was to become the thicker straps so a real bra could be worn. Of course, I sewed it all together to figure out I'd somehow used a different technique to attach skirt to bodice on either side of the placket. Much cursing ensued and I turned my attention to the straps to distract myself and found out that they were slightly too narrow to do the job I wanted them to do. A search for similarly tan/beige/whatevercolorthisis fabric and I was proper cursing when I thought of a neat way to fix both. White bias binding to edge the straps and make up that precious bit of width and a white ribbon at the waist to hide the inexplicable different connection. Now it's a lot more wearable and I tend to bring it to excavations for the warm nights of relaxation.

the tights are not me made

Wednesday

I actually completely forgot it was me-made may but later realized I was wearing a me-made undie. Almost an oopsie!

not me made is the Fat Face shirt, random sized jeans, and the boots from clockwork couture.

 

Thursday

Miserable cold and rainy day and here I am dressed up for it. The dress is RTW but I found it a bit dull all in black so I messily embroidered some dotted lines in gray along the hem and front bodice. This makes the dress a lot more interesting and highlights that it's not really a terribly formal dress.The tights have darns (so.many.snags).

not me made are the marks&spencer shoes

 

 

Friday

It's hard to believe it's spring but it is. This is one of my favorite dancing skirts. For obvious reasons I should think. But it came to me a slightly too small size that made it hit me just too high so that it could only really be worn with something underneath...which is too hot for dancing with all that fabric around me. Plus the waistband was simply not capable of sustaining all that weight because this is a heavy skirt so I would wear it and realize mid twirl that another 3 inches of gathering had escaped from the waistband. So I found a similar green fabric and some matching ric rac and decided to add a slim tier to the skirt. The top panel is meant to be hidden and is fully interfaced with a reinforced seam. It was before I had any zipper experience so it's held closed by a series of buttons. It's a little big on me now so it needs some darts put in but that's short work...right?

not me made: I think both the top and the tights are H&M. The shoes are Clarks brogues.

 

Saturday

This red dress was originally all red. The sleeve ends were so tight they cut off circulation. I cut off the bias binding, regathered the sleeves, and bound them to black so they are now comfortable. The neckline dipped so low I was surprised you couldn't see my belly button. I cinched it up a bit but it was still low. Since it's a great summer dress, I didn't want to have to wear a tank top underneath so instead I put in a modesty panel that snaps closed. The fabric is eyelet lace and the front panels don't have any underlining. If I only stood still, it wouldn't be a problem but the underlayer tends to wrap around my thigh leaving a single layer. Not terribly modest since all those eyelets show off my undies...which I only do on the internet you see. I underlined the front panel with a black linen panel.

not me made are the tights from a Target clearance sale and the Clarks mary janes