me made may

How ya been, pals? Gramming it up for #MMM15? Not me. I mean, I make 80-90% of my clothes, but i'm a teacher and a mom and an exerciser without a remote for my camera (phone). I don't have a glamorous life or wardrobe, even if i love art and have really cool hair and friends. So i'll spare you the daily mirror pics this year!

BUT i am thinking of my wardrome mariekon style and wardrobe architect-y...It's that I've got the sewing skills now to do whatever i need, mostly...so what do i really need?

Here's what I've worn so far:

1. Friday, May Day -
   Ginger jeans, (ooh #conemills denim)
   dotted Briar top with lace pocket - luscious fabric, lovely pocket, not a flattering hem on me but i think i fixed it*

   

   there she is! Ms McCalls 6606 with flower plackets

   gray chambray Mccalls 6606
2. Saturday - day of death by poison oak
   ghost of my gingham darling ranges - edited to irretrievable strangeness ( i took out the gathering in the back? the bodice is so short? the boobs are so bulleted?), but  just as light as air, ahhh.
3. Sunday
   RTW! head to toe! oh except that same McCalls button up:

   

   hi again!

   but then i worked out in my Steeplechase leggings, XYT top, and threw on a Jasper sweater afterwards to lounge by our beautiful Lake.
4. Monday May the fo(u)rth
   Ginger jeans (hiiii i love jeans)
   Space V neck
   Jasper sweater (it's sooo soft and delicious and i have so few options for full length sleeves and I'm trying to hide the horror that is leftover after a week of poison oak did i mention the poison oak?) 

So it appears, from all of these surprise unblogged items, that I have some blogging to do!

the back hem curve is nice. 

Other things to do?

• rivet them jeans!
• make a high waisted, cropped pair with side zips!
• more button down. the McCalls is pretty cute (made pre-Archer release, so), though a little more negative curve in the front hem would be nicer than the flat edge. 
• always, always, undies for Katey the hair genius. 

are you tricking out your me made may? or how did you finally master the daily selfie?

xo

bex

note to self always use Lou box top! it's perfect. also PS Mostly my unders are grace panties, which are cute but take a surprising amount of fabric cause they're cut on the bias, rosy ladyshorts, my absolute favorite and go-to girlfriend gift - they're fast and comfy and cute and work well for lace, jersey, whatever, and fehr trade lacey thongs, which are LOVELY but take an hour to cut and 4 different kinds of lace before you even sew a stitch. they are hot and flattering, though. I have decided i will drop bra making for now (buying notion is annoying). maybe in the summmer...? meh. 

watch your trails, bay areans! i'm smiling here because it's not oozing. 

How far does your yardage go?

I'm pretty cheap. Let's just get that out there. I could say frugal or treehugging, but cheap is truer.

I'll drop $$$ on a nice glass of wine, fresh cherries, even a ridiculous artisanal hot dog (oh Bay Area). But I save money almost everywhere else by being CHEAP. I also don't like waste.  

SO- I've been obsessed with nebula fabric ever since I saw this: 

Aah!!! Gorgeous!! I thought about buying a scarf to sew with...and then about Spoonflower...but no, those are not in my price range. But Girl Charlee, she knows my style. Some of their fabrics are kind of crappy. We should get that out there. This might turn out that way...but for now I'm showing you how much outfit I squeezed out of two yards of magnficently printed nebula fabric.

Piece 1: everyday tee from Meg McElwee. Why is everyone releasing t shirt patterns right now? This is the best one and you get a craftsy class with it. Win!!

Piece 2: signe dress!! As I was cutting the tee shirt I realized that this soft amazig fabric needed to be a dress I could wear every day this summer. Ta daaa:

Maria Denmark's signe dress!!

Piece 3: Then I made matching undies. They're  soft and lacy and undies! Zoe's is close, but I made this pattern from a fave rtw pair.

Piece 4?? Nope :(

It obviously pays to have some TNT patterns around. And notions. But that's what you get for 3 years of obsessive stitching, and yeehaw!

What's your record for items/yard??

i miss you

this is just a list of things i'd like to blog about. it's so awkward coming back here after such a huge gap!

all about me
- t shirt quest. how to

reproduce the perfect j crew drapey tee...and also test make every t shirt pattern ever posted on the internet.

meg meelwee's v-neck pattern

-  what i've learned about sewing underwear!! i love it soooooo.
- I finally made a laurel dress (not just a top) and it's my new favorite wear-every-saturday day dress. no waistline ladies ftw.
- on buying better fabrics and hallelujah I am over that price-is-key era of my sewing. also send me linen so i can stay cool forever. it's really hot here.

nice fabrics catch the light

- somehow at the same time I'm using up my stash! I worked really hard last fall and winter to NOT buy more fabric. I started slipping this spring, but am back at the busting! just this weekend: a failed Tiny pocket tank took up one of my first stonemountain discount shirting buys (c. 2011?) and Laurel #2 took up some yummy ikat that I bought for xmas gifts in 2012 and then kept instead. that yardage has needed a home since i tried (and HATED) the burda Anda.
- fixing things that were almosts and chucking things that were good practice at the time.
- i love grainline jen. that's old news innit. anyway, the latest love comes from the lakeside pajamas which have a weird bust thing i'm getting used to but is still annoying (why are her patterns so HUGE in the back and so high and tight in the bust? she looks so proportional and normal...). it makes me feel so lovely to wear intentional pajamas and not just jersey pants and an old unicorn tee shirt. can't wait to make set #2 out of this crazy gingham that is soft as silk.

a friend gave me this quilting cotton for some reason. stash busted! 

other people
- I made a bunch of stuff for the boy. i love it. so far I've bought him shoes for this season, and that may be all...we'll see if I can make/mend/inherit his whole wardrobe. i'll keep our consumption down as long as he lets me!

made this t (recognize the sleeve fabric?)
and inherited the shorts. he's happy. 

- i bought two haircuts and a bang trim with clothes i sewed. sewing for other people is kind of scary, but it gets easier as you know your audience.
- two friends got underpants for their birthdays and it made me feel good to give them fancy things I had made. lacey underthings? you're welcome.

cash value = two cool haircuts

the house
- um, quilting? I did it. what do i do with these things now? I should check Jen's blog.
- i really need interior design help in my apartment. I have gorgeous fabrics to use for curtains and such but have no flipping idea where to start.

and hanging out with other sewing people?!
- bay area sewists meets monthly! like all meetup groups, i stalked online for about 4 months before finally getting my ass to the event. It was lovely! such cool ladies doing the sewing. and I got to accost Beth and ask her what is the DEAL with the armpit lines on the tiny pocket tank. Thankfully Lindsay was there too and she had the lines so I didn't feel like a total dodo sewing noob.
- it occurs to me now that sewists, like dancers, are fine touching each other (well, our clothes) and pointing at boobs. so funny: "Hi Beth, I'm rebecca. Can i ask you a fit question?" next we're both checking out my bust and touching my armpits. and then drawing geometric diagrams.

What's in the queue?
- papercut la sylphide muslin (which is actually made of silk. The opposite of muslin. remember that stashbusting? I bought 1.5 yards of gorgeous silk crepe 2+ years ago and have been afraid to use it since. Today i cut it into a sylphide blouse because if it works its a coup and if it doesn't well at least it's not sitting in there yelling at me.) then a dress out of this moth print rayon. i have it all backwards, leave me alone ;)
- burda silk motorcycle jacket in gold-shimmer linen (inspired by sallie's beach mini last year). Bay area summer jacket, ya know.
- hawaii wardrobe: wax print keyhole maxi (is that kristen wiig modeling?), bikini, and at least one sexy fun dress (this fancy maxi?)
- jams!

these Sara pants are tight and loud. let's go to the club!

- i made a "muslin" of the Named Sara leggings and LOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE them. it's too hot right now for those so they're tabled temporarily.
- trying out the SBCC trousers. I need nicer work pants and have the bEST stretch wool waiting for them if they work. that crazy 'muslin' loudness above will make some hot shorts if the pattern works. whooohew.

math is hard: undies and time

please forgive the inordinate use of the word SO in this post. my editor (LOL) is on vacation and that is how it is!

I have been wanting to make unders forever. and t shirts...but my first renfrew was pretty awful and the second wasn't enough better to entice me back.

so i signed up for this class. the patterns are cool, the teacher is LONG WINDED. the intro is like 2 hours long, LITERALLY. she is not a city girl like some other teachers whose style i jive with a little more, though the content is hella solid and I learned a fair amount in that two hours. i said jive with - shoot me!

ok so anyway. i made a t shirt! it took like 5 weeks between the school and student teaching and maintaining a household and freelancing and oh yeah raising a kid, so. tonight i will bind the neck. i made a cool yokey design choice based on accidentally (?) or maybe frugal fanny-ly? buying an insanely small amount of fabric. i sacrificed a t shirt from my bestie's dance co (check em out! dope!) to make a cool contrast yoke. i lURVE it.

i'll use another hunk of that t (thick, late 90s weight 1x1 rib knit? who knows) for the crotch in my new undies...but that's where we get to the math part.

i was so excited to see amy's fabulous style rendered in these hot --but ass-covering-- undies.  Now that I spend a fair amount of time around teens and tweens, i prefer to cover my cheeks. weird? they (my cheeks) are under my pants/dress anyway, but i feel like a generous dash of modesty won't hurt.

SO this happened. amazeballs, right? right. but the bf's computer/printer is a mac style, which apparently prints whatever size it wants. i printed, & taped & cut a 6 (exactly my measurements oh happy day) and made it up in some leftover mesh. it was pretty skimpy, esp in the crack, but also a little saggy. so, ok, maybe size down and that will raise the back up? (from the pattern it made sense.) when i printed the sections i needed to size down, they were WAY BIGGER than the first printout. what the hell size is my meshmuslin? i have no clue.

sigh

i hate it mostly, that my sewing time is so fractured and grab here and there, so the minor frustration of this confusion sets me back to square one, and i may not get to it for a week or three. i started today hoping for hot unders in the drawer at bedtime. instead i have pages of recycling, a strange pair of mesh ladyshorts, a good relationship, a yummy tomato sauce, a happy child, and chocolate zucchini bread.

not so bad, i suppose. except for the underpants. ;) and please, if you have one, what's your best panty pattern???

xo yalls
bex

done! sencha take 1, cinnamon slip

i finished the sencha in the free fabric. it's good! it's...ok. It's very practical, which is to say that I feel like an adult wearing it, but it's a little interesting. and I can bend over without exposing my underthings. that's a plus.

with as-designed darts

it's a little iffy, but i think this year's garments are going to mostly fall into that category. uh. so let's just talk about what happened on this project:

aaaaaahh wiggly bad tension hem

1) i could not get the tension right on my machine to SAVE MY LIFE. i just took it in for maintenance <2 years ago, and have sewn steadily now for barely 2 months. i want it to be reason to get a new machine, but think it's actually a cue for me to take a detour into machine knowledge.

hello, flattering.

2) the darts were too short, leading the shirt to ride up until they hugged my bust. so i spent a lot of time tugging it down in my first wear. they were also hard to mark on this fabric! anyway- i extended all 6 of them (both front and back) about 1.5 inches last night, and now it stays in place, mostly, and makes my boobs look HUGE without stressing the fabric. double win? sure. BUT: How do i know if i apply this to every sencha i make? i suppose i just will.

3) cute buttons, no? my buttonholing skills are ass. i'll cross that bridge when i care more. don't the buttons mostly cover them anyway? well, that's what i thought until i saw this picture. damn!

4) finally, what the hell is up with this armhole? how am i supposed to finish it and have it all flowy with a big ol' row of stitching? I don't get it; i left it unstitched. the top is hand sewn to the collar interfacing, so here's hoping it stays put. ohh. now i see the stiches. ok, maybe i'll go back and fixeroo.


CINNAMON!

1) i love lingerie.
2) this stuff is not silk. it is textured like dupioni, but it seems like poly. cool- less pressure (it's a wearable muslin, who cares)!

we will now abandon list mode and opt for regular storytelling narrative.

i cut & hung it, as directed (for a week!? it was agony; those pieces all silky and staring at me). then, i had a crazy day at work. then, i had a cocktail or two, and then i had a beer with the neighbors. but i wanted to MAKE SOMETHING so i came home at 10:30 and started sewing.

look at those neat seams. note that tension was fine on this one. ?

I finished my seams! because here's a garment someone else may be getting very close to. hehe.

pretty bodice insides

 it's so pretty. i went with one fabric for the whole thing cause i just wanted to finish it, and not screw around debating for another week. it's really nice as is.

the first version was way too hourglass for my wide waist- so i basically eliminated the seam allowances in the waist area and let it out. so smooth. 

so ok, i still have to hem it. whatevs! it's perfect. i may even take an action shot, even though I'm carrying a fair amount of extra cookie weight on my tum. wooo!

xo r

ps dear friends, i am working on photoshop. i hope to replace these poorly lit photos with heavily edited ones later today. if not, know that i know and that i am workin on it! xo 4e

pps hey look i did it! There's one awful one left, just so you know where we started. <3
bon weekend, cheries.

UPDATE: I tightened the bejesus out of my bobbin thread, and now we have tension nirvana. whoop!

lingerie challenge begins

i finally chopped up a thrifted slip and turned it into a cami and half slip. here's another horrible photo.

i used some crazy embroidery thread that i bought 100 years ago and rips like a bitch. but i'm really trying to test tension and thread the machine right, so it was a challenge i was up for. stuck it on some ruffly stretch elastic i bought a year ago when i started dreaming about making lingerie.

isn't it pretty? we'll put up with torture if things are pretty enough. i think that's a dating principle.

Wiggles do not trouble me!

Now that that's settled, I'm SO excited to be digging in to the Colette patterns I bought last week. So last night i stayed up late:

v. sweet. TOO sweet.

I cut Cinnamon (free [silk?], thanks Mena!) and Sencha (free plaid! thanks SW Meetup!)...And I'm taking care, yada yada. Should have taken a photo of my bias-cut pieces resting on my dress form, as I really follow those instructions.I may stick in a contrasting bodice front/band. that green is pretty, but all dressed up on ladyfriend, it looks a little bland.

I promise to show you later tonight!xoxo