The Last of the Me-Made-May Projects

I was determined to not only finish but also blog about the modern sewing projects I planned for Me Made May. I didn't get a ton of stuff made, but I did achieve my goal of making at least garment per week to replace a worn-out one and all the things I made are good basics that will be worn regularly. Yay! So for me that is a success.

I already blogged about my Maya dress that I made for Week 1 and that garment was my most challenging just due to the nature of the fabric I used. The other things are smaller and were quicker to make, especially since they were not made of poly crepe! ;) So I will just include all of them here in one blog post. Then, I can go into June with a clean slate!

It already looks, and feels, like summer here!

Me-Made-May Week 2: For this week I focused on fitting a pattern for a cropped t-shirt. While I like the tops I made from the loose fitting, swingy Plantain t-shirt pattern I like a more fitted t-shirt, too, and one that ends just above the waist is fantastic for warm weather. (Yes, I have a giant vertical c-section scar, but, it tells a story and I don't care if people see it!) ;) I started with the Plantain pattern as a base and fitted out the excess through the torso, shortened it to end around the level of my bottom rib and also narrowed the entire shirt by placing the fold line about 3/4" off the fold, eliminating about 1.5" of width across. There was also a rather nasty wrinkle angling from shoulder to armpit on all of the Plantains I've made so far. To get rid of that I shortened the shoulder seam by about 3/4" on the neckline edge and 1/4" on the edge of the shoulder edge (that doesn't make much sense, sorry!)

My first test I made up in a lovely heavy heathered grey and black knit with fantastic stretch and recovery. It was almost right, just being a tad tight in the armscyes (but not enough to keep me from wearing the finished shirt!)

The second one was made of a lighter weight black knit. UGH. This fabric was NOT good for this kind of shirt. It stretched and bagged out and became enormous and sloppy looking so I ended up taking it in twice after I initially made it. Now, it stays fairly fitted but the neckline is a little too low and the waist a little too high to be something I reach for very often. (It does work well over a fitted cami, though). I have yards of this black fabric left but whatever it becomes in the future, it will certainly be something UNfitted!

Me-Made-May Week 3: I had such a tiny window of time to make anything this week. It was the last week before school got out and I sat down at my machine one Friday afternoon and in a few hours had this skirt done. It's made from a stretchy woven I got at Wal Mart that was border printed on both selvedge edges with a fun, bright border. I didn't even bother with a pattern but made a basic rectangular peasant skirt with a deep ruffle utilizing the border print edges. To make it, I cut off both borders down the selvedges and seamed them into a big tube. One edge was hemmed the other gathered. The middle of the fabric was seamed together to form a tube 1/2 the width of the first one. The ruffle was gathered to fit it and the top of the skirt was finished off with a grey stretchy shirred waistband I recycled from a pair of old yoga pants. It was a little long so I took a big tuck in the skirt right above the ruffle and edged the tuck with some vintage off white scalloped trim from my stash. It's a comfortable, sturdy, non-wrinkling skirt and already has been worn so much!

Me-Made-May Week 4: This past week I was focusing mostly on getting stuff ready for our Memorial Day parade so I didn't have time to make anything for this last week of May until early this week. I bought this little remnant of fabric at Jo Anns a few weeks ago for less than $2. It wasn't much to work with, being barely over a 1/2 yard, but it was such a lovely fabric I had to figure out something to make with it! I thought it would make a pretty dress for Anne but she did not like the fabric and the print was too large to look well on Rose. After some thought I decided I would like to try to make a camisole and since the fabric is light, floaty and drapey a gathered front camisole would suit it best. I cut and measured and sewed til I had something that matched the idea in my head and I couldn't be happier with how it came out! 

I thought I was done for the month but yesterday I had time to alter a pink peasant blouse I got at Goodwill awhile ago. I didn't try it on before I bought it since it was a 99 cent deal, and when I got it home it was really an awkward fit with sleeves ending at the wristbone too short to look well, a length at the hem that fell at the lower hip, and an odd, high neckline gathered to wide, thick elastic. To save it, I cut off the neckline elastic, cut down the neckline to a more flattering shape and resewed it to thin, lightweight elastic. I shortened the sleeves a few inches and the awkward hem length was taken care of by turning it up a few times and gathering it into a waistband made of the original neckline elastic. I absolutely love this blouse now and it will go with many things I already have in my closet.

So that is my sewing this month! Except for the silk bonnet I made for our parade, but I will let that have its own post when I have some time to blog again. Have a lovely June, dears!

Love,
Sarah