Me-Made-May - The month long recap

holy picture post, batman!   (I know.   I mean to do weekly... and then fortnightly... but... well...  yeah.   So, here's everything all at once.  My apologies for the 14 thousand years it will take to load.)

Rather than list out what I made, I'll tell you what I didn't -- most of the t-shirt (except the raspberry one) the tank tops, the knit cardigans, the white lace skirt and one of the four pairs of jeans.  Other than that, it's all me :)

marveling at my own insanity

I'm currently making myself a costume -- the aforementioned double-wopper-of-a-dress using both views of simplicity 3673.    I'm planning on wearing it for a sum total of maybe 5 hours.    And yet.... every seam is being finished as though I were planning on wearing it every day.    I'm sitting here, perfectly aware of the madness, and yet my response it always 'but it looks so pretty'.....    Well, at least I will be the best dressed mascot that ever mascotted.  

Ruminations on Simplicity 3673

This is a short ramble on the theme of 'what sort of fitting block did they use for this pattern?'

Currently working on Simplicity 3673 - both views B&C  (A is really the same as B, just with a self fabric belt. They were being sneaky and trying to claim it's separate.)  Why?   You'll see!  Anyhow -- I decided to take Gertie's advice and look at the finished garment measurements, and found that based on my bust and hips I needed a 10 on top and a 14 on bottom, which  leads into the theme of the fitting block.    

From everything I've read the fashion industry designs most things (clothes, patterns, whatever) for what they call the 'ideal figure'  - a body with even hips and shoulders, a six inch or less disparity between waist and hips, a B cup and around about 5'6" tall.   Its fairly simple to fit and a reasonable base for alterations.   Now, I'm quite used to alterations, I'm 5'9", wear a D and have a 14 inch disparity between my waist and hips.   I'm also a nearly textbook hourglass, with only a 1 inch disparity between my shoulders and hips.   So,  this leads me to wonder, what sort of block did they use while designing this pattern?  It feels like they were going for the inverted triangle body type, and I am honestly fascinated, but I suppose I will never know.

Anyhow, as for comments on the pattern itself -- I really like it so far.    Its almost all the way made up and has come together very nicely with only minimal alterations.   As I chose the size to match my bust, I had to take a large wedge out of the center front to get it down to the right size to fit my shoulders -- I also added a little bit of length to the front and back bodice to accommodate a bit more of a fako FBA.    I chose a two tiered skirt (flowy over sheath)  which has been a bit interesting.    This dress has an empire waist, so the darts are responsible for nearly all the shaping in the pattern.   I had to expand them around the waist and under the bust to accommodate the transition between pattern sizes and release them at the hips to get the ease I wanted to move comfortably.  The full skirt (which is still in progress) was much easier, the darts that were marked seem to be working just fine, and I plan to take the excess out of the side seams.  

Banana Harness

Things have been a little slow here at the fixation, so I thought I'd pop up and say hello.   There has been a bit of sewing, but no good pictures, although I will tell you my current project is tangentially related to the gentleman in yellow.   (We call him 'Chiquita').

Stay tuned for the continuing installments of our madcap adventures!


In case you were curious -- me-made harness :)

got bored - made a belt!

 So.... last night...  when I should have been doing something along the lines of cleaning or whatnot and had intended to play with one of my outstanding UFOs....   I made a belt.   Impulse all the way FTW.

started out with an old belt I had worn out and was one good tug away from tearing into a zillion little pieces.

Cut off all the bits and removed the leather wrapping from the buckle.   (Also washed it, oddly sticky... I'm assuming they'd originally used some sort of adhesive...)

Cut a hole in some webbing and wrapped it over the buckled and pinned it in place.  (Then sewed... you know how this goes.)

Added grommets and a loop to catch the extra, and wamo! blamo! belto!  in about an hour, and that's only because I sewed everything by hand and spent a lot of time making sure the ends wouldn't fray.  (black bias tape.)

I remembered the pockets!

 ...and, its done!   all seams fixed, hems sewn and pockets placed!

me thinks I shall wear this tomorrow.

An Epic Tale of Epic Proportion

 ...or how I altered this dress TWICE!  (I know.)

The original pattern is the wedding dress to the right, lovely lines, interesting neckline, plunging back, etc...  

The final version (I say this as I sit in it, still full of pins and needing to be re-hemmed) is more of a cocktail dress, but the bones are there.



Although lovely, trains and enormous skirts really don't fit into my day to day life.   (Although, I've found being odd lets me get away with pretty much anything.  I'd be willing to bet I could show up to work in a dress with a train and most people wouldn't bat an eye.  But, that may be more of a comment on the office.  There were people who didn't realize I'd been wearing a dinosaur costume all day.)  

Anyhow, I removed a lot of the volume and brought the skirt up to right below my knees while still in the tissue paper stage.   This all predates the blog, so I have no pictures of the process to show.






I liked it, and wore it around a few times.... but it always seemed somewhat ....off.   I eventually realized the sleeves just weren't working for me, and off they went.

I forgot to get a picture ahead of time, so this one was taken midway through the sleeve-ectomy.    (This is alteration #1 for anyone keeping track.)









So, I wore it like that once or twice, but it was still a problem -- the plunging back, while pretty, doesn't play well with my standard bra straps, and I really hate going strapless -- the only viable choice when wearing this number in public.

So, having a little bit of the original fabric left over, I decided to cut off the current straps and put in new ones that would allow me to wear a normal bra, and have the added effect of preventing the straps from sliding off my shoulders on a regular basis.  Call me crazy, but I like my clothing to stay on whilst out and about.






(Ignore the gap at the top, I forgot to close the clasp.  Its bugging the living daylights out of me, but everything is already loaded and I'm lazier than I am annoyed.)

Fancy new straps!  Which stay on!  And cover my underthings!  Yay!

(Alteration #2, part 1)

 Whilst playing with the straps, I started paying more attention to the neckline... the curved V just never looked right one me, so I decided to turn it into a scoop.    The left side of the image shows the original neckline, while the right shows the new version.  I unpicked the seam, marked the new neckline, cut it down, pinned and cut whatever those little nips are called that lets curves expand properly, and then resewed it up by hand.

(alteration #2, part 2)


Finally, I undid the side seams up to (but not including) the bodice and repinned them to better follow my figure.   (See how loose it is in the sleeve-ectomy picture?)     This is the current result, and I'm very happy with it.   I still need to sew it up, and I plan to redo the hem (my standard have gone up in the 2ish years since I made this for the first time) but its nearly there.

And I need to remember to put the pockets back in... that's an important one.

(alteration #2 part 3)

The leisurely alteration of the emergency jeans

look at all that ease!!!!!

 A few months ago I threw together the emergency jeans when I'd managed to rip, tare or otherwise abuse almost every other pair I owned within about a week.    Well -- at the time I was so paranoid I was making them too small that I ended up making them too large.   We're talking about four inches of extra ease around my thighs too large.

Now, it can be fun to pretend to have rabbits in my pockets, but its really not an every day look, so I decided to take them in, popped them on the 'to fix' pile and there they languished, forlorne and unworn until a few days ago when I realized I ought to get them finished for me-made-may.

Turns out it was easier than I'd expected-- I took out the top stitching over the hips, undid the cuffs, sewed up the sides, redid the bits I'd just taken out, and whamo!   jeans without saddle bags!

But wait -- shouldn't there be 'before' and 'after' pictures?   Probably.  But I couldn't get any flattering pictures this evening and I wasn't feeling the 'before' only... so, no.   I'm sure I'll wear them later on this month  and will manage a picture when its not all thunderstormy-clammy and 80 degrees out. (moan moan moan)

pretty pretty patterns

But look!   Distraction!   Pretty things!  (A clever ploy, no?)  The recent vogue patten sale caught me too and I grabbed the four of these.   I'm especially happy with the two on the right - I'd been looking at them the day before (at a fabric store, totally ignorant of the online sale) and decided I didn't $30 and $10 (ish) like them.... but for $3?   Yes, I like them very much, thanks!  The two on the left I got for fun -- I like the long flowy skirt of the top pattern and the bodice from the bottom.

However, I've decided I'm not allowed to start anything new until I've finished at least one more UFO.   My sewing closet is getting a bit crowded and the projects are becoming rowdy.

May the Fourth be with you!