Absence meant sewing this time...

A skirt and a dress to be more precise! From stash! Well, the bundle from Fabricmart, but that counts as stash I think... anywho, I made an 8-gore swing skirt a week ago, and could not go straight from the pattern, though I did use one. Simplicity 4881 was the starting point, but did I stop there? Hahaha...

I shortened the pattern 1-1/2" right off the bat, then removed a good amount of width at the top of the pattern to make it more suitable to my stretch knit. The hole in my wardrobe was filled! The skirt came together quickly, and my alterations worked like a charm. Next time I will add gores for even more fullness, but this is a good skirt the way it's drafted.

Photos soon.

And a post about a refashion.

And a dress I made from scratch.

Oh, and the EASIEST baby gift ever. I'll be putting together 2 packages this week, one for my Sewing Buddy, Shannon, of Little Elephant Stitchery. Check out her shop too, she makes some pretty amazing things! My cousin Vanessa is also due next week, so she'll be getting some goodies too- for baby brother and big sister.

Wow, I need to take lots of pictures, or so it seems. Lately I have tried for a garment a week, and have added more yards that will be garments for the summer... but school has to finish up first. We'll see what makes the queue!

The brown dress

Well friends, here's the dress... I discovered the un-levelness of the hem and the unfortunate length (frame 1) after wearing the dress twice, washing, and the first full day of wear, and then shortened while levelling, so this is the finished product, lacking only a new hem, which will probably just be rolled on the serger... as soon as I find one to use for such a task. Anybody in the Atlanta area?

What I like about this dress? SOOO comfy. Seriously. It's nuts. And the twirl test? Has a purpose. Cutting a half-circle rather than a full circle means undies are less likely to show on a dance floor, on top of using less fabric. Having never really watched, I can't say with certainty this is foolproof, but I like it, and I have 2 half-circle dresses I dance in regularly, this one and the pink infinity dress for salsa. And honestly, one never gets too old to twirl. I think part of the reason I like to Lindy and salsa so much is that it's twirling that's socially accepted and encouraged, even!

And here are some new fabric goodies...

I have GOT to get a handle on fabric storage here in the apartment... I can feel it taking over if I am not careful. The good news? These all have great potential to fit into the way I am re-thinking my SWAP without the suit.

Long story short, I want more seasonal things... not a suit jacket. Will I make it? Heck yes? Right now? Not so much. Spring is calling, and I am listening, friends.

Well, homework is calling too. Weekend outfits up soonish. Hope y'all got sewing done!

March plans and days 3 and 4

Already, I am using this exercise as a way to do a bit of an evaluation of my wardrobe... I went to look in my closet, wondering what I could possibly wear this morning when I have had little sleep, less primp time, and still REALLY wanted to have a skirt day... And you know what I didn't have in my closet? A comfy black skirt. So you get pinstripes. Again, my me-made pieces are the happy bag and a necklace. These necklaces are a go-to right now as I finish up some things to actually have CLOTHING that qualifies as me-made... Yesterday's me-made thing was more jewelry, and I was really silly to not take photos earlier before the switch to sweatpants. I know they're hard to see at times, so I took a shot of the 3 most recent ones... just so you can see them.

But anyway, back to the important stuff: Sewing. Last time I checked, that's still what this blog is about.

....You know what the first new thing on my list for the month of March is? A knit black skirt. I am thinking 6 gores, maybe 9... lined for sure and as full as I can get it. I have fabric... hmm... Is it bad that I want to just change my SWAP to accomodate things like this? What if I just sew a LOT between now and April 30 and see what I come out with? I could, technically, still have a plan... just maybe not so much in reality.

Oh well. The docket for March definately includes this skirt out of a midweight textured black knit from a FabricMart bundle. I am planning to throw a swatch in with the next load of laundry.

Also in the making are...

a shirtdress dress that lacks completion from that awesome border print ages ago... think 2009. It WILL be my Easter dress this year.

a knit dress from scratch- altering the pattern and everything from the baby rib knit

a dress shirt muslin for W

the denim vest will get done.

Day 2 of me-made-March

Well, 2 outfits... one was for the day, and celebrated the return of the skirt... I wore jeans after 2 whole weeks in skirts and dresses on the first, but the weather is just too pretty for pants. My me-made items in outfit 1 are a trusty bag in a happy print that began its life as upholstery and became a beach bag... which has worked its way into all-the-time rotation when the temperature is above 70.

The other one is a necklace. I don't think I blogged about either of these two items.

Outfit 2 is a result of helping the president of the Seminary and his amazing wife greet guests for a function. I had... no... made time to make the alteration that it would take to make the dress wearable... It took me less than 20 minutes to do it, and while I noticed other things I need to fix(that little cardigan is hiding a multitude of sins), it was great to wear the dress and get compliments on it. And great that it's warm enough to wear a dress!

This is already teaching me... taking the 20 minutes made this dress look so much better... I'm worth that, and so are the things in my closet! So why not do it? I'm going to add to my goal... I really want to get the mending pile down.

Me-Made-March and a recap

"I, Sarah from In a Nutshell, Anachronism, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-March 2011. I endeavour to wear at least one handmade/refashioned piece of clothing or accessory every day for the duration of March 2011."

... Already started. Today's piece? An accessory. My earrings. A darling favorite pair that a sorority sister made... Because much of my wardrobe was pre-determined. It's camp t-shirt day today at school... and I'm a camp person.

And in the month of February?

...well...

Okay I confess... I didn't really sew much. And I ordered 20+ yards of fabric. Which is tempting me away from the plan. That, and February was an intense month for these projects.

But what I did do:

-cut out vest... decide vest looked HUGE. Panic about vest. Realize seams wrapped all the way to the back. Breathe a sigh of relief. Resume vest construction.

-refashion a pretty neat sweater. It'll come out to play this month.

-mending and making wearable of many things. You'll see them this month too. The real challenge will just be taking pictures.

Which brings me to this one. You get to see earrings and the library in the background, that's it. I'm sweaty and gross... no photos of me. Sorry.

So are YOU doing Me-Made March? It's not too late- Zoe says some pretty amazing things that make a lot of sense about the stuff we sew needing to actually LEAVE the closet.

Hope life is good for you! Expect to see some rockin' outfits in the near future.