Me Made May week 5

The final week of Me Made May! I even actually made (and wore) something new!

This is a shirt - my favourite shirt pattern - that I started eons ago and never finished. Getting the idea to zhuzh it up a bit with a contrast running stitch got me inspired to get it done. 

Monday got cold again. Old cardigan in Knitpicks Gloss, corduroy wrap skirt that i never wore because it was teal, removed colour and over-dyed (might over-dye again to get a better red?)

I saw a cut top on Instagram recently and then realized it was near identical to this one I made out of old sheets three years ago (self-drafted, inspired by this dress), but with an extra flounce (now I'm tempted to add an extra flounce). Polka dot skirt is one i made in 2018 or so.

Me trying to dress like a capitalist for a peace mission. Same favourite shirt pattern (you can see this fabric in that post from 2013), this time in a really nice black pinstripe, and pencil skirt in a fine wool windowpane check.

I love this dress so much. Black cotton broderie with white collar. I have had it (and the shoes) since 2016 or 2017?

Yellow gingham circle skirt (to match the top from last week) and a black silk halter top that was another pandemic project (ugly print remnant bought at discount, colour removed, over-dyed). Note bike shorts and helmet! I cycle in all these outfits; I don't usually bother with shorts but this in particular was for a ride to a gallery about 30km outside of town.

Me Made May

It’s that time of the year again!

I have been making an effort to wear at least one me-made thing every day, whether it’s handsewn or handknit. (I eat something me-made every day as well but that doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment.)

The intent is to take regular outfit of the day pics to share once a week. Helps that the summer weather just arrived as I was getting bored with sweaters. Here’s what I've got so far:

Floral embroidered gingham shirt with removable pussybow, denim wrap skirt 

Felted banya hat 

Fit-and-flare shirtdress with bell sleeves in organza with silver polka dots 

V-neck ruched dress in floral/dotted jersey 

Cotton poplin wrap dress with topstitched floral trim and tie

Muslin shirtdress with waist tie and piping 

They’re not all exactly the same but there are definitely some recurring themes here... shirts and shirtdresses, knee-length skirts, wraps and ties and bows, dots and florals, black and white and red. I’m fine with that though, clearly I know what I like to wear!

Part of the purpose of this exercise is not just knowing what I like, but actually wearing it—not second-guessing whether it’s age-appropriate, or “too costumey,” or whatever other element of self-doubt and insecurity tries to sneak in and steal joy. Just be unabashedly whatever one wants to be, wearing whatever one wants to wear. So far so good?

I know I said...

I wasn't going to buy more fabric until I finished all the projects already started... but last week was difficult and my birthday so I got a couple of yards of this for a sundress:

Cherry polka dot poplin 

It makes me so happy! I am already planning summer picnics and secretly delighted that it has little black-on-white polka dots in addition to the cherries being red-polka-dot-adjacent, and the green leaves tie it together with the green of my bicycle and picnic blanket. Dorky? Yes. But I don't care!

Speaking of picnics, I am finally getting around to another project-in-waiting—a tote designed to fit my bicycle basket exactly, made from heavy twill leftover from the Helltaker costume. Which I realize now I never posted. Maybe I'll do that. Anyway I am hoping to be picnic-ready by the time the weather is nice for real!

It's party apron time!

In the 1960s, my mother (the snappiest of dressers) sewed herself a holiday party apron, in white organdy with applique red and green xmas bells and ornaments (which doubled as pockets) trimmed with metallic rick rack. I just pulled myself out of an internet rabbit hole trying to find pictures. I know I have the original somewhere! But its condition is a bit delicate. 

Anyway I decided to sew one for myself, with matching oven mitts, after being inspired by the FW 2022 Batsheva + Laura Ashley collection. It's hard to see in the pictures, but the polka dots are a soft metallic silver, and the piping is quite blingy!