Me-Made May'13 - May 13 to 17

Here are the outfits for Me-Made May'13 from May 13 to 17. The weather was still a bit cool in the morning and warmed up a bit in the afternoon but then cold again in the evening. Layer was still key for this period.

May 13:
Top 1: Me-Made pink cotton button down shirt (Simplicity 5204). I wore this shirt many times to the office. This shade of pink is one of the rare pinks that is more flattering for my skin tone.
Top 2: Thrifted grey merino wool sweater that's crying out for a refashion!
Bottom: Me-Made black Polartec Windbloc leggings (McCall 5273). My local fabric store sold these Polartec remnants from years past at a deep discount a few years back. I originally made them for winter sports and they perform extremely well for that purpose. They became my regular throw-on pants this past winter. They are not super fitted so they sort of look like knit fitted pants.

May 14:
Top 1: Me-Altered turtleneck to crewneck black cotton ribknit top
Top 2: Me-Made blue wool/mix boucle woven cardigan/jacket (Butterick 5104 - see this post for the refashioning of this me-made jacket)
Bottom: Same Me-Made Polartec Windbloc knit pants

May 15:
Top: Me-Made grey sweatshirt tunic (Butterick 5241 - see this post)
Bottom: Me-Made stretch denim jeggings (McCall 5273). Very much loved 3 season pants. I altered the pattern to make it quite high waisted so that it holds back all my lumpy bits at my midriff.

May 16:
Top 1: Me-Altered Men's XL 80's buttondown shirt (see this post). This top is loose-fitting and super comfy to wear. The pattern of the shirt seemed scary at first but actually works with many pieces in my wardrobe.
Top 2: Me-Altered thrifted cardigan (I changed the buttons only)
Bottom: Same Me-Made stretch denim jeggings (McCall 5273)

May 17:
Dress: Me-Altered thrifted XL black terry cloth dress (same as last week's). I still want to refashion it a bit more to give it more character.

Under the Dress: Me-Made red swimsuit (Kwik Sew 2690, same as the black one from last week. See this post for the making of the red swimsuit). This swimsuit, as well as the black me-made one have performed well so far at chlorinated pools and lakes/rivers already. Hopefully they will last a few more years.

Let's see if the weather will get warmer next week. I have lots of dresses that I want to wear with bare legs! ;-)

The Great Hair Experiment has come to a halt....

After reading Meggipeg's blog about her 'all-water' hair experiment (see here) in March, I decided to try that myself too. For 2 months straight, I was washing my hair with water only. Nothing else. No shampoo, no conditioner, no hair spray, no gel, no mousse, etc, etc etc. It felt a bit greasy at the root but also a bit dry at the ends. I thought I could stick it out for another month to see how every goes....

....that was until I went swimming at a chlorinated pool with my daughter. We have resumed our weekly swim and there was no way I was going to let the chlorine stay on my hair. Unfortunately baking soda didn't wash away that film of chlorine. So I had to use shampoo to wash out my hair. Sigh! So much for trying to live a less toxic life! I guess I should start researching on what non-toxic alternatives there may be to wash off chlorine off my hair?

Encore Pattern Review - New Look 6752 dress

This is an Encore Pattern Review for the New Look 6752 dress. The first attempt can be seen here.

This time around I used this cotton/poly mix crinkle fabric from my stash. It had been there for a long time and I had just enough to make this dress. I guess I really like red because there are lots of red fabrics in my stash! The dress sewed up really quickly since it's my 2nd time sewing this, and because it is a really easy to sew pattern to begin with.

I made some changes to the original pattern:
1) I narrowed the a-line shape of the dress. Now it just has a slight a-line.
2) I raised the front shoulder seams by about 2cm because I found that the fabric was pull from the top of the chest all the way to the shoulders. It's better now but still not completely smooth. I might have stretched the fabric a bit too when I was sewing the gathered neckline.
3) I added shoulder tabs and buttons to jazz it up a bit. The original dress was fine but a bit boring. And I have tonnes of buttons in my stash!

I think it looks okay. I am still a bit self-conscious about the fabric pulling on the shoulder but hubby said he didn't notice anything. I'll test-wear it and see how it performs.

Conclusion: Easy to sew. Quick to sew. Easy to change/add your own design elements. Pull-over style. Great for the summer! I just may sew more dresses from this pattern later this year.

Me-Made May '13 - May 7 to 12

Here are the outfits for Me-Made May '13 this past week. I didn't really put a lot of thoughts into the clothing. I just wore what made sense for the activities that day, e.g. if my daughter had Kindergym that morning it would make sense for me to wear pants or shorts. Dresses would be too fiddly for those days. Oh I have to dress according to the wacky weather in our part of the world. This morning it was freezing and when I was driving it starting hailing (i.e. little balls of frozen rain falling from the sky) and then later wet snow started falling. We are all back into wool sweaters and warm jackets today, after the hot sunny and humid weather a few days ago.

May 7:

Top: Me Made poly knit faux wrap top (New Look 6729). I made a dress with this fabric too (see this post). This is one of the tops that gets worn a lot in the past few summers.
Bottom: Me-Made stretch cotton twill shorts (Vogue 8041). I made it a few years ago and had to narrow the shorts a bit for this summer. Perhaps all the wearing and laundering had stretched the fabric a bit too much?

May 8:

Top: Me-altered men's XL cotton tee into a side tie cap sleeves tee (see this post).
Bottom: Me-Made stretch cotton denim shorts based on Vogue 8157. I did the pull-on self fabric contour waistband for these shorts (same waistband as the pants in this post).

May 9:

Top: Me-Made ponte di roma knit faux wrap top (same pattern as the yellow print one above - see this post). Again another go-to top for me for the summer.
Bottom: Me-Made baby blue stretch cotton twill slim pants (see this post). I have to figure out what else in my wardrobe will work with these baby blue pants other than black.

May 10:

Dress: Me-Altered black terry cloth knit dress. This dress was very wide and it was like a tent on me. I just took in the side seams gradually to fit me. However, I think I can refashion it some more to give it more character. Perhaps some pockets? (NOTE: I deleted the picture of me wearing the dress by mistake. So here is the dress on a hanger.)

Under the dress: I'm not done yet! I went swimming at the local pool with my daughter this morning and i had this Me-Made swimsuit (see this post) under the dress. I'm getting lots of use of my Me-Made swimsuits already!

May 11:

Top: Me-Made ponte di roma knit jacket (see this post). I wear this jacket very often in the Fall but not so much in the Spring. It was starting to get cold again this morning so a jacket was in order.
Bottom: Me-Altered store bought jeans. I shortened the pant length. I'm short so any time I buy pants/jeans at a regular store, I always have to shorten the pant legs.

May 12:

Top 1: Me-Altered store bought purple silk blouse. Everything fit on this blouse except the back darts were in the wrong place for my body. I have a short waist so anything with darts need to be altered. So I just released the back darts and it became a slightly loose-fitting silk blouse which suits me just fine.
Top 2: Me-Altered thrifted Men's XL wool mix sweater. It was very wide and boxy. I just used an existing, well-fitted knit top as a guide to cut and sew this sweater to fit my body. I had been wearing it quite a bit this past winter.
Bottom: The same Me-Altered jeans from yesterday.

Well those are the outfits for this past week. Who knows what kinda of weather we will be having this coming week? More snow? Should I bring out my snow boots again? ;-)

Refashion: Grey XL Men tee to side tie ladies' tee

I was given this grey XL men's tee by a family member and I was actually using it for sleeping. It seems to be of good quality and the material is not thin and it wasn't stretched out of shape. I thought I could do something with it to increase my options for Me-Made May 2013.

(Source: Hanes.com)

I remember seeing a tutorial by mytwobutterflies regarding a men's tshirt refashion (see this post) so I thought I would try it too. But first I cut off the existing ribbed neckline and made it into a boatneck. I sewed a piece of clear elastic on the wrong side to prevent the neckline from stretching out further. I then cut the sleeves off, cut off some of the sides to make the shirt narrower and made cap sleeves. Then I cut off some of the bottom length and made the side ties as per the tutorial. The last thing to do was to turn the raw edges under and then topstitched. Voila! A very quick and easy tshirt transformation! Thanks for the idea Jennifer (of mytwobutteriflies)!

Encore Pattern Review: McCall's 5273 pants

Since making the red skinny pants (see this post) and tweaking the pattern to my liking, I thought I would make another pair of skinny pants with the same pattern in another stash fabric. This time I chose a baby blue stretch cotton that I bought quite a few years ago. I don't remember if I bought it for myself or for the kids. Anyway, I had enough yardage so I just cut and sewed the pants quickly. The fabric doesn't have as much stretch as the red stretch cotton so the fit is a bit loser on me. I added back pockets again and added a zig-zag design to the pockets to jazz it up a bit.

For these pants, I decided to make the Reitman style waistband (no closure pull on waistband). I refashioned another pair of me-made pants a few years back with this style of waist band and was happy with it (See this post) so I thought I'd try it again with these pants. I used the waistband pattern piece as a guide to draft a front and a back waistband. I used a 3/4 inch elastic and zig-zagged it into the seam allowance. I know others had tried to replicate the Reitman style waistband with 1/4 inch clear elastics but I really feel that I need the thick heavy waistband to hold back my tummy rolls so that the waistband doesn't roll over.

I'm pretty happy with these pants and I think I can probably get away with wearing these pastel coloured pants in the spring and summer days (with an untucked top). I'm also happy that I have tweaked this pattern enough that I can sewed these pants up easily and quickly.

Me Made May - May 1 to May 6

I've not blogged for a little while. Each Spring and Fall, the kids and adults in our household always have these lingering colds going on - not sick enough to be totally out of commission, but sick enough to be tired and cranky all day every day. I have done some sewing and refashioning but I haven't taken pictures yet. They will be coming soon.

Anyway, here are my outfits for the first 6 days of 'So, Zo...'s Me Made May. I did pledge to wear at least 2 items of me-made or me-altered clothing/accessories each day. Well, I think I did it!

May 1:

Top: Me-Altered Men's XL argyle cotton sweater (see this post)
Bottom: store bought leggings





















May 2:

Top 1: Me-altered thrift shop cotton cardigan (I just changed the buttons)
Top 2: Thrifted cotton t-shirt
Bottom: Me-Made red skinny jeans (see this post)















May 3:

Dress: Me-altered Large ribbed knit dress that was down to my calves. I shortened the hem and took in the shoulder seams and the side seams to fit me better.

















May 4:

Top: Me-Made cotton tunic. This is a regular favourite of mine for the past few summers. It's lightweight and blocks out some sun even when I forgot to put on sunscreen. The black/white print goes with everything (see this post).
Pants: Me-Made stretch cotton woven shorts based on Vogue 8041.













May 5:

 Top: Me-Made cotton voile peasant top (see this post). Also a summer favourite for the past few years.
Botton: Me-Made Red skinny jeans (what? The red jeans are making a repeat appearance already? Must have been on top of the laundry pile!)















May 6:

Dress: Me-altered cotton dress (see this post)
Botton: store bought leggings


















You might have noticed that some of the days I have only worn 1 piece of me-made/me-altered clothing in the pictures. But wait! I was wearing this me-altered hat out all week (see this post):

Pattern Review: Burda 9780 Toddler jacket

I love sewing for my kids. Unfortunately they have lots of hand-me-downs from friends that are in pretty good condition already, so there is no need to sew more clothes for them. My daughter just had a growth spurt in the last couple of weeks and her clothes are getting shorter and tighter. Her spring jacket that she wore all last Fall is now above her navel. And there were nothing in her size in the 2 local thrift shops. I guess I had to make her something myself! Oh how I relished this opportunity!

I'm still on the pledge to sew from stash fabrics and stash patterns. Fortunately I had accumulated some kids' patterns in the last few years. I dug up Burda 9780 and thought it looked cute. I also found some remnant coated yellow cotton fabric that I got from the cheapy bin a few years back that could work well as a windbreaker material. I know the pattern called for knit fabrics. But with the kimono sleeves I thought I could make it with a stiff coated woven material.

I had to sew it up really quickly because it had been raining on and off last week and my toddler had nothing to wear. I didn't even look at the pattern instructions. I just took out the fabric and the pattern pieces and started cutting. The pattern pieces seemed straight forward enough and I was able to sew it up pretty quickly. I didn't have enough of the yellow fabric and had to cut the sleeves shorter by about 3 cm. I want the jacket to last at least until next winter so I lengthened the front piece to almost the same length as the back, used a zipper instead of a button front to add more width, added a storm flap in the front as well to make it more rain/shower proof. I also made the hood a bit deeper by added 3cm to the front of the hood. I put in elastics into the front edge of the hood as well.

When it comes to the lining, the only kiddish fabric in my stash that wouldn't show through the yellow cotton was this white cotton flannel with numbers on it. I actually didn't have enough and had to cheat. The sleeves linings were pieced together and not all in 1 piece. I figured no one would notice anyways.

I'm quite pleased how it turned out. My daughter has already been wearing it for a few days and it didn't seem to stop her from being her usual active-exploring self. It hasn't rained for a few days so I will need to see how it performs when it rains. Let's hope she won't stain the jacket/lining with mud/food too soon!! LOL!

I signed up for Me-Made May'13!!! Panic starts here!!!

That's right! I have signed up for 'So, Zo...'s Me-Made May'13 challenge!! Panic now! I have even set a higher challenge for myself this time around that I will wear at least 2 self-made/self-refashioned garments each day!!  Arghhhhhhhh!!!!

But seriously, I really enjoyed it last time around and I hope to be more organized this time and remember to take pictures of the outfits in the mornings before the kids wreck them. My daughter likes to smear food on my hair/clothes all the time. If I don't take the picture first thing in the morning then I will have no chance for a good picture of the outfit.

I'm also panicking because in my part of the world, I honestly have no idea what type of weather we will be having. Last week it was raining and above 0 Celsius. But the last 2 days it was freezing and snowing! I remember a few years back it was still snowing until the middle of May but then a day later it was in the mid-teens and we were in t-shirts and shorts. I guess I need to make some sure I have some layering pieces for different outfits. I think I'll have to add some lightweight jackets/cardis to my Spring/Summer wardrobe this year. I'd better look through my fabric stash and pattern stash right now!

Odd Ensemble Part 2 - Pattern Review & Refashion: Simplicity 8764 Vintage-Inspired Dress

Remember that odd nun dress ensemble that I thrifted last week (see post here)? Well, I had refashioned the red-knit-sleeveless-button-down-duster part of the ensemble! I'm pretty happy with this 'Vintage-inspired-Rockability' dress! I was able to use the red duster as well as remnants of the black part to make up this dress (there wasn't enough red material to begin with).

I was looking through my pattern stash for inspiration and I found Simplicity 8764 from 1999. I think I had made a strapless dress with it a long time ago but I didn't wear it much and donated it soon after. The fit was fine but I was constantly pulling the dress up that became a nuisance. This time though, I thought I would add straps to this dress so it would be more secure.

I cut the dress front and back and I barely had enough. I had to cheat on the top because there wasn't enough fabric for the top. So I used the remnant of the black nun dress to create a band on the top. I sewed the button front opening shut. I used a zig-zag stitch to stitch on a 3/4" elastic around the top band. Then I zig-zagged elastic again to the straps and made the straps crossed at the back. I look at my button stash and found these plain black buttons that would fit the theme of the dress. I also created a back centre seam to take the extra material in. Everything was from my stash - I was too lazy to go out and buy anything anyways!! LOL!

The pattern was very easy and quick to sew up. It calls for a shelf bra but I didn't do it because I figured I would have to wear a strapless bra anyways. However on hind sight, I should have done a full slip because the knit is a bit thin and if I don't wear the right type of panties the panty lines will show. I really like these simple clean line patterns that allow one to add/customize them to one's own liking. I'm pretty sure I will use this pattern again to make some other knit dresses.

Pattern Review: OOP Mccall 9295 dress

This is an out of print McCall's pattern from 1998. It was one of those those 90's simple, clean line style knit dresses. I like simple and easy to sew and I like sewing with knit so I snapped it up right away.

I chose to make the halter long dress. It was super easy and fast to make! I made it with some black stretch velvet that I found at the cheapy bin in my local fabric store. I had just enough to make the dress. I lowered the neckline a little (so that it doesn't look like the dress was choking me), did my usual short waist adjustment and shorten the hem a little. I added a shelf bra inside the dress but I still need to wear a strapless bra for the dress to look okay. I had to shorten the straps a lot to fit my frame. The back is a little low for my taste but at least it didn't show my bra. It wasn't supposed to have a back slit but I added a high back slit so that I could walk and dance.

I do like this dress. It was super comfortable to wear. I usually try not to wear long dresses because I'm short and broad. But this one seemed okay. I wore it to an office X'mas party and some gala. It may not be the super party dress of the decade but sometimes one just can't go wrong with a simple black velvet halter gown!

Odd Ensemble Refashion Part 1: Nun dress to Party dress

I bought this odd ensemble from a thrift store a couple of months ago. I can see why no one was interested in it. It's like someone in the design department just gave up and had the manufacturer tacked 2 completely separate dresses together at the shoulders and under the arms. It was only a few dollars and I thought what a bargain for 2 good size separate cotton knit dresses in colours that I like!

I took apart the 2 dresses (just a few threads) and started working on the black dress first. My hubby saw me wearing it and asked me if it was a nun's dress. I knew that the dress was crying out to go to a party! LOL!

First I chopped off the dress at above the knee. It was already looking a lot better. Next I changed the mock neck into a boat neck. I sewed a piece of clear elastic at the neckline with a zig-zag stitch to prevent it from stretching further. I also reduce the back width by 3cm.

I couldn't decide how to embellish the dress. I wanted to use what I already have in my stash instead of buying some new trims. So I decided to move the year back to 2011 and try to embellish the neckline with......safety pins! I actually don't have enough safety pins so the neckline looks a bit sad and sparse. I guess I have to buy some more safety pins after all. I figured that the safety pin embellishment is not too permanent - if I decide to change the neckline later I can easily do that.

So what do you think? Too DIY looking? Too 2011 all over again? Or passable as a party dress?