May Wrap-Up and the end of MMM'14!

Last 3 days of Me Made May 2014! Eeeeeek!

Day 29: Simplicity 2700 pants (the too high at the waist pair)

Day 30: Simplicity 2594 top (again)

Day 31: McCall's 6744 dress

I am very glad that I participated this year. Not only was it incredibly fun to see everyone's handmade goodies on display, it was very useful too!

This month, I aimed for zero weekend repeats and I achieved that. I did have repeats during the week, which I knew I didn't have enough stuff to really, truly go 30 days.

What I did observe was:

1. I need more pants. I have made 5 pair of S2700 pants and one pair of B5908. I ruined one pair but slicing them open. A 2nd pair was made with sad fabric that grows by the minute. A 3rd pair  (which was technically the 1st pair) was made before I knew just how much needed to be removed from CF. A 4th pair is STILL awaiting new hems. So I really only have the plaid pair of S2700s and the B5908 pants. I have to change that!
2. I wore ALL 3 of my M6844 cardigans. I reached for the white one multiple times, mostly because it's much lighter than the ponte versions. I need another in a lightweight knit.
3. I wore both of my: S2255 tops, Sew Simple A1523 tops, S2061 pants and KS3115 yoga pants.
4. I have well over 300 patterns now and 100 of them are McCall's (to be fair, some are craft, mens, kids...) and 80 are Simplicity. But I noticed a lot of Simplicity TNT patterns here!
5. I want additional versions of several of these garments (not just the pants!)
6. I have some things that need handling. If it looks decent and is finished, I will donate or give away (my mom LOVED the M6886 and M6844 dress and cardi I sent her!). If they are in UFO jail; they need to be finished or tossed. If they need to be tossed...save the notions! I have three(!) zippers cut out of failed pants. I need to just unpick the stitches and boom, zippers!

 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

I didn't mind the daily pics but knew I'd never post daily to the blog; and Instagram was the perfect medium for that. Also, next time I'll do calendar weeks like normal humans. :) 

Until next year!!

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My May wrap up:

• Lady Skater - 2 yards. (eggplant knit--I made this for DD. Plus the yard I ruined by mis-cutting)
• S1699 dress - 2 yards (mint cotton/poly woven--also for DD)
• BSM 06/2014 #121 tunic - 2 yards (windowpane cotton/poly shirting--also for DD)
• M6844 cardi - 2 yards (white knit)
• S1430 shorts - 1 yard (denim)
• S2153 jacket - 2.75 yards (black waterproof fabric--still in progress, but cut in May)
• M6519 top - 1 yard (teal challis--still in progress, but cut in May)

then...I had wadder after wadder after wadder this month

• NL 6110 top - 1.5 yards (white cotton w/circles--not fully a wadder but won't make it into the wardrobe)
• Lekala top - 1 .25 yards (white knit)
• M6744 dress - 1.5 yards (multi colored print ITY--I think the skirt can be salvaged and used for something else!)
• M6866 top - 1.25 yards (bright yellow knit :sadface: )

And in limbo:

• M6961 top - 1.5 yards (floral chiffon--not sure yet if my FBA worked. I need to find a lining fabric to finish sewing it up)

20.75 yards out this month, 6.5 yards as wadders and 6.5 yards for DD; plus 5.25 yards as in progress. Sooooo 3 yards worth of wearable items for me!?!? LOL!!!!

Fabric purchases were also quite rough.

26.75 yards purchased but 6.25 was NOT quite what I was expecting. So I'm pretty much at parity again. Yay! Of the 6.25; 1 will become pj shorts (too thin for 'real' shorts which is what I bought it for), 3 will become 'muslin' for knits (if I decide to muslin a knit. If it sits too long, I will give it away). We'll see if the others become more worthy as they age in the stash :)

Let's show off the good stuff...

Wovens

Coating

Knits

I'm going to go out on a limb and say my favorite May make will be my black jacket when it's finished. It is coming along REALLY nicely and I am super proud of my work.

Finished Item: Simplicity 1430 and McCalls 6744

I made another pair of shorts!

I hadn't sewn very much lately (finished dress post to come tomorrow!) and the bug hit me this weekend. 

I was all set to sew this really cute Lekala top and realized it was ordered (along with a few more) on A4 paper. Boooo! 

So I needed something worthwhile that I could execute easily. 

I picked up this denim piece at Hancock for $3.95 not long ago. And decided to use the fabric leftover from my psuedo fail of a top. This of course also meant using a red zipper! :)

This time I did not break my zipper. Yay!

I added the pockets. 

I used one large button. 

I shortened them one inch (like chopped an inch off the bottom) and hemmed 1 1/4"

I fully intended to add belt carriers. Then I realized I didn't have a long enough piece of fabric. THEN I realized I could've pieced them aka sewed two smaller strips. Oh well. Next time!

I will make a pair with carriers and welt pockets. I will! :)

Sooo the mojo was going. Of course. 

I decided to cut this crazy wild fabric I'd gotten from FabricMart and make the straight skirt-racer back dress from M6744. 

Meh. 

I don't love it. I think there something to this type of construction that I don't like. 

When I made M6752 I hated it on me. Yet I love my Winter Street dress. 

I think it's the elastic casing/waist. 

I'm going to pull the elastic out and just gather the skirt. And I will be doing bands instead of turning and stitching the arms/neck. 

The girl is crazy about her dress. I'll get tons of pics this afternoon. 

Finished Item: McCall's 6744

I knew right away when this pattern came out that I had to have it. Then I started seeing them pop up around the blogosphere and was ready to go.

I had this amazing striped ITY knit from Fabric Mart in colors that define summer. I figured I had to get a maxi made soon. It was about 65 degrees on Friday with overnight lows in the mid 40s...that's Minneapolis for you! I didn't want to run out of summer :)

I paid $3/yd for the fabric and used all of the 2 yards. The dress wasn't difficult at all to make but was a bit time consuming - mostly because of the open front, making those long hems on front.

The finished garment measurements were kind of wacky...the bodice was meant to be HUGE for some reason. I ended up cutting a small at the bust and waist and grading to a medium at the hip - this was a good idea. The dress fit perfectly.

The adorable shoulder ruching is courtesy of 1/4" elastic and then you need 3/8" elastic for the waist.

LOVE the colors!!

I absolutely had to have this for our trip to Georgia so I was literally sewing the hem as my husband had the boys taking our bags out to the van! :-) I got it done though! The only thing that isn't "finished" is the skirt seams aren't serged. I'll get that done though.

Look at those colors!!

Now, beware - that split is REAL - it is split almost down the center! It crosses over a bit, but not completely. I ended up pinning the bodice and will probably tack it down. That skirt has a real potential to become scandalous. I don't think I"ll make this particular version again - I might make the cross over bodice with the regular skirt - OR - make it a mock wrap. I was holding the skirt shut the entire time I wore it.

The kids are all gone - WOOHOO! I got a little bit of sewing in today - I made a muslin of B5908 and so far, so good. Before taking the rental car back, I went to SR Harris to grab some zippers (I intend to make some makeup bags for my girls) - short (<15") are $0.50 and other zippers are $1.00. you just have to search...

Not a bad haul for $4

And then I got 2 remnants - one is black SILK!!!! So I added 5 yards to my stash but for $10. I am going to challenge myself with both the silk and the chiffon(?) - I love the print.