Another Me Made May in the books. And what a great month it was. I almost made it everyday wearing a garment I had made, almost! And even more important, I finished a few projects that have been gnawing at me way too long. I wasn’t quite as analytical about my wears as some – I’ve seem some great examples of people’s bullet journals outlining what they wore, and even better, how often, but me, I’ve just got this blog. So let’s get to it:

Wednesday, May 22

Here’s one where I like the back as much, if not more than the front.

Pattern: Sleeveless Bolero

Technique: Reverse Applique

Top Layer Fabric: White

Bottom Layer Fabric: White

Stencil: Angie’s Falls

Paint Color: Homemade Gray

Thread: Red Button Craft for the design and White Button Craft on the binding

Seams: Running stitches felled to the wrong side

Stitches: Herringbone stitch on the neck binding

This was a bit of a smash together. I actually stenciled this fabric thinking I was going to make something different but it didn’t work out, so I just make what I could with the little amount of stenciled fabric I had.

Thursday, May 23

Well here it is, the corset that has been sitting on my “to finish” pile for over two years. I can’t quite remember all the logic behind this one other then to say, I know I only had a small amount of ballet fabric leftover from a dress I made earlier and I stenciled this up a long time ago … then I gained some love handles and had to add a plain ballet stripe down each side. I cut out the binding but I wasn’t sure if I was going to lose the love handles so I put off adding the binding in case I needed to take out the stripes – and – as you could guess, they are still there, thank goodness. This top doesn’t need to be any tighter!

Pattern: Corset (with extra 1 1/2″ panels on the sides)

Technique: Reverse Applique

Top Layer Fabric: Ballet

Bottom Layer Fabric: Ballet

Stencil: Anna’s Garden

Paint Color: White

Knots: On the wrong side

Seams: Felled to the wrong side

Thread: Natural Button Craft

Stitches: Running on the seams, Rosebud on the neck binding

Friday, May 24

 

I kinda cheated this day. Even though both the top and the skirt are Alabama Chanin, they are not “me made’s”. But, I love these fabric’s together! Ever since my friend Jan Hodges showed me a swatch she made up with this combo, I’ve been hooked! She is such a talent and I’m inspired by all her work.

So, in order to keep in the spirit of the month, I’m wearing a cuff bracelet that I made. Check out my  cuff blog post. BTW – the top is Ochre and the pencil skirt is faded stars. I can’t wait for the pencil skirt pattern to come out later this year because I love the fit of this skirt!

Saturday, May 25

I believe I made this wrap top in a large (yes, it was when I was coming to terms with  my love handles). In hindsight, I think the large may be too big as there is no way I can wear this top without a cami underneath.

Pattern: Wrap Top

Top Layer Fabric: Apple

Seams: Running stitch felled to the wrong side

Thread: Red Button Craft

Stitches: Rosebud on the binding

I’m not getting any better at selfies, but who cares when you have a cute poodle in the picture!

Sunday, May 26

I can’t believe this is my first time wearing this top this month. I think it was in heavy rotation last May!

Pattern: Fitted Top

Top Layer Fabric: Peacock

Seams: Running stitch felled to the wrong side

Thread: Navy Button Craft

Stitches: Herringbone on the binding

Monday, May 27, Memorial Day

These plain tops are really getting me through the month! And, can you tell I have a thing for Red, White and Blue? I think it’s because when I first fell in love with Alabama Chanin it was when I saw The Songbirds collection. Beautiful pieces!

Pattern: A Line top (I went back and cut off about 3″ from the length)

Top Layer Fabric: Carmine

Seams: Running stitch felled to the wrong side

Thread: Red Button Craft

Stitches: Herringbone on the binding

Forgive me, this was my first mitered “V”.

Tuesday, May 28

I didn’t wear a me made this day, but I did some making, or in this case, remaking, so I think that counts.

This is the Penelope skirt from Collection 29 in 2016 that I bought during a sample sale. A splurge indeed! It’s the long fitted skirt in three layers of lightweight fabric, Black, Peacock and Ochre. Problem is I’m not even 5’6″ and this is probably cut for someone who is 5’10”. I’ve worn it with the waist folded over but that creates a lot of bulk around the belly, not attractive. I’ve even worn it as a dress with the waist pulled up above my chest. But, I haven’t worn it very often and that makes me sad. So, I’ll blog about it soon, but basically I cut off 4 inches, added a new fold over elastic waistband and now I can wear it.

Wednesday, May 29

Another day of making. If I’m going to be able to wear the Penelope skirt more, I want something fun to wear with it. So, I decided I want to make a stencil with the same design.

So I used a piece of tracing paper and did my best to recreate the design.

Thursday, May 30

Back to wearing something. Here’s the outfit from my Hijack blog post.

Basically, this was an Alabama Chanin babydoll dress kit that I decided to make two pieces. Although I like it, I may try and make the skirt into a pencil skirt when they come out with that pattern. Or maybe I just need to take a little length off the shirt. What do you think?

Friday, May 31 – the last day of Me Made May 

Another day of not wearing but of making. It was time to cut out the stencil I was making

I’m not going to lie, your hand really hurts at the end of a whole stencil, but it is so worth it! I’ve already used the stencil to start a baby blanket just like the Alabama Chanin baby blanket for my soon-to-be first grand niece.

So, what did I learn? I think my biggest take-away this year is not to get distracted by the shiny new object, but that I should work through the projects/materials I already have. This means my next few projects are going to be to embellish a black racerback I bought from Alabama Chanin during a sale a while back, to finally use up the faded fabric that came in the bundle I bought, and to make a top out of the brunette fabric I bought on sale to match my Apple Bloomers Swing Skirt (which was my very first me made.)

And of course, I need to get better at selfies!