Me Made May Week 4 round-up

I really started to run out of steam this week. My Me Made-wardrobe just isn't big enough! Obviously, I'm working to rectify this problem! I have worn every large garment that I've made, the only things I haven't worn are socks and shawls. Which, I have a million of both, but are too hot to wear in 90°+ weather. However ...

Day 18 - I wore wool socks to bed! I live with someone who likes it much colder than I do, so occasionally I wear ridiculous things or use an electric blanket during the summer. These are the first pair of socks I made from my own handspun yarn. This was Fat Cat Knits BFL that I won in their Rav group's super awesome birthday raffle. I never win things!

Day 19 - Datura. Again. I wear it all the time.

Day 20 - no photo. Tuesdays are my cleaning/jewelry work day. I did cut out a new Cambie this day: 

Day 21 - Tattooed Grandpa dress + the best hairstyle ever. It's great for 2nd or 3rd day hair for curly hair!

Day 22 - Although I didn't wear it all day, I wore my first Cambie to look for fitting issues to correct in my second version. (I fixed my weird uneven sleeve issue and moved the sleeve/strap attachment point inward.) This dress is really, really comfortable despite being kind of crazy. I need a version that isn't so much. 

Day 23 - I wore the Ladybug Datura. Again I wear both Datura blouses at least once a week. I also did my final fittings for this Cambie and sewed it all up. Above, it's pictured without the lining. It fit really well, and I was worried that the lining would make it bulky or lumpy. 

Day 24 - White Datura again. I literally took one picture all day, and it was at my F-not-IL's 50th birthday party. I do love Crown Royal. 

Day 25 - NEW CAMBIE! As well as my EZ Camping Shawl, knit in 2011 and one of my unicorn necklaces. Cambie looks great with the lining, and it helped with the bit of horizontal line stuff that was going on. It is SUCH a comfortable, awesome pattern. Despite being a little more on the fancy side, (I am a girl who wear jeans and a band shirt 90% of the time) I want a million versions of it to wear all the time. I put really fun pockets in it that I need to photograph. 

 

I was beating myself up a bit about falling off the wagon this week, but it turns out it wasn't so bad. We're in the homestretch now! 

*items in this post were won by me at no cost, though this did not affect my posted review/opinion. 

Me Made May - week 2 round-up

Week 2 meant I had officially run out of (sewn) things to wear only once. There are going to be repeats.

Day 4- Cambie. I didn't leave the house this day, so wearing this crazy-ass dress wasn't too much. I think there is a very finite set of situations that this dress is appropriate for.

Day 5- Stripe Study shawl with everything else RTW. This baby is handspun and handknit. I love it.

Day 6 - (unblogged) On Wednesdays We Wear Black dress. 

Day 7 - Pressure Point (band) hoodie and camo Movies in the Park shorts. 

Day 8- here's where it gets ugly. I just didn't have it in me to find something in the back of my closet to wear. I cheated, by wearing a necklace that I made. (hella cute RTW top from Target.)

Day 9 - Datura, which I ought to name the Friday Datura because I seem to wear it on Fridays. 

Day 10 - Tattooed Grandpa dress with a belt. Will never wear it again without one! 

It was a pretty good week! I have some serious blogging to catch up on with details of some of these projects but most of them are chronicled on Instagram. And like I said last week, I'm trying to get and keep my Kollabora projects up to date, whether blogged or not. It's not totally there yet, but close!

FO: the Tattooed Grandpa dress for Sew Dolly Clackett

Pattern: Simplicity 2444 with a gathered skirt - $1.99 pattern on sale
Fabric: Sailor Jerry fabric purchased in 2007(ish). Dyed from white to grey with Pearl Grey Rit dye - $??
Mods: Obviously, gathered skirt. Used bias tape for binding neckline, armholes, and bottom of skirt. Wish I'd thought to put piping in the waist! Graded neckline down from 18 (main size) to 12.
Total cost: $1.99 + $4 zipper + $2 bias tape + $?? fabric =

This is seriously my favorite thing that I have ever made.

Ever.

I found this fabric at my LFS sometime around 2007- long enough ago that I don't have a clue how much I paid or why I had something like 2 1/3 yards. Maybe a little end of blot bit? Who knows. I do know that I went absolutely nuts when I found it because I love Sailor Jerry tattoo flash. (My first tattoo was a Sailor Jerry piece, though sadly not one of the ones on the dress.) This fabric sat in a drawer for 7 years before Sew Dolly Clackett came along and I knew this fabric was a perfect fit. My only problem was that it had a white background. I never wear white because A) I hate it and B) nothing stays white. I'm too messy! So I dyed it.

I highly recommend dyeing with Rit in your washer. It was super easy to do and I got great results! I used two packets of Pearl Grey, with one cup of salt, as per the directions. (I had to heat it on the stove beforehand to mix the powder so I'm sure with the liquid dye it would be even more of a snap.) The directions suggested  washing for at least a half-hour and I definitely did that. I think it went through at least 4 periods of the agitation cycle. The longer you leave it in and the more constant the agitation is, the more even the final color will be. Since I am not a tie-dye kind of girl, the washing machine was ideal and made it a lot easier than trying to do this by hand for an hour. Everything went very smoothly and I highly recommend trying this process if you have some fabric that you like but want to change.



This was my first 2444 finished dress, and I love it! I consider the first FO of any pattern a wearable muslin, because you really never know how you will like a fit until you wear it a few times and really get the feel of it standing, sitting, in the car, etc. I like 2444 a lot, although it could be improved on. I would like a scoopier and less boat-neck neckline. The facings for this just ... UGH! Did not work. I'm not sure if it was weirdness because I did a little grading of the neckline (Used 18 width but cut down to a 12 to make it scoopier.) The binding was perfect, regardless. I wish that I had thought to put piping in at the waist, because that really would have completed the whole thing.

I ended up being able to squeeze this out of less than 2 yards (because of the gathered/dirndl skirt) and ended up with enough to make a(nother) Datura blouse out of the leftovers. More on Datura in a subsequent post. I haven't actually started that one yet.