Inspired by MMM

As I promised, I've finally got a few pictures of me wearing my latest me-made pieces, my blue Ginger and my plaid estate sale dress. I've been really impressed and inspired by all of the Me Made May outfits I've seen this month, and, even though I didn't' sign up to play along, I have been putting a little more effort into making myself wear my own me-mades...something I've been known to struggle with.

Instagrams (sorry!) of my Ginger  --  is anyone else as HYPED as I am that PicMonkey finally has collages??

In all honesty, I have to admit that I have some issues with this skirt. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the fabric insists on always being at least a little bit wrinkly. In addition to that annoyance, though, I think there are some slight waistband issues. The band seems a tad loose (which the little yellow bow belt helped fix), so I'm constantly re-positioning the darn thing whenever I wear it. I'm also not sure if I like the pointed waistband. It seemed like such a cute, kind of quirky, design feature when I first laid eyes on this pattern way back when, but, now in real life on my torso, I feel like it kind of just takes up extra space and makes my chest stand out too much. These complaints have not stopped me from wearing it, though I am planning to make another test version with the straight waistband before I finally cut it out in my denimy fabric.

fuller-sized image

I wore my Ginger  to work with a cardigan, which didn't make it into the photos. I was a little nervous wearing it to work, wondering if anyone would comment on it or ask me if I made it, but luckily no one did (I'll look at that as a positive thing!), so I didn't have to do any awkward "I like to sew..." explaining. Phew!

I also wore a cardigan when debuting my Estate Sale Dress to the world. I wore it to work and again to the art show over the weekend. Unfortunately, I've only got the one photo of me in it. It's such an easy, comfortable dress to wear - I love it!

Estate Sale Dress in action at the art show - ignore the dopey hat pose I'm trying to pull off. It was a million degrees out and high noon.

When I wore this outfit to work (sans sun hat) I ended up being complimented on it, so went into my whole spiel about liking to sew and making this dress. It turns out the coworker I happened to be talking to this time (unlike with my mad men dress debacle :)) has a mother who sews a lot and would make her clothing when she was growing up, so she didn't look at me like I was a freak. She did declare I was "weird" once I confessed I sometimes wake up at 5am to shower then blog or sew, though. Sigh, maybe she's right.

I wore it with the tie in front all day.

After work I met up with friends who suggested I turn the waist tie around, so it ties in the back, for a less casual look. I like it both ways, but hadn't really considered wearing it tied in the back until they mentioned it. 

All in all, I'd say wearing these me-mades has been a success. They're both comfortable and casual enough to be practical, and also make me feel good, even if they're not perfect ...and wearing them means I have to sometimes talk about my sewing to non-sewers. :)

Previews

Here's a little sneaky peek of what I've been up to.

I've made little bit of progress on my warmer weather wardrobe plans, which had branched out (unofficially) to include the 1960s McCall tops pattern I got at the estate sale I attended earlier this month. I'd thought any/all of the versions would pair well with the Ginger I've had on my to sew list forever.

McCall tops + Ginger

Well, I have yet to get to the tops but I did take a crack at the Ginger in a dark blue broadcloth. I had just enough of the fabric in my stash leftover from a UFO from my early sewing career. It was a nautical inspired, springy/summery dress of sorts...I might just have to dig it out of the UFO pile and try to save it (as if I have nothing else planned for my sewing time). Anyway, better pictures and a full post on my Ginger later, but for now...

v. 1 - pointed waistband

This fabric does NOT un-wrinkle fully....ever!

You know, I also mentioned that I've got a project in progress using a pattern and some fabric from the estate sale. It's still in progress, but here's a few glimpses of that, too.

Plaid!

McCall 9735 - guess which version I'm making!

Pattern pieces, with stripe matching attempted, almost all cut out

I'm not too obsessed with matching the plaids, though I did give it a shot - this is my first time working with plaid. I am planning to add a few little embellishments to this dress, so you'll have to stick around to see how it turns out.

I've also officially got some plans for dresses to make for the upcoming weddings I'll be attending this season, so more on that soon, too!

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!
Do some sewing for me - there's a good chance I'll be too busy with birthdays and a wine festival and boring things like laundry. Sigh.