LLADYBIRD

Me Made May ’13 – Week 4 Round-Up

Gah, why do there have to be 5 weeks in May? I am SO TIRED of taking daily pictures, and I think it really shows this week. Sorry in advance!

5/18, Saturday
Tshirt: Megan Nielsen Briar top
Shorts: Sewaholic Thurlow
Shoes: Keds
Necklace: Made by meeee
Sunglasses: Pangea
Ok, so that morning I was supposed to bike the Tour de Nash, but my friend and I decided we were too tired so we ended up eating a bunch of food, shopping, and riding around Centennial Park – a MUCH better way to spend the day, I’d say! I am standing in front of the Parthenon – yep, Nashville has a full-scale replica of that thing right in the middle of the park. It even has a statue of Athena inside, lol. I LOVE THE PARTHENON.

5/19, Sunday
Tshirt: Sewaholic Renfrew
Shorts: Sewaholic Thurlows
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Born
This picture was taken in Opryland Hotel (yes, I am INSIDE, not outside! Shitload of plants in there, haha). Opryland hotel is so weird.

5/20, Monday
Top: Pavlova Wrap top
Skirt: Thrifted, reconstructed by me
Shoes: Born
Belt: Thrifted
At my Monday evening knitting night! Also, the past few pictures have been rill terrible bc I had a friend visiting from out of town, and I didn’t want to be THAT PERSON who spends 20 minutes every morning taking pictures of herself, y’know? We had better things to do, like ride bikes and drink shitty beer.

5/21, Tuesday
Dress: Vogue 1227
Cardigan: Thrifted
Necklace: Antique
Belt: Flea Market
Shoes: Franco Sarto
MAH BIRTHDAY. I wore my birthday dress because, yes.

5/22, Wednesday
Dress: the Gazer (a Hazel/Ginger mashup)
Cardigan: Thrifted
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Urban Outfitters
I love this dress, although the fit could be better. For some reason, I cut the gingham on the bias but did not give the underlining the same treatment, so the skirt does kind of weird things. Oh well!

5/23, Thursday
Dress: Colette Chantilly
Sweater: Chuck by Andi Satterlund
Belt: Banana Republic
Shoes: Thrifted
A wool sweater in May!?! Wtf!!

5/24, Friday
Dress: Advance 8295
Cardigan: Miette by Andi Satterlund
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Born
It’s still a little cold for this dress (the high today is 70*F and YES THAT IS COLD TO ME), but whatever. It’s Friday! Wheeee!!

I haven’t had any new revelations since last week, except that I have pulled a few more dresses from my closet that don’t fit. I think I will end up trying to unload them via Etsy, just not right now as I don’t have the time!! Soon, though. May is almost over 😉

Hope y’all have a great weekend!! I am gearing up to go on vacation starting at the buttcrack of dawn tomorrow morning… we are driving to Florida for a few days on Santa Rosa Beach, yay! On that same note, the whole “not repeating outfits” this month means I’ve been hoarding some of my favorite Me-Mades to wear while I’m on vacation (I’m looking at you, Lonsdale dress). Either way, CAN’T FUCKING WAIT. Ha!

This blog will be quiet for the next week, but I’ll be back on Friday with my final MMM’13 round-up. In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram or Twitter if you’re feeling withdrawals (we can get through this together, y’all).

BYEEEEE ♥

Tags: Me Made May '13

Comments 22 Comments
Categories Me Made May

Completed: The Briar Tshirt (with Bonus Thurlows!)

21 May

Hey, look, I finally got my ass into gear and hopped on the Briar bandwagon! Yay!! I know I’ve hated on the high/low hems in the past (aka mullet hems) but if anyone can make a high-low hem look like something I need in my closet, it’s Megan Nielsen, Our Lady of the High/Low.

Actually, I made TWO!!

Oh, and another pair of Thurlow shorts for good measure 🙂

I mean, why would I pair my beautiful new tshirts with an old pair of shorts? AS IF.

This red one is the first one I made (and sorry in advance for the overly saturated pictures – red is hard to photograph!). I used a super drapey rayon knit from Fabrics for Less in NYC; it’s delicious and airy and PERFECT for this kind of top. I don’t normally wear such loose-fitting clothing (and I know y’all are laughing because this is hardly loose-fitting, but it is for meeeeeee ok!), but I LOVEEE this way this looks and feels. Must make several more.

This version has a tiny pocket (which, yep, you totally can’t see) and I finished the neckline with a binding – partially because the fabric is soo drapey, it wouldn’t work with the normal stretched bands, and partially because I wanted to try a new technique! I must say, I’m really happy with now the neckline turned out. It’s perfect and flat and looks really good. Megan Nielsen, you are a binding genius.

I was smacking a mosquito in this picture (the ‘skeeters were sooo bad this morning, ugh!), but I like that it shows the tshirt doesn’t gape out when you bend over. Nice!

For this shirt, I sewed an XS and took in additional bit at the side seams because it was a little loose. I also cut about 3″ off the length (I cut it off the bottom for this one, but for the next one I did properly slash and shorten the pattern pieces like a good seamstress ;)).

Oh, yeah, and I used the last of my neon yellow twill tape to stabilize the shoulder seams 😉

I made the second version immediately after. Ha! This one is a fairly hefty weight knit from Mood when I was in NY. I’ve been hoarding this fabric for the months since and I’m so glad I went with this pattern because I think it’s pretty perfect! Of course, I got way too excited/ahead of myself and neglected to match the stripes at the side seams… oh well!

This version is pretty much the exact same as the red one, except that I finished the neckline with a band instead of the binding. I actually tried the binding first, since I loved it soo much – but my machine was NOT having it. The fabric was too thick, anyway. So, band it is!

I left off the pocket for this one, and also ended up taking in the side seams quite a bit – at least 1″. Since the fabric is fairly heavy, it looked weird all blousey. Like it was too big. This looks much better, and bonus – it looks great tucked in!

I really love this fabric and I wish I’d bought several yards of it, oh well!

For the shorts, I don’t have much to elaborate on as this is like my squillionth pair. Haha! I used my TNT pattern and whipped these up in a couple of evenings (they are RILL easy after you made a bunch of them, just fyi!).

For fabric, I used a beautiful, soft grey linen that I got from my new favorite local fabric source, Muna Couture. Muna’s shop is actually a dressmaking shop – and she makes some pretty incredible ball gowns and wedding dresses – but she also sells fabric. Not just fancy dress fabric (although there is plenty of that, and it is AMAZING), but also basic stuff for daily wear, like wools and linens and prints. I got this remnant from her and it was *just* enough to squeeze out some shorts. I love that they’re linen – so breezy and nice for summer! They do wrinkle a bit with wear, but not too bad 🙂 The white lining is fabric leftover from my Madeline bloomers.

This is the only bummer about the shorts – I drew on the fly with my disappearing wax, and it didn’t disappear! WTF!!! I managed to fade it out a bit (put a piece of paper over it, applied heat, and then rubbing alcohol very sparingly, if yr curious), but it’s still pretty disappointing that you can see it. Sooo with that being said, important lesson learned here – ALWAYS test your marking utensils before marking on your fabric! DUH. I should have been doing that anyway, but I wasn’t, and now I know, and it won’t happen again. Learn from my mistakes 🙂

Side note, today is the last day to get 15% off at Sweet Little Chickadee, so get on it, son! Use the code LLADYBIRDBIRTHDAY and get to shoppin’! You could even get the Briar and Thurlows, y’know, if you wanted to be like me 😉 ha!!

Another side note, it’s my birthday todayyyy!! Yay!! Happy birthday to all my birthday twins (there were several of you, yay 5/21!!!) and all the other May Babies 🙂

Here is my gift to you, baby L with my dad 🙂 AWWWW!!!

Tags: birthday, briar, completed, knit, linen, shorts, Thurlow, tshirt

Comments 74 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Me Made May ’13 – Week 3 Round-Up

17 May

Well, we’ve made it through another week of Me-Made-May! If we’re being honest here… I’m kind of struggling a little $:\$ The weather has been SO awkward and unpredictable – a little chilly one day, then hot the next – making it difficult to figure out how to dress, especially since I don’t want to repeat outfits. But I powered through! I did, I did!

5/11, Saturday
Top: McCall’s 4488
Skirt: Thirfted, reconstructed by me
Jacket: Gap, reconstructed/resized by me
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Born
It was so chilly this day! Boo!

5/12, Sunday
Dress: Colette Rooibos
Cardigan: Thrifted
Belt: Me-Made
Shoes: Born
Mother’s Day! We met with my parents and niece for breakfast, and then my mom and I took a quick shopping trip (to Children’s Corner lolol because my niece needed some stuff), where I took this picture. I love this dress, so so so much, but it’s a little big now 😦

5/13, Monday
Dress: Colette Ceylon
Shoes: Nine West
Another dress that’s now too big. It looks fine in the picture, but I was SO uncomfortable all day. Sadly, I don’t think this can be taken in anymore.

5/14, Tuesday
Blouse: Simplicity 4676
Skirt: Self-drafted circle skirt
Belt: Banana Republic
Shoes: Franco Sarto
I love this outfit! That polka dot blouse really does go with everything 🙂 Oh, and I feel like I need to mention these shoes – I’ve been lusting after them for over a year, but they were about $75 at Nordstorm and I couldn’t afford them (as I spent most of last year paying off debts – which I’m now debt-free, woohoo go me). Then they were gone forever and I was sad. BUT, I found them on Sunday at Rugged Wearhose (which is like Marshall’s or TJ Maxxx, except for a ~younger crowd~) for $30. In my size! Best find ever!!

Dress: Vogue 1086
5/15, Wednesday
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Franco Sarto
I really was not feeling this dress when I put it on… it’s too flowy/loose for my tastes, and the colors aren’t really me. But I got SO many compliments on it all day! Plus it is really nice and cool for hot weather. So this one stays 🙂

5/16, Thursday
Dress: Colette Parfait
Shoes: Thrifted
Another dress I’m not really feeling these days. The back is loose now and the straps keep falling down, no matter how much I shorten them.

5/17, Friday
Top: Megan Nielsen Briar (unblogged… I just finished this the other night. Need to take some pictures!)
Skirt: Megan Nielsen Kelly
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Keds
Bag: Po Campo
Today is Bike to Work Day! I celebrated by… biking to work! Haha! Honestly, it was a little difficult this morning… my meet-up group did not meet up (and SHAME on the leader for not notifying anyone… I waited at the park for 20 minutes 😦 I was so excited to meet other cyclist commuters in my neighborhood, too!), so I biked it solo. Which was fine – I’ve biked to work before, although not at the new location since my office moved downtown. Also, it’s very rainy today. Mostly drizzle – and my bag is waterproof, fuck yea – but I guess it turned a lot of people off, as the turnout was very small. Oh well, I got free coffee and a scone so I’m happy 🙂 Plus – BIKING. YAY.

So… what did I learn this week? Well, I’m just NOT feeling most of last year’s stuff. A lot of it doesn’t fit right anymore – too big to feel comfortable (on me) and I don’t even know if I want to bother with trying to alter it down. Thinking about sticking some of this stuff on Etsy or eBay and just trying to unload – specifically the floral mini dress, the embroidered silk shell top (REALLY mad about that one!!), the nautical-inspired linen dress, the red gingham dress, the white eyelet maxi dress and that Ceylon. Would anyone be interested in this stuff? It would be sized for a 36″ bust.

A couple things I wanted to mention –
– I edited this into yesterday’s post, but just in case you didn’t see it – Juli has generously given us a discount code for her shop, we can all celebrate Use the code LLADYBIRDBIRTHDAY for 15% off everything in the Sweet Little Chickadee Shop – patterns, embroidery kits, or those amazing labels. The code is good through Tuesday 5/21. Yay! Thanks, Juli!
– This is TOTALLY random, but my super rad little brother is going to be in the UK this summer, and he was wondering if anyone wants to meet up and possibly show him around or even offer a place to crash for an ight 🙂 Maybe *I* can’t be there (hm, maybe if I sell those clothes I can start a ~London Savings Account~ haha), but baby brother is the next best thing, yeah? Matt is srsly awesome, he’s 23, a little skateboarder d00d, and looks just like me except with a beard 🙂 He’ll be staying in Ashford, which is 30 minutes south of London, from 6/19-7/30.

Here he is, in Florida last year, bearded and wearing a party hat hahaha
I guess that might be a kind of weird thing to ask, but if anyone is down for a hang, shoot me and email and I’ll send you his contact information 🙂 Maybe you guys can gossip about me or something haha

How’s everyone’s Me-Made-May going this week? 🙂

Tags: Me Made May '13

Comments 40 Comments
Categories Me Made May

Birthday Wishiesss

16 May

You know your birthday is just around the corner when you can see it on the 10 day forecast (which, btw, let’s not have rain on my birthday. Please?). I’ll be 28 this Tuesday, but age has not stopped me from treating my birthday like a fucking holiday. It IS a holiday! Let’s celebrate by looking at pretty things!!

Sooo at this point, I think you’d have to be living under a large rock to have not yet seen Megan Nielsen’s Breakwater Collection, but just in case you haven’t… GO LOOK. Everything is amazing, the pictures are glorious, and I NEED THOSE CULOTTES.

I would use this gorgeous Thakoon cotton to make them up, because yes.

I know… I’m, like, light-years behind everyone when it comes to the Archer Button-Up. I have totally been eyeballing everyone’s versions and I think I’m ready to try my hand at it too!

Perhaps in a lovely double-faced blue plaid cotton?

Classic polka dots?

Or, ooh, how about this preppy green striped shirting? Sorry, my inner Nard-Dog is showing.

I would love to ease myself into bra-making with this Bambi Soft bra pattern from Ohhh Lulu. This would make the perfect lounging bra, and the size would be easy to customize (since I can never find anything my size in stores).

I think it would look lovely in this Marc Jacobs embroidered silk. The fabric is a bit expensive, but thankfully bras don’t take much yardage, so you can splurge a little :B

… or maybe whip a few up in this gorgeous Thakoon Crepe de Chine (ohhh Thakoon, why can’t I quit u). Because what is the point of making a bra if you’re not having fun with the fabric, amirite.

I just love the new Deer and Doe patterns. I have the Bleuet (and have I made it up yet? Nope… still waiting for fabric inspiration to strike), but I’m pretty sure I also need the Belladone. I have a beautiful striped silk shantung that would look PERFECT with that back cut-out.

Speaking of patterns I already have… I’m gearing up to make a few pairs of these Ooh La La Leggings from Papercut Patterns and while I initially settled on some lovely basic solids, I’m thinking I need crazy prints now! I’ve started running (very very VERY slowly, I might add!) and I love dressing like an idiot when I exercise :B

Like this giant floral jersey…

… or maybe this crazy geometric jersey?? Ok, the latter is probably too thin for leggings-as-pants…. but, actually, we all know I’m not ashamed to show my ass. Whatever.

This purple floral cotton is EXACTLY what I need to make up this pattern… aka my 2013 Sewulution!

I love this green ombre cotton. I don’t know what I would do with it; probably just carry it around everywhere with me and sleep with it under my pillow 😉

More of these labels, please! I also love these, but I think they need the real word on ’em 🙂

Hm, looking back at this post, it seems like all I care about this year is fabric and patterns. Oh, and a gravity feed iron, but that is gonna have to wait until my Rowenta completely dies 😉

What are you lusting after right now? Any other May babies out there? Bonus if we are birthday twinz!

EDIT Juli has generously given us a discount code for her shop, we can all celebrate 🙂 Use the code LLADYBIRDBIRTHDAY for 15% off everything in the Sweet Little Chickadee Shop – patterns, embroidery kits, or those amazing labels. Yay! Thanks, Juli 😀

Tags: amazing fabric, fabric hoarding, Mood Fabrics, wishlist

Comments 83 Comments
Categories here are some things i would like to have

Completed: A Hawaiian Lonsdale

13 May

I actually had this finished a couple of weeks ago, but it’s taken me this long to post since I had to get a special bra to wear with it. And by “special,” I mean strapless. I don’t know why I’m talking about my bra right now, let’s talk about this dress instead!

This is the Sewaholic Lonsdale dress. REAL TALK: When this pattern first came out, I had absolutely no intention of sewing it up as I assumed it would be mega unflattering on me. Not because of the bra issue, like most people pointed out – I have no problems with wearing a strapless bra, it’s like a staple in my lingerie wardrobe (and yay that I finally have one that fits!) – but because the bodice doesn’t have any darts, which I figured wouldn’t work with a large bust. Also, this pattern eats up a lot of fabric and I just wasn’t feeling it. So no Londsale for me, at least not while everyone else was snapping them up.

While I was in NY, we had a mini sewing stuff swap (which I’m REALLY sad I missed out on dumping into… I will have to come back with a suitcase full of patterns and we can do it again, ok?? Hmm plane tickets appear to be cheap right now…) and Sonja added this to the pool, encouraging me to try it. So I snapped it up and found this fabric the next day… it’s from Chic Fabrics, and it was $5 a yard. HELLS YES. Lonsdale, comin my way!

As I was trying it on (no muslin, and not really even a tissue fit… I just based my size off the finished measurements and started cutting), I realized that this dress is SUPER cute and flattering. A bodice with no gathers or bust darts, who woulda thunk?

I also totally get why everyone keeps freaking out over the skirt, it’s really flattering!

(Not really sure what I’m doing here… smelling the breeze, maybe?)

This is a size 0, by the way. I did not make any alterations to the pattern, except my zipper insertion (lapped instead of centered) and I cut something crazy like 5″ off the hem. I like my skirts to hit above my knee.

Sorry for the shit picture and my sad little droopy bow, but isn’t the back cute?? I LOOOOVE that the straps are adjustable, since I can never seem to get them right on the first/second/eighth try. Now I don’t have to worry, whoop whoop.

I definitely want to make a couple more of these – or even just Lonsdale skirts, gawd – as I can see myself wearing these aaaall summer. I think you could probably reduce the amount of fabric needed, too, with some careful planning. Part of the bulk of fabric yardage comes from the bodice being double-layered (you can see the second layer a little bit in my close-ups, as my fabric is slightly sheer), and the ties are one big long piece that goes into forever. I think this could be REALLY fun with the lining being a contrasting fabric – you’d see the contrast in the ties and around the neckline.

Here’s a terrible close-up. Sorry! The sun was REALLY bright and I don’t do that whole wait-until-it-gets-less-bright patience thing very well 😉

If you’ve been holding out on this pattern because of the large bust issue, maybe this will sway ya 😉 It swayed me, anyway!

Can’t wait to bust this shit out on my vacation! LONSDALE 4 LIFE.

Tags: completed, dress, lonsdale, sewaholic

Comments 65 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Me Made May ’13 – Week 2 Round-Up

10 May

Another week of Me-Made-May down! Haha my friends and family were already anticipating this… every time I met up with someone this week, the first question was, “Did you make everything you’re wearing? It is May…” Talk about being supportive 🙂

With that being said, I started off the week (on Saturday, I mean) with a totally crap outfit/photo. WOOF.

5/4, Saturday
Hoodie: Avocado Hoodie
Tshirt: (hidden, but I promise it’s there!) Organic White Renfrew
Jeans: Imogene+Willie
Shoes: Just some shitty house boots from Urban Outfitters, aha.
The weather took a turn for the COLD on Saturday, and coupled with the rain and the fact that our heat mysteriously stopped working (wtf, srsly), I refused to leave the house and instead snuggled up in my cozy hoodie. I love this hoodie so much.

5/5, Sunday
Tshirt: Stripey Long-Sleeved Renfrew
Pants: Organic Red Thinlows
Jacket: Gap, reconstructed by me
Shoes: Keds
Bike: Not mine :3
Sunday was still a little cold, but the rain went away so I joined Trisha‘s Farmer’s Market bike ride and I’m so glad I did! Of course, I didn’t bring my bike, but there’s a Bcycle station right outside, so I rented one with my new membership. Anyone heard of these? There are scattered all up and down downtown Nashville, which means I can take little bike rides on my lunch break now YAY.

Also, I feel like I should mention the jacket I’m wearing. I bought it a couple of years ago on eBay for a Halloween costume (I dressed as a hipster, if yr curious haha) but I never wore it after that because it was tooo big. I tried cropping the length – it was originally much longer – and still, too big. I finally just pulled the hem band and sleeve cuffs off, took up the sides (I didn’t even bother with flat-felled seams because, hell), and then reattached the bands. The fit is SO MUCH better now, and now I can finally get some use out of this damn jacket! So pleased with myself haha.

5/6, Monday
Dress: Simplicity 6268
Trench: Sewaholic Robson
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Urban Outfitters (and they are shitty; never buying shoes there again, ew).
Another cold and rainy day 😦 At least my lace trench is a happy color 🙂

5/7, Tuesday
Blouse: Simplicity 4676
Skirt: By Hand London Charlotte skirt
Belt: Banana Republic
Shoes: Thrifted
My boss told us we had to look extra-nice today (bc there were company bigwigs visiting the office, woohoo), so this is what I came up with. This is my front door; I was trying to ~mix it up~ with the backgrounds. Probably not going to take pictures here again, soo many cars kept driving by and I was getting self-conscious!
Oh, and because several people have asked: yes, that is a cowboy pig statue to the side. His name is Sergeant Deputy, fyi.

5/8, Wednesday
Top: Cake Pattern’s Pavlova wrap top
Skirt: Tilly’s Miette wrap skirt
Shoes: Nine West
WRAPPER’S DELIGHT, Y’ALL.
(and yes, I did actually wear those shoes all day… much to my surprise haha)

5/9, Thursday
Dress: Simplicity 1803
Jacket: Gap, reconstructed by me
Belt: Thrifted
Shoes: Born (expect to see these a LOT, I just bought them and I’m kind of in love :))
This outfit makes me sad that I swore no repeats for May… because it is awesome, and my favorite, and I kind of want to wear it every day.

5/10, Friday
Shirt: Jalie 2921
Skirt: Megan Nielsen Kelly skirt
Belt: Nashville flea market
Shoes: Born
Sorry this picture is so dark and shitty… as you can see, it’s raining AGAIN today. But hey, it’s Friday, so I can’t complain 🙂

Things I learned this week on MMM…
– I need more basic knit tops. I actually have a couple yardages of fun striped knits, plus some solids I just got from Mood the other day… I should probably get cracking on that.
– I forgot how much fun it is to wear crazy bright prints.
– I am SO GLAD I just cut into that denim jacket and made it fit !!! Now I just need a short blazer/jacket that is not denim so I can wear it with jeans and not rock the Canadian Tuxedo look 😉

How’s Me-Made-May going for you (if you’re participating)? Have you made any brilliant wardrobe discoveries yet?

Tags: Me Made May '13

Comments 41 Comments
Categories Me Made May

Review: eShakti, revisited

8 May

Here be another product review for eShakti.com. I wasn’t 100% thrilled with the first dress they sent me (honestly, it ended up getting donated because I just COULD NOT deal with those arm holes), so after they contacted me, I decided to give them a second chance.

For those of you who don’t know, eShakti is an online shop that sells a variety of cute lady clothes (not just dresses, there are skirts and blouses floating around there as well) in sizes 0-36, as well as offers inexpensive customizations for your size and certain style options (such as adding sleeves, shortening the hemline, etc). The prices are reasonable, and it’s definitely a good option if you normally have problems fitting into straight sizes, since you can adjust the measurements to correspond with *your* body.

This is the contrast poplin trim dress (unavailable now, sorry!). After the deal with the last dress, I was careful to choose something that-
1. Could easily be adjusted at the shoulders;
2. Was 100% cotton
This one fit the bill, and it was pretty cute, so I requested it and it was promptly shipped to me. I’m just going to say this now – I’ve been waiting to photograph this dress for a couple of months now. Why hasn’t it made it to the blog sooner?

UM. DO YOU SEE HOW SHORT IT IS?

I KNOW I just made like short short short BUTTCHEEK shorts, but shorts and a full-skirted dress are two entirely different beasts, if you will. I just can’t feel comfortable in a big skirt that only needs the slightest gust of wind to expose even more leg, you know? So I had to wait, and figure out my undergarment situation. And also buy a new bra – you can’t tell too much in these pictures because I’m wearing a strapless, but the straps are pushed way more toward the center than a standard bra. This means you cannot wear a bra with straps with this dress – the straps end up side-by-side. I needed a new strapless bra anyway, but man.

Anyway, back to the dress! It IS pretty cute – I love the nauticalness, and it looks equally good with bright yellow (or even brown!). It has pockets, as evidenced by me not taking my hands out of them at all. The quality is acceptable – nothing terrible, but nothing groundbreaking either. The back has elastic to accommodate more sizes (which honestly, kind of drives me crazy. If this is made-to-size, then why do you need elastic?). You can’t really see in these pictures, but there are some sweet tucks and covered buttons at the bodice. CUTE.

I do NOT understand how this dress came out so short, to be honest. I’m 5’2″ – I don’t think I’ve ever had an issue with a dress being too short on me. On my last dress, I requested that the hemline hit above the knee – and it’s knee-length on me (figures). So for this round, I chose “short dress.” And woohoooeeeooo is this dude short!

So what do you do with a too-short dress that can’t be let out at the hemline and cannot have length added (thank, stripes!)?

You make matching bloomers and pretend like it’s a playsuit set!

(Oh god, this picture is probably going to end up in sooo many Flickr spank-banks, ughh, the things I do for you guys haha)

Remember these? These are the Madeleine mini-bloomers, a free download from Colette patterns. Yep, free! I love these things and I knew they would go perfectly under this dress – the skirt is full enough where the bloomers don’t add bulk, and they’re cute enough where I don’t mind a wind situation now.

I used a remnant from my local fabric store, and pretty navy/red ribbon to tie it in with the dress.

I love the way the elastic looks at the waistline – and it’s sooo comfortable. Like wearing pajamas. I totally wear these are pajamas, btw.

Pretty sweet, huh?

I’m still not totally sure on my feels for eShakti at this time. They definitely need to add a skirt length measurement in the dress descriptions, because that would help when determining how much to shorten or lengthen if you are customizing. At least the sizing is much better this time – which I consider a personal victory with the size of my bust vs ribcage. So yay for that, I guess!

~*~Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this post, although I did receive a sample to review & keep. All opinions on this product are my own.

Tags: dress, eShakti, review

Comments 48 Comments
Categories misc

Completed: Rite of Spring Short-Shorts

6 May

Wooohoooo y’all, Katie was NOT kidding when she described this pattern as “Pin-up style shorty shorts.” These puppies are SHORT.

‘Scuze my white legs. Sorry not sorry.

These are the Rite of Spring shorts from Papercut Patterns and I am 1000% in LOVE with them. I couldn’t imagine how they were going to turn out based on the pattern art and photos – in some ways, they kind of look like underwear, almost – but having made them, I do they think they are definitely just like those pin-up style shorts that we are always gawking over in Time Magazine photos or whatever.

Just be sure you’re ok with showing a LOT of leg because, well, they’s short.

I cut these in the very smallest size – XXS – and shaved an extra 1/4″ off each seam to get a close fit. That’s it! I am actually surprised – and DELIGHTED – at how well these fit straight out of the package, especially considering how much trauma I went though to get my Clovers to fit. I was expecting to have to mess with the crotch length, the depth, the rise, all that shit – but they’re pretty perfect. So yay!

I have so many favorite parts about this pattern, I don’t think I can just narrow one thing down. I love the curved side seams that make your waist look half the size it actually is. Piping is optional – but if you’re making these, I strongly encourage the piping, especially if you’re working with a busy fabric.

I love how the back curves down too – for a little extra butt coverage. I think my very very favorite thing is that the back hem is actually faced with self-fabric – so if it flips up, you still see the right side. I mean, I might be showing asscheek or whatever but GOD FORBID you see the wrong side of the fabric amirite 😉

Oh, and the rise is super high – like past the belly button high – so these are totally suitable to wear with crop-tops.

And look at how the hem flips out on the sides! DARLING, JUST DARLING.

Putting these together was surprisingly quick and easy. There are only a 4 pieces, and even with the piping and the zipper I still had them done within a couple of hours. They also just use the tiniest scrap of fabric (I mean, duh, they’re tiny as it is – but sometimes shorts suck up a surprising amount of fabric, you know?). I should’ve measured, but I think I used something like half or 5/8 yard. The fabric is actually leftover from my Miette Wrap Skirt, and the piping is leftover bias binding from my Blue Lace Robson Trench.

The pattern calls for an invisible zipper in the back, but I was in major stash-bust mode so I subbed in a lapped zipper. I think an invisible zipper would definitely look nicer, but this isn’t so bad!

I’ll confess, I was hesitant about adding a zipper right up the middle of that back seam because I wasn’t sure if it would backfire and look terrible. I don’t think it does, though – it’s totally inconspicuous!

I didn’t do the best job of putting these together, as they’re more so a wearable muslin (oh you just wait and see what I have planned for this pattern…), but I think they’ll actually get a lot of wear during Me-Made-May! Polka dot shorty shorts, yay!

Here you can sort of see the polka-dot piping. Unfortunately, my fabric had the polka dots printed so that they kind of don’t show up on the bias strips… so my piping is only half-assed polka dots. Oh well!

If you’re lurking on this pattern as hard as I was, be aware that Papercut Patterns is currently offering free worldwide shipping. HOT DAMN, Y’ALL. Butt shorts for everyone! 😀

Tags: completed, Mood Fabrics, papercut patterns, pin-up, Rite of Spring shorts, shorts, who wears short shorts

Comments 82 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Me Made May ’13 – Week 1 Round-up

3 May

First off, thank you SO MUCH for the lovely comments on my lace trench yesterday! SHUCKS, Y’ALL. You sure know how to make a girl feel special 😉

Now, let’s round up the first week of Me-Made-May! I know, it’s not a full proper week… but I like to do my round-ups on Friday, soooo deal with it.

5/1
Dress: Cake Patterns Tiramisu
Cardigan: Miette
Shoes: Nine West
I spent most of this day sitting in a car (on my first ever ~business trip~ woohoo), so I opted for something comfortable that wouldn’t wrinkle. As a side note, those 4+ hours as a passenger meant I got a LOT of knitting done. Expect a sweater post sooner than later, ha.
Also, welcome to the ugly side of my sewing room.

5/2
Tshirt: Sewaholic Renfrew
Skirt: Vogue 8317
Belt: Banana Republic
Shoes: Thrifted (yes, I’m totally gross and I thrift shoes, DGAF)
I need to find more ways to wear this skirt, because every time I do I get SO many compliments on it (usually in the form of, “Oh, I love that skirt… OMG I LOVE THE BACK!!!!” haha). I think it would be really fun paired with navy, or even teal.

5/3
Top: Papercut Patterns La Sylphide
Jeans: Imogene+Willie
Shoes: Keds
(not shown: Sewaholic Patterns Minorou jacket)
These jeans are my one piece of “cheat” clothing. MMM is all about focusing on wearing, well, me-mades, but let’s be real here – these are my only pair of jeans (yep!) and May is most likely the very last month I’m going to be able to wear them before it gets too hot for the summer. Considering I paid a shit ton of money for them and I love the everloving shit outta them, I decided the jeans are my free pass as long as the rest of the outfit is LT-made. I mean… they are handmade, just by someone else. That counts, right? 🙂
Also, it’s cold today and I wanted to wear pants. So there.

So that’s that! A short week of Me Made May; next Friday should be a little more interesting 🙂

Now, let’s talk about the new Vogue patterns that just came out.

They are actually pretty boring, sad to say 😦 Like a good 3/4 of them look exactly like patterns that were released last season, or the season before… just different fabrics and/or models. I do want to point out that whoever they have modeling with the red hair is a TOTAL BABE.

Vogue 1354
Am I right? BABE CITY USA.
I don’t even notice the ridic poses because I’m too busy being jealous THAT I DON’T LOOK LIKE THAT.

Then there’s this:

Vogue 8900
It’s… interesting. Definitely not a style that many people can pull off (both waist cut-outs AND a top that can barely accommodate a bra), but I don’t think pattern companies necessarily need to make stuff that flatters *everyone*, you know? I’ll give them credit for being interesting, and ignore all those seams that are screaming to be pressed.

Then these happened:

Vogue 8913
I think we’ve reached a breaking point with these unnecessary buttflaps.

Vogue 8914
Everything about this is just unfortunate.

Vogue 8895
Someone please tell me in what world this dress would be considered flattering?! Her head looks so tiny in comparison!

Vogue 8897
Hideously unflattering tunic aside (which, I might add, is eerily similar to this previous hideously unflattering tunic) it appears that their iron must have exploded during the making of this since NOTHING is pressed. Just looking at that hem is making my eye twitch.

The rest of the patterns are so boring, they put me to sleep. Actually, that’s a great idea. I’m going to print them out and bind them in a little book for the next time I am dealing with insomnia. Thanks, Vogue!

Tags: are you serious with this shit, Me Made May '13, omg wtf lol, vogue

Comments 43 Comments
Categories Me Made May

Completed: The Blue Lace Robson (!!!)

2 May

Ok folks, here ya go – big reveal time!

LOOK THAT GORGEOUS BLUE TRENCH COAT.

JUST LOOK AT IT.

For the full nitty-gritty of this project, see my posts part 1 and part 2 for the making of.

If you just want quick facts, here ya go! The pattern is the Robson Coat by Sewaholic Patterns. I cut a size 2 at the shoulders/neckline, graded out to a 4 at the bust, and then down to a 0 at the waist/hips. I removed about 3″ of length from the bottom, and about 1″ of length from the sleeves.

Both of the main fabrics are from Mood – the blue lace for the top (and yeah, sorry, but I bought the last of it! HA!), and the cotton sateen underlining. The polka dot batiste I used for the bias stripes came from my local fabric store. I’m sure Mood had something perfect in the store, but it’s hard to color-match from several states away (and if you were wondering… I had one of the employees help me pick the underlining to make sure I had the right color).

Fair warning: this coat eats up a LOT of fabric! Not the full 6 yards as suggested by the pattern envelope (at least not in my size!), but I still wouldn’t recommend this for a very expensive fabric unless you are just really really in love and willing to deal with the cost. I spent about $175 on materials for this coat – that includes the blue lace, the navy underlining, the polka dots that I used for the bias strips, the interfacing, the thread, and the buttons. Yes, part of this *was* subsidized for Mood as part of the Mood Sewing Network, but I still had to pay quite a bit out of pocket. I’m not saying it’s not worth it – because it isssssss – but be forewarned that this coat can get very very expensive, very fast.

Still, it’s a helluva lot cheaper than that $2000 Burberry trench I see floating around Pinterest. Forreal!

Plus, it’s not a boring neutral color. That fucker is BLUE.

Anyway, I used a little under 4 yards of 54″ wide fabric to cut the coat. Keep in mind that I did shorten the length (and my ONLY regret is that I shortened at the hem instead of at the waist because the pockets are a bit low. Oh well! I don’t use pockets that much anyway). My cotton sateen was 50″ and I used about 4.5 yards of that. For the bias tape, I bought 2/3 yard of 45″ fabric and made my own 1/2″ tape…. I did not use the whole 2/3 of the yard, as I stopped when I got to 20 yards. I did however, end up using about 15 yards of the stuff to bind my seams. I know the envelope calls for less than that, buy an extra package if you’re unsure!

I can wear the lapels up or folded down. Which one do you like better?

Here it is open. Omg I felt like such a flasher taking that picture, ha!

Ok, I’m running out of things to say so here’s a picture dump.

I could not be more thrilled with my finished coat – all the workings of a classic trench, but sewn up in a beautiful (and colorful!) lace! Yes!!

Special thanks to my friend Jenna for taking these gorgeous pictures (oh yeah, you didn’t think I took these, did ya? :)) and capturing our beautiful city in the background. She is the best, and if you don’t already follow her you are SORELY missing out. Also, sorry not sorry for the picture overload… I’m just elated, ok!?