Me-Made-May 2014: Days 26-31

This is it for Me-Made-May! It's gone by really quickly, and I've really enjoyed participating (although it's nice to be able to wear some of my favourite RTW/thrifted clothing again, without having to figure out how to pair it with something me-made). Here's my outfits from the past week, and within the next few days I'll do a round-up post with some photo outtakes... just for fun.

Monday, May 25

Shirt: Thrifted (Armani Exchange)

Skirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Hollyburn, pre-blog)

Tights: Hue

Boots: Steve Madden

This top was one I found for $10 at a thrift store... a little pricey by thrift store standards, but it is an expensive brand, and it fits me quite well. It's a cotton/nylon/spandex blend that's a lot more comfortable to wear than a lot of poly/cotton shirting fabrics.

Looking back at these photos, it definitely needed a press before taking them. Oh well!

Tuesday, May 27

Camisole: RTW (Dynamite)

Bolero: Mom-made

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Tights: Hue

Boots: Steve Madden

Pretty much an outfit repeat, but with a different (but very similar) camisole. When my mom drafted the camisole that I wore with this outfit before, she modeled it after this one and used a remnant that we bought that happened to be pretty much exactly the same colour. This one is getting really worn out (it was really cheap, and I bought it a few years ago), so I don't mind having two camisoles that look practically the same.

Wednesday, May 28

Shirt: Me-made (self-drafted, pre-blog)

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Hoodie: RTW (Maha Devi)

Sandals: Orthaheel

Again, not my best day... although I don't particularly like this top, this is becoming one of my go-to outfits this May. I think I need to sew a little more with knits, because I clearly wear them a lot!

I actually didn't wear the hoodie most of the day... but by the time I took pictures, it had cooled off a bit.

Thursday, May 29

Shirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, modified)

Cardigan: Thrifted (Cynthia Rowley)

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Tights: Hue

Boots: Steve Madden

By this point, I was getting a little bored with taking daily photos, so I was trying to have a little more fun with them! 

Friday, May 30

Dress: Me-made (Sewaholic Cambie)

Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)

Sandals: Orthaheel

I realized on this day that I still hadn't worn one of my favourite me-mades, my first Cambie dress! It was a little cooler today still, so I needed the cardigan, but I really like it with this dress. This cardigan goes with everything! I feel like I want to knit a cropped cardigan in every colour of the rainbow now.

Saturday, May 31

Camisole: Mom-made (self-drafted)

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Cardigan: RTW (Line for Mendocino)

Sandals: Orthaheel

I think I've worn this skirt more than anything else this month! I think I really need to sew some more summery skirts, because I obviously wear them a lot, and this is really my only one. All my other skirts are black, and don't feel very summery!

So that's it for Me-Made-May 2014! I really enjoyed participating, but I'm kind of glad that it's done. It's been really interesting to keep track of what I wear, and I've learned a lot about what works for me and what doesn't. Stay tuned for one last post!

If you participated in MMM, how did it go?

Me-Made-May 2014: Days 19-25

Wow, May went by so quickly! This is my last post to catch up on photos, then I'll do one last one with days 26-31, and then some sort of round-up post (with some photo outtakes... I have some pretty good ones with all the photos I've been taking)!

Monday, May 19

Camisole: Mom-made (self-drafted)

Hoodie: RTW (Maha Devi)

Pants: RTW (Lucy)

...not my best day! I had the day off school, so I forgot to take a photo again (I remember when I have school, because it's part of my routine now! I get home, have a snack, take a picture). 

Tuesday, May 20

Camisole: Mom-made (self-drafted)

Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Shoes: Consignment (Hego's)

Not much to say about this one, besides the fact that the look of these shoes worn with skirts is growing on me. What can I say? Comfort wins.

Wednesday, May 21

Blouse: Me-made (Sewaholic Alma)

Jeans: Consignment (CJ by Cookie Johnson)

Shoes: Consignment (Hego's)

I tried something different today, and wore this blouse with a camisole underneath. I find that it rides up a little (I think the darts need to be raised a bit), and I thought that wearing something underneath would help... but nope! It actually made it much, much worse - it was so wrinkly all day, and I was constantly pulling at it. It only looks decent in this photo because I had just pulled it down!

Thursday, May 22

Blouse: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, pre-blog)

Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)

Jeans: Consignment (CJ by Cookie Johnson)

Belt: RTW (can't remember the brand)

Shoes: Consignment (Hego's)

Not much to say about this one, again. I really love this blouse when I wear it, and I'm glad that MMM has forced me to wear it a bit more!

Friday, May 23

Dress: Me-made

Here's a sneak peak of my finished grad dress! This was "grad day", although oddly, I still have a couple weeks of school left, then exams. My valedictory ceremony isn't until the end of June.

I'll save the rest of the photos for another post! I was so happy with the finished dress, and I can't wait to show it off.

Saturday, May 24

Dress: Me-made (Sewaholic Cambie)

Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)

Shoes: Consignment (Hego's)

This was a strange day... dry grad, the event after the banquet, went until 5 am, and once I got home, I didn't go to bed until after 6:30. I only slept about 4 hours, but I was so awake and full of energy the whole day. Even so, I forgot to take a picture! I only remembered in the evening, when I went to see my friend in a musical (she was fabulous, by the way), but I didn't want to bother while I was out. Oh well! This was just my outfit from day 1 with different shoes.

Sunday, May 25

Shirt: Me-made (self-drafted, pre-blog)

Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Tights: Hue

Boots: Steve Madden

This was another lazy, rainy day - my lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me. 

As I said, May has gone by really quickly! It's been really interesting keeping track of what I've actually been wearing, and trying to wear my me-mades in new and interesting ways. I've already started planning way, way ahead of myself with all my new ideas for things to sew... but that's another story.

Me-Made-May 2014: Days 12-18

I'm finally catching up on my photos! I'll try to keep the comments short on these ones and let the pictures speak for themselves.

Monday, May 12

Blouse: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, pre-blog)

Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)

Skirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Hollyburn, pre-blog)

Tights: Hue

Shoes: Thrifted (Arnold Churgin)

I have to comment on this one, though, because I LOVE this outfit. The blouse is made from vintage rayon that once belonged to my great grandmother, and every time I wear it, I remember how much I love it. I just don't wear it very much because it's fussy to iron! It's View B, the one with the ruffles, although you can't see them in this photo.

Can I also point out that these are the most comfortable heels I've ever worn? I bought them at a thrift store for $10, and though that's a little more than I would usually pay at a thrift store, they're handmade in Italy and look barely worn. After wearing them a bit, I'm sold! They are so, so comfortable.

Tuesday, May 13

Camisole: Mom-made (self-drafted)

Cardigan: RTW (Line for Mendocino)

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Shoes: Consignment (Hego's)

I'm now calling this skirt "me-modified", as per my mom's suggestion. I just can't justify calling it refashioned when I all I did was chop off the top and make an elastic casing.

You'll also be seeing a lot of these shoes this May! They are also handmade in Italy (though the brand is Polish, I believe), and they are the softest leather ever. I don't love the look of them with a skirt, but it's growing on me.

Wednesday, May 14

Blouse: Me-made (Sewaholic Alma)

Jeans: Consignment (CJ by Cookie Johnson)

Sandals: Orthaheel

Although I love this top, it really only gets worn when it's really warm out, since it's hard to layer over. I think it went up to 24 degrees this day, though, so it was perfect weather for it!

Thursday, May 15

Shirt: Me-made (self-drafted, pre-blog)

Skirt: RTW, me-modified

Cardigan (not needed by the time I took pictures): Consignment (Jackpot)

Shoes: Orthaheel

This skirt is proving to be really versatile! With the weather so warm, I haven't been getting as much wear out of my favourite black skirts as I normally would. I never thought I would go for two floral patterns in one outfit, but I actually quite like how this looks!

Friday, May 16

Camisole: Mom-made (self-drafted)
Cardigan: RTW (Dynamite)
Skirt: RTW, me-modified
Sandals: Orthaheel

I had a dress rehearsal for my dance performance today, and forgot to take a photo until after I had done my hair and makeup... whoops! It's funny though, in photos the stage makeup doesn't look over-the-top at all, but it definitely does in real life!

Saturday, May 17

Shirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, modified)

Hoodie: RTW (Maha Devi)

Pants: RTW (lululemon)

Shoes: Orthaheel

I had two dance performances this day, so I completely forgot to take a picture! I pretty much wore dance gear with a me-made knit top rather than a workout top, because I had to change into dance clothes anyways to go to my performance.

Sunday, May 18

Shirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, modified)
Hoodie: RTW (Maha Devi)
Pants: RTW (Lucy)
Shoes: Orthaheel

Another day of performing, so another lazy day when it came to clothes. It was the first day this month that I resorted to sweatpants, and it's quite an accomplishment that I went that long without them - usually I live in sweatpants when I'm at home (which no one will actually believe, based on what I wear to school).

That's it for today! I haven't completely given up on taking pictures, I promise. It's been getting harder to come up with new outfits, but I like the challenge, and I can't believe that May is almost over!

Oh and, for more photos, have a look at my flickr. I'm trying to get a bit better at taking photos with my tripod and timer, so I've been taking lots, although only 2-3 make it online. MMM has also been great for improving my photos!

Me-Made-May 2014: Days 6-11

So, I've managed to fall really behind on posting pictures! Here's some MMM pictures from earlier this month. 

Tuesday, May 6

Shirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, modified)
Cardigan: Thrifted (Nicole Bridger)
Skirt: RTW, somewhat refashioned
Tights: Hue
Boots: Steve Madden

I actually quite like this colour combination, although I never though I would have until I tried it last week (when I was looking for something me-made to wear with my yoga pants and a comfy cardigan...). 

This cardigan is possibly one of my favourites. It's 100% alpaca wool, by a local designer, and made in a fair trade factory in Peru. I bought it at a thrift store for $3.50, and although it had obviously shrunk in places, I managed to block it back into shape quite easily. 

The skirt was made from a dress that was too short, but it works as a skirt (although it's still a little shorter than I like my skirts).

Although I'm getting a fair bit of wear out of this shirt, it's far from perfect. I've barely worn it at all since making it, and it's already quite pilled. It's also tighter than I would like it - in this picture you can see how much it's pulling at the bust. I wanted this to be pretty much exactly my body measurements, but it ended up having a fair bit of negative ease, especially at the bust and hips, which means it pulls at the bust and rides up. I just can't seem to figure out these knits!

Wednesday, May 7

Camisole: Mom-made (self-drafted)
Bolero: Mom-made (Vogue V8673, heavily modified)
Skirt: RTW, somewhat refashioned
Tights: Hue
Boots: Steve Madden

There's not all that much to say about this outfit that I haven't said in other posts... I talked a bit about the bolero in the post on my grad boat cruise outfit, and I've already talked about the camisole and the skirt.

It's funny though - in that post, I said that I wear that bolero quite a bit, but I don't think I've worn it since! I love the style, but I haven't worn it all winter because it's not as warm as wool (it's double knit, probably rayon/poly, with polyester satin lining). Now that it's warmer, I don't really like the feel of the polyester satin next to my skin, which is too bad, because it's super cute! 

Thursday, May 8

Sweater: Thrifted (Marisa Christina)
Skirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Hollyburn, pre-blog)
Scarf: Me-made (pre-blog)
Tights: Smartwool
Boots: Steve Madden

I love this sweater - it's 100% Italian merino wool, and I bought it for $7, I think. The scarf is a simple infinity scarf made from some yarn (of questionable fiber content) that I bought on sale. It was my knitting project when I was recovering from having my wisdom teeth out, so it's not particularly well made. I realized about 10 rounds in that there was a twist in it but didn't want to redo it all, and the cast-on and cast-off are far too tight. Oh well, it's cute and comfy... perfect for those lazy, rainy days like this one.

Friday, May 9

Shirt: Me-made (self-drafted, pre-blog)
Cardigan: Thrifted (Cynthia Rowley)
Skirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Hollyburn, pre-blog)
Tights: Smartwool
Boots: Steve Madden

This is another colour combination that I never would have thought of, but I really like! It was supposed to be cold and rainy this day (although it wasn't, as you can see), so I wanted to wear this cardigan (another one of my favourites, 100% cashmere and bought for $7), but needed something me-made to go with it, since I was originally planning on wearing it with jeans. I changed at the last minute, and wore it with this skirt, which I like a lot more. I also originally wore this untucked with a pin at the waist, but halfway through the day decided to tuck it in instead. It makes the skirt a little snug, but I find it more flattering this way.

Saturday, May 10

Shirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, pre-blog)
Skirt: RTW, somewhat refashioned
Tights: Hue
Socks: Gifted (handknit)

I decided that I would force myself to wear something half decent this day, even though I stayed at home all day. The shirt is horrible to wear, but I figured I should try to wear it at least once during MMM to see if I could find a better way to wear it, but... nope. It still feels like cheap, yucky polyester.

I realized that my socks don't go with the outfit at all, but they're so cozy that I didn't really care. 

Sunday, May 11

Dress: Me-made (Sewaholic Cambie)
Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)
Shoes: Orthaheel
Bag: Mom-made

This was Mother's Day, so we went for a picnic! We originally planned on going to the beach, but it was so crowded that we couldn't even get near it, so we went to a nearby park instead, which turned out to be a great photo spot. The weather was gorgeous again, so perfect for this dress, and after walking around for a bit while my dad made lunch, I didn't even need my cardigan. 

That's it for photos this time! Thanks for reading!

Me-Made-May 2014: My Pledge and Days 1-5

Surprise! After nearly two months of blogging inactivity, I'm back! I've been busy sewing and have lots of posts lined up once I have some time to edit photos.

First, though, is Me-Made-May! I made my pledge on the sign-up post on So, Zo at the last minute, and never had the chance to blog about it. My pledge is:

I, Shannon of Adventures of a Young Seamstress, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '14. I will endeavour to wear at least one me-made/mom-made/refashioned garment each day for the duration of May 2014. 

To clarify what I mean by refashioned, I mean refashions where I completely re-worked the fabric into something different. The irony? I don't actually have anything like this in my wardrobe at the moment. I do, however, have lots of garments like this planned, so I wanted to include them in my pledge in case I get around to doing any of them before the end of May.

I decided that my somewhat reworked or altered clothing, as well as thrifted clothing, would be a bonus, but not something I would include in my pledge, since that's pretty much all I wear anyways, and I wanted to push myself.

So... let the MMM'14 photos begin! I've split up my photos so far into a few posts, to keep each post a little shorter. Hopefully by the end of this weekend, I'll be caught up in my posts.

Thursday, May 1

Dress: Me-made (Sewaholic Cambie)
Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)
Shoes: Hand-me-downs from a family friend (Naturalizer)

The weather was unusually warm for the start of May! In fact, this was the first day this year that I didn't wear tights. I thought it was the perfect occasion to show off one of my favourite ever me-mades!

I also love this cardigan... you'll be seeing a lot of it this month, trust me! It's angora and quite a bit shorter than the rest of my cardigans, so it looks way better with skirts and dresses, but it's still super cozy. (I didn't actually wear it for more than about 5 minutes today, and took most of my photos with it off, but none of them looked that great.)

On a side note, looking back at my first post about this dress, I just realized how much my hair has grown! Funny how you don't even notice these things until you look back at old photos. 

Friday, May 2

Shirt: Me-made (self-drafted, unblogged)
Skirt: RTW, somewhat refashioned 
Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)
Purse: Mom-made
Shoes: Orthaheel

This was the day of my band trip to Whistler! We went up there for a music festival, and it was beautiful! (Yes, I was wearing a skirt and sandals, in Whistler, in May.) Unfortunately, I couldn't stay for the whole weekend because something else came up, but I was able to be there for our performance and spend the day in the village. 

I forgot to take a photo specifically for this outfit, but I thought I would include this photo because there's a story behind it. This is my friend Shannon - we call ourselves Shannon Squared. And the waterfall? It's called Shannon Falls... so this is picture is of Shannon Cubed.

This shirt is one I made ages ago (I wore it in this post), and it's seen better days. It was super cheap material to start with, and it's now really pilled and stretched out of shape. It's an easy shirt to just throw on, though, so I wear it a fair bit. The skirt used to be a dress, but it got too short, so I made it into a skirt (although it's getting a bit short again, only now there's not much I can do about it). The cardigan is the same as yesterday's (I told you you'd be seeing it a lot...), and the bag is one that my mom made me as a gift a couple years ago. It's my go-to purse (especially with tendinitis), since it fits a lot but doesn't get in the way.

Saturday, May 3

Camisole: Mom-made (self-drafted)
Skirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Hollyburn, unblogged)
Cardigan: Consignment (Jackpot)
Tights: Hue
Boots: Steve Madden

The weather turned chilly and rainy again that day - I took this photo during 5 dry minutes. 

There's not all that much to say about this outfit... the skirt was made pre-blog, but I've worn it in this post and mentioned it in my year-end round-up as well. 

This camisole is another one of those items that is far from perfect, but gets worn all the time. Camisoles just don't seem to work for my body - I have to pin them to my bra straps to stop them from falling down, and shortening the straps only causes them to ride up in the back.

Oh, and I didn't even notice that I wore this cardigan three days in a row until I looked at these photos. Oh well. I honestly see no problem with wearing the same stuff multiple days in a row, and I don't usually even notice when I do.

Sunday, May 4

Shirt: Me-made (Sewaholic Pendrell, heavily modified)
Cardigan: Thrifted (Nicole Bridger)
Pants: RTW (Lululemon)
Socks: Gifted, handknit

I'm almost ashamed to post this picture. Why? Well... yoga pants.

These are my "weekend clothes". If anyone from school saw this, they probably wouldn't even believe it... I don't think I've worn yoga pants to school (or in public) since grade 9. 

I was hoping that MMM might be motivation to wear somewhat nicer clothes on weekends, but I was sick and tired this day, and it was rainy and cold (hence the indoor picture). So, yoga pants.

Monday, May 5

Dress: Me-made (Colette Ceylon)
Tights: Smartwool
Boots: Steve Madden

I'll add one more photo to this post than I was originally planning, just so that I end on a positive note. 

It was still cool that day (but sunny), so it was the perfect time to wear my wool dress! I love this dress so much, and I wish it were better suited to the weather we're having now, so that I could still wear it for MMM!

Also, this photo shows the colour way better than my original post. It's so much more vivid than it looked in the first batch of photos!





















I'll end there today, because I've run out of time to write. I'll try to get the rest of my photos up this weekend, and then keep up with them a little bit better.

Are you participating in Me-Made-May? How is your challenge going?