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?

The Grad Dress, Part III: The Wearable Muslin, and Advice Needed!

Even though I made a muslin for my grad dress, I wanted to try making the dress once before making it in expensive silk. I'm so glad I did! Although this is perfectly wearable, there was a lot that didn't go all that well, and I have a much better idea of how to sew it now.

It just so happened that I had my consultation for my grad hair the day after I finished this dress, so it was the perfect time to take photos!

Since my hair was done up, I decided I might as well style the dress like I will my grad dress. The necklace, the earrings, the shoes, and the bolero are all the ones that I'll be wearing for grad. This bolero is my latest thrift store find - $7 for 70% angora! It's pretty much identical in style to the 50's pattern that I was going to use for a bolero to go with this dress!

(Ignore the hanger marks that it has in these photos... those will steam out.)

I'm also wearing two crinolines in these photos! Neither are super full, and looking at these photos, it barely looks like I'm wearing one at all, let alone two! I might look into buying (or making?) a bigger one to wear with the real dress, but I'll wait until I'm done the dress itself and see how much time I have.

Anyways, about the dress. First of all, I really overestimated the amount of fabric I would need for this pattern, so I looked for the cheapest fabric that I could find without resorting to anything too synthetic.

I decided on a dark red leaf-print quilting cotton, which is definitely better suited to fall than summer, but it was the only print that wasn't completely overwhelming on me, and I wanted to use a print to hide mistakes! 

It cost around $6 or $7 per metre from the same discount fabric store where I bought the wool for my Ceylon dress.

In the end, I only used 4.5 metres of the 6 metres that I bought, and that was after the cotton shrunk to less than 40" wide. Now I wish I'd bought higher quality fabric!

Everything went pretty well - even the underarm gussets, which are horrible and finicky to sew - until I finished the upper bodice and tried it on. It was huge! I couldn't figure out why it had turned out so differently, because it should have been identical to my muslin!

My mom pointed out that the way the pattern piece is cut, the bottom edge of the front that's not pleated ends up on the bias. Not only that, but the crosswise grain of the fabric had quite a bit of give as well - it almost feels as if it has spandex in it.

So, after cursing my fabric choice, I took in the darts. They're not the perfect shape anymore, but they'll do. I did have enough fabric to re-cut the whole upper bodice, but I really didn't want to re-do my gussets.

I also stay-stitched around the bottom of the upper bodice, and along the top of all the midriff/skirt sections, to prevent more stretching. On the real thing, I'll stay-stitch all my pieces before doing anything, although I don't think I'll have too much of a problem with the silk - the crosswise grain seems as strong as the lengthwise grain, and the bias isn't as stretchy either.

After I figured out the issues with stretching, I didn't have any more problems until the zipper.

But oh my goodness... the zipper. This was by far the most difficult zipper insertion I've ever done, and not all that happy with how it turned out. As 1950's instructions will, the instructions say: "Sew zipper according to instructions on zipper package".

This wouldn't normally be a problem for me, since I've put in enough zippers to be comfortable enough with them. But... this one starts at the side seam, and curves into the seam that attaches the side back panel to the godet. I knew this beforehand, but I didn't realize quite how awkward it would be until I actually got to that step. 

I decided on a lapped zipper, which is my favourite technique to use. I probably spent about 15 minutes just trying to figure out how to start. Once I did, it wasn't too bad until I realized that I'd attached the zipper onto the wrong side, so my lap would be facing the wrong way! I debated about just leaving it as-is, since this is a wearable muslin after all, but I decided that it would really bother me, so I ripped it out and started over.

It could have been worse, but there are some puckers where the zipper curves, and the underside of the lap has some raw edges exposed. Also, since it curves to the back, the lap flips forward quite a bit. As a quick fix, I sewed on some hooks to the underside of the lap, and made some thread loops for them. It's not perfect, but it's better.

Next time, I will sew the zipper much earlier on in the construction of the dress. I think that'll make it a little easier to manage, but I still need to fix the problem of the lap flipping forwards.

This was my first time hemming a skirt this full (it ends up as full as a circle skirt, or maybe even a little fuller). To ease in the edge, I used the differential feed on my serger, which worked well on a sample piece, but on the skirt itself, it barely gathered it at all. I figured that I could just gather the serging a bit more by hand, but there was far too much hem t be able to gather it all at once. 

Instead of doing the sensible thing and just sewing some lines of gathering stitches, I cut the serging at a couple points so that I could gather it. This is far from ideal, because there's now a couple un-serged parts. I just covered them in Fray Check and tied off the threads that I pulled.

For the real thing, I will hem by hand, but for this one, I used a blind hem on a machine. 

It's not the best hem, because by this point I just wanted to be done this dress. I could have done a much better job with the blind hem, but I didn't really care all that much because I knew that it would get lost in the print anyways.

I also pinked all the seams (except for the hem), which was a first for me! I bought a pinking rotary blade just to try it out, and I love the simplicity and efficiency of it.

I won't go into detail about any of the other construction details, because I'll cover them all in more detail for the real dress. Overall, I'm happy with this. It's far from perfect but perfectly wearable.

It's also the most comfortable dress that I've sewn to date! The underarm gussets and the weird sleeves that are kimono sleeves in the front and set-in sleeves in the back are so comfortable and allow for way more movement without straining the seams or the fabric.

I'm so glad I made this as a trial run, because there's a lot of things I'll do differently on the real dress because they really didn't work so well.

For the zipper, I'm considering an invisible zipper. I haven't used one since the disastrous one in this dress, but there's no bulk at the waist on this one because there's no waist seam, just a diagonal seam attaching the godet. It also has a reasonable enough amount of ease (about 1 1/2") that I think I could probably get away with it... but I'm not sure yet.

Update: If I do a lapped zipper, I'll hand-pick it. I usually do, but I knew the stitching would barely show on this and I didn't want to bother with handstitching. That will make it a little easier to manage, but probably won't solve the problem of it flipping forwards.

For the hem, I don't really know what to do. I think I'll probably reduce the hem allowance (it was 2") so that I don't have to ease it quite as much. Other than that, I don't really know what's best. I'm considering using a hem facing, or even horsehair braid (actually, this is what I'm leaning towards... I love the volume that this gives a skirt). I'll do it by hand, so I don't want to do a narrow hem.

So... here's where I need your advice! Should I find a better way to do the lapped zipper, or should I try an invisible one? And what would be the best way to hem this?

If you missed one of my previous posts about my grad dress, here they are:

Part 1: Choosing a Pattern
Part 2: Muslins 1 and 2

Dress: Me-made, Vogue S-4727 (vintage)
Shoes: Vintage (thrifted)
Necklace and earrings: My grandmother's
Crinolines: both vintage
Bolero: Thrifted

The Grad Dress, Part II: Muslins 1 and 2

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted anything. Up until a couple weeks ago, I hadn't really sewn much since Christmas break... yikes! 

When I was planning for making my grad dress, I wanted to have started it by March. This would give me 3 months to sew it, including spring break. 

It was a good plan, but I haven't even finished my wearable muslin yet. 

The past couple months have been pretty hectic. I've been working on all my university applications as well as a few other applications for scholarships and special programs, and my workload at school was pretty crazy. It seemed like every time I would think I'd be able to sew, I'd be given another essay to write, or another test to study for. With my tendinitis on top of that, I haven't really sewn much since winter break.

Thankfully, all my university applications are done now, and I've finished enough scholarship applications that future ones shouldn't be too difficult.

At least I did manage to get my muslins done over the break, so I'm on the right track. It's now spring break, and my arms are feeling better than ever, so I'm hoping to make some real progress soon.

After I found my pattern, I knew I would have to work on sizing it down. It was a size 14, and according to the sizing chart, I was approximately a size 10. 

But... I had no idea where to even start with sizing down this pattern. The pieces were just such strange shapes that it was hard to believe that they would even come together to make a dress. So, I decided to just make a muslin of the upper part out of some stash fabric, just to see if I could pinch out the excess.

As you can see, that wouldn't have really worked. This thing was just too big everywhere. I was dreading having to figure out how to size it down... and then my mom had the idea to size it down using a photocopier. You can scale down pictures and pretty much anything else, why not patterns?

We googled it, we found this post. It can be done! I traced all the pattern pieces, and then sent my mom off to photocopy them for me... thanks, Mom!

I reduced them to 90%, which is a little small on purpose. I was debating whether I should reduce it to my high bust measurement (87%) or my actual bust measurement (93%). My high bust measurement makes for a better fit through the shoulders and back, but I really, really didn't want to have to do a FBA on this. With all those pleats, I wouldn't even know where to start. I ended up reducing it by 90%, in the hopes that it would be small enough to fit through the shoulders and back, but big enough that I could avoid a FBA.

Luckily, this worked really well!

The fit of this second muslin was spot on... I was amazed.

I've never sewn anything straight out of the envelope before. I was simply blown away by the fit. I couldn't have picked a better pattern!

Next, I sewed up the middle section, down to about 4 inches below the waist, including 6 mini-godets. The waist ended up being a smidge too tight, but I knew it would be because I would have only needed to size it down 92% at the waist. I added on about a 1/2" , distributed over 6 seams, so all in all that was a really minor alteration.

The only other thing I did was to shorten the front pieces just a bit right under the bust - you can probably see how they bunch up a little in the picture above.

I'm so happy with the fit! I'm currently working on my trial run (a wearable muslin, if you will), but I'm stuck on those fiddly underarm gussets. 

Oh and... I bought fabric for the real thing! After cutting out my wearable muslin, I knew how much I needed so there was no point in waiting. More on that soon!

The Grad Dress, Part I: Choosing a Pattern

As I mentioned in my 2013 round-up post, the bright side of having tendinitis and being unable to sew for a few weeks gave me some time to think about my grad dress.

Speaking of tendinitis... I now have it in my left arm, too. It does seem to be slowly but surely improving, though.

Back to my grad dress, I actually began thinking about it in the summer, and although I didn't really know what I wanted, I definitely knew what I didn't want:

1. Glitter or sparkles
2. A strapless dress, or anything that I would need a strapless bra for (spaghetti straps, one-shoulder, etc.)

...which pretty much rules out 99.9% of all grad dresses (seriously, just do a Google images search for "prom dress"). As if I wasn't being picky enough, I also knew I didn't want:

3. Anything backless
4. A princess dress
5. A mermaid dress
6. A mullet dress

Hooray. So, I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I would be making mine. 

I did, in fact, go to a small bridal store to try out some styles, but more to see what looked good on me than anything. I tried on a few dresses that were the typical fitted bodice and flowy skirt kind that are popular now, and while they weren't terrible, they were very... meh. Mediocre. Boring. While they were flattering and quite pretty, they just didn't feel like me.

This store also had some dresses that were more of a 50's style. They had box pleated skirts and fitted bodices, with either a scoopneck with pleats at the bust or a boatneck. Even though they were less formal, they just felt so much more me than the other ones. 

Needless to say, I didn't buy one. Those dresses were cute, but they were also $200 apiece for 100% polyester, made-in-China dresses. Nooo thanks. All things considered, that's not a bad price for a grad dress (I know people who spend upwards of $600), but still. I've been trying to avoid polyester and anything mass-produced in terms of clothing, so why should I make an exception for my grad dress?

Anyways, by this point I knew I would be making mine, so I started brainstorming about what I did want, and came up with this:

1. A 50's style (or late 40's)
2. A full skirt, to be worn with a crinoline - but preferably without gathers
3. A fitted bodice
4. Princess seams, to allow me to perfect the fit a little more easily
5. Something I could wear a normal bra, with straps, under

With that, I started my search for patterns. I looked on Etsy, and found some that I really liked, even though most of them didn't actually meet all the criteria that I'd laid out for myself. Here are some:

Source

Source

Source

The only problem is that these kinds of vintage patterns are EXPENSIVE... that last one is $165 Canadian, no joke. There was no way that I wanted to spend that kind of money on the pattern alone, when I was already looking at over $100 for enough silk to make any of these dresses.

So, I started looking at reproduction vintage patterns instead, and at one point I was pretty sure that I was going to use Vogue 2903. It was a 50's style with a full (non-gathered) skirt, a fitted bodice, princess seams and a v-neck that I could probably wear a bra under.

Source

Then... I found this: 

Isn't it gorgeous? 

I borrowed it from family friend who has the most amazing vintage pattern collection I've ever seen. We spent at least two hours looking through all of them! She had lots of 50's and 60's patterns, and even a few as old as the 20's! 

This one is from 1956, and it must be pretty rare because I can't seem to find it anywhere online. What's funny is that it looks really similar to one of the ones I was looking at on Etsy (the second one pictured above), but I didn't have to pay $80 for it.

Plus, it ticks all the boxes of my list above. It's a 50's style with a full skirt (and a very full one at that... the hem circumference is over 5 metres!) and a fitted bodice. Okay, it doesn't have princess seams at the bust (it does in the midsection) but those pleats completely make up for it. AND I can wear a normal bra under it - I love it.

I'll be making view A, the short-sleeved version. I haven't decided on a colour yet, but probably dark purple or teal - two of my favourite colours at the moment. I'll be making it in silk dupioni - yikes! This will be my first time sewing with silk.

I'm so excited for this project! There will be many more posts to come about it... I already have another one on the go about everything I've done since.

Thanks for reading!