Me-Made-May 2013

Me Made May ’13 Finale

~ Tia Dia ~ 10 Comments

Me Made May 13 - FinaleToday is the last day of Me-Made-May.  It’s been a bit (lot?) of a flop for me this year, and I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to contribute more.  I don’t like to whine about being under the weather, but this spring has taken the entire cake for lousy health, and I missed most days this month because of it.  I’ve been shivering and shaking with fevers, and trying to sleep it off.  When I have felt a little better, I’d wander down to my sewing area and work on a stack of projects that are cut and waiting to be sewn.Vogue 2902 Part of our challenge for this week – it being Friday and every Friday had a theme – was “red”.  My shoes and this dress are my red contributions to the Flickr pool as I truly don’t own anything red – orange, sure, but not red. And looking at this, I’m going to change the top bands (which are completely fell stitched to the strapless lined bodice) out of a complementary red instead of the brown.

Anyways, the second part of our challenge today is to mention what we learned and appreciated.  So here’s my list:

  • I don’t have any me-made schlepping around clothes.  I have lots of pretty me-mades in my wardrobe that are great for when sleep and medication are not part of what’s getting me through the day.  This brings up a conundrum:  do I really want to make loungey me-mades?  My answer:  no.  I’ve enjoyed stretching my sewing and venturing into the world of knits and jerseys with various projects but unless a pattern jumps out at me, I don’t care to make up a stack of T-shirts or yoga pants or sweat pants or hoodies when I can buy such great brands like Roots.  I’d much rather spend my sewing time on dresses, trousers, blouses, skirts, coats and other such might-look-or-be-considered-frosting garments.  It’s what I like to sew, and so my schleppy wardrobe will remain RTW.
  • I love my gathered-front tops aka Burda 9/2011 #106.  I could make up this pattern forever as an exception to the first point of this list.
  • I need red dresses.

I love being part of the me-made challenge each year.  It’s just so much fun to see what other sewistas make and where.  I am impressed by just how normal we all look in our very own clothes.  It’s wonderful to think we do such a good job making our own clothes.  I do hope you all enjoyed participating, if you did, and will join us next time, if you haven’t yet.

The Mud Maxi Skirt

~ Tia Dia ~ 5 Comments

Burda 3-2013-123 skirt I’ve always like long skirts. Ball skirts in particular.  I know maxi skirts and dresses have been staples of summer wear for a few years now, but not being the one to really want to jump out on a trend limb (I’d rather be odd), I’ve taken my time walking around the long-skirts-for-summer trend. But having decided to join the 2013 Burda Challenge and actually purposefully make one garment from each issue of Burda during 2013, I thought it would be fun to make up the long tiered skirt in a this embroidered mud-stained looking cotton voile.B 03-2013-123It’s pretty basic – tiers getting progressively longer, gathered into the previous tier.  The only pattern piece was the shaped yoke.  And I didn’t have an invisible zip in the right colour, so I cannibalized an old skirt that was on it’s way to the thrift shop because the silk linen grew in wonky ways over the years and the hem was very sorry to look at. It couldn’t be evened out unless I took of the trim and the lower band and evened out the skirt itself. Too much work for a skirt that I wasn’t wearing much anyways. Oh, and I took the lining from it, too, because I always like lined skirts.B 03-2013-123 liningThe lining looks super short, but it comes to about 2 inches above my knee.  Here’s the back view.  The bottom tier is 5 metres of fabric.

Burda 3-2013-123 back It’s a plain, boring old colour, but I like the “staple-ness” of it.  No statement, just an interesting twist on an every-day skirt.Burda 3-2013-123 tiers

The Vogue 2864 Dress

~ Tia Dia ~ 23 Comments

IMG_0637 This is an old dress pattern, but one I’ve used several times for projects over the years.  It’s a great simple empire-waisted take on a shift dress, and I am amazed how many times I turn to it when someone (or I) want a new sleeveless dress.  I like the fact that it doesn’t have long bodice darts (oops!  I mean princess darts?  The darts that extend from under the bust, through the waist to the upper hip area), because those are a fitting nightmare to me, especially for myself.And since my last version of this dress has been worn to a rag, I thought I’d like a new one. I made it up out of a stretch cotton remnant from EmmaOneSock.com but there was barely a yard, and I ran out of length. So I faced the hem with scraps. It’s a little bit short for my taste, but I’m sure it will wear well!faced hemI lined it with bemberg from my stash.  It’s a super comfy dress!  The stretch-cotton is a bit heavier than the pattern calls for, so I may have it for a while!  Here’s the back view.  I made quite a significant short-waist adjustment combined with a high-hip adjustment.  You can see it could have been a little bit shorter, too, by the slight lines at my waist.  I know it’s usually taken care of my a sway-back adjustment by folding out the excess, but I find this messes with the grainlines a little to much – perhaps because I need to do such a significant adjustment – a total of 2 inches in length.Vogue 2684 backI made two other adjustments:  I raised the neckline by one inch and I did my usual FBA.  Here’s my goof-off pose for Me Made May ’13.  Me Made May 13 - Day 19

Vogue 8094 in Chocolate!

~ Tia Dia ~ 6 Comments

This is my third pair of capris currently in circulation from Vogue 8094, and I promise I’ll make up something new and exciting from a different pattern for my next post!  But I love chocolate brown – it’s the black in my wardrobe – and I wanted a pair of capris in this staple colour for my summer days!   Vogue 8094 brownThere is nothing new that I have to say about these except that I put a crease in the legs for something different (not being super creative like some of you, I couldn’t come up with dyeing, embroidery or applique that would have suited my rather conservative tastes) and left the zip at the CB. I think I’ve almost got the fit nailed on these, too, compared to the previous two pairs, which I shall alter to mimic the fit on these.  This is the mandatory front mug shot.  I still have to figure out how to get rid of the extra fabric across the front of the crotch. I must say it’s more horridly noticeable while standing stock straight for fitting purposes than it appears to be in the rest of my “living” pictures.  *sigh*

IMG_0581And the back mug shot.  This pair’s fit is much improved from my previous pair.  Not perfect, but we’re getting there.  I cannot believe how much adjustment to the crotch is necessary on these casual pants.  I have never had to do this much tweaking and adjusting and crying and leaving-them-alone with dress pants.Vogue 8094 backIt’s been a learning process, like all of my sewing, and I’m was rather encouraged this morning after scooping out MORE of the backside.  I’ll be scooping more on the green ones I made yesterday, too.  And the original rust-coloured ones.Vogue 8094 dark

New Capris!

~ Tia Dia ~ 8 Comments

Vogue 8096 capris

I really need capris and summer trousers.  I’m not a shorts person at all.  I haven’t actually worn a pair since my DD3 was born 9 years ago, and prior to that I’ve only ever owned about three pairs.  But I like capris, and the only pair I currently own is my trusty rust-coloured pair from OOP .  And since I trashed a couple of skirts this spring because the hems were sagging and the other was bagging, I need new bottoms.  This pattern is fairly straight forward, but my alterations don’t make it so straightforward.  However, since this is my 3rd go at this pattern, I think I’ve tweaked it into submission.

side zipI decided to put in a side zip this time.  I chose a lapped insertion because it’s strong, and I hate invisible zips that die.  The fabric is a lighter poly-cotton twill, and I intend to wear these capris until they fall apart or I get sick of them or (God forbid) I grow or shrink out of them.  To keep the zipper from inching down, I added a button tab on the inside.  The facing is interfaced cotton from my stash.

inside zip tab

And now for the obligatory mug shots.  I’m sure Mrs. Mole will say I need to drop the crotch even more than I have, but that will wait for the next pair.  I honestly scramble to make these up this morning so I had something to wear besides PJ’s or sweat pants.

Vogue 8096 front

This is before adjusting the crotch.

Vogue 8096 back

And this is afterwards.  I can see that I probably could lower it yet another 5/8″, and will for the next pair, or when I take these off at the end of the day!  ha-ha!

Vogue 8096 droppedThe only little bit of interestingness I added to these were little tabs at the outside cuffs.  They serve absolutely no purpose but as a place for my brass buttons.  Yay for a new pair of capris!

see the tabs

Me-Made-May is here!

~ Tia Dia ~ 3 Comments

I’m late! I’m late for a very special date!

MMM 13.1And I’m going in with a whimper with this RTW top and me-made capris which are oldies, but goodies and have lots more life in them.

MMM13I, Tia Dia of MezzoCouture, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’13. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made for each day for the duration of May 2013.  I’m not swearing off repeats.  My me-made collection has grown significantly over the last two years, but I’m still missing some key pieces, and others are just more comfortable for schlepping around the house and yard… repeatedly!

I won’t be posting daily about what I’m wearing, but I’ve made a page (see above).  Are you joining in the fun?  It’s going to be great seeing the Flickr page growing at an exponential rate.  I wonder how I’ll find the time to scroll through…