Me Made May 2017 – Week One

‘I, Annette Allison Millard of www.sewfullife.com and https://www.instagram.com/sewfullife/, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’17. I endeavour to wear my handmade wardrobe pieces each day for the duration of May 2017′

Are you doing Me Made May? This is the first year I’ve joined in and I am having SO much fun with this. Begun by SoZo to encourage makers to wear more of their Handmade Wardrobe, you can commit to any frequency you want to keep up with. If you’d like to join in, click here to see the info.

Every day in May, I’m wearing something that I’ve made and posting pictures on The Sewful Life Instagram and Facebook. In addition to Sewful’s FB page, I’m also posting in several Facebook sewing groups. So, I thought I’d post a little whirlwind re-cap of Week One for you. I do plan individual blog posts with details for each of these, but we’ll start here for now!

Day 1 – The Sewing Workshop Odette and Ivy Top – stripey Ivy version 

I’m REALLY loving this tunic and already posted about it and it’s sewfulness. Click here for the post and read all about it. If you’re in a hurry, and just really need the pattern immediately, click here.

Day 2 – Indygo Junction Everyday Tank and the horrid selfie

Definitely a fabulous pattern and I’ve made several already. Indygo Junction provided me with the pattern and this one is made from Rayon Batik I had in my CCFS (Carefuly Curated Fabric Stash) from Seattle’s Pacific Fabrics. It’s beautiful to sew with and I’ve found lots of ways to wear it already. Due to the “horrid” selfie, I’m including a picture from last year’s Maui trip so you can actually see what it looks like. Instead of the neckline pleats in the pattern, I stitched in gathers to take advantage of the wonderful drape of the Rayon. I also went up a size to make this one extra flowy. Click here for the pattern and hurry – they’re on sale through 5/9/17!

Day 3 – Kwik Sew 4101 in Perky Pink dots and flowers

This tank just makes me smile! It’s a lovely sheer knit combined with a woven pink dot for the back yoke. Once again, all out of my CCFS and purchased at Pacific Fabrics. I worked there for almost 11 years and accumulated just a bit (hahahaha!) of fabric since I was constantly surrounded about it. You get it, right? This tank has princess seams in the front and I crazily increased the width in the front panel only instead of front and side panels. Once the front was stitched together, I realized there was a problem and created a pleat at the center front to bring the princess seams closer to their intended targets. It worked, but I’ll do it differently next time! Click here for the pattern.

Day 4 – Indygo Junction Asymmetrical Top – tunic view in double gauze mums at Pacific Fabrics 100 Year Celebration Party

Last March, I taught a class on sewing clothing with Shannon Fabrics Embrace™ Double Gauze and made 10 pieces for the class. So, there’s a whole lot of double gauze going on in my Me Made May! The Asymmetrical Tunic is super comfy and I love the double coverage on the front. In cooler weather, I plan to make one in a lightweight wool to layer over a Turtleneck and I think there’s a linen one in my Summer future, too. One note on the sewing instructions – they’re great, just follow them. When I tried to make sense of it in my head, there was no sense to it, but when I just followed the instructions, it was easy and came out perfectly! The pattern was provided to me by Indygo Junction and Shannon provide me with the fabric. Click here for the pattern.

Day 5 – Sewn Square One Small Change Vest and my friend, the sculptural Basset Hound

A couple of times each year, we drive 1-1/2 hours to Vancouver BC and spend a wonderful day visiting our favorite spots. Several years ago, my hubby found a sari shop that sold packs of three coordinated fabrics for an excellent price and I bought a couple for my CCFS. I made this vest from one of the pieces and it always adds a bit of spark to my day when I wear it. Can you see the shots of metallic? My artist hubby painted the beautiful silk scarf for me and I really loved how it went together with the vest. There’s kind of an unusual darting in this pattern that creates a lovely shape, so there will definitely be a post just about this one. My sculptural Gardener and Basset Hound friends are at a local park in Woodinville WA, home of the yearly Basset Bash. Click here for the pattern.

Day 6 – Sew Liberated Esme Top and Costco shopping

Saturday is a good Costco day if you don’t mind crowds, so I wore my Sew Liberated Esme Top to shop for essentials like frozen street tacos and large trash bags. Handmade makes everything more exciting! Another one of my makes for the double gauze class, this is a lovely, bright solid that Shannon Fabrics provided for me. In Makawao on Maui, I saw a gauze ready-to-wear top in this color and mentally added it to my “must make” list for the class. Finding RTW or runway fashions to copy is one of the things I really love to do in sewing. The sleeve bands were left off because I’m not a puffy sleeve kind of girl. The resulting bell shape is great. I did need just the right buttons, though and it took me a while to decide what to use. Along with my CCFS, I also have a LFBS (Lovely, Fabulous Button Stash) and that’s where I found these amazing buttons created by Jane Schreven of JJ Handworks. They just made the top sing and I love them! Click here for the pattern.

Day 7 – Snapdragon Studios Lemon Squeeze Cardigan as greeting attire

Peacock feathers!! It’s tough to see a peacock feather fabric without it coming home with me. I was very pleased to find this one in Embrace™ Double Gauze for the class I mentioned. Shannon sent it to me, I pre-washed it and left as much of the natural crinkle in as possible. I really, really LOVE the crinkle on this one! Since I don’t love round necklines on cardigans for me, I redrafted the neck to a V and am pleased with how it turned out. The tank I wore under it is a RTW purchase that went perfectly with the feathers and the shoes were on my closet rack already, too. It all played together nicely and I got compliments while I was at the door welcoming people at church – so that’s a good sign! I’ll definitely make this one again and that side dip – so lovely. Click here for the pattern.

And, now onto Week Two! I’m off to spend the afternoon spinning (yarn, no exercise involved!) and eating lunch with dear friends I meet with once a month. My Day 8 picture will appear later on Instagram and Facebook. Feel free to follow along, and join in if you’d like. Wearing what you’ve made is sew AMAZINGLY uplifting and just right for the Sewful Life!!