MMM’15 Week 1 Round Up

Though I didn’t really plan it, this week saw many old favorites!

Day One 5/1/15: Colette Monetta hack. I added a color blocked waistband and cowl neck to the basic pattern.

Day Two 5/2/15 : Colette Monetta straight from the package. I wear this dress a LOT.

Day Three 5/3/15: Colette Monetta deja vu. Worn at Biltmore Estate to see the Dressing Downton exhibit!

Day Four 5/4/15: Kate and Rose Patterns Roza blouse. Added gingham lace embroidery to the front.

Day Five 5/5/15: Colette Oslo cardigan. This is from the December 2014 issue of Seamwork Magazine.

Day Six 5/6/15: Cake Patterns Cabarita top. Originally made for July 4th baseball viewing but I typically wear all summer.

Day Seven 5/7/15: Old Navy Tee embroidered with Anna Maria Horner design

Nothing new this week but everything I wore is much loved. How did your first week of Me Made May go?

Me Made May ’15

It’s my favorite sewing time of the year…Me Made May! Is everyone ready for tons of inspiration from all over the world? I know I sure am. So in honor of this year,

‘I, Jeri of My Modern Vintage, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’15. I endeavor to wear at least one Me Made item each day for the duration of May 2015’

Since I chatted with you guys last September (gasp, I can’t believe it has been six months since my last post) I have actually gotten some sewing and a LOT of knitting completed. I am in the middle of a heavy closet purge so at the end of this month, I hope to only have items in my closet that are actually worn!

Anybody else joining the Me Made May challenge?

Top 5 Hits and Misses of 2013

Gillian of Crafting a Rainbow had a great idea about posting top five hits, misses, reflections, inspirations and goals of 2013. Since I think that is a great way to sum up my crafting activity, here goes…

Hits: I discovered a new (to me) indie pattern company, Kate and Rose, early in 2013 and went on to make three tops using the Roza pattern. This pattern brought my love of embroidery together with garment sewing and resulted in three of my top five hits for 2013!

Also making the top 5 hit list was my Sewing Cake Cabarita top. This was the first time I had sewed anything from Steph’s company but would definitely not be the last. Her original take on sizing is refreshing and significantly reduces the amount of modifications required.

I also took part in Colette Patterns Laurel contest and ended up wearing this version all summer! This was my most fun challenge all year and resulted in many cool versions of this rather simple pattern.

Misses:  There weren’t many but unfortunately I have to put my Pantone Anna Dress from By Hand London in the “miss” category. I have never worn it and it is a shame. I think the biggest issue was my fabric choice. The bodice flops out a bit which makes the cleavage a bit too pronounced. I haven’t given up on giving this pattern another go since I do think the overall shape is super flattering!

Another FO making the “miss” list is my Monthly Stitch It’s Elementary My Dear Watson cape. There is nothing “wrong” with it but living in South Carolina doesn’t lend itself to wearing capes often. Perhaps I need to start a new trend…

Probably my worst fail of the year was the Maria Mexican Folk Dress. I had such high hopes for this dress. I wanted to marry my love of embroidery with sewing but it was NOT to be. Better luck next year!

Tomorrow I will continue the list with reflections and inspirations from 2013!

 

I’m Baaaccck!!

Sorry for being gone so long but I promise I was up to something worthwhile…mostly watching lots of high school and college football but I did manage to squeeze in a bit of sewing and knitting. First up is my third version of the Roza blouse. This time I embroidered a South Carolina Gamecock and used college specific fabric. I made the same modifications as my previous two by omitting the band around the sleeve but other than that it was straight from the pattern.

I even managed to wear it over a long sleeve black tee to the USC vs Kentucky game a few weeks back and cheered my team to victory!

This month has also brought a ton of knitting. I finished my Patterns and Notions Swap jacket for the The Monthly Stitch Vintage Pattern Challenge a few days late but was able to wear it once already and can tell it will get a lot of rotation in my wardrobe. The Charlotte Yarn Crawl was from September 27-October 6 and I was able to visit 11 of the 13 participating shops. Of course I couldn’t visit without getting some yarn so I’m now set for about a year! I have almost finished one sweater and cast on for a circle vest. Since it is starting to get chilly here in South Carolina, I am motivated to complete these projects quickly!

I’m going to the Stitch Craft Create Live convention here in Charlotte this weekend with some friends so I fully expect to blow both October and November’s fabric budget before Sunday. I also need to finish my dress for the Monthly Stitch Frocktober Challenge so my next few weeks are certainly filling up with stuff to create!

The “Pantone Anna” Dress

The Facts

Fabric: Silky 100% polyester something or other from the clearance bin at Hancock’s $8

Notions: None!

Pantone Challenge colors: Acai, Carafe, Linden Green, Deep Lichen Green, & Turbulence

Pattern: By Hand London Anna $23

Year: 2013

Time to complete: 4 hours (including unpicking the zipper twice!)

First worn: For these photos

Wear again? Absolutely

Total Cost: $31

This is my submission for the Sew Weekly Reunion Pantone Challenge. When the theme was announced I realized I didn’t have anything in my stash that would suit so I decided to check out Hancock’s clearance sale to see if I could come up with something. I immediately snatched up this fabric for $2.47 a yard! Sew Busy Lizzy posted several versions of the By Hand London Anna dress so I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered the pattern from We Sew Retro to cut down on shipping costs.

The Anna dress is deceptively easy to sew. I had to grade up the pieces to fit my hips and make the arm openings about an inch longer but other than that the pattern went together well. Anna does call for an invisible zip but after a couple of tries I wasn’t happy with how it looked (more sewer than pattern!) so I simply stitched up the back and called it a day. I think the main reason my dress didn’t require a zip is because I am extremely pear shaped so it was very easy to get over my head.

Though the fabric colors fit perfectly with the challenge, I don’t usually work with such slippery fabric and it was a P-A-I-N to sew. The fabric also raveled like crazy so I had to serge everything just to get the dress together. I am not completely satisfied with the seams along the waistband so next time I will try my hand at french seaming to see if the look is more streamlined.

Overall though I think the dress is very flattering and I especially love the bodice. The pleats work perfectly to accentuate a smaller waist while giving you enough room in the bust. I already have the fabric for two more Anna dresses and may even try the maxi length with the thigh high split like Heather Lou’s fabulous version! Have you tried this pattern yet? If so, how did you like it? If not, what are you waiting for???

 

The Sew Weekly Reunion

Mena Trott’s The Sew Weekly site was the first blog I found when I started sewing in 2011. The premise was simple…sew each week and document the finished garment. Mena’s site quickly expanded to include 4 other sewists then in 2012 The Sew Weekly had over one hundred contributors posting their garments. Unfortunately Mena did not continue the challenges in 2013 which left many sewists, myself included, without ongoing inspiration.

Luckily the original 4 ladies that sewed along with Mena in 2011 have decided to host a reunion. Instead of having a challenge every week, there will be yearly reunion where everyone can join along and sew a similar challenge for one month. The Sew Weekly Reunion 2013 challenge theme requires the Pantone Fall 2013 colors to be the inspiration for the garment. Everyone has until the end of August to submit their makes and the winner receives some beautiful silk chiffon fabric.

Along with the reunion challenge is an optional pattern and notions swap. Kat from Modern Vintage Cupcakes is hosting and participants received an email with the person’s interests, blog site, and address. As an added bonus, there will be a prize for using your swap items during the Pantone challenge. I sent a package to Z from Gladys and Viv. She recently posted her goodies and I am so glad she liked them. I can’t wait to see what she makes!

I received a package from Amanda and I absolutely love it. Not only did she include patterns very close to my size (which is rare to find in vintage patterns) but one even included a pattern for a knitted jacket meant to coordinate with the dress pattern. Even though it is running about 90 degrees every day this week, I couldn’t help myself and have already cast on. I hope to finish both the dress and knitted jacket in time to submit before the end of the month.

Are you taking part in the challenge?

Cake Patterns Hummingbird Sewalong

As if I didn’t already have a lot going on, I have joined StephC’s Hummingbird 30 Minutes a Day Sewalong. It starts today and will run for the next two weeks. The patterns were shipped in colored envelopes and the color indicates which “House” you are in. The houses are named after specific types of hummingbirds and I am in the pink Anna house. To make it more fun, there is a contest to see which house produces and photographs the most garments. The winning house gets a $10 gift certificate to spend at Cake Patterns. I plan to do my part to insure the Anna house wins!

The first week is devoted to the peplum top, green view. I plan to make one top using this knit I bought from Fabric.com:

The second week is devoted to the straight skirt, orange view. I plan to make two versions of this skirt using fabrics I bought at Joann:

This is my first foray into Cake Patterns but based on the reviews it won’t be my last. In fact I already have StephC’s new Cabarita RIFF pattern and I will be trying that out over my July 4th vacation. I also have the Tiramisu dress and Bonny top patterns on order so I fully expect my summer to be filled with sewing Cake Patterns!

Thoughts on Me Made May

I have been faithfully posting my me made items to the flickr group each day and also adding to my Me Made May page to keep a running total. I must say that after 2.5 years of sewing, I have amassed quite a bit of clothing. Today was the first day I wore only a me made accessory instead of a garment.

The belt I wore today was a year in the making. I did all of the needlepoint last April then set it aside for other projects. When I realized last night that I didn’t have anything new to wear, I pulled the belt out and finally added velcro closure which took all of five minutes. Do you ever have projects 99% finished that languish? I really need to work on finishing one project before starting another!

Peacock Belt

Peacock Belt Close Up

1980 Needlepoint Pattern

Here are some of the things I have discovered thus far this month:

• I have an abundance of dresses and knitted items but not many basics
• I like floral and bright colors
• Many of my first me mades are still being worn
• My sewing is MUCH better but I still have a lot to learn
• Fitting my decidedly pear shape is still super difficult
• I can tell from the photos which items truly look good and which need adjustments

Though the rest of May most likely will contain a large number of garment repeats, I am glad I participated!

Also as a bit of housekeeping, I need to claim my blog on bloglovin so I can get converted properly before Google up and leaves me. Have you chosen which format you plan to use?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Stashbusting Sewalong

While checking out the wonderful dresses posted in the flickr group of our Great Gatsby Sewing Challenge, I happened upon Cindy’s Cation Designs blog. In addition to being in love with her absolutely beautiful Gatsby dress, I am super excited to see that Cindy is hosting a Stashbusting Sewalong along with Emily from Tumbleweeds in the Wind.

Since the start of Me Made May, I have been not only going through my handmade garments, but also my fabric and pattern stash. I even spent a whole Saturday earlier this month photographing my fabrics and documenting the yardage in the hopes of actually doing something other than collecting!

Though the Stashbusting Sewalong started in January, there are monthly challenges and the ladies are open to having stragglers join. To that end I have pledge to cut my stash in half during 2013 and also only buy notions or linings needed to complete stash fabric garments until I get my stash under 20 pieces of fabric.

Are you working out of your stash or like me, always wanting the newest “thing” at the fabric store?

The Great Gatsby Sewing Challenge Dress

I stayed up until midnight to finish but the dress is done! I wore my Great Gatsby Sewing Challenge dress to both church and to see the movie for Mother’s Day. The main fabric is stretch taffeta and the sleeves are chiffon. I used a dress circa 1926 as my inspiration. I liked the color, chiffon sleeves and rosette flowers but drop-waist dresses do not flatter my curvy shape so I opted to make a more straight style shift dress and instead incorporated 1920’s elements.

 

Dress ca. 1926 via The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I wanted a feminine dress I could wear to church or out to a nice dinner that would give a nod to the Gatsby era but not scream “costume”! I think my interpretation does the trick. The dress is made from the Colette Laurel pattern with Colette Taffy sleeves. I also added a triangular bit of lace to the bodice as many dresses from this time period included this style element. I wore my spectator pumps from BAIT Footwear to round out the ensemble.

 

 

The chiffon flower was made using a Mother Huddle tutorial with some modifications. Instead of hot gluing the fabric to the felt circle, I hand sewed it. I also sewed a pin to the back so the flower could be removed when I wash the dress. The vintage button in the middle was picked up a couple of years ago at an area sewing “Shop Hop” for about 15 cents.

 

In addition to learning how to make chiffon flowers, I also learned how to hand sew an invisible hem and insert lace. The dress is by no means perfect, but it is comfortable to wear and fits me pretty well. I definitely plan to wear it again in the future!