Me-Made-May'14 Week 1

Only 4 days In my first "week" of me made May ! 

Last year when I started reading sewing blogs and I came across the concept of me made may I was so ecstatic. I've secretly been waiting for May to come and sewing as much as possible in anticipation of participation! Come faster. I'm so happy it's here. And that I can participate! 

Day 1: Maroon baby doll dress

Wore to: Work in an office

One of my first makes and still one of my favourites. It's an Ottobre design and I'm smitten with their simple flattering patterns. I wear this at least once a week because it's so convenient to toss on and head out. No fuss. Just the type of dress I like to wear!

Day 2: blue Lekala sweater 

Wore to: Work in an office

My work is fairly casual, with my co-workers frequently wearing jeans, but that doesn't mean I can't wear business casual right? I actually don't own a pair of jeans, or pants that I like for that matter. Form fit knit skirts are my go-to, so I decided to make a sweater that can go with them easily but is still casual and comfortable. I wear this sweater a lot as I find it flattering and forgiving across my stomach in a tight skirt!

Day 3: Green Belladone

Wore to: Work in a bookstore / welcome home party at a friends place

I've made a lot last month that I haven't captured photos of yet. Posts are written, they are just unaccompanied, and who wants to read a post sans photos? Not this girl! But here's a sneak peek at my green belladone dress! I 100% copied the sample dress. It's a great casual dress with full coverage, but the back keeps it fun! 

Today I had to make my outfit work both at work with a dark clothing dress code as well as for a friends get together. I wanted to look both work appropriate and fun. This dress matched both criteria!

Ps. I also downloaded an app to make the collages. fancy for me!

Day 4: Green flower M6553

Wore to: Sunday shopping and dinner with friends

This dress is everything I want in a dress and is utterly comfortable with satin charmeuse. Again, it is easy to toss on and look nice without trying hard. The flowy nature is forgiving while the print is happy and distracts from my terrible hair!! I should have ironed the back better. Oops.  

Ps. See my new ballet flats! Super excited about how adorable they are! they make me feel like dancing through the streets cause they're so cute!

So one week in and I'm having a blast wearing all my hand Mades! All four of these makes are some of my favourite items and are in high rotation within my wardrobe. All fit well and are super comfortable!

As the next 3 weeks pass, and I wear more of the items I've made, I'll identify which items are uncomfortable with a days wear under my belt and make a list of alterations I should make to them. Hopefully any alterations I make will increase their wearability. I feel that if I've invested the time to create something, I should invest the time for adjustments to make it more appropriate (albeit poor fabric/pattern combo is not fixable).  

Happy first successful week of Me-Made-May'14

Read More »

Comfy Blue Knit Jacket - Lekala 4163

Let me introduce you to my weather appropriate sweater. 

This sweater comes custom sized from Lekala. The only problem is, one must remember that seam allowances are not included when cutting the fabric. I forgot. Thus, it is slightly snugger than it needs to be, but thank goodness for knit fabric. 

This knit fabric is a royal blue with black scratch lines on it. A nice subtle pattern for a sweater jacket. It is unlined and I added bands around all the edges to make the finishings easier so I could do everything on my serger. 

The back of the sweater has princess seams. That is the reasoning behind calling it a sweater jacket. 

This was my first garment that has two-piece sleeves. I will openly admit that I didn't even look at the instructions. Lekala instructions may possibly be worse than Burdas; they are vague to say the least. So I aligned my sleeve seams to the bodice and stitched. Errr... Nope. Got it wrong. Wrong seam alignment. Step in magical seam ripper and try again. Set the sleeves in correctly the second time! 

Overall, I do love this sweater. It's fancy enough for work but is still utterly comfortable. The front draping is fun, and in this thicker knit fabric adds great shape. I think this would be a perfect sweater to remake in a plain black rayon knit. Drapier, thinner fabric would produce a garment similar to the photo, but would be an amazing staple!

I'm just realizing that my hair has gotten really long! Everybody keeps telling me this, but I had short hair the majority of my life, I still feel it's short. These photos are proving me wrong. Yay it's grown!

Details

Pattern: Lekala 4163 - Knit Jacket

Fabric: Acrylic double knit fabric

Cost: $7

Read More »

My Little Red Dress - Lekala Pattern

All I wanted for Christmas was a red plaid dress. Then I couldn't find plaid. It was maddening. I returned to the fabric shop every week in hopes that Christmas plaids would arrive, but as Christmas loomed closer, and the plaids didn't arrive, I knew I'd have to figure something out. This vibrant red viscose crepe was calling my name. And at $3/m I knew the price made up for the lack of plaidiness. 

I feel like CHISTMAS in this outfit!

Oh yeah, that plaid jacket I purchased at Target for $5. I needed to wear SOMETHING plaid. And this outfit makes me feel like Christmas.

A short while ago I found Lekala Patterns online. I thought the concept was pretty great; you provide all your measurements (even the length between nipple points!) and they give send you the PDF pattern in to your specifications. 

Lekala is Ideal for somebody who:

• Doesn't know how to fit well (Me) 
• A beginner seamstress
• Someone looking for a quick make!

This pattern is #4168 and is a princess seam dress. I turned the form-fitting skirt into an A-Line by simply drawing a straight line from the pattern hip marker 2 inch out to the side of each pattern piece.

I'll openly admit that I adore Lekala now. This dress fits unbelievably perfect. Not one single adjustment was required. Not one. Think about that! I literally cut my fabric, sewed at 3/8 inch put it on and voila - PERFECT. No bust adjustment, no length adjustment, no gaping at the front or back neck, nothing.

See even Scotia thinks that a perfect fitting dress sans adjustments is ridiculous. Like WHATTTTT?

I wanted to start out simple. Princess seams are my favourite style and I always lean towards simple. All the dresses I've made to date have had waist seams, this is my first dress without a waist seam. I won't lie, I was worried that I would have all sorts of wrinkles and fabric piling around my middle section. Not flattering. But because of the way Lekala works, by providing all your measurements, the patterns adjust to your body length and fits beautiful.

Perfect shaped princess seams for me.

A pattern that I DON'T have to adjust for narrow shoulders? How much easier is that? Perfect fitting sleeves for for my arm? Yay. Honestly - go buy Lekala. It is SO worth it.

Ps. The snow was so deep but so much fun to play in! Way too cold outside to take coat off for a dress photo.

Details

Pattern: Lekala 4168

Fabric: Viscose Crepe

Price: $3/m 1.5m used

Adjustments: Absolutely NONE

Read More »