Me Made May 2015

Me Made May is back! This will be my third year participating, and it is a challenge which I love to take part in. This year I am challenging myself as follows:

Blogger AnonaMiss said...

I, Liberty of http://levagabondage.blogspot.com/, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '15. I endeavor that 2/3ds of each of my outfits worn for the duration of May 2015 shall be made by me, and to not repeat any 2/3ds within each calendar week.

2 April 2015 at 01:51

To be clear, I usually wear three part outfits, a top, a bottom and a sweater because I am always cold. My challenge is to have two of these three be a me-made for the duration of May, and to mot wear the same two items together more than once a week.

I have lots of self made garments at this point, but many were made when I was pregnant or breastfeeding so they no longer fit as they once did. I am hoping to see if they still work within the rest of my wardrobe, or if they can be altered to fit, or need to be passed on.

I will be posting my outfits to the Flickr group, for what I wore during previous years you can look at my Flickr albums below.

Me Made May 2014

Me Made May 2013

HSF challenge War & Peace

For this challenge I made a blouse from a dress pattern from 1945.



I only had 1/2 yard of each of my fabrics; a mid weight purple shot cotton and a black airplane print canvas, so making a full dress was out.



Since the challenge dealt with war and the scarcities caused by it I decided that I could make do and only sew a half dress. I pieced the top using the plane print on the shoulders and for making an inset belt, the main sections are in the purple. I love the vintage airplanes on the canvas, they are very stream lined and sleek. They reminded me of the 1940s as soon as I saw them.





I shortened the skirt pieces significantly to make it blouse length, and overlapped them at the center front. This was a quick alteration as the pattern is slightly too large for me. It's length means that can be worn tucked in or untucked.



I used a scrap of black cotton for the neck tie and facing, and scraps of muslin to encase the interior seams. It was a quick project, and it turned out quite well. I plan on making the full dress version soon, though I might reduce the gathering at the bust and some of the blousing at the back.

The Challenge: War & Peace

Fabric: 1/2 yard shot cotton in purple ans 1/2 yard of airplane print canvas.

Pattern: Advance 4199

Year: 1945

Notions: Three hooks

How historically accurate is it? 75%, the pattern is from 1945, it is largely handsewn and the make do-ness of it are accurate.

Hours to complete: Four

First worn: For pictures today

Total cost: Free, all items are from stash!

HSF challenge Stashbust

I do have a rather large fabric stash, unfortunately most o it is under two yards in length. I seem to have decided that 'two yards is enough fabric to buy to make anything!' at some point. Luckily I managed to scrape together enough to make two skirts this month. Unfortunately my pictures are very lackluster this month.

The first is a simple box pleat skirt in gray cotton flannel.



This is actually exactly what I planned to make with this fabric, probably because I only bought it a month ago. I also knew that if I did not sew it up soon it would enter the stash, never to be seen or heard from again.

I made my pleats in sets of three with a two inch section between. My button is a vintage one that has graced three different projects before this one. The garments have gone, but that button has stayed!



The second is from a pattern that I have used twice before, Vogue 1247. It is decidedly not vintage. It is also decidedly short! I lengthened it by about a foot this time, making a nice a-line-ish knee length skirt. I chose it because it can be made from small scrappy bits of fabric, which is what I had left of my blue corduroy, it was kind of a 'make do' situation. I had planned to make an actual 1940s skirt from it but did not have enough fabric no matter how I placed the pattern pieces. I do think that it looks fairly vintagy, especially when styled with other vintage pieces.





Did I mention, I actually got all the seams to match up at the back this time! I'm blogging this even if it's too modern of a garment because of this fact alone.



I did not plan to, but I used leaf print fabrics on the insides of both skirts.





The Challenge: Stashbust

Fabric: Miscellaneous scraps of blue cotton corduroy, one yard of leaf print quilting cotton, two yards of gray cotton flannel, and scraps of Charley Harper leaf print flannel.

Stashed for: Many ages, from one month for the gray flannel to eleven years for the blue corduroy.

Pattern: None for the gray flannel, Vogue 1247 semi-1940s-ified for the corduroy.

Year: I was aiming for early to mid 1940s.

Notions: Two stashed zippers, one black, one blue, one vintage button, one vintage skirt hook, and part of a pack of vintage belt interfacing to interface the waistbands.

How historically accurate is it? The outside fabrics are good for the period, the styles are good, some of the notions are vintage. I will say 50%.

Hours to complete: Five total.

First worn: On the 16th to go visiting, and on the 18th at home.

Total cost: Free!

HSF challenge Blue

When I saw that the color challenge for 2015 was blue I knew that I had to finish some of my blue projects from last year. I had in my sewing pile two blouses, two dresses, a skirt, and a pair of jeans plus a knitted sweater in progress, all in shades of blue! I think blue was on my mind last year.

And so I got them out for February's challenge and did finish several this month, but not all of them.

I finished a navy Simplicity 1590.



I finished another Mail Order 9379 made from the remnants of my Rosie blouse.



It is not crooked in reality, I had the buttons pinned wrong in the picture.

I finished my jeans, but did not photograph them, and finally I finished a Clotilde/McCall mix dress.



So as a run down:

The Challenge: Blue

Fabric: 1 yard Rowan shot cotton in coal, 1/2 yard white cotton, 1 yard sewing print cotton, 1 1/2 yards denim, and 3 yards Cotton & Steel arrow print fabric.

Pattern: Simplicity 1590, Mail Order 9379, my own jeans pattern, and an undated Clotilde/McCall 6470.

Year: Various years within the 1940s, with the exception of the jeans which are pretty 1950s.

Notions: 14 vintage buttons in navy (5), cool blue (5), gold (3), and turquoise (1).

How historically accurate is it? The patterns, techniques and notions all are, the fabrics are not, 75%.

Hours to complete: I have no idea.

First worn: Many times already for the blouses and jeans, for the dress today!

Total cost: Free, everything was from stash.

Historical Sew Monthly

I failed to complete the HSF last year, again, I think it was a combination of factors.

I started out well, I even got a mention by the Dreamstress herself for my knitting hat and souvenir shoes (Thank you so much Leimomi!!!). But then I lost my sewing drive early on and didn't get it back until Autumn. I think that I have inverse seasonal affective disorder.

To remedy this my plan for this year is fairly straight forward; finish all twelve challenges, no long blog entries, also use stash as often as possible. There might or might not be modeled shots.

So all of that aside I present Challenge One: Foundations

The Challenge: Foundations

Fabric: Vintage powernet, elastic strapping, silk remnant.

Pattern: Eclaire Coupe Paris Lingerie Book, pattern #353. You can buy full copies of these books from Etsy seller C'est la Mode Patterns at a great savings over buying them individually. I highly recommend this shop and am saving my pennies for the rest of the books that are available!



Year: 1940-46ish

Notions: Thread, four vintage garter tabs, pink dye.



How historically accurate is it? Pretty accurate, the color is a bit wrong, too bubble gummy pink instead of tea rose, and the notions took the dye differently. Though I may toss it into some blue dye and make it a French royal blue girdle. I did use a three part zig-zag stitch which affects the look of the thing. Aside from these the materials are vintage, as is the pattern so I give it a 75% accuracy rating.

Hours to complete: Around five including dye time.

First worn: For a test run Thursday the 29th.

Total cost: Free!

Challenge thirteen; Under 10$

I was stuck on what to make for this challenge. None of my ideas had much of a spark for me, of course my biggest challenge recently has been finding the time to sew!

In the end I whipped up a re-made blouse to corset cover, plus I can wear it under my regency stays and finally get pictures taken of those as well! I was inspired by the many images available on the internet, so these don't come from a pattern. In fact this corset cover stated out as a thrift store purchased blouse. I used this May Manton pattern as my inspiration:



My blouse had a similar shape to begin with, but I altered it heavily to get the look I was going for. I shortened the straps by 5cm on each side, I also slashed the front and removed three repeats of the eyelet pattern. I then removed the lining and added it between the top and original hem of the blouse. I added five pintucks, spaced 3cm apart, to this piece and added a drawstring at the waist. The tie is made from the hem of the lining piece. I still have a bit of fabric left, the piece that I removed that has three repeats of the eyelet pattern. I may use this to make a bust cover as seen on the upper left in this pattern:



To make something like this French corset cover from the Met.



As is, here is my corset cover worn alone and under regency stays.



The sun came out just as I was taking this set, excuse the odd facial expressions.



I think it turned out pretty well, even if it does look rather awful under my stays!

The Challenge: Under $10

Fabric: Cotton eyelet lawn, in the form of a blouse

Pattern: None

Year: 1912

Notions: Thread

How historically accurate is it? Erm...not very, say 40%

Hours to complete: Two

First worn: Today, for pictures at least!

Total cost: $1.99 at 75% off so... .50!

Challenge twelve; Shape and support

I was going to make an 1880s corset for this challenge, but I could not find my boning anywhere! So instead I made a pair of 1810s regency stays. I started off with Jennie Chancey's Regency Underthings pattern, but I altered them quite a bit.



I used zip ties as boning along the front because cording these areas did not provide enough uplift. I also left out the cording under the bust gussets because again, they did not offer any additional support. I cut down the front and added a channel for a drawstring, these changes make the stays give the correct shape for the period and allow me to adjust the bust. I also altered the shaping of the bust gussets to give more lift and better shaping. The original gussets created a flatter more 1770s silhouette on me, which isn't the desired shape for regency stays.



I hand embroidered the bottoms of the gussets for strength and as decoration. I also hand worked the eyelets.



Currently I'm using satin ribbon as my laces and inside the drawstring channel, I plan to replace this with more accurate cording in the future.



My main fabric is a cotton duck which I lined with a striped quilting cotton that I had on hand and they are bound in bias tape.



I hope to get some modeled pictures up soon!


The Challenge: Shape and support

Fabric: Cotton duck and quilting cotton

Pattern: An altered version of Sense and Sensibilities Regency Underthings Pattern

Year: 1810s

Notions: Thread, embroidery floss, zip ties

How historically accurate is it? Hmmm...zip ties, quilting cotton and bias tape, let's say 50%

Hours to complete: Around five

First worn: Not yet

Total cost: Stash again, free!