2013 Refashion #5: Sweater Dress to Peplum Tunic

With the Me-Made-May'13 challenge looming closer, I am starting to take a closer look into my self-made wardrobe to see what works and what doesn't. 

I have been sewing (or daydream about sewing) pretty much all the time for maybe a year and a half now and sewn quite a few item of clothing for myself. However, there are still some huge gaps in my wardrobe, and then there are some me-mades that I wear all the time, and some that have never seen the light of day.

First outfit being investigated was my buttery yellow wool knit sweater dress (Butterick 5523). Made early last year, I searched high and low for a suitable pattern for this fabric. Chosen for the pretty cowl neckline (I heart cowl necklines...), I also was interested in the back tab in the pattern. Pretty sure I changed up the sleeves (made it bell sleeves than a slim one), but no thanks to my not so detailed blogpost, can't recall if I made any other changes to the pattern other than making it A-line.

It was a very cozy sweater dress. I love the fit around my shoulders and of course I love the neckline. But I don't like that the pleats in front and back were not kind to me and makes me look frumpier.  And the back tab (I could probably have attached it better) further highlight the messy back skirt pleats. 

Wearing the sweater dress, the back skirt part clings to the back of my legs (curved inwards), which is definitely not helping my case... Also because I have the tendency to wear my dresses with pants. Yeap. Or leggings. I think it is because I get cold pretty easily, and/or the traditional style influence of my Southeast Asian culture ;)

I did wear it out quite a number of times last year, most of the time it remained under my huge black down jacket out of public view...

So with all that in mind, I decided to redo the outfit into a top so that I can wear pants/skirts with it and not have the skirt part of the dress cling to my legs.

I unpicked the skirt part from the bodice part (including the back tab portion) keeping the upper part intact, and add peplum to the raised waistline. I used the Vogue 8815 pattern for the peplum part. Luckily I had enough leftover fabric, so I used those instead of the original skirt part of the dress (not wide enough). Worry not, I have plans for it very soon.

This refashion is very straight forward. It took me just a night for most of the work including basting the hem. By the next morning, I had it all hemmed and ready for MMM'13!

Sharing with friends @ Refashion Co-op and Recycled Fashion Finds...

Jumping on the Me-Made-May'13 Bandwagon & Note

Bean @ the park 2013: Stop and smell the flowers

First off, I would like to thank all of you, my sewing blog friends and readers, for your kind positive wishes, thoughts and prayers on my dad's recent illness. I am deeply touched and truly humbled. I am back in Seattle over the weekend and my dad (or Ayah, as we children call him) is back home after probably a lil over 2 weeks of hospitalization. He had an angiogram test that found 3 blockages in his heart and a bypass operation is in the cards for him in not so distance future, pending tests and complete resolution of his lung infection, etc. He is truly a fighter, and it was a great thing seeing him recovering, and then chatting with his constant stream of visitors from the many different stages of his life, although the family do try to limit those as the doctors want him to rest. It's been quite a roller coaster ride emotionally for us, esp so on my mom I imagine, and while we are rejoicing on his external recovery, we are sad that he is still not fully out of danger. But, as Ayah is prone to say to this crybaby daughter of his, "relax, Ja (Ja being the family nickname for me)", and so life must go on, albeit with some major changes to his lifestyle... :)

 

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There are still a few days left to April. Surprisingly or not so surprisingly, I have not yet regain my sewing mojo and blaming it on jetlag (and a lil bit on emotional fatigue)... I have tonnes of things I plan to work on, but zero the energy... While back in Malaysia's capital, I did receive some Unsolicited Compliments from my mom, aunts and cousin-in-law on my me-made clothes (LOL, UCs from loved ones do count, don't they? I didn't even have to say the I-made-this-what-do-you-think spiel)... It sure is nice that they like what I made for me, quite an encouragement really. In fact my dad from his hospital bed while still with his breathing tubes in insisted that my mom take me to the fabric stores (no no, we ended up not going, but don't tell him that!).

Thankfully, after catching up on my sewing blog reading list, I am reminded of the much looked forward to Me-Made-May'13 Challenge of the ever glowing Zoe! This is definitely going to be the kick in the back I badly needed :)

So here's my original pledge:

I, Far of Memoryseed blog (farsland.blogspot.com), sign up as participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavor to wear (and document that fact) at least one self made/refashioned garment everyday in May. Repeats are a possibility. It is also a time that I am going to truly 'investigate' my relationship with my Me-Made items. Time to take stock, and cull when necessary.

 ***from this point onwards, I might use self-made and me-made interchangeably, and those I usually refer to both clothing sewn from the scratch and refashioned items***

Being a slow sewer/sewist/bla bla meant that I don't have that many me-made clothing yet to be able to wear something without repetition for the duration. But not only that, I found that I often reach for the same ones over and over while overlooking the others. Some may be because they are orphan pieces, some because they do not suit my lifestyle and some because they don't fit well/look good on me. 

Things I plan to do during the challenge:
1) self-imposed photo documentation of wearing my me-mades (with a weekly post, and maybe also a weekly post on the flickr group)

2) me-made wardrobe assessment

3) me-made wardrobe reorganization

4) sew something to commemorate Mother's Day

5) sew something to wear for my May birthday ;)

5) refashion something for Refashion Co-op and Recycled Fashion Finds ;)

Those are quite a list I made up as I type! LOL. 

Last year I managed 3 weeks of MMM'12 before we upped and moved from Iowa to Seattle :) Hopefully this year I will do much better to address the challenges I set up for myself.

If you are interested to know more about the Me-Made-May'13 or even to sign up and join me and the rest of the participants, do click on the logo above my pledge. :)

Warmest regards,

Far

Send us positive thoughts...

My dad fell ill a few days ago and is hospitalized. Things were going okay and he's recuperating fine due to his active lifestyle and that I don't need to go back. But a few hours ago he suddenly suffered a heart attack or blockage to his artery. Last message I got from my mom and brothers are that he's stabilized and being watched by doctors. I'm kinda numb right now. No tears anymore after the last few days of worry, and then finally happy/relieved skyping with my dad just hours before the current development. :( This time I'm leaving for home ASAP.

Friends, we are praying that things will be okay. Please keep us in your thoughts.