Bye bye MMM'13 and Hello 2013 Style the Stash Sew A Long

It's been a week since Me Made May '13 ended, and I still have yet to come around to write a bit about it until today. 

My MMM'13 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.

Things I planned on doing 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 ;)

 

Some post MM related thoughts:

• Relieved that I made it to the end this year (yay! phew!!!), but always, I know I definitely can do better next year! :) Can't wait!
• As expected, the part of wearing me mades wasn't really a problem since I just mainly grab them and pair them with thrifted pants/jeans (with little to no styling unfortunately). 
• So essentially styling and putting my outfit together (and also putting myself together) is something I will put more thought into moving forward, this is a life WIP for me.
• I also do need a happy, more presentable stay at home clothes, being that I stay at home most of the time!
• Photo documenting me in them was a huge problem still due to several reasons: photographer at work whole day, no suitable and bright enough areas in the tiny apartment to set up tripod (and without the Bean trying to dismantling them), and so on.
• May was pretty much spent on altering a few of my me mades, hubby's shirts and pants, and plenty of sewing related stuff. For me, was a quite productive time, and zero to none social time save for socializing with my own 2 boys, lol.
• Didn't get to fully utilize Flickr group and check out what other participants are wearing, save for the ones on my blog list. I will get to it eventually (as I love seeing what others make and sewn and how they wear them), as soon as i figure out how to do Flickr on my phone! My time on this PC is limited (but I am determined to get this post out today!) 
• Also a continuing WIP is to look with a critical eye at my wardrobe on what will stay and what will be put into the to be reworked pile (assess and reorganize). As mentioned, I have been altering some of my me mades to fit better, but I did not take out everything from closet and divide things out to do so.
• Made me a mother's day top- the silk chiffon dubbed pink parfum top, but did not make a birthday outfit (birthday was 2 days after mother's day, and mother's day top was a lot of work due to fabric). 
• For the refashion part: refashioned pants to be a hat and men's denim shirt to be my denim shirt with floral sleeves. p/s: I probably should sew in bra strap holder in all my clothes, one side always slip down my shoulder, always and ruined photos!

Right, and now the Bean is here demanding to watch train on computer!

Before I leave: here is the last day of MM photo:

Me wearing my red wool knit V1179, and the Bean wearing one of his mommy made play pants again. I made him a new play pants from my old neon green dress he wore the day before, but it seems that I don't have it downloaded to the computer. Ah well. 

First week recap: mmm-monday-day-1-2-3-4-5-recap
Second week recap: mmm-monday-day-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-recap
Third week recap:  mmm-mmmmm-day-20-to-27-recap
____

 Ok, while I get the Bean distracted a lil while longer, here is what's currently on my working table (read: dining table):

My first stash busting project for the 2013 Style the Stash Sew-A-Long (a fun, relaxing, no rigid rules, 7 months long "challenge" led by Sarah Liz ) :

Fabric: silk+cotton voile from FabricMart a couple years ago (2 yds) - navy or black (lighting is bad or my eyes are bad?) background with green/teal/ivory/white flowers with tiny white dots and silver lurex threads

Pattern: McCall's M6702, View B like my Peony Pink Linen version but with some modification which I will explain in the next post when it's done.

To see what me and the other stashaholics are up to, or even to join us, visit the 2013 Style the Stash Sew-A-Long blog here.

work in progress: essential top #1

I'm starting off my 2013 Essential Tops sew-a-long with a refashion project. Of course :)

I have the tendency of getting side tracked whenever I'm in front of the pc (i also read blogs on my phone and once a while on the kindle fire, but most of the time i have the Law & Order on that) so am trying to keep this short and simple.

Here is my old silk chiffon maxi?/sundress from Zara Basic. Last time I wore it was when I was 6 mths pregnant:

I've cut off the original acetate lining and used it when making one of my muslin parts for the Peony Pink M6702 top since the picture was taken.

Isn't the print very spring-y? It seems to have some of the Pantone's 2013 Spring Color in it IMO...

This is the pattern I'm working from:

The neckline would be like View D, except that there won't be gathers on the collar and I want to incorporate the back/button loops of the original dress on the back side of the new top collar. And adding more button loops by using the original strap which matches the existing button loops...

I am planning to incorporate some sort of a sleeve based on the pattern piece for View B's sleeve, but will omit the band. No hem band like View D either.

Needless to say I've cut and slashed and taped the pattern pieces so much to accommodate sections of the dress.

Fully lining it with silk lining since it's chiffon and sheer, so it's quite fiddly. No pattern for the lining, so after a lot of thinking, I basted the chiffon to the silk lining and treated them as one. Chiffon is  tough and time consuming. I might have to rethink my initial plan of sewing up all silk chiffons for this sew-a-long. Maybe sew something else after this and then go back to chiffons. We'll see.

Stay tuned. With some luck, I might get to finish the top later today... Man... This post is not that short and sweet is it?

What I'm still working on today

What I'm working on today

Cutting out my fabric (cotton from Amy Butler's Lark collection) for the anniversary dress. Not sure if I will have it done on time though.... But sure hope so...