MMM'12 Week 2 Recap

Here are pics of what I wore for week 2 of Me-Made-May 2012:

 

Click this to read re my MMM'12 pledge.

More MMM'12 group pictures on Flickr.

Let the fun begin...

Today is May 1st and the start of the Me-Made-May '12...

I signed up not too long ago to challenge myself. So I've made a few clothes for moi since I started sewing. yay. But I don't think they are enough for me to cover the whole month yet without repetition (and perhaps not season appropriate, but where I come from that doesn't matter at all, hehehe). I also haven't made (from scratch or a refashion) any type of bottoms, with the exception of the pyjama pants finished last Friday. I think I can squeeze that in though, don't you think, :) especially since I practically live in PJs and not featuring it will be a gross misrepresentation of my daily life.

I've rarely if ever posted photo of myself on this blog. I sew and then I post. Mostly on hangers. Nowadays it's a miracle that I find a photo of me that I like. Ok, maybe not just nowadays, but since forever. I always have weird expressions or funky hand movements in photos. Now I can also add extra chubby cheeks and wobbly bits to the list. Once a while the stars align and I'd get a nice photo. But its kinda random, nothing that I can recreate (coz well I don't take pics of myself... and I still haven't purchase that tripod...).

Today I spent the whole day at home and did not go out. We'll have people over tomorrow, so I spent the day cutting fabric for my sewing project, entertaining the Bean, cooking and doing chores among other stuff. I don't like cleaning very much, but washing dishes can be therapeutic.

Day 1 -  I wore my first Vogue 1179 dress blogged here. Wrap cardigan is not me made but is a few years old and brings out the blue in the dress.


To recap my challenge pledge:

'I, Far of Memoryseed (http://farsland.blogspot.com), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavor to wear at least ONE item of me-made clothing/accessories each day for the duration of May 2012'...

I will be posting my MMM'12 pics every Monday here and daily on Flickr.

Happy MMM'12 to those participating!

Far @ Memoryseed

Good morning USA

Good morning... Yawnn...

The pyjama party has gone LIVE on Karen's side of the pond, so it's the perfect time for me to jump in :)

This has been a long and crazy week, including a trip to the ER for the Bean on Wednesday (he's fine, but we needed an X-ray to tell us that he is), among other things that added up to making it a crazy week for me. It is a week like this that further drive home the repercussions of my immigration to the US. Okay, maybe repercussion sounds too dramatic a word. But yet it is a fitting one.

But Friday came, and everything seems better on Friday, and exceptionally better when I drink an extra creamy cup of hot chocolate. Haha. And so I sew my pyjama pants with the Bean playing and climbing on my chair as usual. In the evening, we went out to an event organized by Malaysian students for a while and that warmed up the heart a little more - seeing young(er) people having the time of their lives with mostly exams to worry about... and when we get home and had dinner I hemmed and iron the pyjama pants in time for zzz...

Behold my very first pants/bottom ever (that is for me and not the Bean). It is very simple to make, with straight-forward instruction from the Butterick 3314 pattern I used and the visual steps and tips from Karen's Pyjama Party Sewalong. 

I made size XL and I admit that it is very very roomy. Even the L will be roomy too looking at the pattern, but roomy for PJs for me is good. Definitely not when I sew pants to wear with my tops though (some day).

Fabric used: a lovely brown 100% cotton with small cream and orangey colored flowers and greyish green leaves...

Haven't been reading on the bed nowadays. But reading, like sewing, both mainly solitary type hobbies IMO, are my passions. Currently I am rereading Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on my Kindle.

 

When I like something I tend to do it repeatedly. Like ordering the same food when going to that particular eating place, or reading the whole Harry Potter set 7 times...

I do love to hold and touch and smell books. But we're always in the state of moving somewhere, that I've donated most of the physical books I picked up here in US, with some exception that by now I can't remember what that were - they've been in one box since 2 moves ago and will stay that way until we move out of state someday.

Now I'm gonna hop over the party and check out what the others came up with...

 

A bunch of un-donate-able clothes...

Yesterday was Earth Day, and a Sunday, so I started to sort out through our mountains of clothing to figure out which are staying and which should be packed for donation. I usually do this periodically, but I think ever since I took up sewing last year these kind of activity (and intense cleaning in general) seems to take a back seat.

Anyways, what would you do with a bunch of un-donate-able clothing items? 

Sorting through (the top of) our things I found some torn and some stained clothes. Most of the times I cut em up into rags to wipe the floor or cleaning the kitchen. This time I around I made 3 pairs of play pants for the Bean (2 are 3/4 length and 1 longer, all elasticized pull up types, using the same pattern as the Choo choo pyjama bottom, which is McCalls 6458).

From daddy's pants (the very same cotton twill pants from which I made Bean's Fisherman Hat #1) is this grey/blueish 3/4 pull pants (elastic was from my old pants). Pictured folded: Dark red checkered fabric was from an old shirt and the black one underneath was from a stained sweatshirt.

Didyoumakethat's Pyjama Party Sewalong

As bottoms go what best way to learn how to make one but by starting with pyjama pants dontcha think? And what best way to force you to actually do it but by joining a pyjama party with some fabulous peeps on a specific deadline (28th)...

I've found my pattern in the stash (a Butterick 3314) but have not decided on the fabric yet. There is a probability that I am going to make 2 but we shall see...

image from Butterick website