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Me-Made-May ’13, the nearly annual event that celebrates sewing, individuality and sustainability and encourages all sewists to wear their creations. Pioneered by Zoe of So, Zo fame. This lady is full of creativity, thrift and style, and is a sewing blogger I’ve been following for a few years now.

Many bloggers aim to wear one handmade item for each day of May, but I have nowhere near that many self-made clothes to wear, so I’ve altered my pledge thusly: I’ll wear at least 2 me-made garments per weeek, and complete 2 new garments by the end of the month. I think this is reasonable, given I am a third of the way through sewing my Diplomat Dress!!

Look!

 

And look!

 

I’m taking serious care to press and finish my seams this time. Usually I am in a big rush, and skip lots of steps, but this time I am trying to practice “slow sewing.”

Check it out! This dress has four panels that make up the front: 2 for the “bodice” and 2 for the skirt. I couldn’t have matched the seams any better than that! I know the pattern on the fabric doesn’t match, but this is a muslin, and the pattern is so busy and dark that I don’t think it matters much.

I hope to sew up the darts on the back of the dress and attach the back to front by the end of the week. I am taking my time, hoping it will turn out well.  Me-Made-May is just around the corner!

 

 

Lisette dress: pattern cutting

I woke up today with a plan. I would spend the morning cutting and sewing my Lisette muslin.

The plan was taking shape in my mind until DH said: What about Comet’s karate lesson? Plan shot down.

So off Comet and I went to karate, me a little grumpy about my ruined morning. But, silver lining, the alternative radio station in my area was paying tribute to REMs Murmur album this morning! This was the anthem of my senior year in high school! I nearly swooned! I got a whole hour to sit and listen to the radio, a rare treat. I also pounded out the first draft of a lengthy post about the current state of the clothing industry. Not bad for an hour’s work.

Back home, no time to cut and sew. Had a fast lunch and packed the kids up for Comet’s composition lesson. Sat and finished an ebook, again, a rare gift: time to read. So, lesson done, Sparkle and I head to a neighborhood fabric shop, The Linden Tree, for their grand re-opening. What a place! Small and cozy, filled but not overstuffed with beautiful fabrics, jewelry, crafts. A local artist, Cindy Lindgren was celebrating the launch of her first fabric line at the store, so there were treats too, and samples of clothing made up from her gorgeous fabric.  And even better, I met up with a former neighbor who sells her items at the shop, and a friend from church!

Full of energy, we head home. Somehow a small miracle occurred: DH went down for a nap, Sparkle curled up on the couch with a book, and Comet holed up in the office to work on a computer program. My plan re-emerged! So here is what I did:

 

here are my pattern pieces, all traced out and ready for the fabric!

 

DH is super brilliant, and suggested I tape the pattern and tracing paper on the window, the better to see the tiny lines!

 

And here is the fabric I’ll use for a muslin. No way am I going to cut into my good fabric yet! And if all goes to plan, I’ll be cutting fabric tomorrow!