Me-Made May 2015 Wrap Up

I finished the rest of Me Made May without repeating my handmade clothes!  Before going into this I hadn't realized how much of my wardrobe is actually made by me.  And actually now that May is over I still have a few more things that I never wore during the month, but that I have worn since.  Not even including things that are for colder weather!

Here are the outfits I wore in the second half of the month (most pics from Instagram although some are pre-square-cropping so I can show you more of the proportions!)

May 17th:  I wore this dress out to tea at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku (where Lost in Translation was filmed, although we were on a different floor) with some lady friends of mine.  I haven't worn this dress much, because I struggled a lot with the fit when making it.  Let's just say this is the dress that taught me the importance of making a muslin, especially when the project has multiple darts, piping, a full lining, invisible zip, and fitted waistband--pretty much impossible to alter without taking the whole thing apart!  I blogged about it when I first made it, and I don't know if I'll ever wear it again.

May 18:  Foldover waist yoga skirt.  I made this one out of a thrifted t-shirt and I thought I was pretty ingenious to use the square neckline to make the topstitched pockets.

 May 19th:  Railroad-Stripe Milkmaid Skirt (from this Crafterhours tutorial) and a cardigan I made out of a hand-me-down wrap dress, with a RTW tank and scarf

May 20th:  This is a Sorbetto Top but with a reverse pleat (blogged here) and a Boyfriend Cardi in some fun 100 yen per meter double-sided knit, from the free iCandy Handmade pattern.  I wore it to the Dirty Dish Shop in Tokyo (pictured), an awesome ceramics warehouse where everything is 40% off of retail price!

May 21st:  This was the first new item I made for Me Made May--a sleeveless Washi dress with some bodice alterations that I blogged about here.  It's also my favorite item of the month, and the one I was most excited to wear again when the month was over.

I had to show you a better close-up of the fabric too, because I love it--it's a little crinkly so it has some stretch, and it's nice and airy for hot weather.  Plus it was only 100 yen per meter--can't beat that!  This dress cost me about $2 to make! 

I wore it for our trip to a Sumo match, one of our bucket list items before we move away from Japan! Near the stadium we happened across this giant yarn ball and I couldn't resist the photo op.

May 22nd:  This dress was my Easter dress a few years ago.  It was one of my first splurge fabrics--a silky feeling cotton that was an end-of-bolt cut from Mood.  I think it also marks the first time I actually paid money for a women's pattern!  It's the Gathered Sundress from Pattern Runway.  I didn't make a muslin for this dress so the fit isn't great, but it still gets a lot of wear due to the beautiful print and the roomy pockets!  I think it's about time to give this pattern another try, now that my technique has improved quite a bit.

May 23rd:  Another Washi Dress :)  I LOVE this one in the Melody Miller border print arrow fabric, but being my first Washi Dress I wasn't sure how long to make it, and because of the border print I couldn't shorten it as much as I wanted to when hemming.  Still a winner though!

May 24th:  This skirt is another Milkmaid Skirt, this time made from a thrifted nightgown.  I rarely wear it since it's white, but I did manage to get through the whole day without spilling on it so maybe I'm getting less clumsy!  Or maybe my kids are older now and don't wipe their hands and faces on me as much anymore.  In any case, I think I can bring this skirt into more regular rotation now.  In other news, I loved this t-shirt Merchant and Mills made for Uniqlo--it has a faux measuring tape draped around it!  Of course, it's in centimeters...

May 25th:  Another take on the Scoop Top from Skirt as Top's free pattern.   Hmm, I guess I never blogged about this one.  It uses some sheer woven fabric from a blouse I ordered online that was a terrible fit.  This month made me realize how often I like to make the same pattern over and over--I have three milkmaid skirts, three (at least!) scoop tops, several Washi's, plenty of Plantains, and so on.

May 26th:  The 2nd NEW item of the month!  I found this fun strawberry print jersey for 200 yen per meter, and it made a great sundress for Little Sister but I was a little afraid of it for myself.  But I liked it so much I had to give it a try!  I think the black and white stripe mellows it out enough to be at least somewhat appropriate for a grown-up--but it's still a little crazy!  The pattern is the free Fun Summer tee from iCandy Handmade, and I haven't had a chance to blog about it yet.

May 27th:  Another dress I never blogged about!  I made this one here in Tokyo out of thrifted fabric that I brought with me from home.  The bodice is based on the Sorbetto Tank pattern again, but I'm pretty sure I used the Milkmaid skirt dimensions to figure out the skirt.  It has an elastic waist with bias casing.  And pockets, because duh.

This is another fabric that deserves a closer look, because it's printed on top of thin stripes.  Pretty cool!

May 28th:  A basic RTW black tee with a simple elastic waist a-line skirt (with pockets, of course!).  I  like the ribbon detail on the hem--you can get a closer look on my blog post about this skirt.

May 29th:  What's that, another Washi?  This time with long sleeves!  I made the elastic slightly too tight in the ends of the sleeves on this dress, so I ripped them out in the morning before putting this dress on--now they might be a bit TOO loose?  Maybe I'll put in a bit more elastic and try again.  This was my 2nd Washi dress and since I made the first one too long I overcompensated on this one and made it too short--and of course, I did a visible hem facing so no easy way to lengthen it either.  Grr!  It seems I never blogged about this one, either!

Cool double-sided 100-yen-per-meter fabric!

May 30th:   I based this top off of iCandy Handmade's free cap-sleeve tee pattern.  At first I just cut the yoke straight across, but it felt like it needed more so I re-did it with the sweetheart shape and was so happy with how it came out.  The knit has a subtle stripe that coordinated really well with the slate-gray cotton lace.  And what do you know--this is another project I never blogged about!

Sorry about the blurry pic of the back--it's hard to know when you're in focus using a phone self-timer!

May 31st:  My final outfit of the month was my 100-yen-per-meter Bess Top from Imagine Gnats in this weird map print!  I was pretty surprised to find that I had enough items to get me through an entire month without repeats (and then some!)

And that's it!  You can see my outfits from the first half of Me Made May here.  This was my first year participating in earnest, and I'm pretty happy with the results--the most major of which is realizing that a lot of my favorite things to wear are actually things that I made myself.

I have a few more projects on my to-do list now, some inspired by the great looks I saw from other sewists on Instagram, and some coming from the realization that I have a few dresses in my closet that I wanted to wear all the time, and I only avoided since I was trying not to repeat myself.  That tells me I need to make those patterns a few more times!

Me Made May 2015: The Halfway Point

I meant to post weekly updates of my Me Made May wardrobe, but our trip to Hawaii in the first week threw me off a bit.  I've been posting to Instagram daily, but I was using my US phone in Hawaii and not all of the pictures made it into my photo stream now that I'm using my Japanese phone again....WOW sorry for that boring explanation.  Anyway, I've got all the pics now, and I'm proud to report that at this point (16 days in) I haven't repeated myself yet, and I only had one cheater day on vacation where I wore RTW (I was still carrying a bag I made).

Here's how I'm doing so far!

Day 1:  A Ruby Top from Made by Rae, the first thing I sewed when I moved to Japan.  I definitely like it better belted but I have worn it loose with with skinny jeans before.

Day 2:  An adapted Sorbetto Tank from Colette Patterns--I left out the front pleat and attempted a crossover back.  I like the effect but the fit is off, and the crossover pulls funny.  The fabric is from Ikea.  Never blogged this one, although I did take some pics at one point!

Day 3:  An adapted Scoop Top from Skirt as Top, sewn from a Girl Charlee burnout cotton that I got in a bargain box.  It was in big pieces but there was writing on it, so I made the back in two panels, which I actually really like!  Almost like I planned it.  Also never blogged this shirt, but I wear it a fair bit.  Oh, and I made the skirt too--upcycled it from a larger thrifted skirt--and I actually did blog about it here.

Day 4:  Hawaii!   Isn't nice how my dress coordinates with the plumeria lei?  It's the Giselle Dress from Kate and Rose Patterns, sewn from a lovely Art Gallery Fabrics voile.

Day 5:  Looking more relaxed already in my Nani Iro double gauze dress, a mash-up of the Bess Top and Alder Skirt, both from Imagine Gnats.  I was really happy with the way the pictures came out when I blogged about this one!

Day 6:  Every time we go on a trip, I find myself wishing I had a little bag to carry just the things I want at my fingertips so I don't have to dig through the giant backpack full of kid stuff just to get my phone.  Because of COURSE I'm still also carrying the giant backpack of kid stuff.  But I finally made my little bag before this trip, and I carried it every day.  This particular day though, it was the only me-made item on my person.

Day 7:  a self-drafted cap-sleeve tee (the first of three made from this same pattern that I've worn this month!)  This one is also made from a Girl Charlee knit.

Day 8:  Oooops, I guess I missed another day as well--it's hard when you're mostly just wearing a swimsuit all day!  I was still carrying my little bag, and I DID put the inseam pockets into this RTW dress, so that counts, right?

Day 9:  I still can't get the photos off of my US phone for this one!  Don't know why the rest of my pics ended up in my photo stream, but not these.  So here's a family portrait from the "real camera"--I was wearing my most straightforward Sorbetto Tank for the plane ride home.

Day 10:  Back in Tokyo...it could be worse, I guess! This Giselle Dress that I made as a muslin for the one I wore on Day 4 came out a little shorter than I am comfortable with, and I've been wearing it with leggings but it was too hot for that, so I was about to hem my slip so it wouldn't show, but I realized...maybe I should just let out the hem on the dress instead?  So early in the morning (jet lag plus 4:30 sunrise) I lengthened this dress and now I will wear it lots more!

Day 11:  A field trip to the petting zoo with 5-year-olds seemed like a good day to pull out this cheerful Plantain Tee with Melody Miller accents, right?  I love this top, even if the elbow patches are a little higher than my actual elbows.

Day 12:  Comfy mashup of the Sunny Swing tee and a Plantain Tee, with a double-gauze panel.

Day 13: Trying to take a picture that shows the back and front of this tee (another Scoop Top, this time inspired by an Anthropologie shirt) resulted in an awkward pose, according to my brother.

Day 14: This jersey dress has been a favorite since I made it.  Hopefully this wasn't the last time I will ever wear it--I forgot to bring my apron when I went to my son's class to work on a painting project that day and I'm not sure the spots are going to come out!

Day 15:  That brings us to today, but...it's May 16th.  I seem to have lost a day in there somewhere.  I blame crossing the international date line twice and hence wearing a couple of outfits for 36 hours or so.  This is the third version of the same self-drafted cap sleeve pattern that I've worn this month (the others are the orange dress above and the top on Day 7.)

No repeats wasn't part of my original goal for this month, but since I've gotten this far I might just see if I can do it.  It's pretty obvious that my sewing comfort zone is tops and dresses--I have a few skirts, but nothing I've made recently, so maybe sewing for my lower half is a challenge I need to take on.  In the mean time, if you see me sweating in long sleeves when it's 80 degrees out, you'll know I've run out of summer clothes!  So far, I haven't made anything new this month, but I do have a couple of things I'd really like to get to--maybe avoiding repeats will be the inspiration I need to finish those projects!

I'm In: Me Made May 2015

Ok, I'm signing up--I'm challenging myself to wear one self-made garment every day in May!

What is it you ask?  Sign up here!

I played along unofficially last year, not even really realizing there was more going on behind the scenes, but this time around I think I'm ready to participate for real.  I've been sewing for myself so much more in the last year, and this will be a good test of which items I feel are good enough for the real world :)

I'm going to try to take pictures every day, although they will most often probably be iPhone pics, either bad selfies or taken by my children!  But my goal is to post weekly summaries, since the idea blogging every day about stuff I've already blogged about when it was made is a little overwhelming to me.  Although this will be a good opportunity to get some photos of the things I've sewn that never made it to the blog!

In honor of day 1, I'm wearing the first top I made for myself when we arrived in Japan.  First photo courtesy of my 5 year old, second one taken by my husband :)

This is the Ruby Top pattern (tunic length) from Made by Rae.  After making this first one, I sized the pattern down and have made several different versions, including a dress, adding sleeves and altering the neckline. I prefer this top belted, but there are times when I like it loose, usually with leggings and a cardigan.  Looking back on this piece, I wish I would have used a softer fabric for the yoke--I like the color, but it feels a little stiff with the drapey fabric of the rest of the top.