Looking ahead to Me Made May 2018

For the past three or four years, I've been wanting to participate in Me Made May. Me Made May is when you wear clothes you made yourself. Every year, May just sort of comes at me with no warning and I realize I've done little to no sewing since the previous May. Of course, I can wear the sweaters I've made, but May really isn't the most knit sweater friendly month.

One of my life goals is to have a completely Me Made wardrobe. One of my 2017 goals was even to sew more. Which honestly won’t be hard since I haven't even looked at a sewing machine in over a year. Really the only thing stopping me from having a decent sized Me Made collection is just sitting down and getting some sewing done. I have more than enough fabric and patterns to have some really great pieces.

As this May is coming to a close, I’m making a pledge right now to plan for next year’s Me Made May. I'm going to challenge myself to create at least one wearable sewn object each month from now until then. Starting in June, I'll be sharing at least one sewn garment each month here on the blog. Hopefully by time May 1, 2018 rolls around I’ll have enough pieces to fill most of the month.

Here's to hoping this is exactly what I need to get me motivated to actually sit down at the sewing table and get some work done. What are some things you guys do to get yourself motivated to accomplish a goal?

If you want to see my progress make sure to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest.

Thrifty Finds: Textile Center Garage Sale

Every year for the past 15 years, the Textile Center asks people and companies to donate their unwanted craft supplies. People bring in everything from unwanted sewing machines, fabric, yarn, sewing, knitting and crochet patterns, crochet hooks, knitting needles and needlework supplies. You name it, someone brings it. Two days later these things are sold in a giant garage sale held in a large warehouse. There's a dollar admission fee and all proceeds go to keeping the center up and running.

This past weekend my mom and I went for the second time. Neither one of us had any real idea what we were looking for. We were sort of just hoping we'd come away with as much great stuff as we did last time. While we did find a few great things, we didn't come away with as many treasures as we did last year. Something like this is pretty hit or miss. There's really no way of knowing what people are going to decide to donate. Regardless, we did pick up a few great things.

When I said people donate anything to the Textile Center, I wasn't lying. Something that surprised me most was the amount of people that donated unfinished objects, or UFOs for short. There were several cafeteria style tables full of UFOs. That's where I found this great 1960s sewing pattern (Simplicity 5835), wool (I think) fabric and a zipper. All for just two dollars. As far as UFOs go this is about as unfinished as you can get. The only thing that's been done for the whole project is that the pattern has been cut.

I'm so stupidly excited about this find everything about this screams 60s. I can't wait to get started on even just the muslin. According to a few handwritten notes on the pattern, the original owner was planning on making the blouse and jacket. But personally, I think the fabric (which is as bright in real life) would be much better suited for the skirt.

Mom also nabbed this adorable pink and white synthetic, possibly polyester, fabric. She plans on making a little dress for my baby niece using the Kwik Sew 3035 pattern. Of course, if she doesn't really want to, I'm sure I can find a cute 60s skirt pattern to that would go perfect with this fabric.

Another great find is an old book on pattern drafting and grading, Modern Method of Women's & Children's Garment Design. It was originally published in 1955 by The Master Designer and this is the 1981 edition. It has everything from slacks, to skirts, to shirts to dresses. I've thumbed through it and all of it is going WAY over my head. But I can already tell this is going to be an invaluable resource as I continue to improve my sewing skills. Since I much prefer using vintage patterns over modern patterns, mostly for their simplicity (ha!), I really have no choice but to learn how to resize patterns.

As always if you want to see my progress on these future projects follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Also, if you don't want to miss another blog post, make sure to pop over to Bloglovin' and follow me there as well.

What's on the needles: A whole bunch of projects

Remember when a few weeks ago I said it felt like all I was doing was planning projects and not getting a whole lot done. Well, I finally said to myself to, "Mandi, you need to shut up and put up." If that is indeed how the saying goes. If it's not, then I didn't say that at all.

Since I finished knitting my first pair of socks about a year and a half ago, I've wanted to knit another pair. But I wasn't thrilled with the heel flap and gusset. And I didn't like how the toe decreases were. So, I looked for some toe up socks and found Very Pink's German short rows pattern. I love this pattern because I've been looking for a way to do short rows without the standard wrap&turn and finally found an easy way to do it. Plus, the pattern includes tutorial videos at each part of the sock (ie. the toe, heel and cuff) to help you along the way. I really recommend it.

I finally got to casting on for my purple Rosalie. There's not much to say about it at the moment. Or much to look at for that matter. It's just been some plain old stockinette stitch round after round. Which has been really good to knit while I play the Sims. But it's becoming a bit redundant and I'm getting a tad bit bored with it already. Hopefully, I'll feel differently when I get to the ribbing at the neck line. But I hate to knit ribbing, so I don't know why I would assume that. Maybe this time it'll be different.

This is the fabric I plan to use. Floral of course.

I've also been working on a muslin for a button up shirt I plan to sew sometime in the future. But that one has stalled out. When tracing the pattern I got confused about what certain dots meant,  so I just ignored them all. Turns out those dots were important, who knew. I was noticing this all as I was getting sick the the thousandth time this year. And I didn't really have it in me to figure out where everything lined up. Either way, I'm really excited about this project even if it is only in the muslin stage because it's something that I've done entirely by myself. I'm not saying I haven't asked for help, but there hasn't been anything on it that my mom has done. I'm just going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for that one.

There are few more projects that I've been working on that aren't worth photographing. One of them is another sweater that I've been wanting to be done with for sometime but kind of have run out of steam on it. That's actually happened to me quite a bit. Sometimes I go through a phase where I just want the finished product, but I don't want to go through sewing or knitting it. I just want it to magically appear. Does this happen to you guys? How do you muscle through it?

As always if you want to see my progress follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

1960s Wiggle Dress Planning

I was hoping to have a finished sweater and a vintage inspired skirt to share with you this week. But seeing as I haven't even started on the front of the sweater, that seems like an unrealistic goal. Instead of knitting my sweater I've been going through some fabric I got at a large garage sale last spring. And just like that I've been bitten by the sewing bug, and want to sew all the things.

The first thing that I want to sew with some great floral fabric I got is a halter wiggle dress. I've been on the hunt for some patterns but am turning up empty. It doesn't help that I can't even find a decent picture of what I'm looking for. To be honest, I'm not even sure if this is inspired by something I saw or something I think I saw. That happens to me a lot. But I'm pretty sure this was sparked by something I saw in an Elvis movie since the fabrics are ones that remind me of Blue Hawaii, but I can't be sure. Looks like I have an excuse to watch some Elvis beach movies now.

Any way, the closest that I've been able to find is a vintage pattern from 1964, McCall's 7511. The only thing is, I want a halter top. But the more I've looked at halter tops, the more I'm wondering if that's something I really want. I haven't been the biggest fan of halter tops in the past, so I'm not entirely sure why I have my mind set on a halter dress. After looking at the pattern more I'm starting to think maybe this would be a better fit for my fabric. After a quick search, I can't find it in my usual pattern price range, but I'll be keeping my eyes open.

As for the fabric, I can't decide between the large print floral or the small print floral. The first time I saw both of them I was thinking along the lines of a gathered skirt for both of them. But I don't think that's their true destiny. I'm leaning more toward the large print for the dress, and maybe the other one can become a nice gathered skirt. Honestly, I think there would be enough of the smaller print to make a dress and skirt. We'll see...

I know you don't want to miss what these two fabrics true destinies will ultimately be. And since I tend to spoil everything on social media you should follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for the latest updates.