Me-Made-May Week 4

May 22

For classes on Monday, I again wore my yellow, orange and pink Butterick 6167

May 23

After Workshop on Tuesday I changed into my red and green Simplicity 3107 for the remainder of the day. At the medieval club meeting that night, I made myself some viking rus trousers, and a pair of calico braies (basically boxer shorts) for a friend.

May 24

I wore my yellow and red gerbera dress again for another lazy day around the house.

May 25

For a day of lounging about the house and running a couple of errands, I wore my pink wrap dress, pattern available from here.

May 26

On Friday I wore my Leopard skirt and off white shirt, neither of which have made it onto the blog. The Skirt is a half circle skirt with in seam pockets, make from a soft and stretchy leopard print fabric. Due to the stretch in the fabric, when I made it I didn't bother putting in a zip. I chose to wear an easy, comfy outfit, as we had archery practice, and then an evening of learning to sing medieval (and medieval-ish) songs.

Made by Kelly at Make it or Cake it

May 27

Saturday, I managed to sleep in and run 2 hours late for a friend's birthday party. In my rush to get out the door, I threw on my Kitty B6167, as it was convenient. Despite that, I still got there in time for cake! (which was an awesome chocolate mud with raspberry ganache, decorated to look like a Hawaiian shirt)

May 28

Just spent the day at home, so I simply wore my Kitty B6167 again

So, we are almost to the end of another Me-Made-May, and while I certainly don't feel as challenged as I have in past years, there are still a few things I would like to get made to complete my wardrobe, but I am happy with how much of my wardrobe is already me-made. It's making me feel inspired to donate even more of my store-bought clothing that is sitting, unworn, in my closet.

Dixie

Me-Made-May Week 3

May 15

For Uni on Monday I wore my new coral floral dress that I finished last week, paired with yellow cardigan (not made by me, but still handmade) and managed to take a quick selfie in a bathroom mirror, so you can at least see what the dress looks like. It has a halter strap, and boning in the bodice, and while the fit isn't perfect, it is good enough, and has enough in built support that I can get away with not having to wear a bra with it (which is good as I hate wearing strapless bras) I had developed a bit of a cold over the weekend, so I was feeling pretty awful, and decided after attending my lecture, that I just wasn't well enough to attend class after, so I had lunch with a friend, then headed home early instead.

After having a 2 hour nap when I got home, I decided I was feeling well enough to go to the SCA dance practice evening that is on Monday nights (despite protests from my husband not wanting me to go out in the cold night air) However, I changed into my navy pants and blue kitty pussy bow blouse (layered with my blue slip underneath) so that I wouldn't have bare legs or upper chest.

May 16

After workshop, I changed into the skirt from my blue suit, and pink kitty pussy bow blouse for the remainder of the day, although I did also wear my store bought hoody later in the evening.

May 17

I was still feeling pretty crook on Wednesday, but my husband wanted to go out for lunch and a bit of shopping. I didn't feel like wearing a dress that day, so I wore my polka dot jeans, pink stripe top (which I made some time ago, but have not blogged about) and denim jacket for a more casual look. Yes, I was rocking double denim.

From last May when I wore this
dress to Lifou

May 18 

Spent the day at home, mostly working on an assessment that was due Friday night. Wore my comfy yellow check with red gerberas dress, that I haven't blogged about making, but which I have worn previously during Me-Made-May last year

Photo from when I first made this
outfit

  

May 19

Again, spent the day working on and finishing my uni assessment. I got it done, maybe not to the level I would have liked, but my cold was making it very hard for me to concentrate, so I was just happy to get it done. Wore my navy swing pants and blue kitty blouse again.

Cutting out the Cotehardie

May 20 

Saturday was mostly spent at a friend's place, where we were having a "making day" for our archery group. I ended up making something completely unrelated to archery, as my friend had bought Reconstructing History's men's cotehardie pattern, and had some fabric, so I worked on that for the day while I had him there to fit it to. I did make some slight alterations to get the fit right, but I will probably write a separate review post about that pattern. Other things that got done on the day were; making bow strings (twisting strands of elastic and splicing them), Arrow making, wool luceting and metal plates for armour being cleaned of rust and painted to prevent more rust. Because I was worried about getting my clothes dirty, I wore an old stained off-white shirt that I made years ago, paired with a red gingham circle skirt, also made years ago (before I had an overlocker!)

That's a well-fitting cotehardie,
if I do say so myself!

May 21
On Sunday, myself and 2 others decided to go for an impromptu trip to Sydney to go to the Blacktown Medieval Fayre. I managed to finish off the hand worked eyelets on my friend's cotehardie during the drive, so he was able to wear it while we were there. I was pretty happy with the fit once it was done, and I think he loved it. I wore my brown and gold houppelande that I made the week before Rowany festival, and finally managed to get a photo of me wearing it.

I still have a few Uni assessments to work on, but I am also finding a bit of time for some sewing for myself. I have just started on making another jacket from Butterick 5824 (used previously to make my wedding jacket) using a floral fleece blanket I purchased from Best and Less last winter. I haven't cut out the lining yet, but I'm considering using some plain pink polar fleece from my stash, to keep it nice and snuggly. That should help me fill part of what is missing from my me-made wardrobe, although this year I am less concerned with replacing my store-bought items, if they are still in usable condition and fit me well.

Dixie

Me-Made-May Week 2

May 8

As the weather has now turned cooler, I was able to wear my navy swing pants and striped pussy bow blouse to University. I have finally got back in the habit of setting my hair in curls, so wearing this outfit, pearls and curls, I was beginning to feel more like myself again after a very busy few weeks. I even passed one of my workshop teachers on the way to the library, and she said she almost didn't recognise me (keeping in mind she only ever sees me in my workshop clothes and hairnet)

May 9 

After Workshop in the morning, I changed into my Dracula Dress for the remainder of the day. I started drafting a pattern for a Gambeson as part of my armour for combat Archery. It is essentially a padded jacket that you wear either under or over the required armour, to provide more coverage and padding.

May 10

Wednesdays tend to be lazy days for me, I spent most of the day in my pajamas, just throwing on my Dracula Dress again to head to the supermarket in the afternoon.

  

May 11

On Thursday I caught up with my mum, and an old friend I hadn't seen in years, at the Maitland greyhound races. I wore my Mummykins and me Madison dress and matching Denim jacket. We only put $1 bets on some of the dogs, but we did win a little bit back.

May 12

Didn't get up to too much on Friday, although I did dye a few pastel streaks in my hair. When I wasn't dying my hair, I was wearing my kitty print B6167.

May 13

Instead of seeing my mum and grandma on Sunday for mother's day, we decided to schedule our brunch for Saturday instead. I wore my yellow self drafted shirt and Elsie George resort skirt (that I made) I then headed to combat Archery practice (a bit late and a bit tipsy, oh well)

May 14

I had a pretty bad day on Sunday, so I just hid in my sewing room in my pajamas watching movies and working on my gambeson. By this point I had most of the pieces assembled and quilted, with just the sleeves left to quilt.

I'm loving that I can start wearing certain things again now that the weather is cooling down, but at the same time, I really need to get a start on some winter sewing that I have had sitting in my sewing room for a while, but couldn't motivate myself to do during summer. Unfortunately now I have Uni assessments to work on, and what sewing time I do have, I have been using for SCA (medieval) stuff.

Dixie

Me-Made-May Week 1

So here we are at the start of another Me-Made-May!

While I left it until May 1st to comment my pledge on So Zoe's 2017, and haven't yet posted anything to my blog, I am once again participating, with the same pledge as last year:

"I Dixie O'Dare, of missdixieodare.blogspot.com.au, Sign up to participate in Me-Made-May '17. I pledge to only wear me-made clothes every day for the duration of May 2017"

First day of Me-Made-May

May 1

I started out the week going to University wearing a dress I have not yet blogged about. It is Butterick 6322 (another Gertie pattern) made in a delightful yellow cotton printed with toadstools, strawberries, acorns, snails and butterflies. I made this months ago, but haven't yet managed to take decent photos of it for the blog yet. I did however wear a store bought cardigan, so maybe it wasn't the best start to the month. Every year I find I need some me-made cardigans, and I still have not done anything to rectify that. I guess while I still have perfectly usable store bought ones, I can't justify spending money to make new ones.

May 2

Unfortunately, Tuesdays mornings for me are spent in the industrial technology workshop, which means I have no choice but to wear store bought Australian Standard work clothes. However, I nearly always change afterwards, so I brought my floral sun frock to wear. I am very glad I remembered to take a change of clothes on this particular Tuesday, as I had been using the lathe in the workshop, and had been covered in sawdust from using it. 

May 3

Did some yard work and moved the caravan to under the carport (so we can work on it more easily) so for practicality sake I wore my polka dot jeans and a store bought shirt.

May 4

As I was planning to work on some more plaster casting for a Uni assessment, I decided to wear a dress that I wouldn't mind getting plaster on. The vintage floral sheet I used to make my version of McCalls 6236 already had a few specks of white paint on it (I didn't realise when I was making it) and while they aren't noticeable to anyone but me, I figured it made this the perfect, cute, but not too precious, dress for the day

May 5 

Spent most of the day in my pajamas, threw on the sun frock from a few days before to duck to the shops to buy groceries. Found a dress that I had cut out and started sewing one day when I was at my grandparent's place babysitting my cousin's kids, so I decided to finish sewing it up. I had just quickly self-drafted it at the time, out some floral furnishing fabric that was in the spare room. The bodice isn't my best example of drafting, and it's a bit big in the waist and a bit snug at the bust, and just a bit too low cut for some situations, but regardless, the dress still turned out pretty cute.

Embroidery progress and the skirt of my new dress

May 6

And so I wore it the next day to Archery practice with some of my SCA friends. I curled my hair again for the first time in about a month, which always makes me feel better about myself, combined with the new dress, I felt positively adorable! I didn't get a photo of this new dress, but I did photograph some of the skirt here with the embroidery I was working on.

May 7 

Decided it was about time I made it to one of the region's SCA meetings (and not just the Uni ones on a Tuesday) so drove to Newcastle, wearing my cute Kitty Print B6167. Learnt how to set up my inkle loom, and how to do some basic tablet weaving, which I am pretty keen to get into more of. I only used part of my loom for my first attempt, but when it is fully set up, my loom can fit about 6m of weaving on it! Afterwards, a few of us went out for dinner, where I did wear my store bought hoodie, as it got pretty cold once the sun went down.

So I haven't managed much in the way of outfit photos so far, but I have been mostly sticking to only wearing me-mades. To be fair, this year doesn't seem like much of an effort, as I have mostly changed over to a me-made wardrobe anyway. How is everyone else's Me-Made-May going?

Dixie