Before I jump in, you might be interested in this interview in Seamwork Magazine with the woman who started Me Made May.

Day One

Not much to say about this that hasn’t been said already. Lady Skater Dress FOR THE WIN!

In a deep dive search through the blog, I found the first lady skater mention in March 2014, and that inspiration pin is still glorious! Perhaps, before this falls apart from excessive wear, I should replace it with a long sleeved version. Made with bamboo jersey. (omg now I am dreaming of that dress and how much I want to wear it)

Day Two

It’s the Colette Wren! My very first run at this pattern, and I intentionally didn’t make any alterations so I could see what’s what.

I definitely have some notes for myself (I literally have an email thread with myself titled “wren dress notes) – to shorten the bodice in the back, which I should really be doing automatically to knit dresses like this, because it’s a mix of the full bust and the wide high hips and OH RIGHT THIS IS WHY I ALWAYS FEEL AWKWARD WHEN BLOGGING ABOUT SEWING (Sidebar: how cute is it that Heather kept saying “bum” in her amazingly thorough jeans-adjusting post?) ANYWAY I should automatically be making this alteration before I sew a pattern, but I was curious to see whether this faux-wrap top would even work. I was incredulous. I happen to love wrap dresses, and hate having to wear a tank top underneath them, but the ladies at Colette are WIZARDS because I wore this dress all day at work and felt totally SFW. Magic!

The other note is to add elastic to the neckline as described here by verykerryberry, for a LITTLE extra security. (The fabric was feeling a little droopy by the end of the work day. I’d prefer to err on the side of caution.)

Day Three

OH HEY! SEPARATES!

The top is a Nettie tee, made last year out of bamboo jersey which continues to be as soft as a kitten’s belly.

The skirt! I made this over the weekend using the M6654 pattern that I’ve altered significantly (added darts, a waist-to-hip curve, removed the elastic waistband) but which is totally satisfying the pencil skirt craving that I seem to have EVERY SPRING. (I made my first pencil skirts two springs ago. I think it’s just a spring thing, because I can’t wear them with tights and I don’t want my legs to be bound together in the heat of summer.)

The fabric is a stretch rayon bottomweight from Harts Fabric (I wish they had it in other colors) which PERFECTLY MATCHES a grey skirt I bought at The Limited back in 2001 for business club (yep. that was a thing. there were so many powerpoint presentations.) and which I refused to throw away even though it was falling apart because it was the closest thing to a perfect work skirt that I had ever known. (Actually, no. There is also a wool pencil skirt from The Gap that I bought in 2003. It’s in a box that might as well be labeled, “Clothing I love too much to rip apart for pattern-making, even though that’s ostensibly why I have held onto them for so many years.”)

Day Four

(Sidebar: I’m already tired of writing about my clothes. But I know I’ll appreciate this summary in the future, so I will try to rally.)

This is the a copy of an Anthropologie dress that I wear all the time – or I WOULD wear all the time if it wasn’t made of a complicated/heavy material. It’s a perfect tank dress, so I traced it with pins, then compared it to other patterns that fit me well, and voila! It was a little snug – this fabric doesn’t stretch quite as much as the original – but I could imagine wearing nothing but this type of dress once summer arrives – sleeveless and simple.

Day Five

Plantain Tee in bamboo jersey = comfort clothes.

Day Six

Note to self: going through the trouble of adapting an elastic-waist lounge shorts pattern to fit perfectly is THE BEST IDEA EVER. It was super-tedious, I know, and you had to stare at your butt in a lot of ill-fitting drafts, but the end product is worth it. Do this with other boring basic patterns, okay? And then remember to sew up the final version in something comfortable, like this dreamy cotton lawn.

(Confession: this pair is actually the next-to-last version, but the cotton is so cozy that I can’t stop wearing them.)

Day Seven

When you make pencil skirts out of soft knit fabrics, they are basically loungewear, and thus perfect for Saturdays in. #goals

WEEK ONE THOUGHTS

Ummm…remember when my wardrobe was all woven dresses? I barely can, since almost every me-made garment worn this week was a knit. Getting over that particular sewing fear was a huge boost to my wardrobe.

I still DO have some woven dresses, and will wear them soon. It’s been so cloudy and chilly in the mornings, so dressing for maximum comfort has been my main instinct.

To Make:
-an updated Wren bodice pattern (and make alterations to this first draft)
-long-sleeved Lady Skater to replace the blue version
-a pair (or two) of sleep shorts in a soft cotton