SSS and the end

Day 26: Bottoms Up!

Today I wore my Wearing History sailor shorts pants. No picture because it was quite a bit warmer after work and I took them off.

Day 27: Cozy!
I wore my first knitting project-wrist wamers.

Day 28: Make it work!

Work again and I wore my white pendrell with a black belt.

Day 29: Finally Fall!
Felt like fall this day so I wore my peacock blouse.

Day 30: The End!

Wore my Sorbetto for a day shopping with one of my girl friends!

I felt like this was quite a success! I didn't do terribly awesome at photographing everyday but I only missed one day of self-stitched wearing. I think it definitely is going to help me reach for my me made garments more often. Many of mine are super wearable. On that note, lets see what didn't get worn.

1. Wearing History Smooth Sailing Blouse

I think there are two main fit issues with this blouse that kept it from getting worn- too short for regular pants and the arms are a bit tight. Both are easily fixable for a future version 2. And now that I'm adding more high waisted pants to my wardrobe, hopefully I can start wearing it more often.

2. The Christmas Crepe

This is one I figured I wouldn't wear as it's super Christmas-y but I'll definitely be wearing it to holiday parties this winter!

3. Paid Dress

This is an early project that is a smidge tight in the straps. It is still wearable but it didn't get cold enough for me to wear it on days I didn't have to work.

4. The Faux Button Dress

Another early project that really sunk because of poor fabric choice. Why oh why did I pick flannel?!? It does fit well so I may take the buttons off and turn it into pjs. I really do feel like an ice skater in this dress. (Not sure why. Mayhap, I should keep it for ice skating.)

5. Runway Outfit

More fabric issues with this ensemble I made for a runway show last spring. Made from old prom dresses, this just reads too costumey for every day life. It was a super fun project though!

6. Sew Serendipity Skirt

This was another great project that had fabric issues. It's super busy and it just feels super home-ec to me even though the construction is really good. I think I need to give this pattern another go in different fabrics. The pattern designer Kay Whitt has exquisite print matching skills but I'm definitely no there yet!

7. Sailor Blouse

This one also reads a bit costumey for work. That combined with having a top designed for high waisted bottoms left this on on the hanger. I did enjoy wearing this over the summer and expect it to make a big come back next summer.

I think one of the benefits of doing a me made month is finding holes in your wardrobe. I realized that I really have few work appropriate pieces. (So those that were got worn quite a lot!) Plus, I'll be in the lab more next semester so tops are a priority for future sewing! I also could use more cold weather gear. I made a lot of cute summer pieces this summer but didn't get many transitional type pieces.

I can't wait for the next me made month!

SSS and Slip ups

Day 22: Repeat

I wore my sorbetto again. I think this means I need to make another one!

Day 23: Fail

So I didn't wear anything me made today. On the other hand, I never got properly dressed or left the house. So that evens it out, right?

Day 24: Here comes the bride!

My husband is a wedding photographer (among other things) and I am the assistant photographer. We did a wedding this day and here's what I wore. I think I need to make a nice dress I can wear for weddings, especially if we are busier next summer!

Day 25: Yay fall!

I made this dress at the end of spring/beginning of summer during a freak cold spell and didn't get to wear it more than once. It's finally cool enough for me to wear it again! Woot!

SSS and why chemists aren't fashionistas

Day 19: Bleach!

Today I had to work with the active ingredient in bleach. Yay! Not. So I opted to wear my chocolate coat and take it off at work

Day 20: Let's be fancy!

No bleach today so I went for something a bit fancy. I love this top, but it doesn't have enough sleeve for work. I may have a go with layering it this winter, but my serious lack of long sleeved shirts may put a dent in that.

Day 21: Bleach again!

Work again. Today I wasn't working with the bleach but my students were! So I went with my bow blouse and was just careful. I do have a snazy lab coat but it was hot and humid in lab today!

SSS some more

Day 16: Paris, mais oui!

I love France and was feeling Parisian chic in my red beignet and French beret.

Day 17: Renaissance Again

This dress again! While I can't move from my underarms to my waist, I can apparently still have a slouchy neck.

Day 18: Bad Hair Day

I legit wore this dress so I could wear my hat! I was having just a crappy hair day and running super late for church so a hat it was. After church, I did homework until my hubby's paintball team's end of season tournament so this is an old picture. You'll get over it.

SSS Again

Hmmm... I'm kind of running out of ideas for SSS post titles but here are my outifts.

Day 13: Dress up Day

Tuesday is my dress up day so I wore a fun skirt! I love this skirt!

Day 14: No Aliens Here
Yay for completing a UFO! I really do like this blouse and am pretty sad that I took so long to finish it.

Day 15: First Day of Fall

So it wasn't the official first day of fall, but it's the first day that's felt like fall so I broke out my one and only "long sleeved" me made blouse. I seriously have a long sleeved shirt problem. I only have one rtw long sleeved top too. Anyone have a good pattern for a long sleeved shirt to recommend?

Oh, I'm half way done! Yay!

The Graduate

So this isn't a UnFinished Object, but it's an UnBlogged object so I thought I'd give it a proper post. I made this back in April to wear to graduation but some how managed to get through the whole day without any pictures of my cute outfit. I just got ones in the ugly polyester sack they make you wear.

It was crazy windy so my hair a bit askew!

Fabric: 3.5 yds of peacock feather fabric on sale ($5/yd), 3.25 yds lining ($3/yd)
Pattern: Butterick 5557
Year: retro '55
Notions: zippers ($4), hook and eye (stash)
Time to complete: Can't remember
First worn: May 2011
Wear again? Yes. It does have some issues. The waistband on the matching pencil skirt is a bit snug. This was one of the last projects I did before discovering the wonders of FBA so the top fit is a bit odd, but it works and I like it.

Total cost: ~$30

I <3 this fabric!

UFO - U = FO

Today, I finished a long standing UFO! I actually started this blouse back in March for Colette's spring palette challenge. It was my first go with knits and I blazed fearlessly on... until I got to the button hole part. Then I froze.

I ended up doing bound button holes for the first four buttons. The fifth button was at the waist bit and it had a nice pretty facing I'd sewn down back in March, so I just used a snap and sewed the button on top. I love the little collar detail but I think it'd go over better in a solid or less busy print.

Fabric: 2 yds of purple knit with bows grabbed off of the sale rack for something cheap
Pattern: Simplicity 2501 view C (although I think I used sleeves from something else....)
Year: contemporary
Notions: buttons, snaps
Time to complete: Can't remember
First worn: September 2011
Wear again? Yeah. It's definitely not perfect. It was my first time using a knit and I had construction issues plus fit issues plus fabric choice issues. It does have a bit of that lettuce leaf look on the hem, but I'll get over it. It is really great for work since I won't be completely crushed if it is ruined.

Total cost: something cheap

In other news, I dyed my hair a dark brown so that odd reddish streak is mostly gone. It still looks reddish depending on how the light hits it but it looks much less fake.

I also picked up this fab 1930s millinery reprint book. It looks awesome so far! This publisher also has an Edwardian millinery book which looks good too. Hopefully, I'll learn how to make some cute hats! Don't expect to see any too soon since I'm pretty busy with school and other things I need to do plus I think I need one of those millinery heads. (I can't think of what they are called at the moment and I'm too lazy to get off the couch and check in my book.)

Oh, and this is my SSS for today as well as a project for FESA and FPC.

SSS and the Weekend

I love the weekends! I get to have a lot more fun with my clothes.

Day 10: Sassy Scrapbooker

Today was my scrapbooking groups monthly meetings. A bunch of ladies get together in a coffee shop and scrapbook all day. It's terribly fun. I wore my floral circle skirt since it's mostly a sitting activity.

Day 11: Date Night

I'm not really a patriotic person, but it was 9/11 so I pulled out my one RW&B dress. My hubby took me out to see The Help and then to Mongolian BBQ. Yummy!

Day 12: Just another manic Monday

Oh, Mondays. My day starts at 8 am bright and early and I have to go straight to work so I stuck with my Sorbetto shirt and jeans. It was pretty hot, though, so I did switch to a grey pencil skirt after I got home from work.

SSS and School

Day 7: Snazy Pants

You've seen these already but here they are again. I worked so pants were a must. Hopefully I'll get another pair done before the end of September.

Day 8: My Comfy Outfit

I love this ensemble. My Pendrell blouse is so comfortable. I wore this for a full 16 hours in the car one road trip and it was awesome! So, when I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and it was my longest day of the week, this is what I pulled.

Day 9: 40's Fab

Today I wore my Wearing History Sailor Playsuit skirt with a 40s style peasant blouse. I just love the shape of this skirt. It's very flattering and comfortable, plus it's not so huge like a circle skirt where I feel like I can't do any work in it.

Triple Play

So here's my SSS day 7, and my first project for FESA and FPC:

Pants! Woot! My first really successful pair!

Fabric: 2 yds of microhoundstooth in some kind of cotton ($7/yd)
Pattern: Wearing History Sailor Playsuit shorts drafted into pants
Year: 1940s
Notions: zipper ($2), bias tape (from stash)
Time to complete: 3 hours
First worn: September 2011
Wear again? Yups! These pants are so comfy! I've dubbed them my retro sweat pants because they are warm and comfy like sweat pants but oh so much more stylish. I am going to add belt loops since they look so awesome with a belt.

Total cost: $16

The best thing about these pants-facing finished with bright pink bias tape! I used this color partly because it's awesome but also partly because that's what I had on hand.

After I bought this fabric, I realized that almost all of my neutral shoes are brown. So I just had to have a grey pair. ;)

I love this blouse because it closes with a zipper! I really want to try a zipper closure on a blouse. I never have to worry about gaping with this blouse.

And because I know you all were just dying to see my butt, here it is. And these pants make it look pretty good if I say so myself.

SSS: Playing Dress Up

Day 4: Pasta and Preaching


I wore my thrifted sheet Crepe dress to church and then out to dinner with some friends at Olive Garden. My family doesn't live super close so I love having holiday time with friends. I also did fingerwaves again. They are still a bit wavier than I'd like but I'm really trying to get them semi-reliable so I can do a tutorial.

Day 5: Historical Costuming

Hey, this counts as self-stitched too!

Day 6: Working the outerwear

It was a lovely fall day today so I broke out my chocolate coat today. I love this piece! It's such a statement piece and I can throw on jeans, any old shirt and a cute pair of shoes and be good to go.

Renaissance Dress FO

Today, my husband and I went to the Ohio Renaissance Festival! It was quite chilly (~60F) which means it was perfect for my new dress!

Please excuse the terrible photo quality. We only brought the little point and shoot this time and had really forgotten how crappy the pictures were. Never fear, there will be more (better) pictures of another Ren Fest outing.

Fabric: ~9 yds of red and gold, ~2 yds green, ~2 yds gold underskirt, ~1 yd felt, 2 yds canvas, >6 yds cotton broad cloth, ~1 yd jaquard, ~1 yd for veil
Pattern: Simplicity 2589 + Simplicity 2621 (supporting garments) + self drafted draw string bag
Year: contemporary/Tudor-esque
Notions: boning (12 yds), bias binding, grommets, ribbon, 3/4" flexible pvc piping, and a vast array of trimmings
Time to complete: practically the entire month of August and several weeks in July too
First worn: September 2011
Wear again? Of course! This was a major investment in time and treasure so this will get many years of use. I'm sure it will become more embellished over the years plus I'm already envisioning a cloak for those chilly days like today!

Total cost: you don't want to know

It's still a bit awkward in the chest area but I am a bit bustier than the average Elizabethan lady plus I didn't want to show off cleavage to all the world. Other than that, I really loved it. It was surprisingly comfortable even with the corset. Sitting was a bit awkward with the hoops. I took up a lot of space horizontally.

I also whipped my husband up a monk costume this weekend. After months of saying he didn't want a costume, he decided to tell me Friday that he wanted a monk costume. I was going to Jo-Ann's Saturday anyways so I said why not.

Fabric: 6 yds linen ($5.50 /yd)
Pattern: A McCall's nativity pattern and a McCall's cap pattern (heavily modified) because that was what was on sale for $.99 and no one had a monk pattern
Year: contemporary
Notions: thread, hook and eye
Time to complete: ~3 hours
First worn: September 2011
Wear again? He says yes. I say you better!

Total cost: ~$40

Best part of this project: We picked up 9 yds of this linen since I wanted 7 yds and they only had a 6 yd and a 3 yd piece so we got both. There was really nothing else even remotely appropriately. It was $9 /yd but I had a 40% off coupon. I only ended up using 6 yds so now I have 3 yds for the stash. I think perhaps a pair of pants are in order.

We did quite a bit of shopping and "costume accessorizing".

In addition to the staff and belt my husband has in his picture, he got these two cross throwing daggers with sheath. He really wanted to buy what I affectionately call sharp objects last year and didn't. So I kind of bullied him into getting something. He passed these lovelies up the first go around but couldn't part with them when we went back later in the day.

This is my haul minus the green bag which I made Saturday after realizing that I didn't have anywhere to carry my phone etc.

I picked up this lovely book locket at a corset store of all places. A lot of the jewelry there is more fantasy but this was one of the few pieces that could pass for at least semi-historically accurate looking.

I never thought that my husband would convince me to buy a sharp object (I'm more of the shiney things type gal) but when I found out that this "dagger" was actually a pair of scissors, I had to have them!

I got the choker on the right last year and went back to the same shop to get a matching piece and I ended up with this lovely bracelet. It's made by a company called Stillwater Chainmaille. Their pieces are lovely and the man who runs it is very nice and obviously passionate about his pieces. I'll definitely be back to buy matching pieces in future years. They're very good about doing custom color combos. The owner made this one from scratch for me today!

It was really lovely and we're planning on going back at least twice more this year. It was very busy and we didn't make it to hardly any shows or even all of the shops! Plus we're just nerds like that.

Hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend! See older Renaissance dress posts here.