The Last Half of May

This is going to be a long post. Feel free to simply look at the pictures or bail altogether; I won't be offended.

May 14. 0 degrees.  Black stretch denim Vogue 1247 (unblogged 'cuz I already have a couple)  and my orange renfrew.

May 15 It's even colder at -5. What kind of lunacy is this?!? Hence my being dressed for winter in OOP Vogue 2339 made in about 1998 and a thrifted skirt.

May 16; Friday again. Jeans and a wool t-shirt with a thrifted corduroy 'jean' jacket and scarf.

 May 17; A slightly warmer Saturday in the Simplicity 2444 Crayon Dress.

 May 17 -no photo of my yard-work wear.

May 18 -I'm on vacation and on my way to the farm to visit my parents. Jeans and (unblogged) Kristen kimono tee. I need to do a slight FBA when I make this again. I was too lazy to add a seam allowance so I just cut a size bigger and sewed with a narrow seam allowance.

 May 19 & 20. At the farm wearing 30 year old farm clothes consisting of surplus Canadian Armed Forces work dress trousers and a sweatshirt my cousin gave me.

May 21; still on vacation and going to the retirement party of my office partner. It's still a little chilly so I have on a thrifted wool sweater, wool t-shirt and a Hollyburn made from Ikea decor fabric. I cut this out months ago but only completed it that day. The Geek told me it looked like a chesterfield cover (which it may well do) but my co-workers found it to be a very happy print.

 May 22; Thursday: Sewaholic Cambie in raindrops. A lovely day and I'm going for a massage. Vacation luxury. I also ran some errands, one of them a stop at Artsjunktion where I picked up a couple of vintage patterns. Lucky me!

May 23 Friday! but I'm on vacation anyway!! I spent the afternoon with my three year-old nephew playing in the puddles. I forgot to take a picture, but I am wearing the red Kristen kimono tee with a pair of old purchased shorts.

May 24 & 25. Yard clothes. I didn't go anywhere but a greenhouse and I got my garden in before it rained.

May 26; Back to work Monday. McCalls 6708 sweater, Kristen kimono tee (eek! a twin-set), and the Ikea-print Hollyburn. It is much easier to dress in top-to-bottom me-mades when it is warmer. I'm glad I can bike to work -it's so much faster than driving. And isn't my rhubarb huge?

 May 27; Raindrop Cambie. And sandals -the weather is heating up!

 May 28; Shorts than once were trousers and McCalls 6708 muslin.

 May 29; Sailing vacation dress. The temperature, with the humidex, was 38 degrees.  Tons o'kilometers put on the bike today so I was both relieved and vexed that we had a strong wind. We have magically jumped into summer.

 May 30. I forgot to take a picture but I was wearing my denim Hollyburn with a white t-shirt with red earrings and red sandals. My new work partner, Shamrock, was dressed the same. We wanted to see how many of our colleagues would notice. They failed miserabley; only five of about 35 people made the connection. Good thing they aren't undergoing any cognitive assessments themselves.

May 31: Saturday. Grocery shopping and other errands. The Geek cut the grass yesterday but I still have to do the trimming. Wool t-shirt (short-sleeved for a change) and Ikea Hollyburn.

And there we have it.

It's Not Part of the Plan but It's Still Fall Sewing

This corduroy skirt, Vogue 1247, was cut out this spring. And since I am very fickle when it come to sewing projects, it jumped the queue.

It went on a bit of a wearing marathon after completion.

I wore it to work on Friday.

Then on a hike in the Pembina River Valley with my family on Saturday and to a fundraiser at a dog park on Sunday (no pictures of that tho').

Saturday was cool and it had just finished raining when we arrived but the walk was just as much fun as last time.

The walk was muddy and I had forgotten all the up and down sections of the trail. I wore the skirt as none of my jeans fit very well. The skirt was fine, except in places where I had to take really long steps to maintain my footing.

I constructed the skirt in manner similar to the yellow one and used seam binding to finish the hem.

I used iron-on interfacing to reinforce under the pocket openings to they wouldn't stretch too badly.

And serged around the pockets and seam allowances instead of using bias tape. I was going to change the serger thread to brown, but decided I liked how the blue looked against the rust-coloured corduroy.

I have totally adoped Tasia's Hollyburn waistband/ zipper method. That is such a neat and tidy way of putting in a zipper. I never thought of attaching the waistband before sewing up the back seam and then inserting the zipper. Everything lines up and you don't necessarily need another waistband closure.

I now need to apply some self-discipline and sew up the top and skirt I cut out and are now waiting on my cutting table.

Fall Sewing Plans

The other day I noticed Sarah is starting the Fall Essentials Sew Along today. I've never participated in a sew-along but, hey, I've got some fall sewing on the adgenda, so why not give it a try.

My fall and winter wardrobe is rich in separates but a bit sparse in the dress department so I am going to attempt more dresses. And more colours. Fall is colourful, but winter can be very bleak, especially
when the sand turns the snow a drab brown colour.

First up - a Simplicity Project Runway in a rayon knit. It is at least one size too small (I bought the pattern at a thrift store), but this is a very forgiving knit so it should work.

These two prints work with both of the solids (so much for my dress resolution) tho' the grey is photographing more as navy. I have already made up the grey into a skirt.

 

I'm going to try this McCalls pattern for the first time on this print. I'm not as keen on it as I was when I bought it two years ago, so it will do as a wearable muslin. I have enough fabric for the 3/4 sleeve version.

The print on the left has a bit of stretch to it so I will attempt to use it in a knit pattern. I have made the top before with a very stable knit so I think it will work. If not, I will add a zipper to aid in donning said garment.
The skirt is my TNT skirt pattern and is already cut out and ready to go.

I have three meters of the green so I should be able to make Simplicity 2444 again (posted about yesterday) with the 3/4 sleeves and the upright collar.

I know I said more dresses, but I am trying to use up scraps. Here is Vogue 1247 with small pieces of
corduroy and upholstery fabric. I made a skirt out of the upholstery fabric but I screwed up the pattern, so it is now sitting in the naughty corner while I figure out my next step.

These next two aren't dresses either, but they are both colourful. For the orange I plan to use the ImageWear skirt and the flowers will hopefully sprout into a Hollyburn.

 

I'll have to see how far I get before I need to start my winter sewing.

How is everone else doing?