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.

Still Channelling Dolly Clackett

I had both of theses dresses cut out but ran out of time to sew them before the Dolly Clackett deadline. The first is a sewaholic Cambie with a raindrop pattern. I like it more than I initially thought I would.

The first time I wore I had major gaping, so I added a couple of darts to the neckline near the straps.

 I didn't open the lining, just darted the two layers together. I suspect anyone looking down the front of my dress isn't looking at my sewing techniques anyway. ;D

I'll pinch that out of the centre front pattern piece next time around.  I'll also move the darts closer to the midline; on me they splay a little out to the side.
I didn't use the gathered straps (I'm not a 'gathers' kind of girl) but instead used the strap lining for the inside and outside.

Next time I'll move them a couple of millimeters closer to the middle so my bra strap doesn't show.

I initially thought I wouldn't make this again, but now I am pretty sure I will.

 The second dress is Simplicity 2444 with the Cambie skirt in a seaside print. I had originally thought to go with a sleevless 2444, but I only had three yards of fabric and as I discovered with my crayon dress, three yards is not enough when using a uni-directional print.

It is lined with the same beige cotton as the Cambie
. If I had been more diligent I could have made the darts line up, but one doesn't notice with the print.

Another comfortable, easy to wear dress.

I wore it with the jacket (pre-blog circa 1997) hanging on the door knob -the day started off cool.

The Cambie skirt will definitely be used on its own again. It is the ideal width for cycling and I love the pockets. It was a cool dress to wear in the  33 degrees we had on Thursday and between all the meetings I had that day I put over 40 km on the bicycle.

We may not have had spring this year, but summer has finally arrived.

Apparently I haven't much to say today. I'm usually brief, but this is ridiculous.

I'm Not a Joiner

I have serious committment issues, so I don't join sew-alongs, or contests, or theme months. For me, signing up for something is the kiss of death to any creative endeavours.

 To that end, I didn't join the Sew Dolly Clackett fest. But that didn't stop me from making a dress; in fact, I am making three.

Cambie and Simplicity 2444 & Cambie combo.

I didn't sign up for the Vintage Pattern Pledge either, even tho' I have one dress at the tweaking phase,  another one cut out, and a third in the pipeline.

A mash-up of two vintage Style dresses and a vintage McCalls.

And I am definitely not doing Me-Made May, even tho' I wear me-made or second-hand clothing almost every day of the year. Maybe you have already seen photos of my first two weeks?

Seamless pledge? -yup. An unofficial participant, that's me. I only buy socks, bras, knickers, and my year-round-essential wool t-shirts, but I have a bra pattern and material in the queue, and I am about to take the plunge and make my own smalls.

I wonder what I won't join next?

Week 2ish M-M/N-B-N-M and McCalls 6708

May 6 - A thrifted kilt and sweater. And wool tights. Wool! It's May 6 and we're starting the day at 0 degrees.  I debated if I should wear mittens instead of gloves on the bike.Oi!

Will the highland fling translater to 'spring fling' weather?

May 7 - Shorts-that-were-once-trousers and McCalls 6708 cotton cardigan (unblogged) , both in the colour best described as puce. A wearable-if-you-don't-look-too-closely muslin. Cotton tights, so at least it is slightly warmer.

May 8. You'll note the Crayon dress is no longer hanging on  the chimney. That's because I am wearing it. With another McCalls 6708 cardigan. I have fabric for several sweaters - I bought the knits last year, but the sweaters did not materialize. They take about 0.9 meter of fabric so I have enough for the sweater and a simple t-shirt from the yardage (?meterage) I bought. Now that I know how easy they are, I hope to put them together quickly; I need them to wear at work. I've yet to figure out why the air conditioning temperature is set a couple of degrees colder than we are willing to accept for indoor tempertures in the winter time. Hence the need for indoor sweaters.

Hmmm. I should wear different coloured tights. And shorten it by 3".

Thursday - I forgot to take a picture but it was nothing memorable; hand-me-down trousers with a thrifted sweater.

Friday -Yahoo! Hand-me-down jeans with thrifted scarf and re-fashioned (felted with zipper inserted) yard sale sweater.

Saturday and a birthday party for a three year old in a denim Hollyburn. And my kinesio tape matches my shirt, how's that for planning?
It turned out to be a lovely day with the temperature topping out at 23 degrees. Luckily I didn't get a sunburn.

Prepare to run fast!

Sunday and Monday I spent in old, purchased, yard-work clothes. And they don't meet the criteria for this undertaking, so there is no point taking a photo.

Tuesday May 13. Rayon challis skirt and dolman sleeved top with McCalls 6708 sweater. I think the skirt and top were from Vogue patterns but I made them pre-blog. Heck, I suspect they are pre-internet since I think I made them in 1989. I am such a packrat -I create my own vintage items.

Standing for the national anthem.

Thank you for reading this all the way to the end. I wish I had a reward for you!

Me-Made/Not-Bought-New May; The First Few Days

I didn't sign up for MMM and I can't call this Me-Made since some of what I am wearing is second-hand (Not-Bought-New), but I'm ok with that. Maybe I'll call my version of this month's festivities M-M/N-B-N-M. Hah! Say that three times fast.

Ahem. On to the pictures.

May 1. The Goldilocks skirt and thrifted sweater and I'm off to work.  Hmmm, that sweater is looking rather ratty. I'll have to do something about that.

I can't remember what has me all side-eyed.

May 2 . Corduroy trousers and sweater, garage sales. Scarf -thrifted. I'm off to work again, but it's Friday. Hooray

May 3.  Saturday! Hand-me-down jeans and garage sale sweater for a Jane's walk on a rather chilly day. Our high is expected to be only 8 degrees; 9 degrees below the normal high for today. Boo!

Peanut butter and nutella on crackers. One of the benefits of being childless-I don't have to set a good example for anyone.

May 4. Corduroy trouser and a garage sale sweater I felted and up-cycled by adding a front zipper. Thrifted scarf. May the Fourth be With You. I wish I'd known that before I got dressed to go out. I'm sure I could have done somthing differently, but you can bet I've put a note in my calendar for next year.

Sunday-Laundry day.

I've already raked the sand off of the boulevard and I'm off to the Manitoba Museum with The Geek, and then the airport to pick up my sister and brother-in-law.

All this week in addition to the second-hand or me-made stuff, I am wearing a wool t-shirt. I'll likely be wearing a wool t-shirt until June. I am that cold.

The Fabric Takeover

The Thursday before Goid Friday I drive The Geek to the airport at 0500 hours. Her plane had not yet taken off before I dragged my seeing machine, serger, and all my Dolly Clackett supplies into the kitchen. It us so much brighter up here and I've been schlemming about winter since November. By Saturday morning my projects (oh yes, I cut out more than one Dolly Clackettt dress. They are all in various stages of construction) had expanded into the living room. 

The Gerk retuned home at 0100 hours on Tuesday but my stuff is still all over the place. She us being extremely gracious about it. Since she has so many out-of-the-house projects on the go right now the mess isn't bothering her too much. 

The forecast for the next several days is rain so I hope to clear much if this up by Sunday. 

It's pretty hard core. There's been some fruit used and some very inappropriate gestures.

When I grow up, I want to be like Dolly Clackett. She has such fun dresses, made from great fabric and versatile patterns, cute shoes, and a great attitude toward life.

Sarah's idea to celebrate Roisin and Nic's wedding by having the blogosphere make Dolly Clackett-esque dresses is genius.

I'm off to a good start -I already have a few of her favourite patterns in my collection -Simplicity 2444, Sewaholic Cambie, Butterick 5748, and ByHandLondon Anna (tho' I must be the only one in the world who can't get that dress to work for her).

I decided ages ago I would make Simplicity 2444 - a dress I tried once last summer, and I already had three yards of some cute nautical fabric. Then I ran into a snag -three yards of 45" fabric with a one-way design is not enough to make Simplicity 2444. Three meters, yes; three yards, no. So at my first opportunity I galloped off to Marshall's Fabrics to find three meters of a different print. It wasn't that easy. Marshall's has a wide selection, and while I like a quirky print, there is not point buying something that doesn't speak to who you are. If they had something with bicycles, or rowing shells, or maps, I would have been in-and-out in five minutes. As it was, I had a serious snoop that lasted at least half an hour. But I finally found what I wanted, and the dress has turned out well.

So here I am, by my own colourful door. I would have taken the pictures by our front door so I could also have stairs, but our stairs are still covered in ice.

This is the first time my legs have seen the light of day since September. I should have worn tights.

May I present the Colourful Happiness dress. It's odd how something so simple can cheer you up.

And bring a silly grin to your face. Too bad that grin didn't show up in these photographs. I find it hard to take pictures of myself with the timer because it always takes so long to go off- I can't concentrate that long...

Mandatory hands on hips pose.

 My tripod is pretty funny too. However the snow is still rather depressing -hence my difficulty eliminating my dour expression.

I have no idea what that contraption on the stool is, but it works to elevate the camera.

I had to hurry through the outdoor pictures; it was only 8 degrees today.

We haven't dared put away the snow shovels either.

Here is my dress hanging on the chimney. The colours seem even more vibrant against the brick. Very cheerful.

And if you wondered about the print, yes, those are crayons. You can't tell until you look closely. I feel very subversive! Plus, they are all my favourite colours; green, orange, purple, turquoise, blue.

There was very little fiddling with the pattern. Other than lengthening the bodice by about one and one half inches, I made a straight size 14.

I self-lined the sleeves after removing all the ease from the sleeve cap. They would pucker badly on top otherwise.

Plus, my usual trick for back zippers. As long as I can get my head through the neck opening, I sew the back seam completely closed. I then put the zipper so it's about an inch below the top of the dress. I like the neat finish and I don't have to fuss with hooks and eyes, or other methods of closing the top edge. I haven't tried this yet with a lapped zipper, but I expect it would work just as well.

And a serger rolled hem -I was getting lazy.

I expect I will get a great deal of wear from this dress. I'm already planning on wearing it to my office partner's retirement party.

That's the craic on this dress.

Congratulations Roisin and Nic, my best wishes on your upcoming wedding. May the saddest day of your future be like the happiest day of your past!