I Declare Me-Made-May a Success

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Since it is now June, Me-Made-May is officially over and I can happily report that I completed my challenge successfully; I managed to wear at least one handmade item 3 days per week (not including loungewear/sleepwear of which some is also me-made). I actually ended up exceeding that slightly since May has one long weekend so I wore 4 days of me-made that week. As I’ve said before I have to wear “professional” attire during the week for work (except Friday which is casual Friday), and since I have no desire to make that type of clothing; I wear all RTW and Me-Made-May did not change my attitude there. During Me-Made-May I discovered that I really need to sew more cardigans (any pattern suggestions anyone?), more skirts, and more comfortably fitting dresses. I guess I will need to get to revising my to-sew list.

Me Made May 2015

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Well, last year I decided to pass on Me Made May since I certainly didn’t have enough wearable Me-Mades, and this year I was pretty undecided, but I think I am just going to do it. I think it will help me see more clearly what I wear that I have made and help steer me towards better pattern/fabric selections in the future.

So here goes, “I Megan of Smeebot Sews pledge to wear one handmade item 3 times per week during the month of May.”

Well I guess we’ll see how this goes.

A year with Juki

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I just took my Juki in for her first service, she was running fine, but when I bought her the salesperson recommended I get her serviced after a year, well low and behold it has already been a year since I bought her. I figured it would be a good idea to reflect on my last year with Juki. I can already say offhand that I sewed so much more frequently than I did before purchasing Juki. I figured I spent so much money on my new machine that I had better get to using it, Juki is also a lot easier to use/less stress inducing than my old Brother, and I also began taking sewing classes this year, which I think helped.

So, this year Juki and I sewed:

  • 4 pillow covers;
  • 2 children’s skirts;
  • 2 pajamas;
  • 1 cape;
  • 1 not so successful bikini;
  • 6 sweaters;
  • 4 pairs of leggings (still haven’t found a perfect pattern);
  • 3 pairs of lounge pants;
  • 7 knit tops;
  • 9 skirts;
  • 14 dresses; and
  • a whole bunch of baby bibs, burp cloths and blankets.

I feel like I have learned a lot in the last year, going to class certainly helped with that, but I still have so far to go. Right now I am really struggling with garment fit. It’s really hard to want to complete a project when you just know it isn’t going to fit correctly. So this next year I think my focus is going to be on learning to alter patterns to fit better.

Unselfish Crafting

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I usually like to make handmade gifts for the holidays to go with the store bought ones which most frequently consist of knitted items, but I haven’t really spent much time knitting since I have thrown myself into sewing and I really didn’t have a lot of time. I did however manage to do a tiny bit of unselfish sewing recently. I made my nieces (ages 5 and 6) matching My Little Pony skirts. I bought the fabric almost a year ago at Jo-Anns and the pattern is a Burda kids pattern. I made this skirt pattern for my niece almost a year ago on my old Brother machine. I have to say that the experience was a lot smoother on my Juki and it was nice to be able to sew the two skirts at the same time assembly line style.
Matching My Little Pony Skirts for my nieces

Matching My Little Pony Skirts for my nieces

My second item of unselfish sewing is a silver leather pouch that I made for my sister. I got the leather/zip at Sew LA when I was there for my intro to leather class. It is the same pouch that I made myself in that class only a different color.
The zipper doesn't look too bad

The zipper doesn’t look too bad

I also managed to knit my sister a pair of fingerless mitts and my other sister a chunky infinity scarf.
Catching Butterflies

Catching Butterflies

Tiny Owl Knits pattern

Tiny Owl Knits pattern

I also bought some fabric for pajama patterns for the bf and I got Thread Theory’s New Castle Cardigan pattern with the thought that I will make a sweater for the bf, but both of those items will have to wait until after the holidays.

The Not So Basic Delphine

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Tada!

Tada!

Back not bad except for a bit of bunching/pooling when the waist sags

Back not bad except for a bit of bunching/pooling when the waist sags

Cookie!

Cookie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I recently said to myself that I should sew more basics as I frequently have a hard time picking outfits since everything I own is either a pattern or a bright color. I have to say that this sewing project is a major fail on that front. While the Delphine skirt from Love at First Stitch would make a great basic skirt, the fabric I chose is anything but basic. I saw this Kayo Horaguchi canvas fabric at the Sew LA birthday party and thought that it would make a cute Delphine. The first time I made this pattern I made a size 0, but it was a bit snug and had to take it out a little at the zipper seam. This time I made the size 2, but this time it was way too big in the waist. Poo. I ended up taking the skirt in 1/2″ on each side at the back seam. The fit turned out pretty good and the fabric is as amazingly crazy as I had anticipated. Now I just need something basic on top to wear with this skirt.

Front

Front

Back

Back

Hand stitched waist

Hand stitched waist

Hand stitched Hem

Hand stitched Hem