Covering Up on June 10

One of the things that I made for this summer beach trip was a bathing suit cover up using the free Hot Pattern download from fabric.com. Super easy, but it does take a lot of paper for printing. One complaint is that there are no measurements, so there is an element of guessing the size to cut out. As I recall (it was a few weeks ago), I made an 8 for the top part, and a 14 around the skirt part. One change was to redraw the underarm to "waist" to slightly more fitted. I also shortened it a bit. A bit too much it turns out.

For the fabric, I decided on a really cute French terry from fabric.com.

Oh, I should also tell you that this is pretty much staged because it was actually too hot, and really unnecessary. It will come in handy in other situations.

This is the look at me point at things series.

In the afternoon, we headed to Fort Frederica, and there will be pictures, but later. And all day we were scouting for transport opportunities.

Top: McCalls 5522
Skirt: Simplicity 2370 (was shorts that fit really, really bad, but I made them a skirt in an effort to salvage them)

Edit: One of my great commenters (I've never had a bad one, thank you!!) asked what do I use to make my collages. I use the awesome talents of my daughter, Laura, who uses photoshop on her Mac. Sometimes she is apparently running late. Who knows why since all she has to do is hang out at the beach with us. Really, free help these days! Anyway, her husband, Thomas did the airplane picture (he is actually a photographer and has changed all the settings on my point and shoot... I hope I can still use it when he leaves town). He also did the picture at the fort, and the close up of the ruffle and buttons that are really snaps. And it wasn't creepy at all. But Laura still made the collage. Did I mention that she's awesome?

June 7 and 9, and Sort of June 8

The dates above don't tell the whole story, but hopefully it will gracefully unfold as I write. Or not. Let's just see what happens, shall we.

June 7


We headed south to St. Marys, Georgia, an historic town on the St. Marys River. Apologies to St. Marys, but there isn't really a ton of stuff to do there, but it is the place where you would catch the ferry over to Cumberland Island. There are a few shops and restaurants, and some quaint, Victorian homes. I wore my Chicos shorts, previously seen, and the Serendipity top that has never before been worn after making.

After wearing it all day, I've determined that I need to remake it. Yep, it's cute. Yep, it's comfy. But I just never totally felt comfortable. It became AKA the "maternity" top, which is not a good look when you're in your 50s. I already have an idea on a remake though, so it will definitely reappear in another form.

Top: Serendipity Studio

Shorts: Chicos

One further thought about this top... I put my pj shorts on with it, and the shorter length actually looked better. The bad news is that I don't actually wear my shorts as short as those out in public.

And a couple of gratutious family shots...

My gorgeous mom, Corinne

My gorgeous daughter, Laura

June 8

Did you happen to catch my post yesterday? The one about Kyle's birthday? And I mentioned a new, never before seen dress? Backing up a bit, if you missed it, go have a little peek and in the family photo, and you'll see me wearing the red cowl neck top again. My clothing day went like this... swimsuit, red top with denim skirt (also me made, but not featured yet), swimsuit, new dress. It's just that there weren't any pics taken of the dress yet. I promise. Tomorrow. Really.

June 9

We hit the outlet mall today, and while the choices of shops was kind of disappointing, we did find some good deals. And luckily, the 4 of us that shopped all have similar shopping styles and tolerances. After about an hour and a half, we were done and headed to McDonald's for their new frozen lemonade drink. Yum.

And what did I wear? One of my favorite me mades from last year... a knit dress that is extremely forgiving and completely suitable when the you might have had birthday cake and donuts for breakfast. Might have.

Dress: Vogue 8575

Happy Birthday, Kyle! A Semi-Me Made Project!

Happy birthday to my baby boy, Kyle! He's not so baby any more though, as we're celebrating his much anticipated 21st birthday. Should be fairly tame tonight, what with dinner with mom, dad, 2 grandmothers, his sister and brother-in-law all in tow. We are on vacation though, and at a beach where we've spotted several suitable after dinner establishments. Laura and Thomas will be taking him out for those activities. Tomorrow he plans to head west to Auburn, Alabama where he'll hang out with some high school buddies for the weekend, and possibly what happens in Auburn will stay in Auburn.

Champagne for lunch, what could be better?

While I had some help with the above "me made" project, lol, I am wearing a never before seen on this blog dress tonight, and tomorrow I'll be back to the regular programming. Oh yeah, there will be some commentary on yesterday's outfit, not yet posted as well, and it's not all good.

June 6

One of the things I'm learning about these me made days is that I have some perfectly good outfits, but they aren't really accessorized. Of course, I haven't really been doing anything in these outfits... not even going out... and I'm out of town, with only what I packed, which wasn't much. Still, there is some room for improvement.

This is what I wore yesterday after a morning at the beach and the pool. We did a little shopping (a very little shopping) and cooked dinner at home, so it was perfect for just lounging around.

Dress: Butterick 5173

Yes, I am not even wearing shoes, though I did have some flip flops on at various times of the day.

June 4 and 5 -- with a big change of location

I am so excited to be out of my own zip code right now I can hardly stand it! We're spending a week at the beach with the whole family which includes hubby, 2 kids + 1 son in law, plus the grandmothers (my mom and mom-in-law). And the collages continue. No surprises yet on what I'm wearing, but there will be a couple, I promise. Until then, I'll try to give you different scenery each day. For the record, this is coastal Georgia. St. Simon's Island to be exact.

June 4


This was the travel day, so comfort was the #1 consideration. Have you ever gone on a trip without some angst on the day you travel? We were going in 3 different groups... the girls' car (me, mom and daughter); boys' car #1 (hubby and SIL); boy's car #2 (son). There may have been a little yelling. But not too much. Arriving safely is just that much sweeter though, isn't it?

Top: Butterick 5495

Shorts (pedal pushers?): Chicos from several years ago

We're up on the widow's walk on top of our rental house. So relaxing. Unlike the restaurant experience a couple of hours later. Oh well, it only gets better.

June 5

We're at the beach, people, so I did wake up in me made jammies, but the jury is still out on whether or not you'll see those babies in action. Most of the daylight hours were spent in a swimsuit that I did not make. Right now, a swimsuit is kind of on my "I never plan to make one" list, but never say never. However, we're kind of a eat breakfast and lunch at the house kind of family, and then go out for dinner. This was my outfit, post-cleanup, on the main floor porch. The spiral staircase leads from the pool area all the way to the roof, and is only a little scary.

 Top: New Look 6981

Shorts: Kwik Sew 3614

Still thrilled with these shorts, as they're essentially a muslin. Note the adorable pocket facing fabric. Comic strip doggies. Thankfully, these shorts are also a tad on the big side, but if I keep eating like I did at the restaurant last night, they won't be big for long.

Yesterday was also my Laura and Thomas' first anniversary. They were headed for a delicious dinner on nearby Jekyll Island. Don't they look adorable?

June 2 and June 3

I didn't forget about MMJ yesterday, but just ran out of time and the inclination to write a blog post. So, let's start with yesterday...

June 2

Still getting ready for the trip, so I got a haircut, went out to lunch, and then sewed like a madwoman trying to finish a dress to wear that evening. I got as far as needing a hem, and totally just stopped. But I did end up wearing two me-made outfits yesterday. Dress #1 is also known as the Diner Dress. The color, pockets and style just scream "diner". All I need is an order pad, some chewing gum, and I'm ready to say "whatcha want, Hon'." Don't get me wrong, I really like it, but I wish it were a different color. Maybe I'll make another one.

Dress: Colette Rooibos

Shoes: Born (from last year)

Puppy: Grandpuppy Ella

Second event of the day was sadly, a celebration of life for a 20 year old girl who took her own life. Bipolar illness can be fatal, something you don't always realize. An intensely sad evening, that was also blazingly hot. I wore this latest outfit:

June 3

Putting the sadness of yesterday aside, today was all about laundry. Mountains of it. I hit the gym early, then the laundry and getting ready to leave tomorrow. Taking the dogs to the kennel was a midday task. And, if I'm going to succeed at MMJ, then today I had to wear something that I wasn't going to pack (and wasn't already in the laundry pile, obviously). Kinda bummed that I missed the mini-challenge of twirling pictures, but have no fear... I'll just have to twirl tomorrow. Besides, this outfit was completely untwirlable.

Top: Vogue 8649

Khaki Capris: RTW

Earrings: Sweetwater Inspirations

Tomorrow, we hit the road, so there will be a change of scenery, and even at least a couple of things you haven't seen before.

June 1 -- Me Made June Really Starts!

Calendars have been synchronized, and it turns out June is finally here, for real this time. And I'm lucky to have my daughter around to be my photographer, so my tripod is temporarily retired. I haven't done any inventories, or categories, or organizing, so we'll see what transpires.

First, a little about me. I sort of "work" from home, but mostly I feel like lately perhaps you could call what I do as more sabbatical-like. That's what my hubby is calling his current state of unemployment, and I think I'll steal his story. I do have an etsy shop.

Anyway, basically what that means is deciding if I'm actually leaving the house during the day. Today, the answer was yes! We're headed to the beach on Saturday, so here's how today looked... chiropractor, mani-pedi, grocery, and later, a little, um, waxing. Here ya go:

Top: Vogue 8151

Capris: Ann Taylor from several years ago

Shoes: Clarks Indigo